A Changed Life

  Today, I'm going to tell you a story about a friend of mine: his name is David Monteros.

 David was born in the province of Chubut, Argentina on January 29th, 1991.  Growing up, he had a fairly normal life, as normal as pastor's kid's life can be.  He enjoyed a very unified family life.  Talking to David, he's not really sure if he was saved as a child.  He definitely "prayed the prayer," but he's not sure if his life was changed by the Holy Spirit.  He told me that he really doesn't care if he was saved then or not, I'll tell you why in a minute.
   As a young boy, David didn't have many friends, just a couple of close ones that somehow or another let him down.  Some moved away, some betrayed him.  He had a lot of anger towards those kids, which became a lot of anger in general.  As far as his relationship with God was concerned, it was non-existent.  He was the pastor's son and had to be a good kid.  So he was.
   So, he lived a lie for most of his life.  Last year, things were starting to get bad.  He felt empty, and he knew that he needed to change.  He and his sister had moved away from home to go to school in Buenos Aires.  He told me that he was in a deep state of depression and he literal wept everyday on his bed because he was so miserable, and he hated God.  He realized that material possessions weren't filling up the emptiness in his heart.
  He had so much anger harbored in his heart against the church and just about everyone.  It was summer break of 2011 (in Argentina that's in January), and David was tired of faking a spiritually healthy life.  He was ready to take of his mask. So, while at home, he allowed his sin to show.  He was rude to his parents and was constantly anger and snapping and people. But, he was relieved to let out all of that bottled-up rage.  One time, he was bragging to mother how he had manipulated a situation to hurt some people and how much he enjoyed it.  She looked at him and said, "That's straight from the devil."   Needless to say, he was impacted by that.
  In that same time period, his dad told him that he needed to fix his problems.  He had seen the pain that David was experiencing, and he asked his son for forgiveness in the ways that he had hurt him.  He told him that he need to pray.  So, he began to pray, and he began to forgive all the people that had hurt him in his life.  Then, he began to realize that he needed to be forgiven too. He realized that his sin had killed Christ, but somehow He was offering him a second chance.  And he took it.  (That's why he isn't concerned if he was saved as a child or not).
  He knew he needed a change, and the Lord changed his life. He began to read the Word and to pray that week, but he didn't understand anything.  It was almost a week before the Spirit began to open his eyes to the wonderful things in the Word of God.
   Since then, he has been a new man.  The Lord has blessed him in incredible ways.  Specifically, he has seen God answer a ton of prayers, sometimes instantly.  I could tell you dozens of stories in which he asked for friends, funds, fellowship, etc, and God answered.  I'm going to tell you one:
  Last month, God put a burden in his heart for his cousin who isn't saved.  While he was still praying for an opportunity to witness to her alone, he received a text message.  It was from his cousin saying that she was headed over! No one else was home, and David was able to tell her about the change that God had made in his life. These kinds of miracles have become almost commonplace in his life.

  Since David and I have become friends, he has been nothing but an encouragement to me.  His faith is impressive and his joy in undeniable.  He has been a gift straight from God to my life and to so many others.