Living Testimonies
Living Testimonies is a faith-based podcast sharing real stories of transformation, healing, and hope. Each episode features powerful conversations with guests who open up about the challenges they’ve faced and how their faith in God has shaped their journey.
Whether you’re looking for encouragement, spiritual insight, or a reminder that you’re not alone, this podcast will uplift and inspire you. These are stories of redemption that point to one truth: God is still moving.
Your story, His Glory!
Living Testimonies
Resetting Relationships: From Heartache to Heavenly Love - Selina Almodovar
Join me as Selina Almodovar shares her powerful testimony of transformation from heartache to heavenly love. Learn how she reset her relationship with God and discovered the power of trusting Him with her heart. Selina's journey will inspire you to apply your faith in a new way, creating a life beyond your wildest dreams. Discover the transformative power of God's love and learn to trust Him fully, experiencing the beauty of naked and untamed love. Get ready to be encouraged and inspired by Selina's story of redemption and faith.
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Your Story, His Glory!
Welcome to Living Testimony Stories of Faith and Redemption. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope everyone that's listening is blessed and doing well. With me today, I have my sister in Christ, Selina Almodovar, and now it's her turn to share her testimony. Selina, could you say a little bit about yourself to everyone?
Selina Almodovar:Hi, I'm so happy to be here. I am a Christian relationship out there and coach. I've published four books, I've been paired with couple for 10 years, and we just started our couple's ministry Love by Faith about a year ago. Also a mother and uh clown. I guess we're gonna have fun today.
Israel Caminero:No way. Right now we're gonna get into her testimony, but before we do that, I'd like to pray over us and I'd like to say, Father God, just thank you for this opportunity for Selena to come in here and share her testimony with everyone. I'd like to ask you to be with us in this room to just guide us in the direction that you want us to go with the story that she's about to share for everyone. Guide us in what questions to ask, what questions to deliver for whoever that's listening that might need to hear something today, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. So, Selena, I've known you for quite a while now. Yeah. Almost 10 years, if not longer, I believe. We used to go to the same church together. And I remember the first time that I really interacted with you was at um Anita's house. Okay. When you were going to Konania.
Selina Almodovar:Okay.
Israel Caminero:And I and I didn't know you very well, but I was like, who's this girl over here just cracking jokes and all this stuff? And likely. Come to find out it was you. But I know everyone has a story behind a story. Yeah. That's what you're here to share. So if you would share with everyone about your past, that would be great.
Selina Almodovar:Okay, so long story short, I believe that I was given a heart transplant from God. And my life has never been the same since then. Okay. Okay. Short story long. Before that happened, I started taking my faith with God very seriously back in 2011. Okay. So I was in my mid-20s. I was a young adult. I just came out of college. I just had a huge breakup. I felt like I hit rock bottom. And in the midst of the breakup, I thought this guy was going to be my husband. I had kids' names for him. I was like super on board. Homeboy was not. And so that's why he broke up. And in the middle of this rock bottom moment, I just I had nothing else to kind of hold on to because I was so dependent on him that I lost myself in that relationship. So I didn't know how to have fun. I didn't know how to have peace. I didn't know how to feel secure. I didn't know what my next step was. I didn't know what to do. And I just kind of cried out to God, like, God, I trust you. Like that was it. I didn't know how to pray. I didn't have a relationship with God. I knew who God was. I grew up with God. I grew up going to youth groups and having Bible studies and having a youth Bible, but I didn't talk to God like that. I know he knew that I was doing bad things. Like I knew he was always there. I know he knew that I was, you know, drinking, smoking, clubbing, going to parties, all the things. Um, but in that moment, I knew he was the only one who could help me. And so I said, I trust you, God. And then I proceeded into a spiral down, a downward spiral into depression, into insomnia, into um isolation, into just a crazy post-breakup season. Okay. Okay. Because again, I lost myself. I thought God was gonna miraculously save the day. He did not show up for many moons later. And so I stopped eating. I lost 40 pounds in the span of a month. I was, um, this was right during the 2008-2009 recession. So I straight out of college, lots of debt, didn't have a job, freaking out, moving back to my parents' house, which I said I would never go back to their house again because I did not have a good relationship with my mother or my father. So I went to college as a way to escape. You can call it the prodigal son or whatever you want, but I had to come back home because I had nothing else to go to.
Israel Caminero:Gotcha.
Selina Almodovar:So I was in this funk, and slowly but surely I started pulling myself out by interacting with friends, going to clubs, drinking, meeting new people, meeting new guys, just not caring anymore. I said, okay, if the game's gonna play me, then I'm gonna play the game, right?
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:And so I started playing the game, started messing with other guys and started just not caring about my relationships with anybody, not caring about anything. And I would try to go to church, but the church wasn't serving me. I was I went to a different church at the time and it wasn't serving me. Nobody was pouring into me, nobody was trying to become my friend, none of the small groups were fitting, and I was just like, I'm trying out here, right? But nothing's happening. So I'm just gonna keep doing me and just try to elevate myself. And I called it the glow season because you know, after you break up with someone, you have a glow season, right? You cut your hair, you get a new wardrobe, you try to go to the gym, you're starting to feel yourself a little bit, but I was spiritually bankrupt and I was very depressed. I would I would look the part, but I was coming home inside, totally just rocked inside, right? So finally, one day, I was at Walmart, and if you're from Cleveland, you know about Steelyard. I went to Steelyard, Walmart.
Israel Caminero:One of the nicest ones around.
Selina Almodovar:One of the one of the most hole in the wall places, right? Please don't come for me, Walmart. But this place needs some work, if I may. Okay, so I was there and I saw this couple, and this couple was just I don't want to say bad things about people, but I was upset that they were together. Okay.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:I was like, how do these people? I talked to God, I was like, God, how did you put these people together? How do they find each other? How are they married? How did you like they're they're crazy? They're crazy. They were fighting over some toothpaste, right? They looked bad, they had the flip-flops, the pajama pants. Like, I'm just heated because I'm like, here I am, busting myself out. I'm trying to work, I'm trying to do good. I think I'm good looking, if I may say. I think I'm funny. I think I have a lot to offer to somebody, and I'm still single. And what's going on, God? How did you put them together, but I'm still by myself? I was upset.
Israel Caminero:That's funny because I was about to ask you, what were they doing to make you think that? I thought you were gonna say they were hugging and kissing, and you said they were arguing.
Selina Almodovar:It's one of them, one of them type couples. And I'm just like, how did how God, how did you put these people together and I'm still by myself? And God answered. Like from the moment I had the please, Lord, I trust you prayer. This was the first time he answered. And he said, Did it ever occur to you? Okay, because I'm talking to God with the attitude, so I felt like God was talking back. Like, did it ever occur to you that your husband is waiting for you to get yourself together?
Israel Caminero:Oh wow.
Selina Almodovar:And I said, Wow, okay, well, dang. Like, I didn't know what to say. Right. I didn't know what to say. And I said, Okay, I clearly I'm doing something wrong. Clearly I'm missing something in order for me to get to that part of my life. And so I said, Okay, I need to start going to church, but this time I think I need to start going for God. I think I need to date God. I think if I know how to date God, then He'll show me how to date a husband. Like He'll show me how to find a husband.
Israel Caminero:That's good.
Selina Almodovar:And so I was looking online because I needed to go to a new church. The the church that I was going to wasn't serving me, so I Googled it. I said, Google, free coffee church, West Side, non-denominational. Like literally, it's what I put in the search uh bar. And it showed up. The first church was the church I was going to. I said, Yeah, we're not doing that. Number two, I went to the number two church, and it happened to be Lakewood New Life Church, which is where I go today. And I went there and I told myself on my way there. Now, listen, I'm still not a saint. I was I was smoking a black and mild on the way to church. Right. Okay. Like I'm trying here, but I'm also hearing what God told me, and I'm trying to do something about it in what I in the little that I knew, I'm trying to work with that.
Israel Caminero:That's right.
Selina Almodovar:And so I go to the church and I, before I get in, I'm like, you know what? I'm only here to fall in love with Jesus. I'm only here to fall in love with Jesus. I don't know who I'm gonna meet. I didn't know anybody there. I went by myself and I was just like, I just want to learn how to fall in love with Jesus. It was the first Sunday of 2011. So January Sunday 2011. And Pastor Ralphie was preaching. Ralph. Right? Ralphie Bonilla was preaching, and his title of the sermon was Falling in Love with Jesus.
Israel Caminero:Wow.
Selina Almodovar:And I said, okay, God, you got me in the right place. Clearly, this is where I need to be. So I was like, all right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna chill here. And they were passing out these forms about how to go on a Daniel fast. So I'm writing in my notes, like, find out who Daniel is. Okay, got it. And then they're like, I didn't even know Pastor Bob's name. I think I called him Pastor, or I don't know. I it was just everything on my notes were crazy because I didn't know what I was doing. Right the whole time I didn't know what I was doing. And so I'm going to Walmart, back to Steelyard, back to the same Walmart, and I'm going to get groceries. And I was like, wait a minute. They mentioned something about fruits and vegetables in church about a Daniel fast. So I pull out the paper and I read and I said, Oh, it's a diet. Oh, snap, it's a diet. Oh, snap, it starts tomorrow. Hmm. And I said, I have a choice to make. Right. Am I going to do this, not knowing what I'm doing? Or am I just going to treat it like nothing and pretend I'm going to change? And I told myself, like, I need to take action. If I want to see change, I have to take action. Even if I don't know how to do it all, I'm going to at least take the first step. That's good. So I bought, like back in the day, it wasn't vegan friendly, gluten-free friendly the way we see it today. So I think I bought a pack of vegan hot dogs and some potato chips and called it a day. PETA. You know, I ate a bunch of French fries from Wendy's. Thank you. Shout out to Wendy's. And that was it. That's all I had to go off of. I had tofu. I had no idea what I was doing with tofu. Yeah. Had no idea what I was doing. I went home. I lived with my uncle at the time. He was laughing at me, eating his pork chop next to me. He was like, You, what are you doing? You're crazy. Like, what is going on here? And I said, listen, I don't understand it. I don't need to. I'm just gonna do it. That was my first fast.
Israel Caminero:That's good that you were obeying God's word like that, you know, from fixing yourself, going to the church, and now even the Daniel fast.
Selina Almodovar:Right, right. So 21 days later, 21 days later of tofu turkey hot dogs and and tofu in a microwave, right? I finally find a small group and I finally start to meet people in the church because I've been going and I was only talking to, you know, the older, old, like 60, 70-year-old people. I was just happy to be there. Finally, after the Daniel fast broke, I met women my age. They invited me to a small group, and this is where I met my first spiritual mentor. Her name was Sissy. Sissy was dating someone at the time. She was getting engaged, she was in the process of getting married. So she wasn't sticking around for long because she was already planning this. Sissy was about in her mid-30s, I would say. I don't really know her age to this day. To me, she's timeless, she's ageless, but she was older than me. I again I was in my mid-20s. And she's telling me how she's dating. And she said, um, we don't live together. He's never been in my bedroom. He's never, he's teaching me how to live a pure relationship life. Okay. Okay. Mind you, I'm still rough around the edges. So every time she talked about her relationship, I'm thinking in my head, like, get the F out of here. Like, this is not, how can that? Like, you're old. Like, how do y'all not live together? How do you not? Because that was where I came from. That's where that's where my relationships were. I used to live with guys I dated. I used to be very intimate with guys. And so I'm like, this don't make no sense. I was like, this is impossible. It's impossible. Like, there's no way. There's no way you're doing this at your age with all of the history you have. And sure enough, she she got married and she showed me that it's possible. I was like, all right, that's cool. That's cool. Good for you.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:Good for you. Right. I'm still not finding anybody, but something she told me was in the while she was courting her fiance at the time, she prayed to God to have blinders on so that she could not be attracted to men until it was time for God to reveal the guy that was for her. So I said, let me try this. All right, let me figure this out. So I say, Lord, if it's your will, give me blinders so I'm not attracted to men. And sure enough, bam, for at least two years, I saw no attraction in men. And I would try, I would look at guys like jogging, and I'm like, yeah, no, it's not, it is not working for me. I just, I don't see it. I don't see it. So clearly it must have, it must have worked. Then after I go to small groups for a couple seasons, I start to join ministries, and that's where I meet Kyle, right?
Israel Caminero:A youth ministry, right?
Selina Almodovar:We joined the youth ministry because I found a job working with children. So I was after school coordinator, and so I figured, okay, that's where my skills are, that's where I'm gonna apply it to church settings.
Israel Caminero:So you didn't know Kyle at all before I did not join that ministry. No, like you didn't see him at the church or nothing, like walk by, anything like that.
Selina Almodovar:So here's the thing. Okay.
Israel Caminero:Maybe you did, but you had blinders out.
Selina Almodovar:No, no, no, no. I saw him, right? I was by myself in church minding my business. And then I look over on the other side of the church. There was only one service at the time because our church was still small growing. So I look over and I see him. And he had a he had facial hair and he's hunched over and he's by himself, right? He's by himself listening to the word. And I'm looking at him and I'm like, who is that? Okay, I've never seen him before. He looks good. I said, you know what? He probably got kids, though.
Israel Caminero:You were judging them before you even knew him.
Selina Almodovar:I was like, he probably got he probably got like three kids, man. He's probably like a baby daddy trying to do good. I'm not gonna mess with him. And then again, the Lord checked me, like, Selena, you're not here for him. Right, you're here for me. And I never saw him again.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:I I truly believe because of that correction, God took him away from my vision. And even still like after the fast broke, I asked the girls from the small group, I'm like, hey, who's that guy? And they're like, Oh yeah, that's just Kyle. So, anyways, blah, blah, blah. Like, they were not paying this dude attention. They didn't introduce us, nothing happened. So months passed before I met Kyle again. Okay. Months passed. And I become a member of the church, and they asked me what ministries I want to go to. I put down media because I was good at media and stuff. And then I put down youth because I worked with the youth. So the pastor gave Kyle my number to introduce me to the youth ministry. So out of nowhere, the following week, I'm getting all these phone calls from all these ministry leaders telling me, hey, we heard you wanted to be interested. You're interested in this ministry. We want to connect with you, see if we can plug you in.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So I'm getting a lot of voicemails. I get one from a guy named Angel. I'm like, all right, sounds Puerto Rican. Sounds good. I get a call from Kyle. I'm like, I don't know who Kyle is. Okay. So I'm like, I'm gonna call Angel because I feel more comfortable talking to an angel than a Kyle. Okay. I'm telling you, I'm I was a mess. I was a mess back then. Still a mess, but it was it was worse back then. And so I call Angel. I don't call back Kyle.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:I go to a leadership meeting and Kyle pulls up in the car, and I'm like, there's that guy from a long time ago. I said, Oh my goodness, I need to act cool. So I'm like blaring my sound system up, and I'm just like pretending I'm just like, I got my like, I don't know, I'm just walking cool. I'm just I got my swag on and I stick my hand on, I'm like, hey, my name's Selena. What's your name? He's like, I'm Kyle. I said, Oh, Kyle, you left me a voicemail. Oh my gosh, I didn't know it was you. He was like, Yeah, you never called back. I was like, Oh, snap. Okay, so I was embarrassed the whole rest of the meeting. I'm just like, dang it, I lost my chance with this guy. Like, I didn't even like it totally disregarded.
Israel Caminero:You weren't even thinking about the ministry, you were just thinking about the chance, just totally in it, right?
Selina Almodovar:Like, just not even in it. And so the reason why we were meeting that day was because our pastor wanted to do a new community outreach ministry.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So this was the beginnings of a community outreach ministry. So we were both involved in it. We both wanted to be a part of it. I volunteered to be the assistant to the leader, blah, blah, blah. So now we're in youth, and now we're in this community outreach ministry. During the youth time, I see him interacting with youth, and I see him, you know, just being who he is, totally secure in himself, talking, laughing, doing what he has to do. And I'm over here looking like this guy, there's no way, there's just no way I could ever be with him. Like, it's just he likes country music. He he just said NASCAR. Like, how is that even possible? Like, I thought he was Puerto Rican. Why is he talking about NASCAR and country music? And like I start to learn who he is. I'm judging, I'm judging. I'm again a mess. And God constantly had to tell me, like, Selena, did it ever occur to you that you need to correct yourself? Did it ever occur to you that you need to fix yourself? And I'm like, all right, all right. Got to the point where again, I had no attraction because I had the prayer. I didn't see Kyle that way. Right. It was not until July when we were having a youth leader meeting at his house and he cooked for us that I was in the middle of eating my food. I promise you, I was the fork was up to my mouth, and I dawned on me like, oh my gosh, I have a crush on Kyle.
Israel Caminero:Was it the food?
Selina Almodovar:I don't know. I don't know what it was, but it just like it was like God switched the light on.
Israel Caminero:Yeah.
Selina Almodovar:And I was looking at him and I was like, oh my God, what do I do? I I'm in his house. Like, what do I say? So I started acting super funny, right? Because I didn't know how to react. And I'm just like, I I'm so humiliated, right? Like, I'm not prepared for this. And I just I'm trying to get close to him, but at the same time, I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. We're in the same ministry, we're in multiple ministries together. Right. That's like a business relationship. Like, how is this gonna work? I don't even know, I don't even know what to do with this guy. Like, I've never had a Christian boyfriend. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna destroy this dude. Like, I I was so just overthinking it and so insecure about myself because of my past, right, that I just didn't know how to go about this. So I I did what I normally do when I don't know what to do. I went on a fast.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:This is probably my third or fourth fast by this time. So I kind of know a little bit more about it. I know I had to seek the Lord because I didn't know what to do. So I was just like, if I don't know what to do, and if I don't hear from God telling me what to do, then I'm gonna go seek him. So he can't tell me what to do. So I always go to fasting. And so I fasted for three weeks and I said, Lord, if it's your will, if I'm supposed to be connected to Kyle in a deeper level, then open the doors. But if not, shut the doors. Like I'm totally cool with you shutting doors. Yeah, I'm okay with it, Lord. Let your will be done.
Israel Caminero:Exactly.
Selina Almodovar:I'm here for you, God. Right? God kept opening the doors. So I kept getting mad because I'm like, Lord, I told you to close the door if this isn't supposed to be. Why are you opening these doors? So what would happen is we would have these church meetings for all these church events, and everybody would cancel except for me and Kyle. We would be almost there. So I'm just like, I'm like, Lord, what are you doing? I told you, I'm fasting for you, God. I told you to close the door. And it kept happening the whole three-week period that I was fasting to the point where I just felt like, okay, it's this has to be something here. And so I went to my mentors and I said, guys, I kind of have a crush on someone. I don't want to share their names, but I need you guys to everybody knew it was Kyle. Everybody knew. Everybody saw it. Everybody saw it was there. We there was only a small population of young adults. They knew we were, you know, filling each other. And they told me, you need to let him lead. So now this is the beginning stages of how I learn how to date with honoring God.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So now I'm like, what do you mean let him lead? What if I like him? I can't I just tell him that I like him? Can I just like go up to him and let him know? Like they were like, no, you need to let him lead. You need to let him initiate this because you don't want to mess up this relationship if it's not supposed to be more than a friendship. You know, you want to let him do what he is supposed to do in this relationship.
Israel Caminero:That's good. That's very good.
Selina Almodovar:So I'm like, okay, okay. I am now understanding that the way you date to honor God is completely different than the way that the world dates.
Israel Caminero:Exactly.
Selina Almodovar:And that was very hard for me because I'm a very aggressive person. I'm a very real person. I want to just share everything, put it all out there, put it on the table, see what happens. And I had to learn to be patient. I had to learn to have self-control. I had to learn to be mindful of what I say and what I don't say. And I had to learn how to seek, continue to seek God, not just when I'm in my rock bottom moments, but when for everything and anything.
Israel Caminero:Amen.
Selina Almodovar:So I'm constantly going to God. I'm constantly seeking God. My Lord, what's happening? This guy, he's not telling me that he likes me. He probably doesn't like me. What is gonna happen? How how do I get this thoughts out of my head? Finally, at the end of the summer, we complete this community outreach project together. We hand out like 700 backpacks or 500 backpacks, something like that. We have this bounce houses. It was like a huge all-day event that we put together. And by the end of that, Kyle finally says, Selena, I want to take you to dinner at my company's dinner, like a manager's dinner. So I was like, Oh, snap, it's happening. So I'm like, Well, what do I wear? And he was like, Oh, just you know, just dress up. Man, I look like J-Lo in a comp in a company dinner, nice company. People are dressed up with button-down shirts, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, it's so humiliating. Like, I didn't know what to do. I never knew what to do. And I just I just went out there and I just went for it. And then that night, Kyle tells me, Selena, I like you. I would love to be your boyfriend if you will let me. And then I choke and I was like, Yeah, I'm not ready. I um I need to pray about it. So I went out. You told him that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I did. So I waited a whole summer for him to tell me that he liked me so we could so we could like each other. And then when it finally happened, I freaked out and I was like, I need time to pray. I need to pray about this. Because now I'm overthinking it. I'm like, I can I marry him? What if like because I'm you know, I don't want to keep dating, I don't want it to get awkward in church. Like, if I say yes, it could be like yes, yes, like I do, yes. And if I'm ready for I do, I'm not even ready to be a wife yet. And I'm just overthinking it, overthinking. So I was like, I need to go back to prayer. So I go on another fast. I go on another fast and I take my time with it. And this time now Kyle's pursuing me.
Israel Caminero:Okay, so he's like constantly on you after now.
Selina Almodovar:He's bringing flowers to my job.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:Now he's you know, treating me differently, and he's showing everyone and and me, I want, I want to be with you, and I'm I'm here. I'm not going, you can't scare me away. Like I'm here. And I threw everything his way. I said, Well, my family's crazy, Kyle. Do you want to deal with family crazy, a crazy family? He was like, Hey, it's okay. My family's crazy too. They'll probably get along together. And we found out later in life, we found out that our family actually knew each other and grew up in the same neighborhood, which is explains a lot as to why they're both crazy. And I was like, Well, Kyle, I got bad credit. Okay, I threw everything. And he was like, That's okay. We'll figure this out. And I was like, Well, Kyle, I, you know, I went to jail before. I had to do like I'm throwing everything his way because I'm trying to, I'm I'm sabotaging myself, but I'm also scared and I want to make sure, can you handle this? Right. Because I'm not perfect. I just got to church. I don't, I barely know how to pray. Can you really handle this? Or am I too much for you and I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna be your demise. And so finally, after the fasting, I get peace, and God's just like, let's just take it one step at a time. Let's just take it one season at a time. So we start dating. We start dating in I think September 2011 or something like that. And we start dating. And one of the biggest problems that I had was the temptation, the physical temptation.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:And I tell him, I say, Listen, I've done things before. I go to my spiritual mentors, I said, I've done things before. What if I kiss him and I can't stop at a kiss? What if I force him to fall into sin because I can't handle my own temptations? And my mentors were just like, Listen, let's just pray. God's gonna figure it out. So one of the last conversations I have with Kyle is Kyle, I gotta be honest with you. This is my biggest fear. My biggest fear is that if I say yes to you and we do start dating and I do start to kiss you, I might not know how to stop at a kiss, and I don't want you to fall out of the church. You're such a great guy, you're so good. I don't want this to happen. And he says, Well, it's funny that you say that because I told the Lord a year ago that the next woman I kiss is going to be at the altar. I didn't know what that meant. I said, Wait, I'm not at an altar, I'm at the park. Like, what does this mean? And he was like, It means that the next person I kiss is gonna be on my wedding day. Right. I said, Oh, oh, that okay, because I don't want to kiss either. And you don't want to kiss. So this could actually work. So that's what really motivated me to say, okay, we're gonna do this. We're gonna date, we're not gonna kiss until our wedding day.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:So now I'm actually living out what my spiritual mentor showed me a year ago that it's actually possible. And now I have the faith to say, yes, it is possible because I've seen it happen. I've seen someone do it before. So I know if she could do it, I can do it. And I know if anything happens, I could just keep going back to God. And so now we're starting to develop this relationship of honoring God. We're in front of children, we're in a youth group. So now everybody sees our love starting to form. There's a lot of pressure to make sure we do it right. And there's also the fear of all of the baggage that I'm carrying into this relationship.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So we're trying to figure out how to do this right. And I always throw the fears out. I'm always pushing Kyle with all of my fears. And I'm like, well, my parents have been divorced since I was eight years old. And this is how I've seen things. And I've never seen a healthy marriage thrive. And people always get divorced. And what happens if that happens to us? And he's like, Well, let's take a course. Let's do this Bible study. And it just kind of happened, you know, I would be driving to work and I would listen to the Christian radio stations. And it just so happened that the series that season was all about love and relationships, Chip Ingram, Love, Sex and Relationships. And I'm just like, oh, this is perfect. Let's listen to this. Let's do this Bible study. You know, um, the the family life weekend to remember that just happened to be during Valentine's Day when we were dating. We said, Oh, we should go to this. You know, everything just kept falling into our laps to help us learn how to honor God and have Christian dating beliefs and values and set this up so that we can learn how to prevent any kind of divorce or any kind of separation to happen by building up this union.
Israel Caminero:You were learning how to love by faith.
Selina Almodovar:I was learning how to love by faith. Izzy. Yes. And it was very scary because I never saw it and I didn't know what I was doing. I constantly was in this state of fear of like, I don't know what I'm doing. How is this gonna work? You know, I feel attraction to him, but we're not kissing. Like, how do you deal with that? Or I got angry with you and now we're fighting. How do we deal with this? And what if we break up and you know, how does this constantly, constantly, but every time I had those fears, I would just go back to God. I would we would fast together, we would fast separately, we would set so many boundaries. You would think that we were 13-year-old kids living in our parents' house because of how much boundaries we had, but all of it got us to the place where we're at where we he finally proposed a year later, and then we got married a year later after that. So we got married May 2 2013, and we shared our first kiss at the altar.
Israel Caminero:I I I just want to touch base on that a little bit. I touched base with it when Kyle was here, and I remember your wedding. We weren't there, but I remember you posting pictures. And at that time I didn't I knew you guys, but I didn't know you guys like that well. Yeah. And Sandy showed me the picture that you had posted about you kissing, and I think you said something about our first kiss, something of that matter. And I give you guys so many, so much props because in my head I'm like, there's no way. There's no way. I'm like, there's no way. And she's like, Yeah, it's their first kiss. And I'm like, Yeah, okay, right, whatever. Because yeah, in today's day and age, that doesn't happen. Yeah, you know, yeah, that doesn't happen. It's actually a sin, and people actually do that and don't think it is. Yeah. I mean, I'm guilty of it. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I give you guys much props and for God being in your life to just fulfill what he wanted to do in your relationship.
Selina Almodovar:Yeah. You know what happened is that I just had such a huge fear of the Lord. I didn't want to disappoint what God was doing. And I know that where he took me out of from that depressing spiral downward state, and how he started to just elevate my life and he started to just change my life from giving me a job to giving me a church home to giving me friends that were healthy and not drinking and not smoking and and showing, you know, helping me reconcile relationships with my family and with my my brothers and my my parents and all of the things that God was doing, it was impossible for me to just then turn around and and not honor him.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:And so I had a very healthy fear for the Lord and just like, I want to make sure that I do this right because of everything that God has been doing for me. And so when we decided to date, Kyle couldn't even kiss me on my cheek. Like I just I couldn't even, I was not even comfortable with that. Like we started with him kissing me on my hand.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:Okay. And then eventually from the hand, it went to the cheek, cheek forehead, to eventually he could kiss my nose and I would be okay. And that's kind of where we ended things. Once we got engaged, he would kiss my nose or he would kiss my forehead. And that was as close as we got. But yeah, the first kiss on the wedding day was it was it was so awesome because it just felt like God wiped away the past.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:And it felt like I was starting brand new. And man, when I started brand new in this marriage, there was so much freedom. There was no guilt. There was no shame. There was no, you know, contemplation of, well, what's gonna happen if this is the wrong person, or you know, what is everybody gonna think, or what's everybody gonna say? Like all of that stuff just went out the window because I know for a fact that I did it the right way.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:And so because I did it the right way, I could fully celebrate all of this union, all of this relationship. I could fully be myself with this person. We were totally naked and unashamed, you know, based on the verse Genesis 225. And it just felt so great. I thought I was on the top of the world at that, you know, May 2013 was one of the most highest points of my life.
Israel Caminero:Amen.
Selina Almodovar:Doesn't mean it stayed there, but I was definitely there at that point.
Israel Caminero:Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, marriages are hard. Absolutely, you know, so no one said it was gonna be easy, but the steps that you guys took in order to make your wedding day and even the beginning of your wedding, and even now, I mean, you guys might not say that it's didn't stay there, but yeah, the way you guys handle yourselves and your ministry and everything, it seems like you guys are still in the right place. Amen. Like I said earlier, the weddings aren't easy. So but you guys know each other very well because of all the steps you took. Amen. And God led you throughout the whole thing.
Selina Almodovar:Yes, yes.
Israel Caminero:So that's great.
Selina Almodovar:So what ended up happening is we got married in May 2013, and there were a lot of things that I never dealt with that were now brought into the marriage. So, yes, we focused on our relationship and we focused on how to build each other up, and yes, we focused on you know honoring God in that setting, but there were still lots of things that I never dealt with in myself. Okay. So from the past. Okay. Yeah. So for example, um, my parents were divorced when I was eight years old, and I went from going to kindergarten and having first grade with an older brother in the suburbs, and we had a full family lifestyle, and we went to a good school, and I had a lot of friends. So all of a sudden, my parents are divorced. We are now separated into two different homes. I have two different lives, and we are not living cushy anymore. You know, my mom's on food stamps and she's on welfare. My dad is living with his brother, and so there's that household on the other side, and they were constantly trying to figure themselves out. Okay. So as a child, I don't know all of the things that happened in their adult life. But what I know now as an adult looking back is that these were two broken individuals who were broken for a very long time.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:And I don't know if it was the divorce that did that to them or if they were broken from previous things, and then the divorce just made it worse. But my mother was very focused on her own relationships and building herself back up as a woman. And she got into a lot of very toxic relationships at a very young age. She was, I witnessed her being physically abused. I witnessed her, you know, every single weekend. It was something different, you know, in and out, a lot of yelling, just really bad relationships. And that made me very angry because my mother would choose these men over the children.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:Okay. So anytime we would try to go to her and we would share with her and we would express how we felt about what was going on in our house, it was almost like we would get dismissed. She wouldn't hear us. She would choose the guy. You know, they would get into a fight, they would break up the very next weekend. He was right back there in our home. So this house I wasn't feeling comfortable in. I was often secluded. I often stayed by myself in my room for the majority of the time. And I developed a spirit of disrespect and dishonor towards my mother.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:I did not like her. We did not like each other. I did not talk to her. There was years where I did not say a word. In the same house? In the same house to my mother.
Israel Caminero:Wow.
Selina Almodovar:Okay. I I I made it, it was, it was like a discipline of some sort. Like I would make sure that I did not speak to her because that's how hurt and broken I felt towards her and what she was doing in the household.
Israel Caminero:Did she even try talking to you or she didn't care?
Selina Almodovar:I think she tried at the beginning. This was around when I was like 16. Okay. So I think around the beginning she did, but eventually she just stopped. Right. She just stopped. I she um I had my my third, or I had my second brother who's 10 years younger. So she her her plate was full.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:She was dealing with the toddler. I was a little teenager at the time. I would talk back anytime she tried to talk to me, and I would shut out completely. That was my mother. And I would stay with my mother Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Okay. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I would go to my dad's house. Very strict. He was always working. I was always often left with my uncle because he was out. My my dad was um an artist. And so he was out doing artist things and um dealing with late night events and stuff like that with pertaining to his art and his craft. And so again, I was by myself. I was in a house full of men because it was my brother, my uncle, my dad. I was the only woman. And, you know, Puerto Rican tradition, you got to cook, right? You got to try to clean, you know, you got to get the house clean. And so I was I was doing those things, and I stopped talking to him. Stopped talking to him. So it got to the point in my teenage years where I was so angry and I was so disrespectful because how dare you talk to me! You put me in this situation, and nobody was listening to me, and nobody was ministering to me. And the only escape I had was to go to work, to go to school, and to go to this youth group with my aunt and my cousins. And so that's the places that I would go to. But when I would come home, very secluded, okay, very by myself. And so all of this anger never really went anywhere. Right. It just kind of stayed in me. All of this disrespect never went anywhere, kind of stayed with me. So for me to be very witty, for me to be sarcastic, for me to clap back, I've developed a very high skill for these things because I've practiced it for years and years and years in my upbringing. And all of this came into my marriage. Oh. Okay. So in dealing with the divorce, and dealing with my mom being hurt and always talking bad about my dad, my dad being hurt, always talking bad about my mom, my brother, my older brother, we're about. Maybe 18, 19 months apart. He left the house when he was 16. Okay. So I was by myself with these people, and all of it just kind of stayed in me. There was no release. There was no counseling. There was there was nothing in there. So when I started to have Kyle as my husband, and we started this new newlywed season, there would be little triggers that would bring that stuff out.
Israel Caminero:After you were married.
Selina Almodovar:After we were married. There were little triggers. And I mean, I've seen the triggers in previous relationships. I didn't know they were triggers because I never went to counseling. Nobody ever schooled me on trauma, trauma response, post-traumatic stress. Right. Never heard about these things. And so Kyle would do something and can you share just like a tidbit of he would um leave a cabinet door open.
Israel Caminero:Okay. Little things. Simple.
Selina Almodovar:Simple little things. Or he would say something, you know, we would we would be arguing. We would have a disagreement in public, and he would try to correct it in public. And then I would get embarrassed and I would be like, stop talking. Stop talking right now. What are you doing? Stop talking. And he was like, I'm just trying to figure this out. I just want to get better. Like, what is and I'm like, stop talking. Like it would start to escalate me.
Israel Caminero:Yeah.
Selina Almodovar:And I didn't realize what my triggers was. My trigger ultimately through counseling, thank you, counseling. Please go to counseling. If you need it, go to counseling. I'm gonna promote it. Um, my I realized that my trigger was when people dismiss my voice.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So whenever I would say something.
Israel Caminero:Oh, makes sense.
Selina Almodovar:Whenever I would say something and Kyle would forget that I said it, or he would talk over me, or he would disagree with me, I would be triggered. I would feel like my voice was dismissed. I would feel like you don't value my voice. I have to stay quiet. I have to be alone in my thoughts and in my opinions. You are therefore against me, and everything would come out.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So we dealt with this for a lot, you know, and I would start to get petty. You know, I would, I would throw his bed sheets and his pillowcases down the laundry chute. And if he would try to fall asleep, I would wake him up, like, how dare you fall asleep when we're arguing. Like it was just very toxic. Yeah. I can admit that now. It was a very toxic way of trying to handle conflict resolution in our marriage. And I know that's not how we brought our relationship into the marriage. Right. We brought it on a way that honored God. So there was something, there was a disconnect, right? Because I didn't know how to handle the I didn't know how to handle the anger. And this would often, you know, it would come out here and there, it would come out in church sometimes, it would come out in the marriage sometimes, it would come out just in little ways.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:It wasn't until I had kids. It wasn't until I had kids that I really started to notice that there was a problem here. I thought, as a Puerto Rican, growing up in a Puerto Rican home, that this just that's just normal. People are allowed, that's just normal. You fight, you get over it. That's just normal. Right. People are petty, that's just normal. That's just a way of upbringing. That's just how you deal with things. Like that's just their Puerto Rican blood. That's their nature, right? It wasn't until I had kids that I started to get upset over small children that I loved that I gave birth to, that I realized there's a problem. And I'm really scared of what I would turn into or what I could turn them into if I don't fix this, if I don't address this. And then I would talk to Kyle and I'm like, Kyle, I think I have a problem. And he's over here like, no way. He didn't say that, but you could tell he's just like, Yeah, you you do.
Israel Caminero:Right, but as your husband, he's he's supportive. He's supportive, and he's not really gonna say, Yeah, you do, you know, like right, right, right, right.
Selina Almodovar:So it wasn't until uh 20 2019 we finally um decided we were gonna move. We needed more space because our house was too small for the two. We had two kids at the time. Uh, we were about in our sixth or seventh year of marriage, and I couldn't pack the boxes. I kept having panic attacks. And I didn't, again, I never went to therapy. I didn't know what the panic attack was. I didn't know how often I had them. Yeah, I just know I started hyperventilating to the point where my small children were trying to calm me down.
Israel Caminero:Oh. Right. It's not what you want to see either.
Selina Almodovar:It's not. And you know, I'm crying and I have a two-year-old and a three-year-old giving me tissues telling me it's okay, it's okay. So now I know like this has to change. There's no now I see myself as a child trying to console my dad who was having problems, or my mom who was having problems. Like now I see this is repeating, and I don't, I don't want my kids to go through that.
Israel Caminero:That's so good.
Selina Almodovar:You know, I don't, I don't, I it scared me to the core where I said, I don't know what to do, but I'm gonna go to God. I'm gonna figure this out, I'm gonna pray. And so the very first thing I did was I went to Google, you know, Google Christian counseling service near this address, you know. And I found a counselor and he really helped me understand that I had trauma. It sounds crazy now, as I just explained all the things that happened, but I did not realize I personally carried trauma. I thought trauma went to people who had it really bad.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:I thought it went to like people who went to war and people who, you know, had gone through fires and natural disasters, like they had trauma. Not me. I was just in a divorced family, like that's normal, right? To me, that was normal. I'm Puerto Rican, that's normal. He explained to me, like, no, you have trauma because of what happened between you and your dad. You have trauma because what happened between you and your mom. You have trauma because everywhere you go, you are a ball of energy and you have such a huge heart, but people are always trying to diminish your voice, and they're always trying to tell you to calm down and be uh lower your voice, and you don't have the right to say things, and they're always trying to take your authority from you, and they're always trying to make you feel less important, and that's trauma. He said, There's trauma in your past relationships when you hit rock bottom, there's trauma everywhere in your life that you have told me, and it's coming out, it's coming out to the point where now you have to release some of it because now even the smallest of stressors, such as packing a box to move, is now tipping over your cup and now you're exploding. And that's not healthy.
Israel Caminero:That's a lot that's good.
Selina Almodovar:Yeah. And so I went home and I said, Kyle, you'll never believe what my counselor told me. He said, What? And I said, I have trauma. And he was like, Yeah, you don't say, and I was like, Wait, you knew? You knew? And he was like, Of course I knew you had trauma. It's all over your story. You're full of trauma. And I was like, Oh, I had no idea. I had no idea.
Israel Caminero:So now through You didn't get mad at him for saying that, dude. No, I didn't.
Selina Almodovar:I was just like, I don't believe it was just a total mind-blown thing. I just I couldn't believe I had trauma in my life. And when I look back at it, I'm like, wow, I had a lot of panic attacks growing up. I just didn't call them panic attacks. Oh, okay. You know, I had a lot of triggers. That's why I got mad at the police, and that's why I screamed at this person, and that's why I did this because they were all triggered. Now it's starting to all make sense.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:So now I have awareness. And so now that I have awareness, I'm able to correct it. And so little by little, this was all around 2020. And then of course, 2020 happens, and there's even more trauma. Shut down. You know, it's just a total, you know, we we had such a crazy dark valley season during that 2020 season, you know, with miscarriage and infertility and losing friendships and uh just all moving into a whole different rural uh city and uh the shutdown and all of the things were happening, but now I'm in a place of awareness and I can understand, like, okay, I feel like I'm getting triggered. Now I know what to do. Now I know it could now I could walk away. Now I can assess it better. Now I can go to God. And one day, you know, summer vacation, I'm a stay-at-home mom when I'm not working on my business, and I have three kids. So three kids in the summer all day. Okay. Messes with your anxiety.
Israel Caminero:Yeah.
Selina Almodovar:Right? So I'm I'm feeling the triggers. I'm feeling the stuff rising and bubbling in me. And one day I say, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm tired of this. I'm over it. I don't want to do this. I don't want to live my life this way. I don't want to affect my kids this way. So what did I do? I fasted again.
Israel Caminero:Your favorite thing to do?
Selina Almodovar:I fasted. I fasted because I know that not in my own strength, but in his strength, amen. Things can break, things can change. Because why? Because I've seen it happen before. I know this can happen again because I've seen it. It's it's there, it's proven. And so I fasted. I've never had a panic attack ever since.
Israel Caminero:Amen. Praise God.
Selina Almodovar:Never had a panic attack ever since. So he'll start to, God will start to show me little things here and there. He'll be like, uh, I don't think this is uh an environmental problem. I think this is a hormonal problem. So I'm like, what? What do you mean? So I start looking at my hormone. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. So now I'm working on this, right? Or there's a communication problem with this particular person. And I'm like, why is it always with this person? God's like, maybe this is a connection that you need to step away from. So little by little, I start to remove the things that are giving me triggers, that are bringing up my anxiety, that are increasing my stress, and I start to create a life that can bring that peace out, can help me walk away from the past, and can help me feel like I can do this in a way that doesn't have to bring all that baggage around. And so that uh that's where I am today.
Israel Caminero:That's so good.
Selina Almodovar:Now, I I will say that I'm not perfect, right?
Israel Caminero:No one's perfect, or else we wouldn't need God at all.
Selina Almodovar:You know, I'm not perfect, and I still elevate my voice sometimes, but I'm able to bring it right back down very quickly, whereas before it would just turn into a complete mess, a complete ball out session. I mean, if anybody in the past would know me, they know that if they ever tried to talk to me in a certain way, I would not back down. I would be right up in their face just as much as the the grown man in front of me would be, you know, and it was just it got me into a lot of trouble. It got me into a lot of hurt, and all of that was just kept inside. All of that was kept inside. One of the things that happened with God when I was in my relationship with him, you know, Kyle was there, but I was also very close to, I was very concerned with my personal relationship with God because that's what that was the whole goal, right? Was to fall in love with him. And so I have a very good relationship with him. And one of the things that happened to me that I mentioned at the very beginning of this episode was that he gave me a heart transplant. And I went to a retreat a long time ago. I was dating, we weren't married at the time, and it was an encounter retreat where you go specifically to have an encounter with God. I took this as face value. I said, an encounter with God? Absolutely. I'm gonna do everything I can in this retreat to have a literal encounter with him.
Israel Caminero:Was this Koinonia?
Selina Almodovar:No, this was a different thing called encounter.
Israel Caminero:I was gonna say that's the first time I saw you.
Selina Almodovar:Yeah, no, this was the this was in uh 2012, I believe, or something like that, 2011, 2012. And I was still a very passionate Christian, on fire for God, I was still a newbie. And so I went to this place, and I remember in the middle of worship, I was I was on the ground and I was just worshiping, I was kneeling and worshiping as as loud as I can because I felt like this was the first place where I could be loud, where I can use my voice, where I can just express myself. And I just kind of went all in. Okay. And I never was able to do because I was always told to shh be quiet, too loud. Don't do this, you know, don't say it that loud. Like you're you're causing a scene. And so I would, I was as loud as I could be. And I remember I had this vision of I had this vision of God, Jesus, walking up to me. I I saw feet, I saw a robe, and I was like, I will dare not lift my head up to see more than that. I'm not worthy. I just I this is incredible. And I saw him come to me and he reached down and he had a very red heart. A very red heart, the reddest I've ever seen. And he gave it to me, and he said, You have a new heart. Wow. And I want you to use it with all that you have. I want you to go all in on this heart. I want you to use it to the best that you can because it's my heart in you. And here you go. And I said, Okay. I did not know this was a verse from Ezekiel. I did not know at the time. Again, I was a baby Christian, but I knew from that moment on whatever I do for God is gonna be all heart, all in. I'm not holding back no matter what. So that's how the marriage was. That's how tackling these triggers were, that's how tackling the traumas were, because I believe that there's something that's going to happen if it hasn't happened already, where I'm gonna have to use my whole heart in everything I do and everything I pour to in my worship, in my dancing, in my praying, in my fasting. I go all in. I don't hold nothing back because when I did, I was met with that heart of stone. I had all that anger, I had all that heart. They used to call me evil when I was a child because of how dismissive I was to other people. And I believe I don't carry that heart anymore. I have this new heart inside of me. And so everything that I do now is just coming from a place of love and joy and just stern, stern connection of God, what can I do to be better? God, what can I do to serve you better? How can I honor you better? How can I change what I'm doing? What do I need to do? And I still don't have it all together.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:I'm still taking it day by day, but I know that moving forward, I'm gonna go all in and I'm gonna do it for him because of everything that he's done for me.
Israel Caminero:Amen. That's so good. I mean, you're putting God first, and like you even said it yourself. No one's perfect, right? You still, you know, have your moments, but the point is that you're trying, and I say 90% of it is probably good than bad, than it was before, you know. Like you're saying, it was bad before, but now it's a lot better. Yes, and the fact that you're putting him before anything is the best. Amen. Amen. That that's a great testimony, Selena. Um, she has Love by Faith Ministries, she has her podcast, she's also an author. She's been doing this for a long time, a long time. And she's very real. You know what I mean? She she doesn't sugarcoat anything, she tells you how it is. If you guys haven't checked out the podcast, it's Love by Faith. It's every Tuesday, right? Yeah. Every Tuesday comes out, and it's a weekly episodic podcast, and I follow them, I listen to them every week, and it's helped me a lot. I touched base with Kyle last week on something he shared on it before, but her whole story is on there too, as far as their journey when they got together. And I don't even have to say more. Why don't you go ahead and share anything you might want to say about the podcast? And everything will be on the description of this episode, too, if you want to check them out.
Selina Almodovar:Yeah, so when I met Kyle and we were dating, and in that same season that uh we got engaged, I believe the week that we got engaged was the week I got laid off from my job. And so I was without a job for a couple months to the point where I felt God was leading me to start my own business. So in 2012, I began my own business. I started it based on my background, which was health administration. So I began, I became a holistic health coach. I became a certified holistic health coach and I became a health coach. Cleveland didn't know what health coaches were 10 years ago.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:They barely knew what healthy eating was now.
Israel Caminero:Now they're everywhere.
Selina Almodovar:Now they're everywhere. But back then, I was just by myself, figuring it out, you know, doing what I can, selling essential oils, selling, you know, workout plans, food plans. It didn't sit well with me. And I started to feel really bad about it because I'm now married, newlywed. All this debt that I brought into the relationship because I have two degrees, and Kyle's trying to help me through this. And I go back to God. I fast and go back to God and I say, God, what is happening? This is my business. You told me to start it. I don't like it. I want to quit. I'm the boss. How can I quit my own thing? So he said, Where have you seen me the most in your life? What is the biggest testimony that you can share with other people? And I said, Well, it's obviously it's the relationship with Kyle. That is where you changed me, that's where you transformed me. That is where I saw everything new. And that is my biggest testimony. He said, I want you to start there. I want you to create a relationship ministry, and I want you to help other people show them what is possible if they learn to trust and follow me. So I said, Okay, cool. So I rebranded everything. This was 2014 at the time. I rebranded everything. I became a Christian relationship coach. And now, because back then in the health world, Christianity wasn't really tied into the health scene. It was a lot of spirituality, not a whole lot of God. Um, there was a lot of energy chakras, woo-woo stuff. And it was just really hard to tap into that. Well, now as a Christian relationship coach, I could talk about God every single day.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:I don't have to worry about any of that. I can share it and I can do it God's way. And so I developed a lot of blogging. I started my YouTube channel in 2015. I uh had coaching offers, I had courses, I've done everything under the sun for women. I always knew that there was another component there because I could talk about Kyle and I could talk about guys, but I need a guy's perspective. I always knew that Kyle was gonna be a part of this somehow, but Kyle's job was very demanding at the time, so he would always put it off. He would say, No, I can't. I don't have time, I don't have the energy, I don't have this. So I said, Okay, I'm gonna keep building. I'm gonna keep building. I figured out YouTube, I figured out how to write a book. I wrote four books. Two of them were self-published prayer books for women, two of them were published by um a publishing company that was strictly for dating and for couples and relationships. I said, Okay, I'm getting closer, I'm getting closer. And I created an online membership for single women called Single by Faith. To teach them how to be faithful during their single season. And slowly but surely, Kyle transitioned into a new job. And that's when I knew, like, okay, this is it. It's time. It's time. And Kyle's like, well, I don't know what to do. And I've never been a part of this. And I was like, don't worry. Like, I have 10 years of experience. Like, I'm ready for this. I'll help do all of the things. You just have to show up and we'll figure it out. You know, because that's been my life mantra at this point. It's like, you don't know what God's going to do. Just show up and He'll help you figure it out.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:And so that's what we did. We did not know how to podcast. That was the one thing that I've been putting off this whole time. And I said, This is going to be very hard. I still have three kids at home. I don't know what to do. God help me. He said, You don't know how to do podcasts, but you know how to do video because you've been doing YouTube since 2015. So we started with the video podcast. And that's kind of how it developed. And slowly but surely, Kyle has been getting more and more involved. And you could tell that he's interested and he's hungry. And guys need that guy perspective. Exactly. So bad. Like I can only do so much on my end. Women are there. They're hungry. They're always seeking God. They're always seeking how to make things better. But if you don't have that guy component in there, you're only doing half of the work. And so to now have Kyle in there and to now have Love by Faith ministries in there, it's just, I feel like the ministry is going to just go to a whole new level because now we can impact the couple. Now we can impact the family unit. Now we can impact the whole foundation versus just the wife. I still have the books for the women. I still do coaching for women. I still have the single by faith membership, which is open $7 a month. It's open anytime you want to join. But now it's time to really start the groundworks for what can we do for couples? What can we do for married people? What can we do for guys specifically? What can we do for guys and girls specifically? And we're going to start growing and developing that. So that is very exciting. I've been waiting a long time for this. And it's all God's timing. It's all God's pace. It's all God's timing. And you just got to trust the process and you just got to go all in and stop overthinking it. And yeah, we're we're excited to see where it goes. Amen.
Israel Caminero:Nothing but blessings to the ministry, your family, and everyone. I actually remember. Yeah. I think you had put something. This is funny. I think it was you. Okay. You had put something that you were doing or something of that matter on Facebook, and I replied to it. Okay. And I think you replied back to me like this is for females, Kelly, or something like that. Yeah. I had no idea before, not the love by ministry. This was years ago. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, okay. So you're right. You know, sometimes guys need that stuff too. So absolutely. I'll have descriptions to how you can get a hold of her and everything like that on the description of this podcast. So, Selena, you've pretty much answered a lot of questions that I have towards the end. Okay. About you already said like where you're at today, so I won't ask that. But there's always two questions, as you might or might not know, that I ask. And my first question is there's a Bible verse that I'm sure has stuck with you throughout life. Yeah. When you're having a bad day, or even when you're not having a bad day, just like a life verse that you've stuck by. Do you have one and what that means to you?
Selina Almodovar:I do. I'm prepared. Okay, so the Bible verse is Psalms 46, verse 5.
Israel Caminero:Okay.
Selina Almodovar:God is within her, she will not fail. God will help her at break of day. And I I love this verse so much because there have been so many seasons where I just feel like the devil just kicks me down and he just try like, oh, he's just so petty, and it makes me so mad that the doors and the people and the influences and the triggers and the traumas and all of the things that he uses to try to just stop what you know God is calling you to do. And it makes me so mad. I mean, even from starting a business, I didn't have any money. I didn't know what I was doing. All I had was YouTube and Google. They are my best friends. And just trying to figure it from the ground up and not having the money and not having the time and not having the health, and you know, one thing after another. And it just sometimes, if you're not careful, you can get so consumed in that. You can just sink in that. And you could just feel like I don't have what it takes, or I can't do it, or I don't have the resources. And God is within you. You will not fail. That's right. You will not fail. Like I have to repeat that over and over. Like, I will not fail. I can't fail. If you don't quit, you win, you know? And so that has been my motivation for everything, for being a good mom, for being a good wife, for being a good coach, for being a good author, for being a good podcaster. Like that is what I know inside of me that no matter what happens, as long as I am with God and He is with me, I will not fail.
Israel Caminero:Amen.
Selina Almodovar:I feel like I want to run, but we're not, you know, and and He's gonna help me. Joy comes in the morning. He's gonna help me. He's gonna help me through it. If it was a bad day, then guess what? Tomorrow is a new day. He is with me. He I will not fail. That's right. And so that has been my motivation for all the things. All the things.
Israel Caminero:That's so good. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. And you're right. Enemy's a liar. With God by your side, you can accomplish anything. Amen. Not not some things, everything. That's right. So thank you for that. Now we're going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And I usually ask if Selena could go back to her past and talk to the younger version of Selena, what would you say to her and why?
Selina Almodovar:Break up with them. Break up with them. Break up with them, those guys, break up with them. Um, I always do this. I always go back to myself and I always say, like, man, what would I change? I would learn Spanish. I would travel the world. I would, I would do college differently. I I wouldn't join certain organizations. I would um say no. I would, I would honor God. You know, when I was in the youth group setting, I would, you know, stick to that and and never, you know, never turn away from that because I know that what I was learning back in the day was true and and and it holds true to this day. But at the end of the day, you know, if I we've seen enough movies to know that if you change the past, then the future, you know, what you see today probably would be different.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:I would probably be in a different place in a different world with a different church and a different guy with different kids. And I don't know if I want to risk that. God is so beautiful in what he's doing, and I know it's not over, and I I'm excited to see what comes. And so I guess this is the cliche answer as everybody's like, I wouldn't change anything because God has done everything so far. So yeah, but if I could, if I could tweak it and be like, Lord, if I can go back and change these things and still have the same outcome, I would totally break up with those dudes in a heartbeat. They are not worth my time.
Israel Caminero:Right.
Selina Almodovar:Oh, I would, I wouldn't, I would not have depended so much on guys. I would not have depended so much. I would have wanted to use my early 20s to learn more about who I was as a person. I feel like if I can go back in time, I would hug myself in my 20s. I would say, girl, get counseling. I would say, girl, figure yourself out. Do the things you want to do. Stop weighing yourself on a guy because that's what you were taught when your mom was in all those relationships. Like, stop depending on those guys and really discover who you are, what you want, and go after that. Yeah, you know.
Israel Caminero:So that's good. Yeah, that's good. I like what you said there. And it goes to show that, like you just said about your mom relying on the guys. I was gonna touch on that, but you did. Yeah. You read my mind, you know, like that's probably why it was happening, but you touched on it. So I just want to thank you, Selena, for being here and taking the time to do this podcast. I'm hoping that I'm not hoping, I know it will bless some people because trust me, relationships are hard, like you said. Yeah. And just you saying what you went through through this relationship and the trials that you had as far as just not being in your feelings but doing it for God, it's gonna convict a lot of people. Hey.
Selina Almodovar:And don't shoot the messenger, though.
Israel Caminero:No, not not at all. Because like I said, this day and age, they're not like that. Right, right. And it's something that should be right because it's biblical. But I just want to thank you again for being here and and your ministry and everything that you're doing. Like I said, all that stuff will be on the description of my podcast. And can you pray us out in prayer?
Selina Almodovar:Absolutely, yes. I know how to pray now. So oh, Father God, we just thank you for bringing all the listeners here today to hear more of what you have to offer them, Lord. We thank you for the opportunity for Izzy to just say yes to the call, for opening his time, his energy, his heart, Lord, to receive stories such as mine, Lord. We just thank you that no matter what we have gone through, whether it's good or bad, we know that you are a part of it. We know that you are doing something with it. We know that nothing goes to waste and that everything will be used for your glory. Lord, I pray for the listeners right now who are listening, who might feel convicted, who might feel hurt, who might have felt a sting or a gentle nudge from you from some of the things that was mentioned in today's episode, that they would seek you first, that they would go and pray, that they would go in their corners and Lord, and they would just have a discussion with you, Lord, about what it was that they need to do, what it is that they can be healed from, restored from, Lord. I pray that you would give them direction, you would give them guidance, you would give them clarity, you would correct them in a loving way, Lord, and that they would be drawn closer to you as a direct result. We thank you and we lift you up in all of these things, and we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen.
Israel Caminero:Amen. Amen. Thank you for that prayer. And thank you to all the listeners, too, that have been giving me reviews and just sending me random messages, thanking me for the episode that they needed it. It's it's not about people's story. I'm doing this, but at the same time, I'm doing it because I want to glorify God, what God has done in everyone's life to change them. They didn't change themselves. God did this. But I just want to thank you for just the love that you've given me. And if you ever have a testimony, I know people have been reaching out. The email is living.testimonies at outlook.com. Don't be scared, because your testimony doesn't have to be big. Just ask David. He threw that little rock and defeated a giant. You know, so reach out to me and we'll get you on and share your story with everyone. But once again, Selena, love by faith ministries, thank you for being here. And until next time, God bless everyone.
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