Gloria Herradura Fontelera Gammon. This is a name that represents a woman who does not forget where she came from, who remembers what she has been through, rejoices with what she has, and is hopeful for the future. That is a name that represents a woman who could have used any number of reasons to give up on God and give in to Satan. Instead she held on to God as tightly as she could. This is the name of my mother.
A Challenging Childhood
Born into a family of ten siblings and in one of the poorest provinces of the Philippines my mother grew up knowing poverty, suffering, and responsibility at a very young age. That led to a life of discipline, endurance, and gratitude along with pain. She had to learn what responsibility and burdens were at a young age by having to cook and take care of her younger siblings at the age of ten. Her own mother was too ill physically and mentally to take care of the family.
College Life
Gloria was very determined to do well in life. She did manage to go to college, a rare feat in itself. College life was like this: for lunch she would only have one boiled egg and a little bit of rice; she worked as a housemaid for her relatives, she also worked during the day, attended college at night, and she took summer classes to catch up. She graduated in four years!
A New Country
At the age of twenty five, unmarried and pregnant, my mother left her entire family to emigrate to the United States with my father, to be quickly married and then give birth. After six years of marriage and pregnant for the second time, my parents decided to separate and get a divorce. This is when my mother began her journey with God…
Finding God Amidst the Struggles
As a single mother of a six year old and prgnant with a second child my mother studied the Bible and decided to become a disciple of Jesus. She faced many struggles trying to raise a family by herself but now she had a realtionship with God. Her troubles did not stop after she became a Christian…
The older brother who helped raise her and who supported her financially while in college died. Two of her younger sisters became ill, just like their mother. My grandmother also passed away. My uncle suffered from severe depression that brought an end to his life. Those events all led to deep feelings of sadness, loneliness, and alienation from her physical and spiritual families.
Her fifteen year old daughter, who had grown up as a “Kingdom kid”, got pregnant and gave birth at the age of sixteen. She then got pregnant a second time at the age of seventeen.
Staying Strong in Spite of the Odds
Through all of this Gloria remained generous towards her family in the Philippines in spite of the huge emotional and financial burden.
Even after becoming a disciple hardships and life struggles were not a foreign concept in her life. All of those really difficult times and many more unstated events are what happened during her seventeen years of walking with God. Becoming a disciple does not mean life will always be smooth and easy. God continued to be faithful to my mother because she had yet to give in to Satan and give up on God. The good times God blessed her with outweighed all those times of struggle.
God’s Amazing Blessings
After seventeen years spent as a single mom who rarely dated in the Kingdom, Gloria caught the attention of a brother who had helped with
Gloria’s daughter (the writer of this article) who was also a single mom and a disciple in the campus
Gloria’s Daughter Ashley’s Final Reflections
My mother is now twenty years old spiritually. She has even more fight in her now than she did twenty years ago when she became a disciple. What I admire and eagerly try to imitate is her generous heart to give, love, and sacrifice. What I respect and love about her past experiences before and after becoming a disciple is that they not only keep her humble, they also keep her grateful
I am very proud to call Gloria Herradura Fontelara Gammon my mother…because there is no one in the world like her.
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
If you know stories of courage and faith in the women’s
