Stories of Faith Archives

God Heals A Broken Family

By the look of that smile, you would never know that Mirna Mendez had a lonely past.

“I was born in Guatemala. My mom had left us with my grandma. I met my mom when I was six years old. She came for us and we moved to Los Angeles in 1982.”

Prayer for a broken family

She was in a new country, and felt lonelier than ever. Mirna didn’t get along with her mom, and her dad wasn’t always present.

“My dad used to drink a lot. He [used] to make promises that he would take us to eat pizza and we used to wait for him. He never came home until probably 5 or 3 am. He didn’t even know where he parked the car or where he put the keys. So, he was drinking a lot and I was really afraid of him.”

Two girls walking with their father on the sidewalk

“And we always prayed for God to protect [ my dad]; for Him to change his life.”

Can Catholic priests forgive my sins?

Like a “good Catholic girl,” she confessed her sins to the priest. But she always wondered how telling a priest her sins could help. She questioned her priest and was surprised by his reaction. “He told me go away and pray 7 Hail Marys.” Without any solid answers, Mirna and her sister, Elba, decided to leave the Catholic Church.

It’s not uncommon to see people leave. A study reveals that young adults start leaving the Catholic church at a young age because of weak attachment to the Church and of disbelief in religion.

Mirna and Elba continued to pray for an answer to her question. “We started praying for two weeks. We prayed and prayed and prayed.” And then two weeks later, they were invited to attend a worship service in the Church Of Christ through a friend, Pakito.

Only God can forgive sins

Mirna, Elba and her dad, Guillermo, accepted Pakito’s invitation to listen to the teachings taught in the Church Of Christ.

“It clearly answered all my questions. I learned you should only pray to God; pray for Him to forgive you. That’s who you should confess your sins to. That lesson made me continue Bible studies. All the questions I had, [were] clearly answered that day. [Whereas] I felt that we were following man’s rules in the Catholic Church, instead of God’s commandments.” They were intrigued and continued to listen to the Bible studies. What they learned shaped them.

Healing a broken home

The words of God taught inside the Church Of Christ inspired Guillermo and healed his relationship with his family. “If you would see him now, he’s a totally different man. He stopped drinking. We started hanging out with him and we’ve grown closer.”

Mirna was deeply inspired.“Seeing my dad, how he was before, and then after you know. He started listening to Bible studies and [was] baptized, how his life changed a lot. I said to myself, “Maybe my life would change too.”

Mirna decided she wanted to take steps toward becoming the best version of herself and joined the Church Of Christ in 1996. “And since then, I’m happy. I’m happy I made that choice.”

It was the most life altering decision she’d ever made, and she has no regrets. “And now that I’m in Church Of Christ, I’m complete. I mean, I feel complete because I know that God is with me. I really, truly know that God is with me. He answered all my prayers. I’m in a happy marriage and my family’s relationship has grown stronger. My mom has listened to a few Bible studies and I feel God’s love is getting to her. She has apologized for everything that she has done to me, and she’s nicer and sweeter to me. “

Since then, Mirna has never looked back. “I started with little faith and now, it’s getting stronger. I’m learning more every day to be faithful to God by showing Him how important He is to me and living with His words deep in my heart.”

Overcoming Sadness in the Midst of Chaos

Life is hard when you don’t know where to turn. A young woman struggling with family problems finds the peace she needs to overcome her sadness.

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Shannon Santamaria: I was in a very troubled situation where… I didn’t know who to trust. I didn’t know whether to trust my family.

I knew at the end of the day, no matter how busy I was, no matter how social I was, I was by myself. It was just me. I became angry inside. I was sad all the time.

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Stories of Faith

Shannon: I’m Shannon Santamaria. I’m 22 years old, and I’m from Waipahu, Hawaii, but I’m originally from San Diego, California.

Growing-up, my sisters and I, we were really close. We relied on each other for basically everything. [My] mom, she was always busy at work, and so was my stepdad. So a lot of our childhood was my older sister taking care of us.

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I Did What My Parents Wanted

Shannon: We actually attended a private school, a private Catholic school. There we would have our regular classes but alongside with that, we’d learn about “God who is Jesus Christ” because it’s Catholic. And we’d learn about their teachings, the Catholic teachings. And growing up, we still attended Catholic masses every Sunday. But I still didn’t really understand the importance of it. I attended because my parents wanted me to go, so we just decided to attend. It wasn’t something that I found interesting.

We only prayed during holidays. Like Christmas and Easter were major holidays for us in our household.

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I Became Angry Inside

Shannon: Our family was going through some problems, and I didn’t have anyone to turn to. Things were starting to pile up, and problems came at me fast.

I didn’t want to be the weak person, to be helpless. I wanted to be the one to help my family. And so, I began looking for jobs.

And as my family problems kept coming, I became very resentful. I became angry inside. I was sad all the time. Wherever I went, I just tried to hide it with happiness, with a smile. I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I had to keep it together.

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A Mystery of Faith

Shannon: I met a friend in high school, and she actually asked me about Catholicism. And her question was, “Why would you believe that Christ is God if He’s the Son of God?” And even though I’ve had that question lingering in my mind, it wasn’t until someone said it to me where I started questioning the Catholic faith.

And then I began asking them questions. And then they just said, “Just come to one of our evangelical missions.”

I didn’t take on the evangelical mission right away. Rather, I asked my dad. And then my dad said, “Maybe you can go to mass. Maybe you need to go to Bible studies because you’re questioning the faith.” So we decided to go to church one day. When I approached the priest and I asked the question, he said, “It’s the mystery of our faith.”

As I started questioning and doubting my faith—my Catholic faith, I started looking towards my friends—my group of friends, they’re members of the Church Of Christ. And so I started asking them questions like, who God is, “Who is Christ?” And they kept telling me, “Oh, just come to an evangelical mission. Just come to an evangelical mission.”

And then my friends just walked with me inside the chapel, and the first thing I noticed was the choir. It was so beautiful, everything was organized. The solemnity was there. Something that I’ve never seen in a church.

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I Could Trust the Minister Before the Priest

Shannon: I couldn’t help but feel and see how solemn it was. And as I was listening to the lesson, I couldn’t help but notice how the minister was reading straight from the Bible. And it wasn’t just once, it was continuous. And the lesson, I can still remember it, it was about who our Lord Jesus Christ was. That was something that I needed to hear.

Everything was from the Bible. There wasn’t a personal opinion stated. The minister stuck to the topic and I understood it clearly—clear as day. Seeing how everything came from the Bible, it felt like I could trust the minister before the priest that I’ve known for so long.

After the evangelical mission I was greeted [by] so many people that I’ve never even met before—people who [are] members of the Church Of Christ. You felt that love that you didn’t feel in a mass, or even in a Catholic church.

So on my way home, I was thinking, “I really like this Church.” I left feeling happy after attending the evangelical mission. But as I was going home, my heart started to sink. I was like, nervous. I would be breaking my family apart. That’s what I really felt. And I didn’t want to risk my family because I want to serve God differently from them. So I left that place thinking, “It’s not the time.”

Starting my new life as a college student—even though I attended mass with my dad, I didn’t listen. I sat there thinking about the evangelical mission, or even the questions that were answered. And I just knew that, “Okay, this mass that I’m attending doesn’t even have the right words.” Or I just didn’t care for church.

Our family was going through a rough patch. I didn’t have anyone to turn to.

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No One to Turn to

Shannon: I knew at the end of the day no matter how busy I was, no matter how social I was. I was by myself. It was just me.

I was doing my due diligence to try and get another job so I can help pay for bills. I felt incapable. I felt like I wasn’t good enough for the job positions. I was getting denied, or I wasn’t getting the reactions that I felt like I was getting from employers, so it put me even in a deeper slum, in a deeper mess. And I was going to go home sad again, failing to find a job.

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A Detour

Shannon: It was during rush hour and I didn’t realize that there were only two exits to the freeway. I couldn’t help but notice—as I was waiting at the stoplight—a chapel. There was a poster, and it said, “Church Of Christ Worship Service Times.” But it wasn’t the chapel that I saw at the first evangelical mission. And I decided to just walk in.

And then I met a minister. I told the minister, “I have questions I want to ask” and he said, “Do you know about this Church, the Church Of Christ?” And I said, “I think it’s the same Church, the one that went to a while back.” So I wanted to ask more questions, maybe that would fill this sadness, this void, this…whatever I was feeling within me.

So we sat in the minister’s office. And it was quiet for a bit. And I just started crying. I couldn’t even ask the questions that I had in my mind. I just cried…in silence.

And I just said, “I feel empty. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

I felt like maybe attending a worship service, or trying to draw myself closer to God again would be the solve to fixing this void that I had that was so evident in my life, that I felt—that I felt like no one felt except me.

I felt like at that moment I could trust the minister. And then he said, “Why don’t you join us to devotional prayer?” And so we did. We went into the sanctuary and we had a prayer. And during that prayer I felt like it was there, that God was calling me. And I felt like I was denying it all along when it was right here the whole time. And after I said, “I’ll keep having my devotional prayers, and then, if I feel like this is the Church, I’ll come back for Bible studies.” And that’s exactly what happened.

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Finding Peace in the Chaos

Shannon: My first Bible studies—it was right after school every day. Because I was still scared to tell my parents that I didn’t want to be a Catholic anymore.

But there was one Bible study that really surprised me. It shocked me, actually, because the Bible study was about the history of the Church Of Christ, and how it was apostatized. And what the Catholic church did, or how the Catholic church came about.

And the verse was about how the sign of the cross was a representation of those who were deceived by false prophets, by false preachers.

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“If anyone…receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he… shall be tormented with fire and brimstone…”

[Revelation 14:9-10 New King James Version]

Shannon: And that freaked me out because that means I was deceived for about 18 years of my life.

A week before my baptism, my dad wonders, “Why aren’t you attending Catholic mass?” And I told him, “Because I want to be a member of the Church Of Christ.”

For once in my life I was finding peace in the chaos. And that was through serving God.

Being baptized, it was like everything was light, as if God took all that weight. Everything that I was feeling, the emotions, the sadness, the void, the sins that I’ve committed, all of that was just… like it was taken—removed, lifted off my shoulders, and I got out [of the baptismal pool] as if I was someone new.

Now that I’m on the other side where I have the true faith, I can share my faith. And I can tell them how I’ve been through it, how I came to know the true faith, how I came to know the Church Of Christ. And that’s something that I want to continue to do because it’s something that I know that people need that they didn’t know that they needed.

After my baptism, I’m happier, I’m at peace. My parents are actually really proud of everything that I’ve accomplished. I graduated college, I’m living a life without that void, without that emptiness. And I’m serving God the best way that I can. And it’s given me the best things that I could have ever imagined.

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Message to Young People

You might think that becoming a member of the Church Of Christ, becoming more religious you feel trapped, that following God’s commandments is too strict for you. But what you don’t realize is that when you’re following God’s commandments, when you’re listening to Him, you’re as free as ever. You’re free from that weighted sin that you feel every day. And you’re free from that void.

Everything that you’re doing in your life, you’re just filling that void that you feel. That void that you want to fill, you’re filling it with parties, you’re filling it with hobbies. And you know deep within yourself that that’s not going to be the thing that fills that void. And I invite you to join the Church Of Christ. And maybe you can feel, for yourself, that void being filled with God.

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A Love I Never Knew I Needed

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INC News World

Shannon: Welcome to INC News World. I’m Shannon Santamaria coming to you from the INC Media Studios in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Shannon: I may be only 22 years old, and I still have a full life ahead of me, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to waste it from here on out. I’m going to use it to the best of my ability, and that’s serving God.

I’m thankful because despite everything that I’ve been through, God has manifested in my life in ways that I couldn’t have fathomed. After my baptism where I really needed God, and He was there, where I felt like I needed Him the most, and He was guiding me. And my membership, that’s something that I’m going to keep forever. Because since being baptized, I’ve been feeling this love that comes only from God. That love that I never knew I needed.

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Stories of Faith

Going Through Difficult Times Led Me to God

Tough times often reveal some of our biggest lessons. Tim was content with his life. Like many, he grew up in a loving family, had a happy life, and was right on track working to reach his personal goals. However, his spiritual life was lacking. Little did he know that a trial so difficult would bring him to pray to a God he never knew.

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Timmon Li: I was near my bed and I was on the side and I was kneeling and… I remember saying, “I know You’re up there… but I don’t know who You are…” And I really tried to pray that night, but of course I don’t know Him, and He doesn’t know me yet. Of course I didn’t even feel anything. So, later after that night, that’s when I realized that I wanted to find the true religion.

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Timmon: My name is Timmon Li and I was born and raised in San Francisco. My childhood, I was blessed to travel to places. My dad worked at [a] hotel so we were able to go to different places as a family. I really liked playing video games, and also toys, and played a lot of basketball.

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I DIDN’T GET THE POINT

Timmon: I didn’t really know too much about religion. We were semi-Buddhist, but we didn’t really practice it and we didn’t really go to the temples. But I guess you could say we only practice when we “had to” practice it. What we did was just, the Chinese traditional practices where we would go to the mountain and we would burn incense for our ancestors. But I didn’t really get what was the point of all of that. For Halloween and Christmas is pretty much they would say “just do what the other kids are doing.” They didn’t really explain anything. So for me, I never even really liked to dress up for Halloween. And for Christmas, I did like that I got the gifts because it was near my birthday. But other than that I really didn’t know what Christmas [was] all about.

And for burning the incense it’s pretty much, the story goes that the ancestors are living in their, you could say world, and then burning the incense would have them receive the money that you’re burning and they could use that in their underworld.

Timmon: Since I wasn’t really practicing Buddhism, but I did have friends who were “Catholics”, and “Christians”, and some Islam, but I didn’t really question them on why they do what they do. For me it was just kind of just hangout with my friends and I just wanna live my youth years and just play basketball. I played a lot of basketball. But for religion it didn’t really pop up to me until college years. I did believe that there is a God. There is like a higher being up there. But I was trying to search for it and I didn’t feel anything.

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I KNOW YOU’RE UP THERE

Timmon: We found out my mom had…sorry..she has kidney failure. So I remember going back home that night. And I was near my bed and I was on the side and I was kneeling and… I remember saying, “I know You’re up there… but I don’t know who You are…” And I really tried to pray that night, but of course I don’t know Him, and He doesn’t know me yet. So of course, I didn’t even feel anything. So later after that night, that’s when I realized that I wanted to find the true religion.

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OPENING UP MY MIND

Timmon: It wasn’t until, I believe, a year or two later where I was able to meet Danica Sanchez. Danica is strong in her beliefs. And she really is strong with her faith, as well. And then, that really allowed me to question why she’s really into that. I pretty much asked her what the Church Of Christ is about. And she told me that it’s a Christian Church, and then she told me the different activities that they did. So that kind of sparked another interest in me. I guess that’s one of the reasons that I decided to attend the worship service.

Afterwards I went to a few more. I signed up as a Bible student because I wanted to know more. And it wasn’t until we really dug into the Bible studies, that’s when it really opened up my eyes and my mind. And knowledge about the Bible itself. And also if you’re gonna serve God then of course you’re gonna have to listen to His words. And His words are in the Bible. So for me that kind of put one and one together.

I had a hard time, to be honest, getting through the lessons, mainly because I had to travel a lot. For transportation, I took CalTrain just to go to Mountain View, and I studied lessons with the minister. But it wasn’t really until afterwards where I was traveling that’s when I started thinking more about it, and I really thought to myself, “I really want to know more.” And that’s how that really sparked something in me.

One of the beliefs and lessons of eating blood. Because I used to eat, not quite often, but I do like eating blood. But knowing what the blood symbolizes, that’s when I kind of thought of, “Oh ok, that… I’m not supposed to eat blood.” And so from there I didn’t eat blood anymore. My family asked me, “Do you want some?” and I said, “No I’m good.”

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NOT GONNA PARTY ANYMORE

Timmon: The friends that I was hanging out with after college, we would drink and party every weekend. And breaking the news to them, only my close friends they really asked me why I’m doing this, why I’m not going out with them as often anymore, why I’m not partying, drinking. And I told them what I’ve been learning and that it’s not right because that’s not what we do as true Christians.

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HE’S ANSWERING ME

Timmon: For me it’s what was missing was, I guess there was that emptiness, something… that one piece you can say, from the puzzle, that I was missing. For me finding the Church Of Christ that’s…it’s my life now. For me remembering that prayer that I did before finally realized that He’s answering me and He’s the one that’s bringing me back. So I think that helped a lot.

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LIFE FOR GOD

Timmon: Living a life for God is more rewarding than living our own lives, what we want to do, because it has purpose. And that’s serving God. It’s not doing what you want, it’s not doing what others want, or really the pleasures of life. But it’s really understanding the doctrines, but also understanding what God wants us to do.

The world right now it’s changing, it’s kinda scary at times, but I believe that when you’re part of this Church, when you’re part of the true Church you do realize that there is hope. And for those who are saying that “as long as you believe in Christ” or “as long as you believe in God you don’t need to attend church” but obviously they haven’t been to one of our Bible studies. You should try and listen to the 28 Bible lessons, it’s free.

So you’re not wasting anything, we’re not asking you for money. The minister would gladly preach it to you. They will break it down for you.

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Finding True Peace with God

Despite growing up with a religious family and a strong belief in the power of the cross, his search for peace in countless religions left him with more questions than answers. Now Devon shares his journey and discovery on how he found true peace with God.

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Devon Smith: I was always searching. Different religions. And different points in time. Of course, I was disappointed after each one because there was something very off about each one, and I couldn’t find the real answers I was looking for. I was big on the cross, I even had a cross chain and I didn’t leave anywhere without it. Because I knew that was gonna get me through the hardest times. But it turns out the cross was indeed a sign of those who were to be condemned.

I’m Devon Smith. I was born in Virginia; I was raised in Colorado Springs. I was raised in a single parent home. Well not having a father growing up, that’s a really really tough time. I would be resentful. Violence was quickly happening all throughout the city. You know, this was early 90’s where a lot of racial tensions were happening, even in school.

I do remember a bully in school, he was an eighth grader and I was a sixth grader. And he used to terrorize everybody. He even came to my home outside banging on the door one time looking for me, for whatever reason. But later on I found [out] that he was shot, after the last time he picked on me because of gang-related activities. That’s when I realized; he was roughly my age — that could’ve been me.

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“Always Searching”

My teen years, they were a little bit rough, only reason because, I was always the new kid. My mom moved around a lot, and it was always hard making new friends. I was very close to my grandma. All I needed, love wise, came from my grandma.

Grandmamma taught me to hold on to God and she also taught me that God is going to be where He chooses to be which is inside a church. So I did know, to some degree, that church was important and I also [sought] to find one. That was something that my grandmother taught me at a very young age. As early as 4 years-old. And I’ve had that strong belief in the Bible since I was 12. I had my own copy of my Bible with my name inscripted on the bottom right at the book. I even had a cross chain and I didn’t leave anywhere without it. Because I knew that was gonna get me through the hardest times.

I was always searching. Different religions and different points in time. Of course, I was disappointed after each one because there was something very off about each one, and I couldn’t find the real answers I was looking for.

I graduated high school, which surprised me at the time. But my desire at that point was to join the military and try to make something of myself because we didn’t have money growing up, I didn’t have a plan but I knew I needed something better.

I was first introduced to the Church Of Christ by a friend named Rochell. She came out to visit one of her friends that I happened to stay next door to in the military. And she talked about church. And at first I said everybody talks about church but then they lose interest, nobody really takes church seriously. But it was something about how she kept speaking about and how she held onto the teachings.

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“The Cross Is Something Significant To Me”

There was a snowstorm and I was the only trusted out of my next door neighbors friends to drive Rochell to a worship service. She was like, “Please take me, I gotta go.” And when I drove her there, found the church and I went in. And I listened to the first worship service in Colorado Springs for a total of 53 minutes which is the shortest time I’ve ever spent in a worship service, so I was also surprised.

My apprehensions about the Church Of Christ was the worship service building. I didn’t see a cross on the building, you know, something I was expecting when I took Rochell to church. I’m used to a cross on the building, this is the church, it has to have one, the cross is something significant, it’s something I wore around my neck all the time. It was all growing concern. Why should I continue going if there’s nothing I recognize on there?

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“I Can’t Be Mad At The Message”

Of course, I was big on the cross, but it turns out the cross was indeed a sign of those who were to be condemned. And it hurt. It really hurt me and I wasn’t mad at the teaching itself. I was mad at myself because all my life I believed that the cross would carry me through the worst of times. And you know, I quickly learned the truth, and the truth does hurt. And I can’t be mad at the message if I already accepted the Bible. And I wanted to keep studying.

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“I’ve Never Looked Back, I Can Only God Forward”

When the truth finally clicked in my eyes, one of the main ones, was the history. The Church history and how it coincided with World History. I’m just imagining this in my head, how everything went down, back in 1914, right at the spark of WWI, like that really happened. I’m like, “Hold on! So you telling me the Church came back right at the spark of the prophecy in these last days?”

It said the heavens were quiet for about half an hour. The math on that problem was impeccable, I did it at home, with the whole formula. Once I got the formula I did my own Algebra. And just coming up with it, listening to this, following the teachings that were done for that lesson, that was amazing to me.

And it just broke it down in complete detail. And various other lessons did that You know, breaking down of how the worship service is conducted. To me that’s structure, absolutely I would have it no other way. No, we’re not running around in church praising hallelujah, and that was something I’ve seen often in my day, but what about the actual lesson we need to get?

I was hooked when the Bible was broken down. What is the Bible for? It only strengthened my belief in the Bible itself. From that moment I was locked in. I couldn’t believe that I’d been going without the truth for so long. And so glad that I found something to really hold on to, it was real. I’ve never looked back, I can only go forward. I really am thankful for that.

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“God Is My Reason”

The Church Of Christ offered me the truth. Everything was in the Bible and I knew that book was very significant anyway. I never doubted anything that came out of the Bible and that’s what the Church was about. What makes me happy, coming from my background, is that I am being guided, I am being used by the Almighty Father. He has turned somebody like me, a person I thought would have no chance in this world, into a member, an officer, one of His leaders even in the Church Of Christ.

God is my life. God is my savior. God is my reason. God is my focus. God is my love. God is the father I never really had.

And through His teachings, through His worship, through His words of truth, I learned everything. From just being a model person, for having a responsibility, for having love and compassion. You know, the Church Of Christ is the reason I have a family now. And I would know nothing about being a dad, a father of 2 myself, if I didn’t have the Church Of Christ.

I have God. And I have to let everybody know, family, friends, and the like, that He is real, He is the truth. He hasn’t forgotten anybody. To those who say we don’t need a Church. Do the research first. Hear the lessons, and understand why. Give the Church Of Christ a try because: #1, everything is coming from the Bible

every question you can ask will be answered from the Bible, 100%

And should really consider doing research and comparing before you make any judgment on that. But I mean, what have you got to lose?

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“Favorite Answered Prayer”

My favorite answered prayer is peace. Because even as members of the Church Of Christ, we’re not excused. We’re not spared from all of the drama, all of the dangers of this world. We go through it just as much, if not more. But knowing that God is with you at all times, knowing that He will always protect you, He will always be with you in the trials, He will always give you a way out. It’s peaceful. I can go into any situation knowing I have a chance, a 100% chance of making it out alive because He’s with me. It’s peace that He gives me every time I call on Him so I can face the world ahead.

What Really Matters

Life is hard. And a hard life made Isaiah long for a successful future. He wanted more, materially. A chance encounter leads to chasing what really matters.

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How A Crisis of Faith Made Me Look For God

When Teresa went through a traumatic experience, she felt lost and let down, and even blamed God. Fast-forward to her young adulthood: now a mother, she knew she wanted a better life for her son—one that entailed having a relationship with God.

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Teresa Rios (former Catholic): I kind of lost my faith in God. I put a lot of blame on God because of being told growing up that God protects His children. At a time like that, when you don’t feel like you’re protected, I felt completely let down. I lost all my faith in God. So I stopped going to church. Then I was lost after that.

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Teresa: My name is Tersa Rios, I’m 29. I was born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Until about 3 years ago I moved to California. I’m the youngest of 7 siblings, so there was a pretty wide age gap. So I was pretty sheltered, and inside a lot, by myself a lot. So I ended up pretty shy. Up until about 12 years-old I was going to Catholic church with my mother. When I was 7 my parents separated but she still continued to take me to Catholic church. I kind of questioned a lot about Catholicism growing up. I didn’t understand why if we were supposed to call God our Father, why we would call a priest “Father.”

At 12 years-old I went through, I guess, personal life crisis that kind of broke my faith.

My mom’s boyfriend at the time ended up abusing me. I blamed my mother for bringing him into my life. I kind of lost my faith in God. I put a lot of blame on God, and at a time like that when you don’t feel like you’re protected, I felt completely let down. And I lost all my faith in God. So I stopped going to church..

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Wanting to Believe Not Knowing How

Teresa: My teenage years and high school life ended up revolving around my friends. Having a boyfriend when I was a teenager. During the whole time I still grew-up struggling with my faith, wanting to believe in God, wanting to have faith in God, not knowing how. Still feeling angry about things. I was married. And soon after, I ended up having a son a year later, we’re separated and I became a single mom. Even though I questioned my own faith in God, I wanted my son to have a better relationship with God.

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Getting A Lift

Teresa: I came to know about Iglesia Ni Cristo about a year ago. I was working a terrible little job, didn’t have a car, and I ended up having to get a Lyft ride after work one day. The driver ended up happening to be a brother. The brother I met, his name is brother Chris Baniaga. He was really welcoming, he was super nice. And really friendly, easy to talk to. The ride ended up being about half an hour long, trying to get home and even though I’m pretty shy, it’s hard for me to talk to new people I ended up feeling so comfortable with him. I just couldn’t stop talking.

So eventually, we exchanged numbers and he invited me out with some of the brethren. I got to know them a little bit better and eventually he brought me to worship service.

From that day, everyone was so welcoming, and seeing how emotional the prayers and brethren were. People crying and sniffling. It was different from other churches I’ve been to. It was a pretty emotional service. I wanted to know more about what more of that was like so I continued to go from them on.

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I Was Hooked

Teresa: The first worship service I went to, visually there were no crosses, crucifixes, stained glass, pictures of people that no one should even know what they look like. At first I wasn’t sure what to think about that because it was something I’ve never seen before in any church. But it caught my interest and once the service started, the main thing that I really noticed was the Minister at the time was reading directly from the Bible. Usually, any church service I’ve been to, they’d have a Bible there, and they’d give their sermon but a lot of the time, they never even opened the Bible or they’d say a story they would give, some kind of testimony.

But when I went to INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo), the whole sermon was read directly from the Bible. That was something I’d never seen before. It really peaked my interest. I wanted to know more. The was also the same day, I signed up for Bible studies. I was hooked after that.

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Questions Answered

Teresa: When I started Bible studies, one of the things that stuck out the most to me was, I believe it was lesson 7, it was about Catholicism. It was things that I questioned. Even if I hadn’t said those questions out loud, they were answered just in that Bible study alone.

Some of the questions I had when I started Bible studies, a lot of them were like “Why do we call priests father?” or “why can’t they get married?” “why can’t nuns get married if marriage is something that’s in the Bible?” “why is the pope always wearing these robes and extravagant when he’s supposed to be worrying about the people that follow them?”

Things that I kept to myself and never said a word, he answered for me. If I ever asked someone, they would just tell me “don’t question it. That’s going against God.” But at this Bible study, it was written right there in front of my face where I couldn’t deny it in a way that I could understand it. That was the thing that really caught my attention and blew my mind of wanting to know more about this Church.

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I Couldn’t Find God On My Own

Teresa: A lot of the things I’ve learned in INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo) about what we should be like as followers of God, I’ve never learned going to Catholic church growing up. Those things that I never would’ve even known growing up in there.

For a long time, I felt like there was a place I needed to go or something I needed to find. Because I couldn’t find God on my own no matter how much I wanted to and no matter how much I wanted to believe in Him. I wanted Him to be real. I wanted guidance in my life. I didn’t know how or where to go for it. That void filled up, And now all we get is love and support from the brethren. I don’t have that void anymore. I feel I’m where I’m supposed to be. I believe that I did find the true Church.

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After going through the Bible study lessons and having her lifelong biblical questions answered, Teresa was baptized in the Church Of Christ.

A Stronger Bond

Teresa: After I started going to the Church, it was a few months. I would ask my mother if she would go with me, at least go to a worship service, or a Bible study with me and over and over again, I would always get “no, not this week, I’m tired. Maybe next time. ” And when she rejected me I told her “why don’t you love me?” and for the first time, the puppy dog eyes worked, so she went. Something happened in her just like it did with me that got her hooked and now she recently was baptized into the Church as well. The relationship I have with my mother is quite close. We’ve gone through so much together. A lot of struggles, a lot of blessings. But one of the things that I love the most is getting to go to Church together. We have the same thoughts about God that we’ve both had differences in before. But when it comes to the Iglesia Ni Cristo now, we have the same thoughts and the same feelings. Getting to go to Church every Thursday or Sunday together as a family, it feels good. It’s a very nice relationship to have.

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Wanting More For My Son

Teresa: When I became a mother, putting my son first is my main priority. Wanting him to become a better person than I ever was. Or wanting him to have a better life than I did. It includes wanting to have a relationship with God that I felt I didn’t get to have, as well. So as I raise him, I want him to become closer to the Church and have a better faith than I ever did. Because even now, my faith has grown so much but I still regret that I ever questioned it in the first place. That’s something I don’t want my son to have to live through.

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Having Hope

Teresa: As an adult now, going to INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo), to me God is hope. Everytime that we have struggles, because there’s always struggles in life, now… compared to before when I was younger, if I had a struggle, l would feel like it’s the end of the world. I would feel like there’s no way out; cry, get angry, you don’t know what to do with yourself. You think “how am I gonna get out of this situation?” Now, when there’s a struggle, it’s hard times, you always have hard times. But now I always think, I leave that to God now. He’s not going to let me fail. He’s not going to let any of us fail. He’ll still be there to protect us. That gives me hope, no matter what we go through, no matter what hard times we face. Knowing that He’s there watching, that He’s still going to protect us. He’s just gives us hard times to make us stronger people. I always hold on to that bit of faith, that He’ll always be there for us.

Breaking Tradition

Tradition led Sol to follow her family’s religion. Now with a family of her own, she’s letting God help her start new traditions for the sake of her soul.

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Cecilio & Norma Acuña

Cecilio and Norma Acuña didn’t hear God’s calling to join the Church Of Christ like most do. But despite the obstacles they faced in their journey to find the truth, and no matter how long it took, or what language they learned in, it was the words of God taught in the Church Of Christ that spoke to their hearts.

Hunter Family

God is the ultimate builder of our family — a lesson the Hunters learned when medical concerns stopped them from conceiving, but led them to find the answers to their prayers in adoption. In time, they received everything they ever asked for … and so much more.

The Power of True Prayer

Feeling that the repetitiveness of praying the Rosary has no value, a young man comes to fully realize the true meaning of prayer. This is Paolo Montinola’s story of faith, on INC Podcasts.

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