Hello all you blessed ladies and gentlemen in Christ. This day, I have been prompted by the Spirit to engage you all in a brief but very poignant part of my story. My testimony, for I am a very thankful man.
Why? What do I have to be thankful for?
Why? What do I have to be thankful for?
So, so much.
My name is Tymothy Alex Longoria, of Spanish and Greek heritage and I have a quote. Spanish, Mexican and Greek blood make me who I am. The blood of Jesus makes me who I want to be." I have been married to my wonderful wife Jennifer for almost 11 years. My two children Jubal and Araceli are an amazing blessing from the Lord and I am speechless in regards to them.
When I was 14, my aunt, (my mother's younger sister) began inviting my parents to her church. After a time of pulling and tugging, my mother eventually accepted the invitation, taking my sister with her, and a short time later, my father attended as well.
My name is Tymothy Alex Longoria, of Spanish and Greek heritage and I have a quote. Spanish, Mexican and Greek blood make me who I am. The blood of Jesus makes me who I want to be." I have been married to my wonderful wife Jennifer for almost 11 years. My two children Jubal and Araceli are an amazing blessing from the Lord and I am speechless in regards to them.
When I was 14, my aunt, (my mother's younger sister) began inviting my parents to her church. After a time of pulling and tugging, my mother eventually accepted the invitation, taking my sister with her, and a short time later, my father attended as well.
Of course we know, they weren't responding to my aunt's invite, but rather Christ's. They in turn invited me for quite some time... all the while refusing, "This is lame. These people are weird" was my attitude.
They even had a rally outside of my house! Talk about embarrassing!
They would go to church and I would stay home. Then a month before my 15th birthday, my abuelo, my father's father, passed on. I heard my father speak at his wake and saw how he kept his emotions in "check."I started allowing myself to see my father in a new light; my father had a huge bible opened up to a different proverb each day; I started allowing myself to see how happy my little sister was with her new "Christian" friends. I told my stubbornness to move aside for a moment, and one day, I went with them to church.
BUT!
I didn't go in, I stayed in the car! As the usher walked over to me,I said to myself "oh, please." And he said to me, "Hey you wanna go in?" I politely shook my head and he responded by saying, "Later on" Yes, to myself, “later on. Later on I'll go to church. Later on”, was my typical response.
Later on came... and I finally walked in. It was like the churches I had been to as a kid. It got real loud, real quick. "Whatever," I told myself. Men and women were dancing around like they were crazy. I believe some described them as being "brainwashed." But, the more I went, the more they reached out to me, the more I saw they were being brainwashed!
Their minds HAD been washed, by the blood of Jesus! It wasn't just a feel good, emotional thing! Something, someONE had changed them!
Testimony after testimony I saw; I heard; and I knew. So I walked over to the alter. "Lord, be real in my life!" I shouted from within.
I prayed that prayer over and over.
Then, the unthinkable happened. I became one of the weirdos! I became heavily involved. I sang to Jesus. I sang for Him. I found my voice. Literally, I learned to play guitar. I made a life-long family there. I met my future wife there! Eventually, I moved from my parent's home into the church home, for a year. And those same "radical" men, the one I said "Oh, please" to became my brothers. I would wake up EARLY and go outside to sing "coritos" little chorus's, like "Power, power wonder working power in the Blood of the Lamb!" and read the word and studied and prayed and studied and prayed.
He called my name way before all of this transpired, of course, when I was four, according to my mother. I would walk around the house saying, "Thank you, Jesus." :)
I had bible teachers, preachers. I had music mentors. I was a blessed kid. If any man boast, let it be of the Lord!
...and now, 16 years later I still pray, "Lord, be REAL."
Paraphrasing what I heard a television pastor say, “Jesus has shown up over and over in my life. He reveals HIS destiny to me! He showed me where I could go. If I continue to walk in Him, it wasn't me who walked in to that church. I mean physically I did the walking, but God in me took over that day. And, I have faltered, since then I allowed my stubbornness to cloud His vision. And, a journey that should have taken eleven days, took 40 years. But…. “
THANKFULLY and sincerely when we call out to Him, saying, "YOU! It was always YOU!" He doesn't tarry! He does not hesitate to give you all of Him. I am now 31 years old, give thanks daily for the overabundance of mentors and counselors I had all those years andgive thanks daily for His perfect will. As my father says, "Once He gives you something, He won't take it away." I accepted my calling as a writer.
“for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” ~Romans 11:29.
And great and wonderful things are happening for me. All thanks to God. And yes, even through the weirdos refusing to compromise and surrendering their lives to Him.
“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” ~Proverbs 11:14
Today I would like you to look back and reflect on who have been yourcounselors? Who brought you to Christ? We pray and bless them.
Be blessed all and make '11 the best year of your lives... so far!
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