The elders wanted to share Javier’s testimony. Last Sunday we welcomed Javier as a member of our church.
Good morning church, I’m also going to be leaving next week to college so this is my last week here.
My name is Javier Alexis Maldonado Sanchez, and I am 19 years old. I was born to parents in Puerto Rico that were hurt by family members and churches growing up. Yet, wanting to hear the word of God and raise their children in His ways, my family were many times invited by people we know to their churches, many times ignorantly sitting under non-gospel preaching.
As far as I can remember, when I look back on my life before Christ I see a kid playing sports and fighting in elementary school, many times enticed by friends. Although I wouldn’t have thought of myself as a bully, I was clearly one. The friends I chose weren’t the best but those who could justify me, having the same sinful desires. However, in the Lord’s providence, the Lord used my strict, former policeman father to preserve me from things I was exposed to as a kid. I grew up with the fear of a father, instead of the fear of the Lord; I knew that if I ever got caught by my dad doing things he didn’t like I would have big problems.
After a while, out of a church, and still blinded to the truth, my family decided to attend a Catholic church where I voluntarily served as an altar server. By then, my dad had moved to Colorado and we moved with him 6 months later, in January 2017. Once here in the States, we went back to the Catholic church, until my mother found out about a Spanish-speaking church in Aurora through a radio station. She then took my sister and me with her, and while in that church, the Lord opened my eyes to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through a passage in the book of Hebrews. He led me to repent of my sins, a turning against my own heart, as John Bunyan once said. As soon as He did that, he took away my desire to be a pilot and gave me a new desire to attend Bible college and to trust him with my life. I remember one of my favorite passages was Matthew 6:26-30 (ESV): “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
Now, during these last three years that I’ve been walking with the Lord, God has been transforming my mind through his word and giving me opportunities to grow in Him. I went to Peru as a short-term missionary, and there I had one of the most fruitful times in my life learning how to discipline myself to the reading of the word. I now attend a Bible college in California, and it is my desire to later attend a seminary. However my life will look in the future, whether pastoring a church or working in a regular job, I know that by his grace He will keep me and conform me to the likeness of His Son.