“I was born in Dallas, but when I was eight, my family moved to Alabama. That was a huge shift for us. Growing up in Dallas, my Latin family was surrounded by many different cultures, so moving to Alabama was a culture shock. I also grew up in church and knew all the Bible stories, but I didn’t really understand God’s love for me at the time.
“When I was around 12 or 13, I really started wanting to fit in with my peers. I began sneaking into parties and clubs, trying to be one of the cool kids. By the time I was 15, I had tried alcohol for the first time, and that was the beginning of my double life and a pretty rough relationship with drinking. I’d go to Bible study with my family, and at 16, my uncle even led me through the Sinner’s Prayer. I accepted Christ that night and got baptized a year later. However, I still struggled with a desire to fit in and gain respect from my friends.
“I got deeper into controlled substances, thinking I was building a reputation, but really I was just digging myself into a hole. I thought I had real friends, but they didn’t care about me at all. Through reckless decisions, I was trying to keep up with people who weren’t good for me.
“Then, one night, after drinking and taking pills, I crashed my car. The car was completely wrecked, except for my seat— a clear example of how the Lord protected me that day. It was the first time I realized that I was heading in the wrong direction. I wasn’t walking with God, and I wasn’t living the life he wanted for me.
“After a few months of sobriety, I got a call from an old friend who wanted to hang out. I wasn’t sure about it, but I went anyway. That day, something inside me told me I needed to leave, but I didn’t listen. My friend asked me to smoke with him before I left, and not even five minutes later, we saw flashing police lights. The next thing I knew, a cop was ordering us to come out of the car. I was arrested, and after being bailed out, I faced five to ten years in prison.
“I was terrified. How had my life gotten so off-track? My parents had always taught me integrity and what it meant to follow Christ, and here I was, so far from that. I knew I needed to make a change.
“The court allowed me to go to Florida to join a Christian discipleship program, and that’s where everything started shifting for me. I started reading the Bible like never before, memorizing verses, and learning about God’s love for me. I realized that, while I had prayed the Sinner’s Prayer before, I hadn’t truly surrendered everything to Christ. This time, I was ready to give it all up for Jesus.
“Before one of my final court hearings, I was sitting in the waiting room, reciting verses from the book of James in my head:
’Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).’
“When the judge called me up, he looked over my report, heard about the changes I’d made, and told me that he didn’t want to send me down a path that would ruin my life. He chose to expunge my charges and clear my record.
“This was a huge, unthinkable act of mercy. It really hit me how much God had been chasing after me, even when I had wandered so far away from him. God never gave up on me.
“After finishing the program, I felt God calling me into ministry. In reality, the opportunity to do full-time ministry wouldn’t come until after 12 long years in the corporate business world in Dallas. But even before my job in ministry, I learned to freely share my story of God’s grace with others.
“Sometimes we find ourselves in dark places, either because of our own choices or things out of our control, but God is always merciful. He’s just, he’s loving, and he wants what’s best for us. Even when we doubt him, we can look back and see his goodness.
“I’ve learned that God doesn’t expect us to fix everything ourselves. He asks for our obedience. He just wants us to say ‘yes’ and take a step in faith. When we do, he handles the rest. For so long, I was doing things my way, but once I surrendered and started following his path, I finally understood that God’s always been there.”