My Testimony

Hello, my name is Daniel; this is my testimony of how God has been working in my life. I am a living witness to God’s love. I can testify to his salvation, grace, and faithfulness. I know that what He did for me, He can do for you, too. If you find that your story is like mine in any way, let me point you to Jesus Christ, who died for our sins so that we may be made right and have a lasting relationship with God. You have hope and a future, just like I do.

Romans 10:9-10 (New International Version)

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

My Childhood

I grew up the youngest of four children with both parents present in my life. I was blessed to have a whole family to grow up with and count on for anything. I was homeschooled until I was about 10 years old- the fifth grade- and during that time, the love of my family was the only thing that I knew and was everything to me. My days consisted of waking up, eating cereal, doing whatever schoolwork was set out for us by my mom, and then having “recess” with my siblings until my dad came home from work in the evenings to go practice basketball with us. When I look back on it, my childhood was a dream.

During this time, I also attended church with my family almost every Sunday. While we were not too involved outside of Sundays, I do remember reading the Bible as a family quite often. When I was really little, my dad would read Bible stories to my siblings and me before bed. Growing up in this setting really helped me to get to know who God is from a young age, which instilled a faith in Him within me.

From the fifth grade until sophomore year in high school, I attended a small, private Christian school. There, I was able to build a lot of relationships, which I’ll admit was my reason for going to school. I can’t say I cared much for the academic part until much later. It was during this time that I explored things like pornography and formed a few bad relationships, which steered me away from Christ. This was exasperated when I transferred to a much larger public school for my last two years of high school.

Going My Own Way

During my junior and senior years, I picked up the wrong friend group and went almost completely off the rails in my relationship with God. I was disobeying Him in my behavior, language, my constant lies, pornography, and my relationships. At this time, all my siblings were in college around the country, and I was the last one left at home. I began to rebel against my parents more and lived my life constantly online. I was always playing a video game or spending my time on YouTube. I used these habits to distract myself from my bad behaviors and actions. 

Despite my relationships with God and my family suffering, I was still blessed to find success on the basketball court and on the track. I received offers to go to almost any university I wanted. Unfortunately, however, I did not want to go anywhere. An injury in my senior year tipped the iceberg, and I convinced myself that I did not want to compete at the next level or even attend school. I was living so distracted and depressed that I could not see straight. Thankfully, however, my parents still could, and they were able to convince me to go to a community college near home. 

Turning Back to God in College

The transition to college was good for me. Losing my friend group from high school served me well, as I was able to start seeing a little more clearly in life. During these first few years of college, God grew in me a desire to know Him. I started reading my Bible every day to complete the whole thing on my own. In all honesty, though, a large part of my motivation to read the Bible was so that I could say I was a Christian who had read the Bible- It was based on self-righteousness and pride. Thankfully, God still used our time together for good, and I was able to gain wisdom and understanding. 

Also during this time, my mom was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. This was pretty scary, as I did not know what was going to happen. However, God used it for good, and I was able to work on my relationship with my parents while taking care of my mom. It was a sad time, highlighted by God’s healing power as we saw positive reports constantly coming back from the doctors. The prayers and care of the church community that my mom and dad brought our family into helped take care of her. 

Eventually, my time at my community college came to an end, and I had to start looking to transfer to a university. I convinced myself I wanted to transfer to an NCAA Division 1 school for athletics, but when my choices fell through, I found myself crying out to God for direction. WHERE DO YOU WANT ME TO GO, GOD?! Right before the semester was going to start, God opened the door to an NCAA Division 2 school that I was in favor of going to. The school was a faith-based institution and would allow me to grow my relationship with God while pursuing my athletic goals. And so the next part of my journey was about to begin: I was moving out of the house and away from my parents, whom I had spent my whole life with up until that point.

Moving Out

Moving 6 hours away from home was both a breath of fresh air and a bit conflicting. On one hand, I felt a freedom that I had never felt. And on the other hand, my mom was still under close watch for cancer. Thankfully, she was bent on my completing college, so I did not have time to focus on the latter. My life would take another twist as the first week I stepped on campus, I met the most wonderful girl. We got to know each other at a basketball game, and then went back to my dorm to make brownies with some friends. We talked all night, and I knew that I wanted to spend more time with her. So that is exactly what I did. Within the month, I asked her to be my girlfriend, and from there, our relationship took off!

About 3 months into my time at my new school, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everyone got sent home. Being that my mom was still sick, I went to stay with my girlfriend, 12 hours away from home. School continued, just from home, so I felt like I was homeschooled all over again! Eventually, however, the semester ended, and my mom felt safe for me to come back home. The timing was good, but the doctor’s reports were not quite looking the same. Mom was placed on hospice care shortly after I returned home. 

Ouch

My siblings came home at this point to be close to Mom, so the whole family was back again one last time. Unfortunately, my mom then passed away. This hit the family hard because Mom was the magnet that brought everyone together. After a short time of mourning together, we all eventually had to go our separate ways, back to our normal lives, just with a key piece missing. One of the last things she told me was that I had better finish school. So that’s what I did. 

I went back to school and picked up the slack academically by choosing to add a minor degree to my schedule. I also had one of the best sports seasons of my life, where I earned National honors. I had good friends and mentors around me who were aligned with God, and helped me align myself with Him as well. This was a huge blessing for me after some of my past relationships; I was starting to understand why God placed me at that particular school and not one of the other schools that I originally wanted to attend. God also blessed me with two more years of athletic eligibility, which allowed me time to look into graduate degrees.

Light in the Dark

I wish I could say that I carried my positive momentum into my last two years of college, but that is not what happened. I was not faithful in my relationship with my girlfriend, but I convinced myself otherwise. I lied to myself and to her to “protect” what we had worked so hard to build. I struggled to perform well in my sport, which took a toll on me. Up until that point, I had always put sports above everything else in my life: school, relationships, even God. So when things were not going the way that I had worked for, I stumbled hard.

I was trying to will my way forward under the claim that I was doing it for the glory of God; in reality, I was doing it for my own glory. I struggled with this for those last two years of college, and it was during this time that I actually came closer to God than ever before. I learned to trust that He was in control and that I would need to rely on Him to get me through my funk. And while I never did see the same results that I had at the peak of my athletic success- which hurt a lot- I earned something greater in the end: I learned to trust God.

Starting My Career

I graduated from college with a graduate degree–which I know my mom would be very proud of–and at this point, I had to start thinking about what I was going to do for a career. My original plan was to compete professionally in my sport, but as you can probably guess, that did not happen after those last two years in college. So, I took the advice of my coach and became an academic counselor at a school near home. 

At that time, I also decided that I was not going to let my athletic career end on a sour note, so I trained for another season at the school where I was working. This time, however, I knew that something had to be different- I had to do it God’s way and not my own way. I read books on how to perform athletically for Christ and set my goals to do it His way, even if it meant changing everything I knew about myself. That season was the hardest I had yet, but also the most rewarding. While my athletic success was not the same as it had been in years past, I was able to perform for the Lord in a way that I knew actually glorified Him, and I was able to do it with confidence and joy.

In the office, however, I struggled with the transition into a traditional 9–5 job. Sitting at a desk in an office was never something that I wanted to do, but I knew I had to at least try it to see if that sentiment could change. It didn’t- at least, not at that point in my life. I did gain some great friends and mentors, but I struggled to be away from sports. I was also struggling to be away from my girlfriend. While much of our relationship had been at a distance- and we were growing used to it- I wanted to change that. 

My Biggest Mess-Up Yet

At this point, despite my still-secret infidelity, my girlfriend and I were in love, and I decided that I wanted to propose and move closer to her. Soon after, I proposed, and she said yes! We set the date to get married for a year out, and I started to plan my move to be nearer to her. 

As the date of my marriage drew near, God began to convict me of my infidelity. At this point, I had confessed it to a friend and was aware that I was lying to myself about it. There was no way around it; I had crossed the boundary and needed to confess it to my fiancée. Mustering up the courage was not easy, but when the opportunity arose, I told her what I had done- pretty poorly, I might add. In my immaturity, I tried to hold out information and defend myself, but I knew that that was not fair. I had messed up big time, and my fiancée, of course, was devastated. 

Knowing I was no good for her anymore, I eventually threw in the towel and stopped trying to defend myself. This was the best thing I could have done. Undeservingly, I was met with mercy and grace where I should have been kicked to the curb. My fiancée decided to forgive me, saying that she could understand how Jesus must feel every time we betray Him. (She also said that I had better spend every day of the rest of my life making it up to her, among other things). I understood something about forgiveness and grace that day that I never had before. All of a sudden, God’s grace became so much more real to me. 

While I was emptying the closet of all my skeletons, I also confessed that I struggled with stopping to watch pornography. I had been trying to stop for a few years to that point and had never been able to shut the door on my own. Revealing this to my fiancée hurt her, again, because I had lied about it earlier in our relationship. And again, I was met with understanding and grace. With her help and accountability, and that of the Holy Spirit, I am happy to say that I am breaking free from those chains.

Since then, truth and fidelity have become part of my daily outfit. I do not leave the house without them on, lest I hurt the girl I promised to love and protect. Even though I have received this grace and forgiveness, I still hold my actions and their consequences close to my heart so as not to ever let myself be that man again. I have seen betrayal of the worst kind when staring in the mirror and never want to see it again. I will live by the grace given to me and not squander it.

My fiancée and I are getting married this upcoming December (2025), God willing, and I truly look forward to starting my life with her. I am thankful that I get to share that day with the friends and mentors that God has given me these last few years. And I am beyond excited to see my family all together again. And while I will miss my mom and the others who will not get to be there, I know that she will be celebrating from on high.

Where I Am Now

So here I am now, saved by grace. I share this testimony with you today so that you can see how God has been moving in my life and know that He can do the same for you. Even when I strayed from Him many times, He has been faithful in pursuing me. Even when I tried to use Him for my personal gain, He used my energy and misdirection for my good and put me back on the right track with Him. Even when I was unfaithful to my partner, He showed me unbelievable mercy and forgiveness through her. I am not where I want to be yet, but I am making progress.

Philippians 3:12-14 (New Living Translation)

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I am a living witness to God’s love. I can testify to his salvation, grace, and faithfulness. I know that what He did for me, He can do for you, too. If you find that your story reflects mine in any way, let me point you to Jesus Christ, who died for our sins so that we may be made right and have a relationship with God. You have hope and a future, just like I do.