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In a season of profound pain, Norma Garza found new life: “It was a great tragedy that brought us to the feet of Christ.”
She married young, at 18, and just six months after the birth of her and her husband’s first daughter, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of tongue cancer. The family traveled from Mexico to Dallas searching for hope and help through the medical system. What they found was far more powerful: an encounter with Jesus Christ.
Garza remembers how her mother’s small church welcomed her reeling family with open arms one night during a prayer gathering. “I experienced something new that we had never experienced before,” Garza said. That night, she and her husband responded to the message of the gospel and gave their lives to Christ.
One year later, he passed away.
At 21, Garza was a deeply depressed widow and single mother. “Emotionally, I felt dead inside,” she said. She battled thoughts of suicide.
One night, she was driving fast in the middle of a storm with an intent to harm herself. As she drove, thoughts filled her mind:
“If I do this, I’ll be with my husband again.”
“My daughter will be fine with my parents.”
The next voice she heard changed everything: “Stop! Think of Pao!”
Pao is the nickname of her daughter, Paulina. But the voice? That was the Lord, she said, reminding her that her life still had great value to Him.
“I promised God I would never attempt to take my life again,” she said. “I just asked Him to help me, to take my hand.”
That same night, she was able to sleep for the first time in a long while. She said she dreamed of her husband that night: He was healthy and holding a rose—her favorite flower.
It was a reminder that her husband was in a better place with God in heaven. It also helped her focus on what was most important as she moved forward with her own life.
“That was what I needed,” she said, “to fix my eyes on Christ, not on the tragedy.”
An unexpected calling
Garza moved to Plano and began attending Prestonwood Baptist Church in 2008. She initially joined the English-speaking congregation, but when the church announced the launch of its Spanish-language ministry, she was excited and quickly volunteered to help. Garza served on the welcome team, in the children’s ministry, and with the youth, but her heart longed to serve in worship.
Just when it seemed she would finally have that opportunity, the church began dreaming of something new: a ministry dedicated to single mothers. That’s when Patzy, the women’s ministry leader at the time, approached Garza with an unexpected proposal—to lead a Bible study for single moms.
Garza hesitated: “Who am I? I’m not a teacher!”
“The Lord doesn’t call the prepared,” Patzy reminded her. “He prepares the called.”
Still, Garza wrestled internally. So she planned to attempt both, serving single moms while still singing with the worship team. But then her voice began to fail. Doctors found a nodule on her vocal cords. “I realized I wanted to serve God halfway, and He was calling me to serve Him fully [through the single moms ministry].”
Eventually, God’s leading became clear and Garza made a declaration: “Lord, I surrender. I am yours.” That’s when she began to see God move in her life in a new and profound way.
In 2016, the single moms Bible study was born, and in 2019 it took on the name Created for a Purpose. Each Sunday, women with tired and hurting hearts find comfort, direction, and community in that space.
“I can’t imagine my life any other way now,” Garza said. “It’s been the Word of God that has given my life meaning.”
The impact of the group reaches far beyond the classroom. Garza remembers Melody, a single mom who spent a year and a half in and out of the hospital after a serious accident. The group sustained her with prayer, visits, meals, and financial support.
“I’ve seen what God has done in such a beautiful way—but none of it would have been possible without Christ being at the center and the unity among us,” Garza said.
Faith in action
Garza is passionate about helping believers exercise their faith beyond surface-level compassion. “We are not only called to pray for single mothers and see them as vulnerable members, but to serve them in a way that the support is not superficial.” Many single mothers, she notes, didn’t choose this path, but instead are victims of abandonment, abuse, or tragedy.
Prestonwood’s vision is summed up in three words: connect, care, and grow. For Garza, that model has meant everything. Connecting in a small group allows real needs to be met, and from there, growth happens—together.
Today, her daughter Paulina serves as a leader in a young adult women’s group and in the student ministry.
“I thank God for my daughter—she’s been an instrument of God to keep me going,” Garza said.
She is not only grateful to God for her daughter, but her church, which saw beyond a label—that of a single mom—and offered not only support, but opportunities to minister to others.
Because of that, Garza has found something more—purpose.
