Day 40: What Makes The Vigils Meaningful?

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They’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We have reached the end of another 40 Days for Life campaign, and I am deeply grateful for what God has done.

What we lived together was simple and powerful. Prayer. Presence. Faithfulness. And through your yes, lives were touched in ways we may never fully see.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Lord’s Ranch for the closing celebration. It was a joy to gather together. Deacon Salazar delivered a powerful message, Sandy Galindo provided incredible tacos, and God blessed us with beautiful weather and a welcoming space made possible by our team and the generosity of the Lord’s Ranch.

This campaign saw over 700 people sign up to pray.

We celebrated, recognized faithful individuals, and shared meaningful moments together.

None of this happens without an incredible team working behind the scenes. I am so grateful for each of them.

One of those team members would like to personally share her gratitude with you. I would love to share her message now.

I came into this organization as a vigil coordinator in 2023. I was so humbled and grateful for the opportunity to have a job in this beautiful ministry that is the pro life movement. Throughout the past three years, I have had so many incredible experiences, met so many beautiful people, and had my life filled with abundant blessings. One of those more recent blessings is my youngest daughter, Emilia. Those of you who joined us for the closing rally yesterday no doubt saw her walking all over the stage like she owned the place.

When I came to the Coalition, I already had two beautiful daughters, and my husband and I felt strongly that we were done having children. But before long, God began using the people and the amazing pastoral care of Southwest Coalition and Guiding Star to soften my heart to having more babies. But I told Him, “God, if You are calling me to have more children, You need to take that up with my husband!” Well, not two weeks later, my husband came to me out of nowhere and mentioned that he was afraid he would regret not having a bigger family.

We could not deny what God was asking of us, and soon after, the Lord blessed us with a beautiful set of twins, Kai Ambrose and Adley Elias. Unfortunately, when I was only ten weeks pregnant, the Lord called them home. Once again, the entire team at Southwest Coalition showed us the incredible love of God as they walked with our family through every moment of our devastating miscarriage. The tenderness and compassion we were shown through this struggle was so healing. It gave us the strength to come through the heartbreak together and still be open to children once we were on the other side of our grief.

In God’s time, He blessed us with our Emilia, and she is the piece to the puzzle we did not even know our family was missing. She is the most joyful rainbow baby, and we cannot thank the Lord enough for her. I am so grateful that we listened to Him and followed His call to more children.

And now, I must have faith and follow His call once again. In the past year since Emilia’s birth, I have felt God calling me back to focusing on my family and my home. As much as I love the Coalition, my role on this team, and all of you incredible prayer warriors, it is time for me to leave this job and return full-time to raising my family.

It seems fitting that I am leaving the Coalition after once again coordinating a 40 Days for Life vigil. The Lord has brought me full circle. And I have to say, I think it was the best one I have had the pleasure of working on. Every last one of you showed up on the sidewalk this Spring with so much heart, joy, and FAITH. I am so humbled to have met all of you, and I thank God for placing you in my path, even if our encounters were brief.

Do not worry, I am sure I will see you all at future events. But I will be there as a supporter instead of running around behind the scenes. Thank you all for making this the best job I have ever had, and I pray that God blesses each and every one of you as you all have blessed me.

In Christ,
Stephanie and Emilia

There is one more person I would like to thank: my High school Sweetheart, my husband of 35 years, and my biggest fan, Eddie. Here he is helping me table in Las Cruces. I‘m grateful for all his support; I couldn’t do this without him.

Now, everyone gets a break from the daily emails. However, I’ll be back shortly with more updates regarding the building site on Lohman.

Gratefully in Christ,

Jessica Sifuentes
President & CEO
Southwest Coalition, Inc.