My name is Xochitl (So-Cheel) E. Dixon. I love Jesus and people! But that wasn’t always the case. I didn’t surrender my life to the Lord until I was thirty years old, after I stole my first Bible. Don’t worry. I eventually paid for it . . . two years later, as soon as I figured out that they weren’t free!

I’m a first generation Mexican-American who grew up in the 1970’s, torn between assimilation and the Chicano Pride Movement. My parents believed in God but never took me to church. I knew God existed, but I believed He was into punishing not loving His children. I spent the first few years of my childhood living with my immigrant grandparents, Papa Chato and Mama Luna, speaking Spanish and being told that I wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish in public, especially when I went to school.

My parents changed my name when I went to school because my first name, an Aztec name meaning Princess of the Garden, was too hard for teachers to pronounce. I don’t remember when my family stopped calling me by my real name.

As a child, I remembered loving books because I could escape the turmoil around me. My parents separated then got back together when I was in early elementary school, which led to my mother moving us away from our family in California to follow my father to Washington state for a fresh start. I hated everything about Washington and missed being away from my cousins, who felt more like siblings.

Once we were in our new home, I became a latchkey kid. My parents worked fulltime. So, I was at home alone or at the library. Though some bad things happened in my life. I can now see how God protected me from even worse things that could have happened. I can now see how He was calling me through some of the books He placed in my hands, before I even knew His name.

God taught me about prayer and faith through Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. God showed me the power of sacrificial love when I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

As a teen runaway, He protected and provided for me even though I still didn’t know Him or seek Him as I scrambled in search of myself, my purpose, my lost innocence, a place to belong, a place to call home. Though I had reconciled with my parents in some ways, moving back into their house wasn’t an option. So, as I prepared to graduate from high school, I planned to return to my grandparents home in California.

The week of finals, my Papa Chato died. My parents left me alone to take my tests and graduate as they attended the funeral with my younger sister.

When my mom returned from her trip and I turned eighteen, I asked her to help me fill out the paperwork so I could legally change my records and begin using my real name again. I applied to a university and vowed to leave my old life behind me.

That’s when I began reclaiming my identity!

The only problem was that I had no idea that the identity I thought I was reclaiming was not really who I was meant to be, who I was created to be . . . because I hadn’t even met my Creator.

I moved back to California in 1990, shortly after pledging Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. I planned to go back to school after working a few months, but after I was a victim of a crime my life spun out of control.

I moved in with my Cousin Rose, the same cousin who felt more like a sibling when I was a little girl. I was filled with fear, anger, bitterness, and confusion. I was planning to live with Cousin Rose for a few months then move to Los Angeles, start school again, and get back track. That’s when I met Alan.

So much happened between that day and December 14, 2001, when I surrendered my life to Jesus. Alan and I have a beautifully diverse growing family.

Between the good and the bad of life on this side of eternity, Jesus remains the same and loves me through each day.

I’m looking forward to sharing His truth and love with You as He leads me to write and share each message He places on my heart. For now, I would like to thank you for being a member of my blog family.

This is where I want to be rooted in God’s Word while growing with God’s people!

With everything that I write, I want to share God’s truth and love, to get to know Jesus more and to make Jesus known more and more.

I want to celebrate diversity and inclusion, alongside my beautifully diverse family and my amazing service dog, Callie.

I cross cultural, generational, and international lines, by sharing biblical encouragement and Scripture-based prayers and seek to inspire the development of deeper, authentic relationships with God and others.

Living with chronic pain and fatigue isn’t always easy. But I have a heart filled with compassion for hurting people. I want to encourage others to inhale the God-breathed words of Scripture and exhale prayers and praises, while resting in the peace of God’s constant presence and walking with Spirit-empowered courage, joy, and enduring hope. I’d like to do this with you, because I know I can’t do this without God or your ongoing prayers and support.

As a regular contributing writer for Our Daily Bread and God Hears Her, my devotions are featured in multiple Our Daily Bread compilations, including the bestselling God Hears Her (2017) and Known by God (2023).

My first 31-day devotional, Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace (2019), is perfect for anyone who needs encouragement or a gentle whisper of hope.

Callie is the service dog featured in all of my children’s picture books, a ministry God surprised me with after preparing me for almost twenty years. That’s a story I tell when asked about how God led me to write the 2021 ECPA Christian Book Award Children’s Book finalist, Different Like Me (2020), which is now available in Spanish, and published by Our Daily Bread.

I am overwhelmed and praising God as I prepare to release my two new children’s picture books with WaterBrook in 2024 and my second devotional with Our Daily Bread in 2025.

What Color is God’s Love? is available for PRE-ORDER TODAY!

Thanks for joining my blog family! I am looking forward to growing with you.

If you’re like me, you want to know more about my statement of faith before you commit to listening to any of my Bible teaching. So, I added that statement of faith and my beliefs on this page, with the Bible verses.

I believe in the One True God, eternally existing in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in divinity and perfection, as described in the doctrine of the Trinity.

I believe in the authority and infallibility of the God-breathed words of Scripture, the Holy Bible in its entirety and completeness as God’s Word, which is infallible and unchanging, living and active, infinitely relevant and true since it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, through the oral traditions, to the current translations we use for study and application today.

I believe God is Creator and Sustainer of all, who made human beings in His image and designed us to be in relationship with Him and each other.

I believe we are separated from God by sin and are deserving of the wrath of our just and loving Father, who chose to extend grace and forgiveness so He could reconcile us to Himself through the Messiah, His one and only Son, Jesus, through the power of His Spirit, who dwells in all believers in Christ.

I believe Jesus, fully God and fully Man, God incarnate, God with Us, came to die on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, and promised the gift of the Holy Spirit before ascending to heaven to prepare an eternal place for all who believe in Him and to be our living and loving Savior until the day He calls us home or comes again.

I believe that when we repent and turn away from our sins, seek forgiveness, and accept Jesus as our Lord and our Savior, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of our Salvation.

I believe that nothing can take our Salvation away.

Though we’ll be tempted by sin and endure trials in this world, Jesus invites us to repent and be forgiven and transformed through the lifelong process of sanctification.

Through the study of God’s Word, communion with Him through prayer, and full-surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit, we can turn away from our sins and live holy lives.

The Lord encourages us through His beautifully diverse and interdependent church, equips us to use the gifts He’s entrusted to us, and empowers us to share the Gospel with love, gentleness, and respect, until the day He calls us home or the day Jesus comes again.

Eight Scriptural Truths

1. Our sin separates us from God, but He offers Jesus as the One Way to be reconciled with Him.

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you , so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 (NIV)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17 (ESV)

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9 (ESV)

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (ESV)

2. Jesus understands, and cares about, what we are going through.

“That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to Him and never stop trusting Him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all the same temptations we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.” Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)

3. No one is perfect. That’s why we have a perfect Savior.

“We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.” Romans 3:22-24 (NLT)

4. We can leave the past behind us, turning away from our sins, and live an abundant life of forgiveness and freedom.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

5. We can’t earn Salvation, or lose it. God has a plan and you have a purpose in His plan.

“God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT)

6.The Holy Spirit empowers us to be holy and live righteous lives.

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.'” 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)

7. Salvation is available to all who are ready to repent and receive God’s free gift of eternal life.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and experience His life-transforming, unconditional love and forgiveness, you can say this prayer with me, right now.

“Jesus, thank You for coming to the world, dying on the cross for my sins, rising three days later, blessing me with the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in all believers, and securing my place in eternity with You.

Thanks for assuring me I’m saved by Your grace not by my works. Please forgive me for my sins and help me love You and accept Your perfect love for me.

Please help me believe You, depend on You completely, surrender to You, live in obedience and faith, and grow in the knowledge of Your Word until You come again.

In Jesus’ Name, AMEN”

8. God designed the beautifully diverse and interdependent church to grow together, serve together, and spread His truth and love to the ends of the earth as we live for Him . . . together.

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)

“For you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

If you’ve accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior today, I encourage you to share your decision with a Pastor or Christian friend who can come alongside you with prayer and support.

Please let me know, too.