Last February I met a campus minister with Cornerstone Christian Church. He called and texted me about meeting for a Bible study, but I wasn’t interested. I kept real busy with school, work and mixed martial arts. I was great at MMA. I even became a Kickboxing instructor at a well-known school. Unfortunately I also drank and smoked a lot. I soon began to feel depressed, empty and for some strange reason, I truly felt that something bad was going to happen if I didn’t change the way I lived. I needed a place to live and another job where I could work more hours. It seemed hopeless since I also needed to keep up with classes. My current job consisted of working with people who had mental disabilities and one day I took my client to a youth group at his high school.
A testimony I heard really impacted me, and I decided I needed to pursue a relationship with God. I texted the campus minister who had reached out to me months before and he brought me to Cornerstone Christian Church at USF. God knew exactly what I needed by leading me to this church. I surrendered my life to Jesus and got baptized shortly after. Since then He has blessed me with a house to live in with fellow Christians and He gave me a new job. Before I knew it, God called me to begin sharing my testimony with other young men by helping to lead Bible studies.
To fully repent was not an easy thing to do, especially since I loved fighting and believed my main goal was to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship one day in front of thousands of people. But once I put that dream on the altar for God to take and use, I felt at ease with Him. I still train and teach MMA, but now Jesus is my number one no matter what I do. I can’t bear being without Him. ~ Gabe
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Click on a students' name to see a previous Testimony of the Month: Carlos, Ali, James, Dan, Jen, Zac, Andreas, Danielle, Bryce, Sara, Scott, Brittany, John, Amanda, Gabe