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![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-3.47-150x150.png\")
I was very depressed. There were many nights when I would just sit on the floor of my room and cry. When I slept, I would wake up, but I couldn’t move my body; I could only see. I would try to move, but I wasn’t able to.<\/p>\n
I didn’t really want to tell my mom because I knew what she would say: to turn to God. And I didn’t want to hear her lecture me about that.<\/p>\n One day, my whole family was outside in the garden, so I was the only one inside my house at that point. I was washing the dishes, and then I saw the knife, and then a voice came to me to cut myself.<\/p>\n In that moment, I felt like I lost control of my body. I had no control over my body. It was as if I were seeing myself from a third-person point of view. I got so scared, and I knew that I didn’t want to die. Just as the knife was getting close to my wrist, my brother came through the front door. That’s when I snapped out of it and dropped the knife.<\/p>\n That moment was the end of the rope for me. I didn’t have anything else to lose. I would see my mom and the transformation God did in her life. She was going to commit suicide while raising three children, but He took those thoughts away from her.<\/p>\n There were times before when she would pull at her hair, feeling something was sitting on the top of her head, and God took that away from her. When my mother received the Holy Spirit<\/a> and came to know God, her life was transformed completely.<\/p>\n When I would pray, I would tell Him, \u201cI want to know the God of my mother because I have seen everything You’ve done in her life that I want You to do in my life as well.\u201d<\/p>\n So, I took part in the Fast of Daniel<\/a><\/span> at The Universal Church<\/a><\/span>. At that moment, I wanted to take everything seriously. I was done playing with God. I was done playing with my life.<\/p>\n I would fast. While at school, I would fast for 10 hours, trying to get God’s attention and do something different. During lunch hour, I would go to the bathroom stalls to pray to God.<\/p>\n I read my Bible more. I would listen to Bishop Macedo’s daily messages<\/a><\/span> instead of being on my phone on social media; I focused on wanting to know God. Reading the messages of the church<\/a><\/span>, reading the Bible, and meditating more, praying more. There were nights I wouldn’t sleep, waiting for 3 AM so I could pray to God.<\/p>\n On the last day of the Fast of Daniel<\/a><\/span>, it was very challenging. I had participated in the 7 AM meeting on Sunday<\/a> as well as the 9:30 AM meeting, and I was seeking the Holy Spirit, but nothing had happened.<\/p>\n On my car ride home, it was something so spiritual because I was battling voices of doubt telling me that nothing would happen and that I should give up because it was the last day of the Fast of Daniel.<\/p>\n There are no words to compare; nothing my mother has ever told me about the Holy Spirit can ever compare to what He has done in my life and who He was in that moment for me.<\/p>\n I was no longer depressed<\/a>. I no longer wanted to commit suicide<\/a>. The anger I had towards my father was gone. I asked forgiveness from myself because, above everything, it was myself I was affecting.<\/p>\n I found the God of my mother!<\/p>\n \u2014Yemelin<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DISCLAIMER: The Universal Church advises not to dismiss medical treatment. The prayers, elements, and tools of faith are not a replacement<\/strong> for medical treatment but a complement\/support to it. Please follow your doctor\u2019s instructions along with using your faith in the Word of God.<\/small><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since I was in church from a very young age, I didn’t really want to spend my teenage years stuck in church, and I didn’t want church to affect my life outside with my friends. I was very depressed. There were many nights when I would just sit on the floor of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":350068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6063,20,30],"tags":[94,6173,6202,210,6121,6319,6136],"site":[],"class_list":["post-350041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fast-of-daniel","category-life-transformation","category-real-life-stories","category-ypg","tag-depression","tag-fast-of-daniel","tag-suicidal-thoughts","tag-testimony","tag-the-holy-spirit","tag-transformation-stories","tag-youths"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350041","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=350041"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350079,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350041\/revisions\/350079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350041"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=350041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-5.12.29-PM-150x150.png\")
In that state, I would hear voices<\/a>. I remember one specific time when they were telling me that I would never be free of them. It was so constant that I would try to fight my sleep because I didn’t want to go to sleep.<\/p>\n![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-5.14.27-PM-150x150.png\")
But I thought, \u201cI am already on the last day, and I have done everything I could to get God’s attention. Why would I break this fast just because I have doubts? Why would I not finish the race when the finish line is right in front of me?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-5.14.38-PM-150x150.png\")
When I got home, I knelt and prayed. I poured my heart out to God, and I said, \u201cI am not getting up from this prayer until I receive the Holy Spirit.\u201d So I was praying and praying, and that is when God descended over me. It was the greatest thing ever!<\/p>\n![\"\u201cI](\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-11-at-5.11.55-PM-150x150.png\")
I no longer experienced sleep paralysis, which had once terrified me and made it hard to fall asleep. I no longer have that. That desire to go out with friends and to parties, I no longer have that. Everything in my life transformed, from the way I dress to the way I think, everything changed.<\/p>\n