{"id":338377,"date":"2023-06-23T16:24:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T20:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/?p=338377"},"modified":"2023-06-23T16:25:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T20:25:44","slug":"theres-nothing-like-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/post\/theres-nothing-like-family\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThere\u2019s Nothing Like Family\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cThere\u2019sThere’s nothing like family, but growing up was difficult for my siblings and me. We witnessed my father violently abusing my mother many times. As a result, my mother would also abuse my siblings and me. It was like a domino effect and very daunting for us. There was only strife and violence in a family where there was meant to be love and care for one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a lack of respect in our home. My sister and I often planned to run away from home, as we detested living in the same household as our parents. We couldn’t wait until we were old enough to move out.<\/span><\/p>\n

I always felt sad in my childhood because of what happened at home. I remember feeling despised by my parents, as if they had no interest or care towards raising me as best as they could. At a young age, I was introduced to alcohol through the constant parties in our house. I was seven years old when I had my first drink; I could go out and do whatever I wanted at a young age.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents Separation<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Things, however, became even worse when my parents separated. I started smoking cigarettes and made new friends who introduced me to marijuana and other types of drugs. I felt terrible about my family situation but didn’t have anyone to turn to. My siblings and I were also not close. So, I became a closed-off person; I remained in my bubble.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was suffering in silence, involved with drugs and alcohol, and failing at school. I became a loud and aggressive person who constantly engaged in fights, leading to me facing time in prison. However, I soon became tired of the life that I was living and sought help to be free from addictions, but everything failed. But during this time, my mom heard about the\u00a0<\/span>Universal Church<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and told me about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I continued to attend, I was motivated to improve my life. I started fighting with all my strength and obeying what I learned there. The first change I saw was the peace I felt during the meetings, but this was the beginning of more incredible things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the grace of God and the help of the church, I was free from all addictions, anger, and pain of my childhood. Today, I have peace inside, as well as self-control. I can now politely talk to others and am approachable, which was impossible. God has also transformed my family; we have a better relationship now. My life has completely changed, and I am delighted.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Carlos Villareal<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s nothing like family, but growing up was difficult for my siblings and me. We witnessed my father violently abusing my mother many times. As a result, my mother would also abuse my siblings and me. It was like a domino effect and very daunting for us. There was only strife and violence in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6063],"tags":[93,94,1545,133,6124,174,189,210,6121],"site":[],"class_list":["post-338377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-transformation","tag-deliverance","tag-depression","tag-family-problems","tag-holy-spirit","tag-peace","tag-prayer","tag-salvation","tag-testimony","tag-the-holy-spirit"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338379,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338377\/revisions\/338379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338377"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=338377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}