Marisol Cuahutle: I was sad for most of the time because I was previously abused by a close family member. And nobody knew about it. And since then, I had always asked about God. My mother [would] say things like, “There’s a god, we have to pray.”
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Stories of Faith
My name is Marisol Cuahutle. I was born and raised in Mexico until I was 12 years old. My mom had to move here (U.S.) because she was a single mother. I remember her saying that she had to go somewhere so we can have a better life. She left and [left] us behind for six months in Mexico. When she had enough money to bring us with her, she brought us here to California–Vallejo, where I grew up.
At the beginning of my childhood everything was going well, but I have something in my past that had always brought sadness inside me.
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Marisol Cuahutle
Seeker
“There’s A God, We Have To Pray”
I was sad for most of the time because I was previously abused by a close family member. And nobody knew about it. So it was some sadness that I had since the beginning.
And since then, I had always asked about God. My mother [would] say things like, “There’s a god, we have to pray.” And since I was 12, I remember praying at night time about what’s going on, what was happening, why was this happening all the time to me. We never stepped into a church with my mom. But she always mentioned that there was only one God.
“Things Kept Pushing Me From Trying To Believe In God”
I myself, started looking for something. I went to a Catholic Church. I asked one of the priests, “Why do you guys allow people to pray to the saints if the Bible doesn’t say that?” He just said, “Well, this has happened in for so many years, we cannot change anything that has been done. We cannot undo anything, so we would just keep doing the same thing.” And that crushed me.
One day, I went to this church, and they asked me to fill out a questionnaire and asked me how much I earn. Which was like, “Okay, you know what … ?” It [kept] me … pushing me away from all these churches, from trying to believe in God.
“It Broke My Heart”
I actually met someone when I was 28 years old. And I had a relationship with him. I got pregnant. When I told the father of my child, he decided to leave and told me that he couldn’t be there. I cried too much. And within two weeks I had a miscarriage. And when that happened, it broke my heart. That was my breaking point.
“This Is A Sign”
I was crying. And as I was crying. I said, “God, please, You can help me. I need to know exactly what’s going on. I need some [healing], I need my heart to be [healed]. I cannot continue like this.”
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Marisol Cuahutle
Seeker
One day, I was driving from Fairfax to my house. I actually went to and stopped by in front of Iglesia Ni Cristo–the chapel in San Pablo. From there, I was like, “Okay, so this is a sign.” I Google Church Of Christ because that’s what they had in front. When I found incmedia.org, I started searching around and I found this video called The Message: Turning to the Bible [During] Uncertain Times. It grabbed my attention because I was going through kind of a similar thing. I went all the way down to the website. And it [said], “Ask a question.” And that’s where I asked a question. That’s when Darlene was the one that contact[ed] me.
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Darlene Alejandro
INC Media Services
“I Took All The Bible Lessons”
And after having a little conversation with them, she asked me if I wanted to meet with a minister so he could answer my questions or read from the Bible. When Brother Richie reached out to me, and Darlene was there as well,
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Brother Richard Juatco
Minister of the Gospel
they asked me questions and I [answered] and I also asked questions. Brother Richie asked me if I wanted to attend one of the Bible lessons online. Due to the pandemic, they were doing it online. So I attended the first one that night. And after that, I took all the Bible lessons.
When they reached out to me and they started reading from the Bible, that’s what grabbed my attention. When I was in the Catholic Church, they won’t actually read from the Bible. They have this [news] magazines. I don’t know exactly what they use, and they go by them. They don’t actually tell you, “Oh, this is where you … that it says, you have to pray for this person or that person or this image or … “ It doesn’t really say anything like that. And when I saw that Brother Richie was reading from the Bible, it was obviously one moment that they made me realize, “Okay, let me continue.”
“I Started Praying, And It Made Me Feel Good”
First time I went to a chapel, It was the best feeling ever because it was the first time that I walked into a church without feeling judged, without feeling guilt. As soon as you walk in, it’s a good feeling. I started praying and it made me feel good. I wanted to heal, but I didn’t want to stop doing what I was doing. I thought it was okay for me to keep doing what I was doing that, “Well, God is going to forgive me, so it’s okay. I’ll just do it and He’ll forgive me.” But then I’ve learned that He wants more from us than just saying “sorry” or saying ‘thank you.” He wants more from us.
“There Is Happiness”
I wish I would have found you all. I wish I would have searched for it and try it before. And probably that way, I wouldn’t have gone through what I went through.
Interviewer: What’s your favorite answered prayer?
Marisol: The [healing] of my heart. I have forgiven a lot of people because of that. I have prayed to forgive [those] who has hurt me. So I have forgiven.
What makes me happy also is that I have a sister. She and I will always do everything together. And she was hesitating on coming to the Bible lessons. One day, I invited her and she liked it. And she started her Bible lessons. And she’s about to [be] baptized. If I ever have to tell someone my [age] … when I was 18, I will tell that person, “You know what, you need to start going to [worship services], you need to find God because you can save so much pain. You can save so much sadness.”
Now, I see that we need God. We only need Him in our lives, in our families, in the marriages, in our friendships, in order for us to have the happiness … because without Him, there’s no happiness.
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Stories of Faith
