Hugette Montesinos-Rodriguez

My name is Hugette Montesinos-Rodriquez. My father is Cuban and my mother is Venezuelan. I grew up in Venezuela before moving to Miami when I was around ten. In high school a few girl friends kept inviting me to their church. I was cynical, but over time began to sense there was something real there. The Lord had to break me down and open my eyes and at 19 I gave my life to Jesus. A few years later, I was noticing the huge gap in women’s magazines between the images we see and reality. Everything presented to us was airbrushed and polished, making us feel like we never measured up. I knew something had to be done and the Lord called me to start my dream business, to found Disfunksion Magazine, a colorful magazine and movement dedicated to living joyfully and celebrating women worldwide.

I see God as deliciously generous. His generosity means I have access to anything and everything I will ever need and therefore anything and everything he will ever ask me to give. Our God is the father in the prodigal son story who says, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (Luke 15:31) He’s the one who feeds the birds of the air and dresses the lilies of the field. (Matthew 6:26-28) So often we think we want money or resources, but those are finite. Instead, God offers us himself, the infinite Provider.

When I was 24, I was in the midst of a divorce and it became the first time in my life I had to fend for myself financially. I had to get my own place to live in and pay for all my own expenses. Previously, I had always been able to count on my mom, but she was also going through the hardest season of her life. I felt the Lord saying to me, “Your mother is not your God. I am your God.” The Lord wanted me to depend on him to be my provider. My circumstances in those next two or three years looked impossible again and again, but I saw the Lord provide so powerfully that my fear of money was broken. I might have a momentary worry about money now, but I’ve never again had a sinking fear of money because I have seen God’s generosity.

For a few years my husband Erik and I thought we would move to Costa Rica and build our dream house. I already had my inspiring Pinterest photos of what this house would look like. But recently the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “What if I’m not calling you to ever own a home or own anything that gives you a sense of security, stability, or status? What if I’m calling you to live a generous life in which everything flows through you, but nothing sticks to you?” At that moment I realized how my thinking about money and a home had been subtly conformed to the patterns of this world. (Romans 12:2) A home can be a good gift, but in my heart it had become an idol. So, I started to study God’s word and I didn’t see anywhere in Scripture where God encourages savings, storing up for a rainy day or even retirement. In fact, the man who built a bigger storehouse was called a fool. If there is a general ethos of how we conform to the ways of the world today it is: “Store up for yourself, save up for yourself, be generous after you’ve got all of your things taken care of.” That’s not biblical.

I learned to treasure Jesus more than wealth and success by failing. Running a magazine at a young age I was given visibility, a platform, and access to many things and people. There were times I felt like I was on top of the world. I became enamored with my success more than God, but when I did I instantly felt it’s emptiness. I lost my joy. Not only did I experience this personally, but I saw the same thing in the lives of many influential people and celebrities whom I became friends with. I saw the cracks in their lives and that not everything that glitters is gold. It turns out Jesus is right 100% of the time. I decided, “All right, Lord, I’m going to trust what you say.” Now, Jesus is to me the most constant, gracious, and good God I could ever imagine.

Looking back, I can see I was searching everywhere for joy, happiness, and contentment. What I needed was to know the Lord intimately. I needed to discover what was delicious about God in order for me to recognize I want this. I needed to pursue knowing Jesus for myself.

The first and most important part of my daily routine is my date with Jesus. I wake up before my four year-old daughter and head to Starbucks to get my iced chai and either sit there or go across the street to the beach where I read Scripture. I follow a Bible reading plan where I read through the Bible in a year. I’ve been doing that for seven years now. After reading I journal about what the Lord has been pressing on my heart, usually based on a specific Scripture. I like to diagram things and draw colorful pictures to make visual what the Lord is impressing on my heart. I need this time to have the Lord calibrate my heart and mind. When I am not able to have my date with Jesus because of whatever chaotic reason life throws at me, it really throws me off.

Our giving decisions are entirely made by coming to the Lord and asking him, “Is this where you want these funds to go?” A few years ago the Lord spoke to me and said, “Just because it has my name on it, doesn’t mean that it has your name on it.” That was a powerful realization for me that just because it’s a Jesus-project doesn’t mean it’s assigned to Hugette. Not everything that is his work means I have to do it, so our focus is on being obedient to the unique things God calls us to. We want whatever resources we have - which are not really ours - to be flexible to be used wherever God wants them, even if that means sometimes sacrificing our own comforts and wants.

I don’t have an elevator pitch. After ten years of running the magazine, I felt I was supposed to lay it down just in time to find out I was pregnant. Nine months after I had my baby girl, I was hospitalized with health complications. For two weeks no one was allowed to visit me, including my husband Erik and little Zoe. I was all alone and the doctors were doing tests left and right, but I also felt God’s presence like never before. It was like I was on vacation with the Lord. During that time the Lord downloaded to me pieces of something called “Radical Woman Roadmap.” I didn’t know what it would become, but since then I have been mentoring and coaching women to connect with God and enjoy a radically delicious life of joy, creativity and spiritual freedom, minus the crippling fear and shame that come with taking action. 

I am Hugette Montesinos, a lover of God and an encourager of women.