"The Day the Music Stopped - and God Spoke" ft. Julio Aviles

In this powerful episode of From Wrong to Strong, Julio Aviles shares his raw journey from addiction, brokenness, and a marriage on the brink, into a life transformed by the grace of God.

At his lowest point, everything seemed to be falling apart. Then, in an unexpected moment, God used something ordinary - a radio, to interrupt his path and call him back. What followed was a deep confrontation with truth, surrender, and the beginning of real freedom.

This conversation explores addiction, spiritual warfare, marriage restoration, and what happens when God steps into the middle of our mess. It’s a testimony of hope for anyone who feels stuck, lost, or convinced it’s too late for change.

If you’ve ever wondered whether God can still speak, still heal, and still redeem -this story is for you.

Transcript

0:00

my wife was fed up with it, um, to the point she said she was gonna leave me to get outta the house and just leave her at the house and for me to find a place. In the middle of 2023, I came across Moody Radio.

Omar: 0:12

Were you just, uh, searching the radio and it came, uh,

Julio: 0:14

my work truck doesn't have Bluetooth, so it was like a, like one of the FM transmitters and stuff. So it got, it broke and for some reason I just hit the, the thing, I was so mad'cause I couldn't hear to my corridos and stuff. So I got so mad and I just hit it and none of a sudden I heard"Jesus!" Jesus the gospel and I turned it and I'm like, what is this? Boom. I went back to the channel. It's the 90.1, so Jesus the gospel and I'm like, what is this I started seeing some signs of God. God loves you. Repent. Come back to me. Then the billboard signs right in the expressway. Yeah. And I would start crying, weeping by myself.

Omar: 0:48

Get outta here.

Julio: 0:49

Yeah. I would start weeping and crying and I'm like, why am I crying to the signs of God?

1:09

From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for its crime and violence. On this podcast, we will be sharing stories of redemption Listen to my guests as they share their experiences, struggles, trauma, but also the strength, hope, faith and perseverance, these have developed in them to keep pushing and moving forward in life. Tune in to hear how their lives have gone from darkness to light and from wrong to strong.

Julio: 1:39

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of From Wrong to Strong podcast. I'm your host. My name's Omar Calvio, and tonight I have my guest. His name is Julio Aviles. Uh, I met this brother about a month and a half ago,

Omar: 1:52

right along with, uh, Salvador Torres, who I interviewed just this past week. And, uh, man just made some, what I call divine connections. Uh, so we talked, this brother, uh, shared a little bit of his testimony with me, and I told him, man, brother, I got, I gotta have you on the podcast.

Julio: 2:07

So they, they thank you for coming out here, man. No, thank you for inviting me, man. It was a, it's a pleasure man. And hopefully I could reach a lot of souls, man. Lost souls that are still dark, still stuck in darkness, still stuck in bondage and, um, and chains, man, because some people don't know the Lord, man. And I didn't know the Lord myself until, like I said, we're gonna get deep down on it. I had an encounter with God. In my bathroom.

Omar: 2:29

Oh yeah. Yeah. Alright, man, we, we'll, we'll eventually get to there, but man, let's go to the beginning. Can you tell us, uh, where did you grow up at and how, uh, how was life for you in those, uh, early years?

Julio: 2:39

Um, me, I, I grew up on, uh, Humbolt Park area on the north side of Chicago. Um, growing up over there, I would see a lot of crime like anybody else. So I would see a lot of crime gangs whatsoever, people getting shot at. Um, we will see them, um, other rivals come to the, to where we lived at, to I guess to have a few with the other rivals. And us as kids, we would be nosy looking outside the window and our parents telling, no, don't look outside the window. But we still didn't listen and we would see people get shot literally laying down dead in the, in the, in the streets. I grew up on hat and washing and it was, uh, it was tough moments. Um. So I, that was my childhood right there, man.

Omar: 3:20

How old do you think you were when you were seeing like, the bodies out there, like people getting shot? Probably

Julio: 3:23

6, 7, 8. We were always outside, so back in our days we didn't have video games. Right. We didn't have no games. Like what so whatsoever. My, my parents would go outside. We used to play marbles right in front of our yards. We have dirt, just marbles or we're playing any game we could find. Um, and, and the, and the, the thing is that these gang bangers. Oh, in our neighborhood, they would tell us, go inside because we gonna start shooting. They would tell us straight up, go inside because we gonna start shooting. So we would go out, inside, go, they would tell us, go inside. So we go inside and we start peeking through the windows, and then we just hear the shots, boom, boom. And you see screaming, yelling and you see the body just laying down. And it was not, not gang bangers getting hit, it was, um, ordinary people, people that civilians, it was not gang bangers getting hit. It was civilians getting hit. Um, yeah, I remember the sign was just a mechanic that he was doing mechanic. Fixing his car and he got shot, man. Yeah. So the bullet hit him and stuff.

Omar: 4:21

Yeah, man, that, that, that's the unfortunate side of like the, the gang warfare in Chicago. How were things inside the home, the family, mom and dad in the picture like,

Julio: 4:28

oh yes. My mom and my dad, they were in the picture. Um, we live in a three building. He was my, all the family. My uncles live in the third floor. My dad, we live in the second floor. My uncle live in the first, then another uncle live in the, in the basement. So it was like a four building. So I grew up with my dad and my mom. My dad was always drinking. He was always drinking. Um, I never knew a time that my dad was not drinking, that he was, he went to work, he did his money, whatever, but he was never home. He was never present. So he was always out. And my mom, he left my mom all the time alone in the house with us and stuff. So it was, growing up I would see my dad drink a lot. He would be drinking a lot to the point we were following him everywhere. He would take us, I guess, just to, for him to have an excuse to go out. I'm gonna take my kids to the park. But we will, we, we will end up going to his friend's house to drink. He would go to his, to his friend's house to drink, but we would never go to the park. Oh

Omar: 5:21

man.

Julio: 5:21

So we would see him drink and stuff. And growing up it was tough because my dad would come home drunk and he would start, he would be abusive towards my mom and stuff.

Omar: 5:30

Man, that, that, that's rough, man. That early age to witness that. And then I'm sure like later on it probably you see the effects. Like we, we don't see it in the moment, but later on in life we see it as a lot of times try to. It's almost like to, to replicate it. Yeah. Yeah. Replicate. Even though replic, yes, for sure. Yeah. It is weird'cause uh, some of those very things that we say. Man, when I grow up, I'm not gonna do that. Right? Yes. Like, man, yes, yes, we see it, but then we up going some way, somehow like it comes back, man. But, uh, that's for sure. Yeah. So, okay, so that's the eight or nine. Uh, uh, how does the teenage years, uh, in life, uh, look for you?

Julio: 6:03

Um, the teenage years, um, I was, um, going to high school. That's when I started, uh, tasting my first time, my, my first blunt smoking weed and stuff. So I started smoking in a young, young age, probably 14, 15. I got introduced to marijuana and stuff. Um, and from the beginning I knew that was my type of drug and stuff, marijuana. So I got really hooked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we tried to keep it on the low and stuff and then started progressing. Um, started progressing to the point I was in high school already, so I was stealing money from my mom. I started stealing money from my mom to, to consume my addiction because I already knew I was addicted.'cause I was asking it for every day. I was smoking a blunt every day. So it got worse and worse.

Omar: 6:48

Man, that, that's crazy. You usually. Like, uh, I know like when, when people start doing that, usually it's like the harder drugs, like, like crack or heroin for you to do weed, man. Like you know you needed it. Right? Not for real, man. Yes, for sure. You know what I'm saying? That's for sure. For sure,

Julio: 7:04

for sure. That's how back, looking back, like you say, I noticed I was addicted already. I'm like, wow. Really addicted to marijuana, to the point I was stealing money from my mom. Yeah. Yeah.

Omar: 7:13

So, so, so, so that's okay. The teenage years, man, you're, you're hooked. Uh, what, what, what does that lead to? How, how does life look

Julio: 7:19

come? Um, I, I ended up dropping from school, dropping off out of high school. I never finished high school and stuff. Uh, I guess I dropped out because, um. I started hanging with the rock crowd, uh, from a, from where I live, from the neighborhood. And that's, that's it from that time. And then I met. My current wife. Okay. I met my current wife when I was 11, 12 years old. Oh, no

Omar: 7:42

way.

Julio: 7:43

Yeah. So I met her. We were supposedly girlfriend and boyfriend and stuff. We met, but back then, right there in the neighborhood when we went to this, um, to the New Life Center in the same, same block. Oh, no way. She went to that, to the New Life Center. It was a school, it was a Lutheran school, so she went, it was an all girls school, so she went to that school. It was a school in that time.

Omar: 8:00

Yeah, yeah.

Julio: 8:01

That new life center where we met. Yeah, yeah. Right, right. So she went to that, to that school. So that's where I met her, because my cousin lived in that area. So I met her. Um, so we stopped seeing each other. And I guess when I stopped going to school and stuff, I got a job. Then I saw her again, I saw her again, and I brought her to leave to, to live with me. Um, so I took her home and stuff. So we met again. Um. So I started, I ended up working at, at a, at a job.

Omar: 8:28

Okay.

Julio: 8:29

So I was working night shifts just to con to consume smoking and to. Just to provide for her.

Omar: 8:36

Gotcha.

Julio: 8:37

Um, we were teenagers and stuff, um, that it was, we were doing sexual immorality stuff. Oh, right, right. Yeah. So it was just anxiety, anxious to go see her to the point I crashed my mom's car, and so my mom was just kind of upset. Um, that I crashed her car and that I ended up bringing her home because she got pregnant. So she, we had a kid and at a young age and stuff, man,

Omar: 8:58

that 17,

Julio: 8:59

yeah, 16. She, my son is 16 years old and stuff.

Omar: 9:02

Oh man. So how old are you

Julio: 9:03

now? I'm 34. Oh, young, 35. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 30. So

Omar: 9:08

basically half. Half that age. Half that age. Yes. Gotcha. Okay. So

Julio: 9:11

I was just working. Working. Gotcha. Um, so during my, during high school, I was just. Mind you, during high school I was 16, 17. That's when I started also hanging out with grown men, so I started consuming cocaine at a young age also. Uh, but it didn't got to me until later point. Eventually it took over me and stuff for, so I don't even know how I ended up in cocaine, but I started consuming it every single day.

Omar: 9:37

So what, uh, um, how does life look? I know you mentioned, you know, okay, so you became a father.

Julio: 9:42

Yes.

Omar: 9:42

Did that change anything about you? Like, uh, you, you know, personally, you, you're a dad now, a young dad. Did you feel a change in you?

Julio: 9:50

Mm. Or you just

Omar: 9:51

kept living the same, uh, lifestyle. I

Julio: 9:53

kept, I kept living the same cycle, the same lifestyle. Smoking. I kept living the same cycle, smoking and stuff. So growing up, that's what happened, man. Life. So

Omar: 10:01

there was basically chaos in the home in a sense. Yeah. Chaos

Julio: 10:03

in my home. Yeah. Chaos in my home.

Omar: 10:05

So I, I, I, I, like, earlier you mentioned, um, you didn't get into cocaine, like, uh, what, what happens right before you start getting involved in it? In, in that, or

Julio: 10:16

I guess when we started, um, mind you, my wife came to live with us on Pulaski division, and she was not my wife at that time. Um, I remember our first argument, our first fight. I put my hands on her. Um, like you said, we always told, I always told myself, I'm not gonna do that to my wife. Never gonna put hands on her. Seeing my dad did it, doing it. I brought it to her, so we would just constantly fight. But mind you, I was not drinking. I was just getting high. It was just petty arguments. To the point. We would just argue. Argue all the time. And I guess it started leading me to doing cocaine because we would go to parties. My cousin would tell me, Hey, you wanna do cocaine? And I'm like, no, I'm good. I'll stick with marijuana. And then to the point I was like, you know what? Peer press pressure.

Omar: 10:57

Yeah,

Julio: 10:57

peer pressure got to me. So I started consuming it. Started consuming it. Every Friday we, the first time I consumed it. So every Friday they would say, Hey, we have another party. So we would go again, where's the yeyo now? So I, my body started asking for it already. Yeah. So where's the yeyo? Where's the yeyo? So eventually started doing it, started picking off and um, the cocaine and stuff to the point when I had another kid, more arguments. We're fighting. Nothing was changing. Uh, me, I was high on cocaine, accusing her, seeing stuff that there was not there. Seeing figures that were not there because I was so high on cocaine. Get outta here. So you start seeing stuff, right? I was seeing stuff. I was seeing stuff. I'm accusing her, you doing this and that. So she starts getting that mentality. You are doing something. So it was just back and forth. Boom, boom, you're doing something. No, you're, you're accusing me. It's'cause you're doing it. Yeah. So it was just arguments. Arguments. So started consuming more drinking. So I told myself I cannot keep with those, uh, keep up with those two habits, marijuana. So I gotta decide for one. So I decided for the more expensive one, I put the marijuana to the side. That was, that was not a good business choice. That was not a good, it was not. So I decided for the mar, for the cocaine and stuff, that was my, my drug choice going on and stuff. Um. So, yeah.

Omar: 12:23

So that got, so how, how, how old were you when you feel like it gripped you? Like when you became an addict? Basically

Julio: 12:28

it, I think it was during my twenties, my 20, when I was 22, 23. Is when it really gripped me. For sure. So yeah, that was my, that was my life growing up. I stopped doing drugs for some reason. I ended up getting a home. Ended up getting a home. Uh, we from the north side, we went to the south side on my stop completely because I wanted to get this home. So we ended up buying a home on the south side where I live right now on the south side of Chicago. Um, I guess it was by the grace of God that he put me in the south side So I became my Uber driver. Once I became my Uber driver. I started doing cocaine again because I would travel to my plug. I would act like I was driving Uber, picking up people, but would end up going to my plug and go get the cocaine and stuff. So I would start doing it. It was not every day. It was just Fridays. Saturdays, Sunday. It was three times a week. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There was no time for my family. Again, the same thing. So like I say, it was on and off, and again when I was, and I guess every time I would go back to cocaine, it would start progressing. Progressing. The addiction would start progressing.

Omar: 13:36

So what, what, what, what, what happens? It starts bringing a change too. It

Julio: 13:39

starts bringing a change. Um, I guess when I left my Uber, I started working for another company, an air duct cleaning company. Started working for an air duct cleaning company for three months. I think it was three months. I was still getting drunk. I still getting high in cocaine. And so I would start going to that job, start learning. I would start asking questions to the guy. Um, how about the business? About whatsoever? And then all of a sudden the job finishes and I didn't wanna work for nobody. I didn't wanna work for another company. Um, so in my mind, something in my mind's telling me start an air, the cleaning business. Start a business. So, uh, so, um, the little money I had in my bank account, I just went full in without no clients, no, no marketing, no nothing. So I proceed to start that business, just jump in straight up to the job so I get all the equipment and stuff. So, and that's when I started my business and I guess a little bit of things started to change and everything started like in 2023, before 2023. Everything started to change already. My, I mean, I had, we had, me and my wife had asked God for our baby girl. We asked her for our baby girl. So I told God, like, God, if you give us a baby girl, a little girl, because we already had three boys. I'm like, I'm gonna leave the cocaine. I'm gonna leave the, the, the alcohol. So time passed on. We did the gender reveal. Um, and God blessed us with a girl. He blessed us with a girl.'cause in that time I didn't know. I didn't even know why I asked God. Right. We didn't know why we asked her. So.

Omar: 15:27

So even in the midst of your lifestyle, you were still talking to God during that time? We were still talking to God. Yeah. We were still

Julio: 15:31

talking. Oh. I believe I was talking to God all my lifetime. Okay. My lifetime. Right. Like I said, I grew up Catholic. Yeah. But I never had a relationship with God.

Omar: 15:37

Right.

Julio: 15:38

So I started that business, um, in the midst. We and my wife was pregnant, so we, the baby girl was born. So. My wife told me when the baby was born, she told me, now you're gonna leave all the alcohol. You're gonna leave all the alcohol and you're gonna leave the cocaine. And I'm like, yeah, sure. So in that sense, I was trying with my own strength to leave it. But uh, I couldn't, I was still hiding from her. I was still doing it, still getting high, still getting, still drinking, um, here and there and stuff. Um, and. Mind you, the pandemic got here, got there and it got worse. She would go to work and like I said, I was trying to hide it. She would go to work and I would get up in the morning, start bumping, drinking. By the time she would get here by 2:00 PM I would act like I was sleeping because I didn't want her to see me all drug up. Yeah.

Omar: 16:35

Could you even sleep when you're doing that? Nah, I was just faking it. You were just faking it? I was just faking it. Just to leave you alone?

Julio: 16:40

Just to leave me alone. Yeah. So. So, yeah, man.

Omar: 16:45

Well, what, what kind of effect does the pandemic, uh, have on you and your marriage, your family during that time, you, on your addiction?

Julio: 16:53

Um, it, it really hit me a lot because I started consuming cocaine every single day, every single day. Had eight balls. So they were giving free money in the government. They were giving the stimulus checks. That's where your money went. That's where my money went. Wow. I was buying cocaine. I would run off to my plug or I would call him, Hey, meet me in my backyard from the north side. My plug was in the north side. How

Omar: 17:16

could you do cocaine with a mask?

Julio: 17:20

That was in my home, man. So I think things started getting out of control and stuff. So mind you, 2023 gets here. So it was funny because we were, we were already talking about God for some reason. Mm-hmm. During 2023. Who You, you and your girlfriend at the me and wife, my girlfriend. At that time. At the time, at the time my mom was, because my, I were, we were just arguing and fighting and my mom would tell us, go to church. Go to church. Um, seek God. Seek God. So we were not, I was not listening to my mom. I'm like, I'm not trying to go to a, to a church and stuff. So. I guess one time she told us, go to this Catholic church. So I went to this Catholic church. I went to this Catholic church and I went inside to pray. I guess I went to the altar and I see Jesus Christ in the crucifix right there. And I see him and I just get on my knees and I started asking God, God just work on my life whatsoever. Um, and I started asking him stuff and stuff, but I didn't feel that presence. So I, every time I imagine 2023 cocaine starts getting worse. My wife would kick me outta the house and the only place I would go was with my dad to drink, with my dad to get high on cocaine with my dad. So my dad, my, yeah, he was getting super worse in 2023. So a month passed, I believe a month passed, like in, I think it was April, and I had went back home and stuff and I told my wife, you know what, this is it for me. God bless us with the, um, my, my daughter was born in April 22nd, 2023. So I told my wife, I went and my wife called me because the baby was gonna be born already, so she wanted me to be there and stuff. So I went. And the, my daughter was born and stuff, and we were just crying because God blessed us with a daughter and stuff. And I told my wife, you know what, this is it. I'm leaving the cocaine. I'm leaving the alcohol, I'm leaving it for good and stuff. So, and she's like, you promise? And I'm like, yeah, I'm doing this right for you guys, for everybody, for the kids, for the family and stuff. Um, my daughter didn't have a month born. I got invited to my cousin's party. And my wife like, Hey, I told my wife, babe, I'm gonna go over there because I got invited. She's like, no, because you're gonna fall. You are gonna go do cocaine. It's gonna be temptations. And then I'm like, no, I could handle it. My own strength could handle it. I'm telling myself my own strength. Mind you, I didn't last an hour. When I got to that home, I started consuming. Didn't come home two days later. Yeah. My wife was so pissed. Oh yeah. So the problem started again. 2023. Um, I guess during, in the middle of July. Um, mind you we're Mexican, so we li we listen to Corridos. Yeah, yeah. Corri, narco, corridos. All that music would make me want drink, would make me wanna party and stuff. So I started, uh, I would listening to it daily and stuff and I would wanna party. And again, it started with my habit again, consuming doing drugs. Nothing was changing. Even though I had my daughter,

20:26

my wife was fed up with it, um, to the point she said she was gonna leave me

Julio: 20:31

with the babies and the kids or

20:32

to get outta the house and just leave her at the house and for me to find a place.

Julio: 20:36

So 20,

20:38

in the middle of 2023, I came across Moody Radio.

Julio: 20:42

I came across Moody Radio and stuff.

Omar: 20:45

You just, were you just, uh, searching the radio and it came, uh, I

Julio: 20:47

had a Bluetooth. I had a Bluetooth. Okay. It was, uh, my. My van, my work truck doesn't have Bluetooth, like physical Bluetooth. So it was like a, like one of the FM transmitters and stuff. So it got, it broke and for some reason I just hit the, the thing, I was so mad'cause I couldn't hear to my corridos and stuff. So I got so mad and I just hit it and none of a sudden I heard Jesus. But the gospel. I just heard those words, so I like, before I turned in, I had turned it, I had turned the channel and stuff and I heard Jesus the gospel and I turned it and I'm like, what is this? Boom. I went back to the channel. It's the 90.1, so Jesus the gospel and you boom and started talking and I'm like, what is this and stuff. Um, like I said, 2023, I started my business. I started seeing signs of God. Okay, going back to that, I started seeing some signs of God. God loves you. Repent. Come back to me. Then the billboard signs right in the expressway. Yeah. And I would start crying, weeping by myself.

Omar: 21:44

Get outta here.

Julio: 21:45

Yeah. I would start weeping and crying and I'm like, why am I crying to the signs of God? Like, who is God? Who is Jesus? Um, I don't know. Who's Jesus? I'm, I'm a nobody. I don't know nothing about God. No. No wisdom. No, no whatsoever, nothing about God. So I start telling my wife about Moody Radio. I'm like, babe, I discovered Moody Radio. She like, what is that? I'm like, talks about the Bible. Talks about the gospel. So I guess I had sparked something inside her also that we started, we ended up talking about God, start talking about the Bible. People would come to our homes.

Omar: 22:18

Well what, what, what was her faith background?

Julio: 22:20

Uh, her faith was, um. Jehovah Witness. Okay. She grew up as a Jehovah Witness. She didn't believe in God and Jesus Christ. She didn't believe, she believes whatever they believed they had on her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they, she was a Jehovah Witness and stuff, and she always would tell me, oh, you, for some reason she was tell, she would always tell me, oh, just'cause you're Catholic doesn't mean you're a man of God. So she will always bring Catholic Catholicism, your communion, your confirmation, um, just because you guys this and that and stuff. So. It was just plain arguments about that also. Yeah.

Omar: 22:53

Yeah.

Julio: 22:54

So I guess I planted a seed on her. Mm-hmm. Me always talking about God during the 2023, during June, July. So people would come to our home, my cousins would come to my home and, and uh, we start telling them about God and they would start looking at us like, God, Jesus. Like, since when you guys talking about God and stuff, so we're like. I don't know, but you gotta seek him. I'm like, God is real. We started telling them, mind you, we, we don't, we don't even have a church. We don't have nothing. We're like evangelizing to them without even just on the radio Uhhuh. We don't, I didn't even know what evangelizing was. Yeah. I don't even know what the word evangelizing was. So I'm, I started listening to Moody Radio. He was talking about, God, I'm telling my mom about the, about the Moody Radio. So something inside me was just staring and stuff. But mind you, I was still drinking, still consuming drugs and stuff. So by the end of December, I get a call from the guy, from a guy come and clean my air duct system and stuff. So I went to clean his home, his air ducts. And I saw something in his room that we related. I saw like a, I don't know if you know about crypto, no. Cryptocurrency is digital money, Bitcoin, XRP, all that stuff. So I see a wallet, it's a cold wallet where you could store your crypto from the, from the internet. You store it in a digital wallet and you take it off the internet. So I saw a similar one that I had in his room. So I'm like, this guy likes crypto. I'm like, I'm gonna talk to him about crypto. But when I was gonna collect payment, in my mind, I'm running towards him and, Hey, you like crypto? You like crypto. But some, I just started telling him about God, about Jesus Christ, about how I met the gospel, how I made moody radio, how I did this and that and stuff. And he's just looking at me with a big smile, like just smiling, looking at me like I'm crazy and stuff like I'm crazy and stuff. So he's just looking at me and I'm thinking, oh, this guy thinks I'm crazy. I'm telling him about God. I don't know who this guy is. I'm a nobody just telling him about God. He, he is looking at me all weird, like I'm crazy and stuff. And he's like, what if I told you, it's no coincidence you are here and stuff. He's like, what if I tell you my dad's the pa uh, the president of Moody Bible Institute and I'm a pastor. My name is Pastor Josiah. And I'm like, no way. And I'm like, not telling. And I kept telling him, you're a liar. You're lying. I'm like, no way you're lying. He is like, no, for real. So he invited me to church the next day. It was one day before Christmas. It was Christmas before Christmas. The next day was Christmas Eve. So as soon as I went outside. I started Googling him my and so, and Goog and stuff. He came up, his dad came up. It was true what he was saying. So I went home and started telling my wife, Hey, I met a pastor, you know that radio station? I met the, the son of the president and stuff. And she's like, no, what? No way and stuff. So she was all surprised. So we just kept talking about God and stuff. Mind you, I'm still on drugs still. Uh, I think, I believe. And Christmas Eve, me and my wife had an argument because she found powder and all over the bathroom. It was some other guy, I don't wanna put in my blast, but we had another companion, another couple. That guy just spilled everything and, and I didn't wanna throw him under the bus.

Omar: 26:12

Yeah.

Julio: 26:13

So I took the blame. Yeah. So I took the blame. She told me, gimme whatever you have, throw it away. I didn't throw it away. I went, I left the home. Didn't spend Christmas with my wife or my kids. I went to my dad's home. And I spent Christmas with my dad, just drinking, consuming um, again, seeing stuff and seeing demons, seeing things that they're not there. Shadow figures or they might have been there maybe. Yeah. No, and I believe it. Yeah, I believe it because that was with me. All my, everybody knew me. That I would see, I would always see stuff. They would, my cousins would tell me, Hey. Are you gonna do it? And you gonna start seeing stuff so you won't be doing it? And I'm like, I'm like, just whatever man. Let's do it and stuff. You'll the, you'll be the guy that is tripping, huh? Yeah. By the time, you know, I'm looking outside the window, I'm looking outside the window and looking inside the door. I'm thinking, waiting for

Omar: 27:01

the feds to come through. Yeah,

Julio: 27:02

yeah, yeah, for sure. Wait, no waiting for my families to come in on, on us because we would be hidden in the garage or in the basement. So just waiting. I was the type of guy that would be seeing stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So, so that, that's how it happened. Um. So, yeah,

Omar: 27:20

so, okay. So does he invite you to church? Did, did you end up going to church after he told you?

Julio: 27:24

Um, not until May, 2024.

Omar: 27:28

So, so months later. Months later. What, what, what happened that eventually, uh, led you to want to go?

Julio: 27:33

It was just arguments during that year also. It was especially a lot of stuff. So mind you, she gets pregnant

Omar: 27:41

again. So you already got four kids at this time?

Julio: 27:44

Yeah, I already had my two. My, my daughter was already about one,

Omar: 27:47

right?

Julio: 27:48

No, she was barely months when. My wife, she told me, go get me a pregnancy test and we find out she's pregnant again. She didn't want to have the baby because we were not good. Yeah. She's like, how am I gonna bring a baby, another baby, another baby to this world if you still not have a addiction? You still drinking, you still, we we're not in good terms. I want to leave you. Um, I, I want a new life. You're, I'm not happy. She would tell me straight up, I'm not happy. And I, and, and I'm like, and my mentality, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna do it again, but continue to Yeah. Through the same cycle. Tell her sorry. And she would tell me, you don't know what SOR is no more.

Omar: 28:23

That's uh, uh, like the Bible talks about the a gly sorrow and the worldly sorrow. Mm-hmm. Yes. You know, worldly sorrows, like, I got caught, I'm not gonna do it again and just repeat it. But Gly sorrows when you know, like David. Like Udi said, I've sinned. I've sinned against God. Mm, yes. As what would lead us to repentance, right? Yes. Yes. So you, you, you, you weren't there at, at that moment.

Julio: 28:41

Yeah, I was not there. And mind you, I already had seen all the signs of God, but I was still addicted, still fighting, arguing my girl

Omar: 28:50

who, who, who ended up coming to Faith first? Uh, your girl or you?

Julio: 28:53

I did.

Omar: 28:53

Okay. I did. How, how, how, how, how did that happen?

Julio: 28:57

So we find out she's pregnant and stuff, we're in the clinic. We went to do an ultrasound I convinced her, I told her I'm gonna change. Um. So she agreed and she, we were happy. We were continuing with our journey. Um, I didn't know what if I wanted to go to our church or not, but we were just happy about the baby. The baby was bringing happiness into our lives because we were thinking about what if it's another, a little girl for my daughter, for, for a sibling, for her, for a sister. So we just thinking about that and like we are, we are really excited. Um, I was not drinking as often. Um, I fell again and my wife said, this is it. You know what? Whatever. This is it. This is the last time you broke the straw on the, came to whatever the straw that broke the, came back, the camel's back the came. So, yeah, so, so mind you, we start arguing like again, and I guess, I don't know if I, if our arguments had to do something with the miscarriage. So my wife had a miscarriage and in April, I think it was believe in April, she had a miscarriage. So we found out she had a miscarriage because she was having pains. She was having like contractions. Yeah. Like the baby wanted to come out. And I'm telling her, I'm like, don't worry about it. We'll go to the doctor the next day. And we went to the doctor, happened to find out the baby's been deceased for a week. Stillborn. Yeah. Yeah. Still born two weeks. She already had five months in her pregnancy. Yeah. So we went to the doctor. So I found out, I went straight to the bathroom. I don't even know why I locked myself in the bathroom and out of nowhere and just started yelling to God with all my mind, with all my strength. I'm like, God, if you're real. I'm like, oh no. I told him. Why you do this, why you did this. I'm like, why you taking my child away? I was blaming God, like, why you did this God? And I'm like, why you did this? I'm like, it's it'cause of my sin, my addiction, my shame. Everything I have done in my life. My arguments with my wife. Is it'cause of me? It's not my fault. I'm like, take everything away from me. Take it away because I don't want it. I don't wanna live this life no more. But yet, mind you, I was yelling a guy with all, when my, my wife was outside. I asked her the next day, did you hear me yelling? And she said, no, I never heard you yelling. And I feel like God put a barrier because he wanted me to have a, an alone time with me and him. Okay. Oh,

Omar: 31:28

it was an intimate moment. Just between intimate moment between you.

Julio: 31:30

I don't even know why I was screaming to God. Something, just, something just told me, scream to God, and I did. The next day I went to sleep, crying, sobbing with my wife. We were just crying all night. So the next day I woke up. Now you, I was still addicted. I still having that addiction, still feeding from cocaine and stuff, alcohol. The next day I woke up like I felt like a fire inside me. Like I woke up telling my wife, babe, we gotta see God, we gotta seek a church. We gotta read the Bible. And she's looking at me all weird. She's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, I don't know. I feel weird. I feel like I gotta see God. I feel like I gotta see God. I'm telling her all this. But she didn't believe me. She's like still hesitant. Yeah. She like, what is wrong with you? And and I guess she got the point to that point. I was literally crying. I was crying like, babe, I don't know what's wrong with me, but. I gotta feel God, I gotta seek God, I gotta go to church, I gotta seek him. I gotta read the Bible. I don't know, something inside me, just moving like I'm, I gotta look for him. And she called me down, she's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, I don't know. Like I feel this urge to go to a church to seek God. And she's like, what church you wanna go to? Mind you, we got invited to to the Moody Church by her cousin.'cause her cousins go to Moody Church. So we got invited to that one. I'm like, no, I don't wanna go to that one. She's like, what church? Then I'm like, remember that guy that invited me to to New Life midway? And she's like, I wanna go to that church. So we still waited on another month to go because we were still hesitant. Yeah, I don't wanna go because the guy invited me the next day before Christmas and I'm embarrassed to go. She's like, why are you embarrassed? A church is a church. He's just gonna go. You're not. He's not gonna recognize you. So I went the first day we went, I think it was May something. The first week of May, we went straight to the altars. We heard the, the message, we heard the music, everything. And we just went straight to the altar and surrendered to God. Mm. And when I surrendered to God in my bathroom, that was only me. My wife was still not believing in God. Yeah. Not until we went to the altar. Something fell upon her. She started also believing in God. Mind you, she was a Jehovah, wasn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She, she was always told that, uh, the Trinity never existed. It was fake. Everything that, whatever Christians were doing, it was not, it was not right. So she, she, and she had trouble when she became a Christian. She had trouble believing in the Trinity, so sister needed to explain to her what the trinity was, how everything was came together and stuff. So that happens. Um, we start seeking God. We met our, this couple that started praying over us, and, and, and in my belief, I feel like God put us with that couple, um, because that co that lady, the, the sister, her name is Sister Celia, she started praying over, over my wife and my wife was just sobbing, crying, and she told my wife like, why are you crying? She's like, because I just lost my baby. She said, I just lost my baby. And she started hugging her, and then we were both crying and her husband was praying over me. So she's telling my wife, you know what? I feel you, because I just also went through a miscarriage. So I feel like God put us with her. Mm-hmm. With them, because she went through the same thing, not to same thing, not too long ago. Yeah. She also had a miscarriage, but shadow to them because they got pregnant again, so they had another baby boy. Oh man. Congratulations. Glory of God and stuff. Praise God. Praise God. So. So, yeah, so we started joining in a, in a Walk with God. We joined Fusion with them and stuff. They invited us to fusion. We're still working in our marriage

Omar: 35:01

Oh, oh Fusion. For those that don't know, what is that?

Julio: 35:03

Uh, it's for, uh, marriage, um, couples that go there to, to renew their marriage, to renew, to strengthen more because some people come broken and some, some marriages, some couples gone broken. We came broken as a broken couple and stuff. So we go to marriage. So we started going there for a, going there for a bit and stuff. So we started interacting more with the, with that couple, they started inviting us more. Um, Manu, when we became Christians against the enemy, started attacking us more. We started arguing more. But we were not going back to our past.

Omar: 35:40

Can I ask you? Okay. You, you start arguing, but it's no longer drugs.

Julio: 35:43

No longer drugs. Oh. What about drinking? Because back in the day, we would argue and I would make an excuse to fight to go drink drugs. That was, that was, that was your Yeah. Yeah. Was, that was my idea. So

Omar: 35:51

this time, like the drugs, what about alcohol? Alcohol. This is, you're still drinking?

Julio: 35:57

No, no. Everything stopped.

Omar: 35:59

It stopped that day. That, that the, the next

Julio: 36:01

thing that the, the guy cry, I took out. Cocaine, alcohol, everything got, took it instantly like I never had it before,

Omar: 36:08

man. Amen. And

Julio: 36:08

that was, and, and. And that's when I believed God is real. I told myself, God is real. And I started telling my wife, my, not my wife in that time, but I started telling, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, God is real. And God took it instantly and I was just moved by God with the power that God has, man. I was just moved, just telling everybody. So,

Omar: 36:27

so now you, you're experiencing attacks. Um, so these are probably languages, like petty things you guys are arguing about now.

Julio: 36:32

Petty things, uh, petty things. And we would talk about, you know what, I'm gonna go back to my past. I'm gonna go back to drinking, but something in my, it was just like mental, um, mental arguments, trying to make her get mad or trying to press on her by, get her, try to get her mad by going back to my past and drink. And she, she would always tell me, she would tell me all the, um, stuff too, and like, you know what, I'm gonna leave you whatsoever. But we were, we were walking in Christ already. So we started going to Infusion and the guy would tell us how to fight as a Christian way, how to. And arguments, how to walk away, how to do all this stuff. So we start learning little by little and stuff, but we would still argue the enemy would still attack us. He would still get in the middle. Um,

Omar: 37:18

did the enemy tell about like the the devil, we have an enemy. He would still remind us that we, we were not good enough. Yeah.

Julio: 37:24

He would still remind us that we were not good enough and stuff. So that was our walk with God start starting and stuff. And I guess by. By the end of 2024, um, we decided not to go to Fusion no more.

Omar: 37:41

Hmm.

Julio: 37:42

Because our, for some reason I started doing videos online about God and also whatsoever and stuff. But, uh, I would start seeing videos of people going and evangelize people preaching the word. And I would tell God, mind you, when I came to Christ, I was, uh. Was like a puppy. I lost one of my si one of the sisters a couple told me that I was like a lost puppy. Uh, like when you come, when I discovered Christ, I was like, anxious. Like, like I was so excited and happy.'cause I would read the Bible and I would tell my wife, I gotta save everybody. I gotta save everybody. I would tell her that she like the the Kingdom of Goddess in hand. I gotta save everybody. I'm like, and she would look at me like, you gotta stop, dude. You gotta chill. Like, you're too excited. I'm like, no. I'm like, we gotta save them. We gotta save them. So we get, we would get start calling. Had a zeal because we were, yeah, I had a zeal for God in that time. It was like a super zeal. So my wife would think I'm, I was nuts, completely nuts and stuff because she was still not feeling that power of God. She was still not feeling it. So my, one of the, we had couples go, come to a home to pray for us because we were just arguing and my wife was not getting it, that I wanted to do more than just being the sidelines of,

Omar: 38:55

Alright, so, um, I, I, I, so, uh, you were mentioning people came over, they prayed, you know,'cause you, you know, because I was

Julio: 39:02

too excited to have the CE uh, okay. So

Omar: 39:05

you went, you went there to go evangelize. I wanna go and evangel,

Julio: 39:07

but I didn't know where to start, how to start. I kept reading the, the Bible every single day. Boom, boom, boom. And my wife would get mad. She's like, just focusing too much on the Bible. Just reading and reading. I'm like, I gotta read. Read the word. I gotta be in the word and And she didn't get it. She didn't get it in that time. It was just fighting constantly with her, because I would tell her, you know what? You're trying to stop my walk with God. I would. I would tell her, you're trying to stop my walk with God and stuff. So we would have arguments and stuff. We would still go to Fusion. But I guess at one point in Fusion, we had a disa, we had a disagreement that I guess I'd said something that really hurt her. I said in

Omar: 39:43

the midst of a group. In the midst of the group? Yeah. That that's what makes it the the worst man. Like, uh, yes. So

Julio: 39:47

I said something that really hurt her and we went home. She was not speaking. I'm like, what's wrong? And she's told me, I don't wanna go back to that group. I'm like, why? Because you just embarrassed me. What you just said. Yeah. So mind you, I wanted to go evangelize. Why? I didn't know how to start. So we had that incident in that group and I'm like, what you want to do? I'm like, we're not gonna stop going to church or to the groups. She's like, well, you go to the men and I go to the women's. So I go to the men's group and that's when I met Brother Sal. That's when I met Brother Sal. So we start, I'm in his room. He starts talking. The way he would talk, preach and everything. I'm just looking at him. You could see everybody's face. Like everybody was just like, like, who is this guy? Why is he talking like this? Why is he preaching like this? Everybody was like, kind of like how you say it. Not scared, but. Intimidating, intimidated, but I was just smiling, looking at him like, I'm like, I like the way he talks and the way he preaches and stuff. This,

Omar: 40:44

this guy got some zeo too, right? Yeah, he

Julio: 40:46

got some ZEO and stuff. I'm looking at him and I'm like, and then he, the first day he mentioned something about a group that they go evangelizing and they do videos and whatsoever, and I looked at him right away. I turned to him and I told him when the class finished, I told him, Hey. You say you go to evangelize and she's like, he's like, yeah, we have a this and that. You might join us. And I told him straight up, I'm like, you know what? I always wanted to go evangelizing, but I didn't know how to start or who to go with or who to invite me. And in that sense, I felt like it was made for me, for my wife to argue, in order for me to go with that guy to evangelize. It's crazy.

Omar: 41:18

It's crazy how things happen though, right? Yeah. Because the Bible are Romans 8 28. Uh, he makes all things work together. Yes. And for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Right. Man. EE Even the bad at times. Yes. Even the bad. Like that, like that argument. Yes. Like, man, you know, forget it. We're not going to group. You go, you go your way. I'll go my way. She went to the woman, I went to the man I met Brother Sal. But look at that. Yeah. Yes. So he's talking about Sal, you know, that's a podcast that I just released last week. If you get a chance, go check it out. Uh, what did I tell you? I titled it all. Addiction prison and a prayer, uh, Salvador Torres. So if you get a chance, go back there and, and, and, and check that one out. Yes. Then, then you'll, you'll hear from him what he's talking about.

Julio: 41:57

Yes. It's funny, the zeo and the passion that the ze and the passion he has for the Lord. And, and, and I would, and, and the thing is that I, every time I would pray, I discover the, the verse Isaiah six, eight, for I heard the voice of the Lord, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I say, here am I.

Omar: 42:12

Send me.

Julio: 42:13

And I heard it. And I heard it in the movie Fury. With the, I guess the tanks about shy above and it was a, it was a

Omar: 42:20

Brad Pitt. Yeah, Brad

Julio: 42:22

Pitt. I heard, I've heard it from shy above saying it. Yeah. And that really stuck to me, and that's when I started getting that zeal, because I always would pray to it every day. I would go to my basement and pray, God, send me, use me as a vessel to help others. And I guess I started like taking that with me in my mind. Like I wanna go out there and just share my story. So I met Brother Sal. He invited me and I've been going ever since with him to evangelize. Um, so yeah, so that's it about the evangelizing. So so about marriage? Yeah. Yeah, about marriage. So we doing the marriage counseling, that book about marriage. So we start. Going through the book and we get to the second chapter, which is confess to each other, not bring things from the past. So we start telling each other all in our past and stuff to the point, we don't wanna get married, we don't wanna deal with nothing because we told each other stuff that we, we didn't want to hear and stuff.

Omar: 43:21

Probably o opened up old wounds, opened all wounds and stuff. It, it is, it is crazy how, how you would think, man, let's, let's move forward. Let, let's not talk about the past no more. Yeah. But. There's a reason why it's good to confess Yes. Now and put it all out there, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like WWW what's the reason, like, I guess the, I'm sure in the book it mentioned why you guys need to Yes. In a sense, air out your dirty laundry, your dirty, dirty rags. What, what's the purpose behind that? I mean, if somebody,

Julio: 43:50

uh, the purposes, uh, for you not to bring your past. If you have any infidelity, any hidden secrets, any, anything that you have in your past that you don't want, nothing to come to, come out in the light, because once you're married and something comes out in the light, if you didn't confess it to each other, you guys could end up getting divorced and you and enemy could use it as As a tool. Yeah. To bring you down and to break you and stuff. So we said our things. And we overcame it. We overcame it. We were still stealing, but, but I'm sure

Omar: 44:21

it was hard at the moment. It was hard. It

Julio: 44:23

probably, we did it, uh, we were angry at each other for a couple of weeks, but we overcame it by the grace of God.'cause we started the couples, the couples were really supportive that that couple, um, brother Lou and Sister Celia, they were really supportive. And another couple sister Priscilla and Brother Rich, they were really supportive.

Omar: 44:45

How, how, how important is it for any couple that is struggling right now? Even as, as believers as Christians? Yeah. God's moving on. You, you're on fire for the Lord. God's moving in your wife. How, what, how important is it, is it to have Gali couples mentors in your life?

Julio: 45:01

Um, it's really important because they would tell also. Their struggles, they would share their struggles, how they overcame. Also all whatever they went through as a couple and stuff. And when they were telling us all their stuff and stuff, they were like, you know what we gotta tell you because I guess it is for us to tell you what we went through. And we started saying, wow. I'm like, if we, if they overcame it, we could overcome anything. Yeah. So it's important to get golly couples because you cannot get no worldly couples because the worldly couples will tell you. Leave him, go out there and party and have

Omar: 45:34

plenty of fish in the sea. Yeah, plenty of fish and fish. Start over. Yeah. Start

Julio: 45:37

over. Yes. But it's per, it is, it is better to get Gly couples because Amen. They would direct you to the right path. Amen. Uh, uh, to the gly way.

Omar: 45:45

A, a godly council man. Gly council, yes. Is what we need. And, and you know what, uh, uh, um, what comes to mind? A lot of times we see couples like I, I've had it in my life. Uh, they're already seasoned in the Lord. Mm-hmm. You know, 10, 15, 20 years. And you see their life, you see their marriage, you see their children. Yes. And you're like, man, so for them to tell you, Hey, you know what, we went through something similar. Yes. You're like, and I know I look at some couples like, no way. Not you guys. Yes. You guys are like, got the perfect marriage. The children, you know, you see God moving in their life, but. It's'cause I'm sure they had godly mentors Yes. And couples in their life. And, and it gives hope.

Julio: 46:25

Yes. Yes, it do. It do that.

Omar: 46:26

That's why like when we, when I, when I prayed before we started, a lot of people could relate more to our shortcomings, to, to our failures in a sense. Yes. Than to our wins that, but, but we need to share that. We need to be, uh, uh, vulnerable and transparent. Yes. With what I went through in my relationship, in my marriage, in my early years. But I, I know now where me and my wife are at like 20 years. It's been 20 years. Wow. Obviously, you know, we, we've overcome some stuff Yes. That we could probably help others, but it's definitely important, uh yes. To be around, surrounded by godly mentors and to hear their struggles and how they overcame.

Julio: 47:03

Yes. Amen. Amen. Knowing, and, and it has helped us a lot, like really a lot because we could call them and they'll be there and stuff. We have a issue. They will be there. So. How we ended up in marriage and stuff. Um, so we started going over the book and stuff and so we started going to church. Mind you, I had picked up marijuana again in 2024.

Omar: 47:28

You already walking with God in,

Julio: 47:30

in 2025, I believe. I'm already walking with God. For some reason I ended up picking marijuana again.

Omar: 47:35

The vape pens, like, like, like, like, like going back, do you feel something triggered you not when you look back, something happened to the baby? Uh,

Julio: 47:41

because I would hang out with my, my younger brother, the, the youngest one that grew up in the 2000 was born in two thousands. So I will get him work and he would have his vape pen and I would tell him, gimme one hit from one hit. It went to every single day. My body was already asking for it, so I got addicted really easily to marijuana and stuff again. So I got addicted to marijuana again, and my wife didn't mind. She didn't mind. She said, you gotta leave it. Try to leave it. Mind you, I was already hiding it again from her. I will go sneak to get to the, to the dispensaries to get marijuana. So the mentors knew, um, they knew I was smoking marijuana. Um, they told me that, did,

Omar: 48:25

did did you confess it to them?

Julio: 48:26

Yeah, I confess it to them. Yeah. Um, they told me that I have to leave it to try to pray more, and so we're sitting down, so this is affecting also our marriage and stuff. So, so we're sitting down in the, in the, in the, in the church. And Pastor Mark said, he's like, I don't know, but the Holy Spirit is telling me to say something because he was talking about marriage, he was talking about all this stuff, but the, the service was over. He's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I gotta say something. The Holy Spirit's telling me that somebody has to leave the marijuana and get married. And when he said that, I looked at my wife and I'm like, babe, I think he's talking to me. So when the, no, I'm being for real. Oh no, I believe it. Trust me, I, I, I, I know how we, yeah. And also he, we went, we started laughing and, and we started getting serious. So we went home. I went to get the, the, the bay pan. So we, we go outside to the drain. To the drain out in front of the, our, our home. So there was a sewer drain. Yeah. So we start praying. We start praying over it and like, God, please remove this addiction from me again, because it's already consuming me. Again, the marijuana, it's already affecting my family. Again, my marriage, we're not married yet, but we're gonna try to get married and it's already affecting us again. And so we pray. I was crying. For some reason. I started sobbing and crying, not because I was leaving it. I don't know. For some reason, I started sobbing. That's a grieving, grieving That's a grievance. Yeah, so we, I put it in the, in the, in the drain, in the sewer, and I went to sleep. And that night I was sweating. Literally sweating. Like sweating. And I'm like, babe, I'm sweating a lot. She's like, check, take off your shirt, your whatever, your coat, your pants. So I start sweating and sweating. Mind you, I was already feeding for it every single day. Marijuana. I would go to my basement since it was a bay pen. You cannot smell it. So I was smoking, so I was already feeding for it. So the next, I was sweating in the night and the next day I woke up with no symptoms, like I needed it no more. Amen. Praise God, man. And, and, and I have to and I believe it. All the sweat.

Omar: 50:29

No, I believe, I believe it was a purging man. Purging, you know, like I believe the deliverance comes in many ways. Yes. Uh, deliverance is basically, um. Um, getting cleansed, man. Getting the demons. Yes. Yes. Whatever's trying to come in us. It could come out in the form of crying. Mm-hmm. Screaming, it could come out, throwing up. Yes. And I believe even like, sweating. Yes. Maybe it could, you know, God, like I believe the holy, you know, the Bible talks about how our bodies is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Though I believe the, I believe when I got saved, the Holy Spirit cleans this temple, man.

Julio: 51:02

Amen.

Omar: 51:02

You know, so I, I'm, I believe in that. Yes, yes, for

Julio: 51:05

sure. Amen. Amen. Praise God. So. I left there. Now we're putting our efforts in getting married, so we're working on the book and brother Sal was al also helping us installing, getting married, and you should guys be married because I was going to the men's group. We were not going back to Fusion until we got married, so we still not infusion yet. So we were, brother Sal was telling us, get married, get married, get married. Because he was telling me every day, calling me every, every day, all the time, get married. So what's the date? What's this? And that. So he also was a big factor in pushing, pushing, pushing. So we ended up getting married

Omar: 51:45

when, oh,

Julio: 51:45

um, may, May 25th, I believe. May 25th this year. 2025. Yes. Nice. Congratulations man. Yes, thank you. We ended up getting married, something like I was scared of marriage back in the days fear getting divorced. It was just a piece of paper. But the couples, which I as marriage is a covenant with God. Yeah. Do it under God. You can, you don't, you don't have to do it under the government. Just do it under God. And yeah, we got married. Um, mind you, when before I got married, pastor Mark also said, do not get married. I mean, do not fornicate and sleep on the couch. So I was sleeping in the couch like for six months, sleeping with no relationship with my wife, taking this seriously, man. And I would get sleeping paralysis. I would get spiritual attack. I would see demons in the, in the living room. I would see demons walking around to the point. I would get scared and I would go run off to the room to sleep with my wife in the, in the bed. She was like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm seeing demons. I'm scared. Like literally I'm scared. So we told this to the couple. We told it to a couple. I'm like, you know what? I'm seeing demons. They're manifesting there. I'm getting sleep in paralysis. So they came to our home that was going on for a whole week when I decided to sleep on the couch, it's like the, like the demons didn't like. Yeah, not, I was not fornicating because you were honoring God. We were honoring God. So I started seeing demons and stuff. So they came up to our home. So they started, we started, they started praying, doing deliverance over me and stuff. We started anoint the home, doing deliverance, and the next day I slept like a baby. Mm, amen. Slept like a baby. Yeah. Praise God. And uh, and, and I believe demons been attacking me my whole lifetime. Oh yeah. Yes.

Omar: 53:24

They attack and we come to God and we think that's all gonna stop. Mm-hmm. I think it intensifies. Yeah. Because now with, with with, with God and the Holy Spirit, like I, I think the sermon kicks up. Like I, I believe our spiritual eyes are open and we could see it more. Yes. Th the enemy wants to stop us because it's not just about us. It's not just about you. Mm-hmm. And your wife and your children. He, he, he's afraid of who you're gonna impact. Yes. Yes. When you are evangelizing, when you're doing men's ministry Yes. When you're working and you're witnessing to somebody. Yes. Yes. Like, it's, it's, it's, it's bigger than you. Yes. Yes. So that, that's why he attacked so hard.'cause it's not just like, man, you know, like Julio. You know the man of God, I wanna stop him. No, he, he wants to stop what God's gonna do in you and through you, man. So that's why, that's why he hits hard, man.

Julio: 54:16

Yes, yes, yes. So, yes. So that's what happened is that we got married, all that stuff happened. Spiritual warfare. Um, after we got married, we started sleeping in the bed. No more spiritual warfare. No more, there's no more seeing demons. Um, and we also got baptized.

Omar: 54:34

Amen.

Julio: 54:34

We

Omar: 54:34

got baptized that, that was just a like what, like a few weeks ago, right? Two

Julio: 54:37

weeks, 2, 2, 3 weeks ago. Amen. We got baptized also. Again, we went over the book. Um, we got baptized and I, the brothers tell us, be careful. Pray on upon him because the demon, the enemy's gonna come 10 times harder after you get baptized. And it's true, it's being attacking us if he cannot attack me. Since I'm the head of the household, it's gonna attack my wife. Since it cannot attack my wife, it's gonna attack the kids. Hmm. So it's been attacking my kids and stuff. They've been rebelling. And that's what happens when you have a purpose in this life. Yeah. Everybody has a purpose. You have. I have a purpose. So when God wants to use you, we already overcame all those things. We got married, we got baptized. So the enemy doesn't know what to do next. He cannot come over me, over my wife's and all it's attacking my children. Yes. So, and, and it's hard for them because we just changed drastically from being drunks to addicts. I, me being a drunk addict and it's barely, well, I'm barely, I'm still a baby Christian. I'm still learning. How, how

Omar: 55:37

long has it been that you've been following God? Now

Julio: 55:39

I'm barely a year and a half. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I'm still a baby Christian. Yes. I'm still learning. Also, I'm still falling short. I always, I will fall short on the Lord. Yeah. We all will. Yes. So I'm not perfect, and also I'm sometimes I still get angry with them. I still yell at them, but I'm still working on my anger. That's why celebrating recovery is also helping me because not only is helping me overcame addiction, but it's also bringing to life all the things that I'm still trying to work on. Anger. Um. All these things that still are, I'm still struggling with. Yeah. And anger's one of the big issues. Anger. Yeah. So at one point and some point also, I'm the one pushing them. You gotta be perfect. You gotta be doing this. And the Bible says this, and it's, and it's too much for them to take. Yeah. It's too much for them to take.

Omar: 56:31

I, I believe it's, um, like san uh, sanctification. Sanctification is the, the, the, the process of. Not becoming holy, but becoming like holier in a sense. Yes. Yes. Like meaning. It is, it is not, um, perfection, but it's like pro progression. Like yes, we're progressing. Progressing, meaning we're getting better little by little. Mm-hmm. Know we're, we're, we're not gonna be perfect till Yeah. We're on the other side. Yes. Amen. But definitely, I, I'll say, man, I'm serving, I've been serving God 20 years. I know you mentioned one and a half. And I, and trust me, God is still working in cer certain areas in me, man. Like, uh, anger, to be honest, that was. I was in it 12, 15 years, still struggling with anger, man. Wow. And, and then what would hit me, what really spoke to me is like in my family, like men are just angry and Mm. And I thought about a certain family member whose kids don't even wanna be around them.'cause he was always angry. And then I, I felt like, almost like God telling me like, if you don't change, that's gonna be you. Mm-hmm. Where your own kids ain't gonna be wanna be around you'cause you're always angry. Rage and all that. And, and we need God to, to help us. We, we, we gotta confess it. Renounce it. Repent. Yes. And I believe God, God, God can change us and God could heal that, that relationship with your kids, you know? Yes, for sure. It'll take time. But I believe, I believe he can and will do it, man.

Julio: 57:48

Yes, yes. For sure, for sure. Um, and like another thing is that. Praise God that me and my wife are, we're doing good and great. No arguments. I mean, we do have a little dis yeah, disagreements, but not to the point we're cursing at each other to getting angry or telling me, go sleep on the couch. No, we man, we are like so happy, so excited about this journey, about this life, man that God, and we always look back and say, man, thank you God for saving us. Thank you for saving this marriage and stuff. And then we really, all, all his glorious'cause of the glory of God. Amen. Owe him everything.

Omar: 58:23

Amen. Amen. Amen. Man. Just continue to, you know, to pray. Pray for your children and God, God will touch him, man. You know what I'm saying? Yes. And then, and then, then due time, you know, in his way. And, uh, what, what comes to my mind? Like all, all, all our kids are different. They all have different tastes. Yes. Different things they like to do. Like man fi, find out what, what your kids like and maybe do like one-on-one things may maybe once it, it don't even gotta be every week'cause No. Yes, yes. I did it with my kids one time where I did it once, let's say, let's say the month of where, where we at August, I'll take my son out. Hey, where do you wanna go eat? And it would just be me and him. Yeah. And then the next month will be my daughter. Hey, what do you wanna do? Where do you wanna get? And then the next month? Yes. And to, to have that quality time.'cause you know, you, you know what comes to my mind too right now, when you're talking about your kids, how your dad would tell you, Hey, let's, we're gonna go to the park.

Julio: 59:15

Yes. And, and wouldn't we, wouldn't we go what I'm saying? So he wouldn't up drinking like, man,

Omar: 59:19

like think like, man, what do my kids like to do? Amen. What activities could I do with'em to connect?

Julio: 59:25

Yes. Yes, for sure. Yes. I mean, that's in, uh, I mean, we still. We still learning and stuff. No, no. Oh yeah. And it's, and it's hard walking with God. It's, it's hard, especially when your kids are reminding you that you're not good enough and stuff. Yeah. And. And it's a journey. It's a journey with them because it's something new for them also. Yeah. They, they have trouble when going to church. They don't want to go and still in their old ways, still want to follow the world, still wanna follow what their friends are doing. Yeah. And we still have to install them. Like I think it is in Joshua says for me, James, I believe. James, for me and my household, we were serve the Lord Joshua. Joshua. 24. 4, 20 15. Yeah. Yes. 24 15. Yes. Yeah. For me and my household, we serve the Lord. So regardless. Yesterday we took him to church. Okay. That we're not so happy about it, we're still gonna go to church. Yeah. So we took him to church yesterday. Gotcha. That we were in the background. They were still praising, we were still praising God. Like, like, it's not gonna take, whatever happens, it's not gonna take our eyes off God. Amen. Because God has the last word. He's still in control of everything. Amen.

Omar: 1:00:28

Amen. A a, a Anything that we, we didn't touch on that you wanna share? I dunno. You, I know you got some papers, anything under that?

Julio: 1:00:34

I think we touched everything. Also, I just wanna say that I got accepted to, to Moori Bible Institute. So I'm trying to proceed a new career, um, trying to go beyond the border walls and stuff. So I'm doing, I'm gonna do, um, intercultural studies, intercultural studies. Uh, maybe go to Mexico and talk to my uncles, grandpas to change their way of, of thinking because they still believe in, in Catholic, they still have their own mindset and doctrine and everything. Believe in the Virgin Mary more than Jesus Christ. Um, and hopefully we could help them out, share the gospel over there and stuff. So I got accepted to a Moody Bible Institute. Uh, because, uh,

Omar: 1:01:19

are, are, are you pursuing a degree?

Julio: 1:01:20

I'm pursuing an associate's degree. Okay. So I was gonna do hvac, I was gonna add HVAC to my, to my business, but I was praying to God and God told me, how is HVAC gonna benefit the kingdom of God? And it was, it was not, it was just gonna benefit my pockets because I was doing it for money, because I was passing jobs to other people. And I'm like, man,'cause people were telling me you do hvac. I'm like, I don't, I just do that, the cleaning. So in my mind, just, I can make more money, more money, more money. So I pray upon him and something in Simon's like, no, pursue this because how is that gonna benefit the kingdom of God? And it was not, it was just gonna pursue my greed and my, my, my pursuance to, to expand my business. Yeah. Yeah. So with this, it's gonna help me learn more about the Bible, more about how interact with people, especially evangelizing, take it to the, out of the country, out of the borders and stuff. But I believe I have a purpose now that I'm walking with God. Amen. I feel like I have so much to do and so much still that I have to work in my, in my family. But first, like I say, I gotta work on my family first in order to reach other families, right? Because if I can control my family, I can. Tell other families. Gotcha. Yeah. Yes. So, yeah. Hey, man,

Omar: 1:02:35

brother. No, that's good. That's awesome. That, that you, you going to school, man? Wish you the best. And yes, thank you, brother. I mean, you get that certificate. Keep evangelizing. You know what? Because you, you wanna share about your business, uh, what's the name of it? In case anybody's interested. Yes. My

Julio: 1:02:46

business is e Egypt, duct Cleaning Service. Um, I do air duct cleaning service, bathroom exhaust, uh, dryer vent cleaning. Um, and if you have allergies, asthma, if you use constantly inhalers, abuterol, prednisone, pills that makes you, and gives you, that is not working no more. Clean your air duct system and it is gonna work because my wife had a asthma for 15 years to the point that I clean my air duct system and she no longer uses medicine. And also, I'm trying to change my name for the business. Okay? It's gonna be ever air solutions. And the logo, the, the slogan is gonna be is your breath and your lungs. Hmm. So that's gonna be my new, hopefully this year by the will of God. Next year we change everything. Okay. Because we no longer wanna be Egypt, the cleaning, because that was after my son's first initials and middle name. Okay. But we wanna some more like, uh, company, more Gotcha company and. To attract more people and stuff. Gotcha. And the logo, we're gonna change everything.

Omar: 1:03:41

Nice. So that should be coming up maybe next. This that's coming year. Yes. Gotcha. To 26. All right. Yes. Oh, but in the meantime, you got a website or anything? Yes, ej

Julio: 1:03:48

do cleaning service.com. Um, to follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram ej.cleaning at eeg, do cleaning. I

Omar: 1:03:56

gotcha. No, that's good man. Any final words or anything you wanna say before we get ready to close? Um,

Julio: 1:04:01

yes. I mean, just, um. Keep your eyes on the Lord. And for, for, because everybody's a walking testimony. Use your testimony to reach others to, to reach other people, man, that are still struggling with addiction, still still struggling, struggling with porn addiction, uh, lust, uh, mental health, anxiety. God's a healer, a redeemer. He can take all those things away if you. Keep your eyes on the Lord and rely on him, and do, do not rely on your own strength and your own understanding by relying on Jesus Christ. And like I said, use your own testimony because your testimony could impact other lives. And yeah.

Omar: 1:04:39

Amen. Amen. Brother, would you mind co closing this out a prayer?

Julio: 1:04:42

Yes. Yes. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come to you in the mighty name of Jesus Lord, father, and thank you for letting us tell our testimony here with Brother Omar, father God. And thank you for, for bringing. For letting us speak, father God, letting us speak and, and for letting, for healing us. Father God too. For this to, to reach many souls. Father God, to reach as many souls. Father God hopefully reaches, uh, those who need to hear, those who need to open their eyes. Father God, continue to, to work in, work in as Father God because. It takes time, father God, to, to, to be perfect like you, father God, continue to, to, to bless all this podcast Father God. So other people could come in this podcast, father God, and share their testimonies for others to hear also, father God. So continue Father God to to humble us. Father God. Continue to continue, father God to to work on us. Father, work on us, father God. Uh, man, that's all I have in the mighty name of Jesus.

Omar: 1:05:41

Amen. Amen. That's good. Hey, brother, you know, uh, to thank you for your time, th thank you for being out here, brother, for sharing your story with us. I'll definitely be praying for you, your marriage and your children. My, my God, continue to move. Uh, continue to fight the good fight of faith, man. It's worth it. You know what I'm saying? It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not easy. A lot of people think you're gonna come to, to, to God, and everything's gonna be taken care of, man. Everything's gonna be all good. But that's when the, the battle really starts. But it's a, a battle worth fighting. It is worth it. Yes. Yes. There, there, there's nothing like living for the Lord. Serving'em and just letting God use you, man. Amen. It's, it's, it's a definitely a walk work worth walking, man. So with that, we're gonna get ready to, to close out. Uh, Matthew four 16 reads, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned. Alongside my guest, Julio Aviles. I'm Omar Calvillo. And we've gone from wrong to strong.