Creation
I was born into a large Hispanic family where connection and family were central to my life. My mom raised me as a single parent for the early part of my childhood. My biological father struggled deeply with anger, which was something I also struggled with the majority of my life.
When I was five, my mom remarried a man who, though not my biological father, fully embodied the love, steadiness, and support of a father. We moved to Chicago seeking stability and distance from my biological father. Despite the move, my sister and I still visited him during school breaks. These visits were often painful because of how highly critical he was of me. This slowly chipped away at my self-confidence.
During high school, we moved back to San Antonio when my grandmother’s health declined. My junior and senior year revolved around hospital visits and caregiving. Just before my high school graduation, my grandmother passed away. Her absence left a gaping hole, and there was a shift in our family, especially in my mom. In my desperation, I prayed for the first time: “God, if you’re real, please pull us out of this.”
I had a very vague idea of who God was. Having anything to do with God felt like a series of rules you had to follow. I prayed out of desperation hoping that God would show up somehow.
Slowly, things began to change.
Fall
With newfound freedom my freshman year of college came poor choices and was full of missteps. During rush week, I noticed a college group called Campus Crusade for Christ hosting an event outside the cafeteria. I stood on the edge of the crowd, watching as they mingled with the crowd, until someone called me out in the crowd. Surprised, I walked over. That invitation led me to attend an evening service on campus. Slowly I began to engage with spiritual questions I had never asked before.
At a winter conference later that year, I listened to a woman share her testimony. She described a life in Christ that felt entirely out of reach for me. As she shared her wedding photos and her joy, I sat in the back overwhelmed with the thought: If I keep living the life I’m living, I’ll never experience this kind of joy, wholeness, or love. I ran to my hotel room and collapsed on the floor feeling the weight of the life I had been living and the decision I knew I needed to make. I surrendered my life to Jesus that night.
Redemption
That moment of surrender was just the beginning. The following year was full of wrestling as I tried to let go of my old life and pursue holiness. I struggled to believe God’s grace was really for me, especially when I continued to fall short. But God, in His mercy, placed people in my life who walked with me, reminded me of truth, and reflected the grace I was learning to receive.
College looked different after that. I got involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and began regularly attending a church. At first, I served in every area of church, mostly out of obligation—thinking I could in some way repay God for the mistakes I had made—but God met me even there. Over time, He reshaped that duty into joy. I found a passion for helping others experience the belonging I had discovered. My longing for community became a calling to help others find their place in God’s family.
When I met my husband, I was terrified to be fully known. But he saw me—past and all—and loved me anyway. That experience was a living picture of grace. Early in our marriage, though, I noticed something familiar rising up in me: anger. It was the same pattern I had seen in my biological father, and I realized if left unchecked, it could destroy my marriage. Through prayer, God’s refining, and my husband’s patience, I began to experience real healing and freedom from something I struggled and felt bound to with my whole life.
Restoration
Even now, I still wrestle with grace—receiving it for myself and offering it to others. I’m learning to die daily to anger and lean on God to shape me into His likeness. I want to live with the same love and compassion that has been poured out on me.
I know what life without Jesus looks like. I’ve felt the ache of insecurity, rejection, and not living up to someone else’s expectations. But most importantly, I’ve experienced the healing that comes from being deeply loved and accepted. Because of that, I want to invite others into the same family of grace and truth.
My hope is to be someone who creates spaces of belonging, who shares the story of Jesus, and who points people to the One who restores all things.
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