Sam- Ignited

      “Being raised in a God abiding home, one would think that a child’s first instinct is to adopt the beliefs of their parents, however that was the furthest thing from the truth for me. I was born in Corpus Christi, TX in 1998 and was raised homeschooled under two God fearing parents. Someone who’s intentionally seeking God would love to have circumstances such as mine, but I was nowhere near a heart of appreciation, love or understanding.

      I eventually found myself seeking fulfillment through various sinful means. I made myself the author and judge of who I was, and eventually it came to the point that I hated myself and who I was becoming. It’s actually crazy to think that through this all, I had God looking out for me and He never once stopped fighting for my life. I was baptized at a young age, but I certainly had no idea of the importance of my actions and what they really meant. One could say that it was comparable to the singular visit to church on Christmas or Thanksgiving. I still hadn’t experienced God then.

      Years Later, around the age of 13, my father and older sister were apart of the worship team at a local church in Corpus. That Tuesday, the main pastor had called our entire family to the stage to be prayed over. This was the first time I truly felt the Holy Spirit. Being young, and not knowing the importance of pursuing something of value, the feeling of His presence left me, and I was left in the same dry state as before. Years later moving to San Antonio, college came along and I was still placing my self on the throne of my life. I quickly looked for ways of fulfillment and fellowship with others. I remembered my older sister going to an organization called Chi Alpha in Corpus so I decided to follow them on Instagram and give the UTSA Chi Alpha a visit. It was a Thursday night and I came in late to the first service so I sat towards the back of the auditorium. Right away I began letting my mind loose and judging this group saying in my mind, “this looks like a closed organization that would never let anyone in.” Boy, was I wrong.

After that, I didn’t talk to anyone and decided to leave with the intention of not returning when a divine moment occurred. A middle aged Asian man approached me and showed me something that I hadn’t experienced in many years…sincerity. He became my small group leader and invited me to not just join Chi Alpha, but he invited me into his life. I started coming to Chi Alpha every week but I was still in community college at the time so he never hesitated to give me a ride to UTSA. Eventually he invited me to small group, but I was not fully committed to him or God so I wouldn’t attend. It wasn’t until he told me about this annual event called Breakaway that I became fully committed. He even said that if I went he would get me a t-shirt. Of course, free t-shirts being my weakness, I went and the very last night of Breakaway I had an encounter with God like no other. During worship, I fell to my knees in a hard weep and God literally freed me from all kinds of sin and un-forgiveness I had trapped inside my heart. Coming back to the world after that I began to see myself, and others, in a different way. I no longer cared about myself only but I felt sympathy and interest in knowing these beings, called humans, around me. God changed my life because of one man’s obedience to the Holy Spirit. I still remember vividly the realness of love that my small group leader relayed in my life. A passage that stood out to me that he shared during small group was Psalm 133. It talks about how the brethren should be in unity and he presented it in a way that not only showed that he lives it, but it made me want to pursue relationships with the people around me. I have a new heart, one that’s ignited, driven by love and Gods mercy, and there’s no way I can hold this joy and fire to myself.”