Aziel Rubero

Since I was a baby, I grew up in a church. My dad is a pastor so I would attend church around 3 to 4 times a week. When I was about 10 years old, I got baptized. However, the problem for me was that even though I knew the word of God and what Jesus had done for me on the cross, I did not know Him on an intimate level. When I began middle school, I began to hang out with people that were not good influences on my life and to find myself in habitual sins and addiction.

My dad became a chaplain in the Air Force, so we were constantly moving. During my freshman year in high school, I was a brand-new student at a new school in Okinawa, Japan. Because I did not know anyone, I tried as hard as I could to fit in and find some kind of approval from my classmates. I started to live a life completely for myself and full of sin. I still went to church on Sundays and tried to put up a front, as if I were some kinds of perfect pastor’s son, but in the next moment, I ran back to my sinful lifestyle. I lived a life full of hypocrisy and emptiness. My life even got worse when I started my college life.

Later, I met Briana, who is now my wife, but our lifestyles were still deep in sin. One day, when we were together, the Lord suddenly revealed himself to us in a crazy way like how Saul in the Book of Acts encountered Him! He exposed the sin in my life and revealed to me that I really did not know Him at all and that if I continued to live the way I was living, I would go to hell. That night, the Holy Spirit broke me for my sin. He broke me for my unfaithfulness, greed, and pride. I wept for hours. I threw away all the drugs that we had bought and flushed them down the toilet. I understood that I was a sinner that desperately needed the Lord and Savior in my life.

The beautiful thing was that even though Jesus was exposing my sin, at the same time, He uplifted me with His sweet love and presence and told me that because I was truly repentant at heart, He forgave me. This was indeed incredible news! I was guilty and the punishment for that guilt was eternal death, but He forgave me! I was lost, and now I was found! I was far from God, and now I can know Him and walk with Him daily! Ever since that evening on March 31, 2019, I have been walking with Jesus. He is my Lord and the lover of my soul. He is faithful even when we are unfaithful.