God Will Show Us What We’re Capable Of: Joseph Rojas & Monica Swanson
Joseph Rojas: I got invited to go to a Third Day and All Star United concert and they put on a great show, but that’s not what excited me. Mac Powell did an altar call and when I saw the people come forward and give their life to Jesus, give their hearts to the Lord, I said, “That’s what I want to do.”
God Will Show Us What We’re Capable Of: Joseph Rojas & Monica Swanson – Episode #399
Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week’s stories are set an ocean apart, but share a common thread of two individuals placing their trust in God to be a lighthouse in the dark while setting a new course for their lives.
Joseph Rojas, the lead singer of the Christian rock band Seventh Day Slumber, candidly shares a background where abuse, addiction, and suicidal ideation haunted his days, and how that led up to a rock-bottom moment in the back of an ambulance, where he had a life-changing encounter with God. Author and podcaster Monica Swanson is a mom to four boys who she decided to start homeschooling when they were elementary age. Though Monica and her husband initially had doubts about handling the boys’ education, they leaned into the task and discovered some of the benefits of this type of education, and now help others who desire to choose this path for their own families.
Let’s begin with Joseph’s story.
Joseph Rojas: My name is Joseph Rojas and I am the lead singer of the Christian rock band Seventh Day Slumber.
The Pain and Trauma of Early Abuse
My mother raised two boys on a single mother’s income, and she is an amazing woman, but my father wasn’t in our lives. The memory that I have of my dad was of him abusing my mom, beating her. I was about three years old, my brother is two years older than me. And as a grown man, I don’t remember much at four and five years old—but I remember being three and a half, four years old and I remember the police coming. I remember my mom crying, and my brother and I were super scared and [had] a lot of anxiety. My dad was arrested, he got out of jail, and shortly after, they divorced.
But we also had to go and stay with babysitters. And one babysitter in particular used to beat on my brother and me, hit on us, and call us some of the most horrible things. And you know, the truth is, you hear enough bad things about yourself, you start to believe it. And I started to believe that I was just worthless, that I was the reason my dad didn’t want to be around. There were so many things yelled at us and also the physical abuse… finally, our mom found out that our babysitter was beating us—she would hit us in places that you couldn’t really see—and also threatened us if we told our mom and that kind of stuff.
Then we ended up staying with a friend of our mom, and her eighteen year old son abused my brother in a different way while I was in the room. And it was just a lot of hurt, a lot of pain. I just wanted it to go away, and I started thinking about suicide at the age of twelve years old. We were allowed to stay by ourselves by then, and I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and started using drugs and alcohol.
By the age of eighteen, I was finally locked up in big boy jail, and this is a lot different than being in a juvenile facility or a behavioral center like I had been before. And my mom ended up looking for help for me so desperately that she finally went to church with this lady who had been inviting her, and my mom gave her life to Jesus. And she would tell me about God, that He had a plan for my life.
I questioned whether or not there was really a God in heaven. What kind of God would let you go through the things I went through? What kind of God would allow you to be beaten as a child by a babysitter, or abused by people that are supposed to protect you? And it was just hard for me to reason that in my mind, but my mom would tell me that He loves us, that He has a plan for us. And it was hard to also believe that if there really is a God and He’s holy and good, what would He want with someone as messed up as me?
“It was hard to believe that if there really is a God and He’s holy and good, what would He want with someone as messed up as me?” – Joseph Rojas
A Desperate Attempt to End the Pain
I was selling drugs and it got to the point where I couldn’t sell drugs anymore, because I was using all of it. And then you get to a point where you owe people you don’t want to owe money to. I started robbing and stealing and that kind of stuff and it landed me in trouble with the law a lot more.
I went to Austin to go to a rehab to try to get clean, not for myself but for my mom. I didn’t want to hurt her anymore, and she was hurting badly. But I ended up—I call it flunking out of rehab. I ended up on the streets and I was too ashamed to go home. I was living in an alleyway, actually, and my mom, she came and got me, and she brought me back home, and I never felt right. And I made the decision to take my life.
My mom was at work, but she felt like God told her to go home. She came home, and walked in as I had overdosed on purpose. My mom called the paramedics, and in the back of an ambulance, I had an encounter with Jesus. And I gave my heart to Him. I was talking with my heart to God. I don’t remember exactly what I prayed, probably something along the lines of, God, if you’ll still have me, if you still want me, I’ll give my life to you.
“I gave my heart to Him. I was talking with my heart to God. I don’t remember exactly what I prayed, probably something along the lines of, God, if you’ll still have me, if you still want me, I’ll give my life to you.” – Joseph Rojas
I ended up waking up in an intensive care unit, and this gentleman was there from my mom’s church. I just remember him being there and he didn’t say much, but it spoke volumes just that he took the time just to be there, and we got to be friends. He invited me to church and had me come to their gatherings, and they’d watch movies at different people’s houses, and he would invite me. And people began to pray for me and check on me. I made friends, and that began that journey for me.
Music Career
I’ve been playing guitar since I was twelve years old. My mom got me my first guitar from a Sears and Roebuck catalog, that’s how old I am. We didn’t have a lot of money, but she bought that, and a little $15 amp from a pawn shop that had a blown speaker. And I would just play by ear.
I was into hard, heavy music, and while it wasn’t the best music for my soul, it was music that spoke to me. It was music that met me where I was at. It didn’t help me to go any further, but it definitely met me where I was at in that angst, in that depression, it made me feel like someone else understood what I felt like. And so that’s why I listened to hard rock and heavy metal and that type of music. And so I would play guitar to learn those songs. And I started learning by ear, and I actually got pretty decent at learning them.
And then I would play in little hard rock bands, and we’d play at the skating rink and we were horrible, but people would come and listen to us even though none of us could play our instruments. But I actually started to get a little bit better and started writing some songs. I would say probably around sixteen is when I wrote my first song. It was a pretty depressing song and it was called, “I Want to Believe In Something.” After I got saved, I still loved the song melody and everything, but I felt differently after becoming a Christian, and so I changed the song to “I Believe” and the song talks about how I believe in Jesus.
Man, all my lyrics had just changed because now I’m writing about Jesus, I’m singing about Jesus. And it was praise and worship style because I thought that maybe hard rock music was not of God anymore, but then I found out there were these Christian rock bands like Skillet, and a band called Prayer Chain that was a Christian rock band, and a band called Bleach that was a Christian rock band. And then I was like, Wow, you can actually do this kind of music?
And then Third Day came to Dallas where I was going to Bible college, and I got invited to go to a Third Day and All Star United concert, and Third Day did an altar call. When I saw the people come forward and give their hearts to the Lord, I said, “That’s what I want to do.” And I wasn’t that great of a speaker, and I didn’t really have a whole lot of other things to offer to be able to do that, but I did know how to play music and I did know how to sing. And I was like, I’ll just use the gifts I have.
“When I saw the people come forward and give their hearts to the Lord, I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’” – Joseph Rojas
Over the years, I’ve been able to experience that now from the other side of it, from standing on the stage and looking out and seeing people come to the altar and surrender their hearts to Jesus.
A New Identity From Our Creator
I wish that someone would have told me earlier on that I need to quit looking to everybody else to try to tell me who I am. I feel like now more than ever, we’re a generation that has lost its identity, and so we look to the cover of magazines or social media influencers, we look to all kinds of things to try to tell us who we are, to find ourselves. And people will tell you that you’re too fat or you’re too skinny or you’re too tall or you’re too short. You look good with glasses on. You look like a nerd with glasses on. You know too much about computers. You don’t know enough about computers. You’re a nerd for gaming. Hey, you’re not cool if you don’t game. And so we look to all these different people that are trying to tell us who we are, and it’s so many voices coming from so many different places, so we just get confused. And then you’ve got people saying you can just kind of make up whoever you want to be, and that’s who you are. At the end of the day, if you want to know who you are, you should ask the One who created you, and He will tell you that you’re not a throw away, that you’re not a lost cause, that you’re not too fat, that you’re not stupid, that you’re not worthless. He’ll tell you that you are loved beyond measure. He’ll tell you that you’re the head and not the tail, that you’re above and not beneath, that you are not just some average throw away, that you’re a King’s kid. And that He’s got big, big plans for you. And you don’t have to be like everybody else, you just need to be who He’s created you to be.
“I wish that someone would have told me earlier on that I need to quit looking to everybody else to try to tell me who I am…At the end of the day, if you want to know who you are, you should ask the One who created you, and He will tell you that you’re not a throw away, that you’re not a lost cause, that you’re not too fat, that you’re not stupid, that you’re not worthless. He’ll tell you that you are loved beyond measure.” – Joseph Rojas
On the road, you’ve got to find ways and find time to be able to stay grounded, and Jesus Calling was a big part of that for us. We have Jesus Calling devotionals in our bus, that was our Bible study. It’s seriously been a help for us to be able to just make that time, sit down together, and each one of us read each day.
Jesus Listens, September 8th:
Beloved Jesus,
You taught Your disciples that each day has enough trouble of its own. So I can expect to encounter some trouble every day. Please help me to handle calmly and confidently the difficulties that come my way. It’s comforting to remember that You are not surprised by events that surprise me. You are the Beginning and the End; You know everything! Moreover, You’re continually with me—to guide and comfort me as I go through turbulent times.
As You and I deal with my problems together, I gain confidence in my ability to cope—and I enjoy Your nearness.
In Your delightful Name,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Joseph Rojas, check out his book, Unveiled Skies: Conquering Emotional Battles, and be sure to check out his songs on your favorite music platform.
Stay tuned to Monica Swanson’s story after a brief message.
Give the Gift Of The Bible
It goes without saying, but the Bible has changed so many lives. Take a second to think about if you didn’t have access to a Bible or the freedom to own one. This is a reality that many are facing. That’s why I want to tell you about one of our partners, Cru [Campus Crusade for Christ]. Cru has missionaries in almost every country, and they’re seeing people come to know Jesus.
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Imagine just how much this gift could change someone’s life. So text “Calling” to 71326 to help now or visit www.give.cru.org. Messaging and data rates may apply. Available to U.S. Addresses only.
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Our next guest is mom to four boys, Monica Swanson. Monica shares the story of how she and her husband made the decision to homeschool their children, the bond that their family has seen as a result, and how she works to equip her children with a strong faith and the tools they’ll need for a successful life.
Monica Swanson: My name is Monica Swanson and I live in Hawaii. I’m up on the North Shore of Oahu, kind of out in the country, but my husband and I are both originally from the Pacific Northwest. We moved here for his medical residency twenty-three years ago and just never left.
I love to write, I have a podcast and a blog, and it’s just the joy of my life to get to share my love for the Lord and for family with other people and just encourage families in the world we live in today.
The Decision to Homeschool
My husband and I were both raised in public schools. And, we always kind of assumed, I think, that we would raise our kids the way we were raised.
We have four sons. Once we were here in Hawaii, we started them in a private Christian preschool. And by the time my oldest was in first grade, he actually had met a couple of kids through our church who were homeschooled and who made it sound like so much fun, apparently, because he came home one day and said, “Mom, what if you started homeschooling me?”
He loved to learn. He loved studying. He just saw it as an opportunity to learn more and spend more time with his family. The stigma of homeschooling is very real. And I thought, There’s no way. But from the moment he suggested that, I really started to pray and think about it and talk to people. And here in Hawaii, public schools overall aren’t ranked very well, private schools are very expensive. And my husband and I had some talks and we said, “You know, maybe we should just give it a shot.”
My husband wasn’t a big fan of the idea at first, but once we started and we started spending time as a family and educating our sons at home, my husband started to see not only just how much it bonded us as a family, but he could just see their little minds opening up to all these new things that he loved. He went through medical school, he has a love for science, and he got to teach them some things. And then we started spending time at the beach and doing the fun stuff when we wanted to, not around a school schedule. And probably the most important thing was he started to really see their character develop when they were at home and not surrounded by influences of whoever they happened to be in a classroom with. And by the end of that first year, we were hooked. We were like, “Why would we ever do anything different?”
Growing Together as a Family
Certainly at the beginning, I think I did lack patience. I think I was stressed out a lot. I wanted to get things perfect, but as I grew as a homeschool mom, I learned to relax. I learned to trust God more with the process. I learned to allow my kids to kind of figure some things out for themselves, to get my hands off. And so I think that I learned how much I needed to grow in character and goodness. This is a blessing because it pours out, spills over into other areas of life as well.
As we grew, the few things I just kept in mind was I wanted to make sure if my kids chose to go to college, that door would be open. I didn’t want to close that door because I was so intent on giving them some free-flowing lifestyle, which is beautiful and sometimes magical. All of my boys are surfers. My fourth son is an avid golfer, and so a lot of our days really do revolve around what activities they’re doing. Our schedule is pretty relaxed as long as we get things done, I’m happy. And I also believe that because of our homeschool lifestyle, my sons really had the opportunity to pursue their passions and interests.
So for my older sons, one of them was really drawn to photography and videography. He built his own website in his early teenage years. Another of my sons loved guitar, he became a worship leader. So they each have had their unique interests and passions. And I think that because we homeschooled, it gave them a lot of time to just explore those things and dive in as deep as they wanted to without the restriction of a serious schedule.
And then through that, our relationships were built. I mean, we’re all around each other all day long, and I loved it. Think about Deuteronomy chapter six, it talks about that faith transfer by spending time together. And so that’s where all day long, we could just incorporate faith and character into our conversations around the breakfast table or as we went through the school day, as we ran down to the beach for a surf, just that time together built these relationships that are my favorite thing in the world.
Faith has been a huge element of our homeschool experience, mostly because we’ve been able to live out the Deuteronomy chapter six idea of talking about God’s commands as we get up, as we walk along the road, as we lie down. It’s been such a natural part of our family’s homeschool experience.
“Faith has been a huge element of our homeschool experience, mostly because we’ve been able to live out the Deuteronomy chapter six idea of talking about God’s commands as we get up, as we walk along the road, as we lie down.” – Monica Swanson
We might talk about something that we’re going through, something that somebody is facing, maybe what the pastor spoke on in church that week. We can talk about God’s Word and God’s principles throughout the day, all day. It’s not isolated. So I feel like my kids were able to develop their relationship with God very naturally. We all get up and read the Bible. We do our devotions, we read Jesus Calling, whatever our devotionals are for that season, and there’s no rush. It’s not like, Oh my goodness, I have to be on the school bus or I have to be somewhere. Instead, we can take our time. We can live more slowly, and if there’s something that needs to be worked out, we have that time to sit down and say, “Let me pray for you. Let’s talk about this.” So I think there’s just less rush, more opportunity to have real, authentic conversations.
And with that, watching my kids’ relationship with God grow over the years has been so beautiful. And each of them have led ministries, they’ve been involved in youth ministry, worship ministry, they’ve led Bible studies, and I think all of that they were able to do because they had that margin of time because they were homeschooled.
Equipped for Life
There’s always going to be pros and cons. There’s challenges along the way, but I would say all of my sons at this point would say they wouldn’t trade the way we did things for anything. I think that we had some fun and they learned a lot, and it prepared them well for life, which I think is probably the most important thing.
My four sons are all best friends. We all have good relationships with one another. It’s been such an amazing blessing to be able to raise kids able to talk about world events, things going on around us, things we see in the news, things we stumble upon, whether it’s in social media or in our own community. And we can talk about what that looks like through a biblical lens, through a biblical worldview.
I’ll read from Jesus Listens, November 27th:
Bountiful Jesus,
I give thanks to You, for You are good; Your Love endures forever. I want to take time to think about the many blessings You provide. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of life—for every breath You give me. I’m grateful also for everyday provisions: food and water, shelter, clothing, family and friends. But the greatest gift I’ve received from You, my Savior, is everlasting Life!
As I consider all that You have done for me, I delight in who You are—the great I Am! You are one hundred percent good. There is not even a speck of darkness in You, the Light of the world! Moreover, Your Love is unending; it goes on and on throughout eternity.
In Your blessed Name,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Monica, please visit www.monicaswanson.com. And be sure to check out her upcoming book, Becoming Homeschoolers, releasing May 7th.
If you’d like to hear more stories about discovering who you are in Christ, check out our interview with Brandi Rhodes.
Next week: Savannah Guthrie
Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we’ll hear from co-anchor of NBC News Today, Savannah Guthrie. Savannah shares about her storied career, and that through all the tragedies and triumphs she’s covered in the news, she finds her center by turning to God in prayer.
Savannah Guthrie: When you get really discouraged about the world and the state of the world, for me that really indicates that you could benefit from a different perspective and a higher perspective. And that’s why my faith is so important to me. We need hope. I’m here for hope.
