Freedom and Fellowship

My wife and I grew up Catholic, we both never read the bible, and we both only went to church when our families would force us to go. We knew of God, but we didn’t know him and what he did for us. That all changed when we were at low points in our lives financially, emotionally, and spiritually. We dated for 3 years, but our relationship was broken; we could never truly love because of what we went through in our lives. We had no purpose for life because everything we had thought we were going to do failed. We were into some new age practices that were becoming popular (ex: meditation, Law of attraction, manifest your dreams/speak your goals into existence, crystals, the secret, self-development books) but proved to be useless because we weren’t where we wanted to be and still to struggle with our problems. Then one fateful day, the Lord had been drawing my wife to him, and he used her to open my eyes. She showed me a video about why New Age Works and Why I Will Never Do It Again. At first, I resisted because I was trying to fix our lives and achieve my goals; why would it be bad? But I was basically making myself my own God and not going to the source of it all. Finally, the Lord softened my heart, and I watched the video. I’m happy I did that because I got convicted, and we threw everything away that had to do with our old lives and the new age.

At this point, we didn’t know what to do, so we were searching for God with all our hearts. We wanted the truth, and we wanted freedom! We bought 2 bibles that the Lord showed us to get, and that started our journey. We were reading the Bible, watching videos, praying, and doing research to find the truth. As we were learning, we felt so sorrowful and convicted, so we would repent as we would learn more. We didn’t want to keep doing the things we use to do, and we wanted to be right with God. We even wanted to get married, which was something we wouldn’t have thought about before all this. We knew it was wrong not to be married and do the things we would do. So we searched how to follow God and be right with him. We came across a video saying baptism is necessary for salvation. My wife told me we had to do this, but the enemy tried to convince me that It wasn’t necessary since we got baptized as babies. Finally, we just prayed to God, saying, “we want to listen to you and be right with you, not man. So whatever you want us to do, let it be done. If you need us to be baptized, bring one to us; otherwise, we won’t search for it.” Later that week, someone I had on Instagram saw a post I made about God, and he reached out. We talked, and he told me he would have a baptism for his youth group, and we could talk to his parents about marriage. God had answered our prayers.

We gave our lives to the Lord on September 12, 2020. After we got saved, there were challenges and revelations that whoever reads this can email me or call me to know more about because it’s personal, but the Lord is faithful to guide you to where he wants you to be. I had a strong passion for evangelizing and street preaches because of the videos on YouTube and a new creation. So I prayed to God to send people how I could grow and do these things because that sort of thing was rare in my area. In October of 2020, I met an awesome brother named Enoch. He was street preaching in my area for the last time, and I was actually in the parking lot at Walmart reading my Bible where he was preaching. I knew God had answered me again, so I went to find him, and he prayed with me. He had me preach that day, and it hasn’t been the same since. We meet the group, which also included Javier Arellano. We grew so much, being disciplined by everyone in the fellowship. This was a family, and we felt so welcomed and loved. They guided us in many areas and helped us speak in tongues that were foreign to us. It has just been an amazing experience being able to follow God truly. Enoch and Javier married us in November of 2020, and we had our families listen to the whole gospel and bible in 2 hours (kind of like a mini Kickstart, lol). We honestly haven’t been happier and more fulfilled. God set us free of so much and has shown us what life is really about. We encourage you to reach out and seek God. He can do all things. So many awesome things have happened up until now, so connect with us so we can talk more God bless you. 224-565-4537 or carlosmontiel126@yahoo.com.