Former Stripper Shares Powerful Testimony of Jesus! 🙌

I was in social studies class and I sat next to a young boy who was very quiet. He was very different. He did dress very differently. He dressed in all black and he had occultic jewelry and he started to bring in books, spell books, books on third eye. I started to connect with these books. It's like the books wanted me to read it, but this weed felt very different. Everything started moving in slow motion. I started seeing my friends like in triples. My heart rate was really, really going fast. Like boom, boom, boom, boom. And I can hear it. And then I could hear my heartbeat go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I collapsed. It's like God was extending his love, his mercy, his grace over me and said, daughter, I hear you. I've been trying to get your attention, but you haven't listened to me. Now, are you ready? I am real. And I said, God, yes, I'm ready. I'm ready. Help me. Growing up, I can remember from a very young age that we grew up in a Christian household. Both my parents are Christian. They migrated from Bogota, Colombia here to Washington, DC. They had me and my sister. So it's just my sister and I, and we grew up in the state of Maryland. And my whole life, I could just remember just Jesus. My whole childhood was just Jesus. My parents would take us to church every Sunday. And I remember my mom would dress us in these beautiful church dresses, my sister and I in these matching church dresses with the hats and the cute little shoes. And I remember just loving to go to the children's ministry to learn about Jesus. And we had arts and crafts, and they would have reading time, and they would sing to us the Christian hymns then. And that was my favorite part. And I believe that that's where music evolved in my life that way, as my father also was a musician and a singer at church. And music was very big in my household, and Jesus was everything in our household. That's all I can remember is just being around church family, church friends, them coming over our house, we going over their house, going to retreats. Jesus was everything, our main focus in our household. As I grew older, I ended up going to middle school. And I believe that this is where the enemy had set up traps for me. Unknowingly, I was in social studies class, and I sat next to a young boy who was very quiet. He was very different. He did dress very differently. He dressed in all black, and he had occultic jewelry. But again, I didn't know what that was. And at that moment, I could tell that he was alone and to himself, and many people started bullying him in the classroom, and it was bothering me. I remember I would defend him, and I would say, leave him alone. Just leave him alone. And he looked at that, and he drew close to me because of that, because he wasn't sticking up for himself. I had empathy for him, and I was like, I'm going to say something. Leave him alone. And so I did. And then he drew closer to me, and he started to open up. We became good friends. He started telling me about his family. He started telling me about his hobbies. And the more he felt comfortable with me, the darker the conversations became. Then suddenly, he confessed to me that he was a practicing warlock. I didn't know what that was. All I knew was Jesus. And so I asked him, what is that? And he said, well, I practice witchcraft. Now, I had heard of witchcraft, but then I became more interested. So what does that mean? What do you do? And so he started answering my questions. And I noticed that I started to become curious. And because of this, he knew I was becoming curious. And he started to bring in books, pretty dark books, spell books, books on Third Eye, books about necromancy, speaking to the dead, horoscopes. I'll never forget, he said, this is the Bible. And it was a satanic Bible he brought in from Anton LaVey. I'll never forget. And it looked pretty, it looked dark. I couldn't believe it. This was all brand new to my ears. I had never seen this before. This was a trap of the enemy, to confuse me, to divert me from God. Because of the curiosity and the questions that I had, I was to begin with very curious. I wanted to know more. And so he said, here, keep the books. So I'll never forget. I put them in my backpack. I went home, and I started reading them. Deep down inside, I knew it was bad, because I was hiding them. I was hiding them from my parents. I started to get a little upset at my parents, because I felt that my parents kept me in this bubble. They didn't want us to know about anything else but about Jesus. And so, you know, I was angry, like, why didn't they ever tell me about witchcraft? Why didn't they ever tell me about, you know, sorcery and all this stuff, you know? Why am I just finding out about this stuff in school, you know? It made me feel, like, stupid, you know, kind of dumb. He was even, he even laughed at me. My friend in social studies, like, what do you mean you don't know what that is? I didn't. And so I started reading the books at home, and I noticed a fear began. I started to feel fear, and I would close up the books. But the more fear, I don't know, for some reason, I started to connect with these books. It's like the books wanted me to read it. And then the more I read them, the darker they became, and the more interested I became. I became almost, like, obsessed with knowing what this occult, knowing about spells, knowing about horoscopes, knowing about astral projection, all this stuff. And so, you know, this was a huge, huge trap from the enemy. Shortly after that, there's this movie that came out that summer, I'll never forget, it was called The Craft. And it was about four teenage girls. They were, like, in Catholic school, and they were dabbling in witchcraft. And so this was, like, the hot movie then. And so after that, by watching that, I didn't know that our eyes are a gateway, you know? And because I watched that movie, that got me more into horror movies. It got me more into wanting to read more and dive in. Oh, it looks so cool. They projected to look so cool. And I watched it, and it just, it drew me more curious, more obsessed. And so then I started asking my friend more questions, and he always had the answers. After this, I believe that by opening this door, I opened doors of fear by reading these books, doors of, like, an addiction, a curiosity, and shortly after this, you know, we're in lunchroom, and my friend brings in this, like, cardboard, and it's a Ouija board, but he made it. And so then he starts showing it to me, and all the kids come around, and he's showing us how to use it. And I'm like, this is crazy, you know? This guy, you know, he's making this up, you know? And he had a pencil that, and the pencil would move. And I was like, this is weird, you know? And again, I became more curious, like, what is this? Then he starts telling me, well, this is not the real thing. I made it, but the real board is a Toys R Us. And, you know, then Toys R Us was super popular. And we had all the board games, you know, growing up. I had Twister, Hungry Hippo, Operation, all sorts of, like, the toys that come with the board games. And we had them all, my sister and I. And so I told my parents, I was like, Mom, Dad, I want to get another board game. Oh, okay. So they took me, you know, they didn't know. They're just thinking, we're adding another board game to the collection. And I'm thinking the same thing, you know? I didn't see maybe anything bad with the board. So I remember getting into Toys R Us, I bought the board, we brought it back home. And really quick, Andrea, when you were buying this board, your parents may not have known what they were taking you for, but did they get an opportunity to see it? Did they know what they was, considering that they were all Christians and you guys grew in a Christian environment? No, unfortunately, they did not know, you know? Again, we had so many board games, the latest board games, the latest games, they always got us the best games, you know? And it's, oh, this is just another game to their collection. And no, unknowingly, you know, this board game looks like the regular board game, and it's in the kids' section, you know? And so they didn't see anything. They didn't make anything of it. And, you know, I don't think our church was teaching us that, you know? And, you know, they innocently, you know, bought me this game. I took it home, and I didn't play with it right away, but I invited some friends to come over and play with it. We played with it, and I remember that my sister wanted no part of it. It's like my sister had discernment. My sister was like, yeah, I don't know about that. This doesn't look right, doesn't sound right, doesn't feel right. And then I was like, oh, whatever, you know? I just ignored her. She's my youngest sister. She doesn't know what she's talking about. So, but then we played with it, and then I became really fascinated with it. But I didn't want to play with it alone until after playing with it the first time with friends. That night, I had a dream that I was playing it by myself. It's like the dream was telling me, play with it. Just play. You can play with it by yourself. You don't need friends to play with it. The next day, I come home from school, and I took the board, and I started playing with it. Ever since I did that, I became obsessed with it. It was like I drew a connection with it, and it was like connected with me. I was connected with it. I couldn't stop thinking about the board, even at school. And it was crazy because I was serving in the church choir, and all I could think about while I was singing was this board. It was like it was calling me. I was becoming possessed by the board game, and I would come home and play with it. And I didn't know that by playing this board game, I was releasing portals. I was opening portals, demonic portals. I was opening doors of spirit, of addiction, of fear, of anxiety, and panic attacks, and so many more things that led down a rabbit hole, that led me down a dark path after this. Now, Andrea, before you move on into even the effects of this, obviously, you looking back now, you can see the open doors. You can see the harm that it caused, and people will get to hear that here in a second of the harm that came. But when you were playing as a child, and obviously, I want to be careful with the information that we give, but genuinely, can you share with us innocently, or what were you doing with this board? What were the questions that you were asking? What were you doing? Because in your mind, you were just playing. What did that look like for you personally? Sure. So, you know, it started telling me to ask it certain questions. I can remember that it was also speaking in a different language. I would write down the words, and it was like Latin. It was like different, like weird languages. And then it would start telling me about, oh, help this dead person. He wants to come out of his, or his soul, he needs help because his soul is trapped, or something like that. You know, weird things. It just, yeah, it became really, really dark. It was strange. Shortly after this, I started having sleep paralysis. I felt a hand covering my mouth and my nose, and I couldn't breathe. I started seeing dark shadows. I started hearing voices. I started having nightmares. Then I saw footprints coming over my bed, my bed being shaken. I mean, I was in fear, and I would tell my mom. It's like my mom believed me, and she would say, Mommy, whenever you feel scared, just say, God help me, okay? Jesus help me. And so then I remember that, and I said, Mom, but you don't understand, Mom. I'm really scared. I need your help. Can I sleep with you? Okay, come sleep with me. But I couldn't sleep with her all the time, you know? So then one night, it got really bad, the sleep paralysis, and I felt like they were choking me, and I couldn't breathe. I said, Jesus, help me. And then all of a second, I felt like a relief. It got quiet, and I said, and I put two and two together. I said, Oh my God, this worked. If I say Jesus, it worked. But it just progressively got worse, and then one day when I said enough is enough with this board, I was playing with it, and it said to me, I want you to kill your mother, your father, and your sister, and then come with us. And I said, Oh, heck no. I took the board. I broke it. I started cursing at it. My sister came in the room because I was all loud, and she's like, Man, what's wrong with you? I'm going to tell Mom. You're possessed. You need to stop playing that game. What happened? I said, Forget this. I took it myself to the trash. I didn't tell my parents. I didn't tell my sister. I took it to the trash, and I came back. I went to school the next day. I come back home, and that board is sitting on my bed in one piece. Someone or something put it back in the room. At that point, I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was hallucinating. It was playing tricks on me. I told my mom. She didn't believe me. No one believed me. I became so fearful. I took the board, and then I knew that the board and the books were connected in some way somehow. They were evil, and so I took them, and I burned them. I said, I'm burning this stuff. As I was burning them, I felt a relief. I felt a peace, but I didn't know that I was going to be attacked that night. My bed was shaken. They choked me, and again, I screamed. I screamed again, God, help me. Save me. Again, they released. They came off of me. After this, I started having the sleep paralysis, but it became less and less because I knew that every time I said Jesus, it would stop. Shortly after this, I became rebellious. I started skipping school. I started drinking. I was introduced to drugs, alcohol. I was starting to talk back to my parents a lot. There was a lot of arguments in the house between me and my parents and my sister. I started fighting with my sister a lot. It became chaotic. It wasn't normal, and it came to a point where I didn't care about anything. You became almost powerful. You felt like you were a gangster, whatever. Then I started fighting in school. I got kicked out of two schools because I started fighting. After this, I was introduced to a boy who would change my life. He became my first boyfriend. My parents found out about the relationship, and they said, you have to break that up because you are way too young, young-legged, to have a boyfriend. I didn't. I was rebellious, and I kept the relationship. They thought I broke up with him. After this, my parents were planning to already move us somewhere else to start fresh, start new. After all that was happening in the house, we ended up moving. I remember it was my freshman year. It was pretty far away from where we had lived. My sister and I, we hated the place. We hated the new place. It was a very nice area. I get it. My parents wanted the best for us. We started a new school. I had no friends. We were the minority. It was so different. I remember heading to school. All you could see was cows and roosters and llamas. It was just completely different. Still keeping us away, I still kept my relationship with my boyfriend. Shortly after this, a few months later, one of my girlfriends from my old school that goes to the same school as my boyfriend calls me and tells me that my boyfriend had cheated on me. I confronted him. He denied it, and I broke it off with him. I was completely devastated. I was heartbroken. It was my first boyfriend. I thought it was love, but it was puppy love. I tried to keep my mind off of the situation. I went to the mall with my girlfriends, and we would go to parties. One night, I ended up going to a party, and I was drinking. My friends were passing around a blunt. We were smoking, but this weed felt very different. Everything started moving in slow motion. I started seeing my friends in triples. I've smoked weed before, and it never felt like that. Then I started slurring my words. My heart rate was really, really going fast, like boom, boom, boom, boom, and I can hear it. I started seeing black shadows. I went to the bathroom to go put some water on my face, thinking maybe it was just me. I come back out, and suddenly, I start feeling my heart rate even slowing down. I told my friend, I said, girl, please call an ambulance. I feel like I'm about to pass out. Then I could hear my heartbeat go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I collapsed. I fell to the ground. I don't remember what happened after that, but I ended up in the hospital. I woke up the next day, and I had IVs on my arms. I said, what happened? Then the doctor said, young lady, you are one lucky girl to be alive. When you consumed last night, you overdosed, and you overdosed on PCP. I didn't know that the weed that we smoked was laced. It was really high levels of it. How old were you at this time? I was 16 at the time. After this, when I woke up, I said, God, why did you save me? I just wanted to die. My boyfriend had just cheated on me. I felt like everything I was doing was bad. I kept making my parents suffer. My mom would always cry. All that I was putting her through, I was so rebellious. I felt like I had no purpose. I felt like at this point, I had no control of my life. Something was controlling me. I was cursed. Everything that I was doing, I was sinking in a hole. I couldn't pick myself up. Everything that I was doing was bad. I get home, and I'm still depressed. I didn't want to go to school. I was suicidal at this point. I didn't want to live. I was embarrassed of what happened. Shortly after this, my ex-boyfriend starts to come around and wait for me at the bus stop. He's like, hey, let's work things out. I ignored him. He did this. He was very persistent. He kept doing this over and over until I gave in. I decided to give him another chance. This was a very, very bad decision I made. After I decided to get back with him, he started getting into drugs, alcohol. He became verbally abusive. We were getting into a lot of fights. It was very toxic, the relationship. I almost became very afraid of him. I started to become really scared of him because he would call me and tell me that he was watching me. He was telling me what I was wearing and where I was. I was like, this is not normal. This is weird. After this, I was scared to leave him. I found out that I was pregnant. I didn't know what to do. I knew I had to tell my parents. I told my parents. Of course, they're not happy. I'm very young. What happened was that I told my parents. They said that they would help me, that they would support me. I told my boyfriend then. He became a different person with me, as if he felt like he had so much control over me. He started drinking more. He started sinking in a hole, in an addiction, alcohol addiction. One day, we're at a birthday party. I'm now seven months pregnant at this birthday party. I began to talk to one of my girlfriends that he did not like. He confronts me outside. He's like, hey, let's go outside. I want to talk to you. I go outside. Out of nowhere, he just hits me, just punches me in the face. Just this crazy anger outburst out of nowhere. Then he started accusing me of things. I just fell to the ground. All I could do was just hold my belly and pray that he wouldn't hurt the baby. I remember I was just in shock. I came home and I had a black eye. I had bruises all over my body. I started covering up the bruising with makeup. It was really bad because I would get to school and people would ask me, Andrea, what happened to you? Are you okay? I said, oh, I just fell. I had to lie. I started covering up for him a lot. It just became worse and worse. I wasn't getting along with my parents at home. I moved in with my boyfriend. That was a bad mistake. I moved in with him. Again, because he was like an alcoholic, I was witnessing him just going downhill. There was one particular evening that I put the baby to sleep. I already had had the baby. I went to sleep myself. I could hear him come in. I would play off like I'm sleeping because I was scared of him. He comes in and he's messing around with drawers. He's opening up drawers. Then I could watch him, but I'm playing it off and I'm trying to sleep, playing off like I'm sleeping. Then he grabs a gun. I could see a gun in his hand. Then I started to pray mentally, God, help me. Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Then he comes over and he shakes me. He's like, hey, wake up. He goes, he puts the gun on my head. He goes, if you ever leave me, I'm going to kill you. I was in fear. I didn't know what to do. Because he was so drunk, I didn't say anything. I didn't want to start any arguments because he had a gun. I said, I'm going to die here tonight. Then I just started praying. I went in the other room with my baby. I just started praying. I said, Lord, help me. Get me out of this relationship or I'm going to die. Either it's going to be me or my daughter or we're both going to die. God, help me. Get me out of this nightmare, Lord. After that, I decided to leave him for good. I called my parents, said, Mom, Dad, please, I need your help. Please come pick me up. They picked me up. I put a restraining order on him. I didn't see him for several months. I cut off all contact with him. He was not allowed to see the baby as well. Several months went by. We heard that he was getting his act together, that he went to go seek some help. He was supposedly going to church. He was going to AA meetings. He wanted to talk to me. Deep inside, at that time, I didn't know that that was called discernment. Something was telling me, don't, don't talk to him. But I didn't listen to that voice. I know that that was the Holy Spirit already speaking to me. Even in the little bit of times that I called on God, and I was only calling him when I was in need of help, that I regret so much. He listened, and he was preparing me. He was like, daughter, don't talk to him. Don't talk to him anymore. But I didn't listen. He called me, and he said, Andrea, I'd like to see the baby again. I want to see if we can maybe co-parent. Why don't we go out to eat, and maybe we could discuss something. I thought about it, and I said, all right. He hasn't seen the baby in a few months. I said, yeah, no problem. He's like, do you think I can pick you up tonight? I said, yeah, sure. Okay. We'll go out, and we'll talk. He picks me up. The baby stayed home with my parents. On our way, we're on our way to the restaurant. I know the way, but he takes a different route. I didn't say anything at first, but then all of a sudden, we're in a different route where it's just a one-way road, and it's pitch dark. All you could see is just his headlights. For some reason, I began to feel fear. I said, hey, what way are you taking? He's silent. He doesn't say anything. I said, hey, where are you taking me? All of a sudden, he locks the doors, and he goes in this deserted field, like a dark, huge field. It's pitch dark, and then I'm scared. I'm trying to open the door, and then he comes over. He grabs me. He just punches me. I'm laid out cold. I'm trying to regain consciousness because I could hear him, and he keeps punching me. All I could remember was that he comes around out of the car. He grabs my body. He takes my body out in the middle of a field, and it's muddy. I can remember it was muddy, and it was cold. Then he just lays me right there, and I'm weak. I can't regain my strength. I'm really weak, and then he continues to hit me. All of a sudden, I began to pray, and I'll never forget Psalm 91 that my father taught my sister and I, when you are in trouble, pray this prayer, and I began to pray it. Then I began to say, God, I do not want to die like this. I do not want to die like this. God, I have my daughter waiting for me at home. Lord, help me, God. Save me, Lord. Help me. I cannot get up myself, God. Help me. Then all I could see was him getting back into the car, and he's reversing. He's reversing, and I'm trying to regain my strength. All of a sudden, he's coming towards me. The car is coming towards me, and I said, Jesus, help me. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, three men come. They grabbed my body, and they pulled me out of the way. I should have been dead that night, but God saved me. The Lord saved me. How can three men out of nowhere just be in the middle of a field like that? How? That's God. I'll never forget. When they dragged my body, the guys, they let me go. They grabbed him. They started punching him. They put him on a lock, his hands behind his back, until the cops came. The cops came. They arrested him. We had several court dates, and I told the judge, I said, Your Honor, if you let this man out of jail, he's going to kill me. He's going to kill me or my daughter. I fear for my life. Please, Your Honor, do something. He looked at me with fear in his eyes like he believed me. Then I found out that he was going to be deported to his country. He got deported. He served one year in jail, and they deported him back to his country. It was really rough. I lived in a lot of fear. It was very paranoid. I remember always coming out of my house, just looking behind my back to see if he was around for some reason. I didn't believe that he was in jail. I still believed that he was going to come out and out of nowhere and just kill me. I lived with a lot of anxiety, a lot of panic attacks. I remember calling the ambulance. Every week, the first time I called them, they said, Honey, you're not having a heart attack. You're having a panic attack. No, no, you don't understand my heart. If I die, it's going to be from a heart attack. It's not a panic attack. They did this two, three times, and they already knew it was me. Honey, you are having a panic attack. I lived in so much fear. I felt like I had no purpose in life. My world ended. After this, I had to see how I could maintain financially my daughter. I went back to school, and I worked a job, but it wasn't enough. I was introduced to a girlfriend. She asked me if I ever needed any extra money that I could come and work with her. I called her, and I said, Hey, girl, I'm actually interested in making some extra cash. Then she said, Yeah, come with me, girl. Let's go. Then we ended up going. This is where I got introduced to the strip club industry. I remember the first time I walked in, I was like, Yeah, there's no way that I could do this. No, no, no, there's no way. I said, Maybe they have a cocktail waitress position. They're like, No, no, no. We're in need of dancers. I was like, Oh, my God. All right. Well, I remember I had a few shots. Out of nowhere, they asked me to start, and I did. I got sucked in very quickly because the money was so good. What I was making in one night, and my other job was making every two weeks. I got sucked into the fast money. I got sucked into the fast life of drugs, alcohol. Actually, many of the girls, I saw many dark things in the strip club business where there was a lot of men that would come that were lonely, that just wanted love. Some of my customers, they just wanted someone to sit down and talk to. Most of my customers were old men, married men, single men who just, yeah, some of them were perverted. Others wanted to talk. Others wanted you to drink with them, and they would tip you for this. This became like an addiction because you knew that, Oh, I can make X amount of money in one night. With this, I was able to buy a new car. I was able to pay off my school. I was able to get my daughter all that she needed. I was able to travel, save. Again, it just became very addictive. It's like you had this power, Oh, I can make this money in one night, but deep still inside, I was still depressed. I still felt alone. I still had anxiety. I still went home with issues, with problems. I had no peace in this industry. I got deeper into drugs. I got into ecstasy. I got into cocaine. There were times I wasn't even sleeping because you were working doubles, so you had to be on Coke or you had to drink to stay up. It was a very dark environment. First, it looks so glamorous from the outside, but it's not. Many of the girls that work there are doing it because they're either just doing it for the money, or they're addicted to sex, or they're addicted to the power that it brings, or they're addicted to drugs, alcohol, and they just feel like they have no purpose in life. Now, I did meet some other girls that they were full-time students. Some of them were very smart. They would save their money and they would go, but many of the women there that I saw were from years of they felt like they had no purpose in life. One day, we go out drinking as a group, and we're drinking, and after the night is over, I'm on my way home, and I get pulled over by the cops. I get charged with DUI and second-degree assault. The officers were pretty—I felt that they were abusive with me, but when you're intoxicated, you don't know what you're doing. So, I ended up fighting them, and they arrested me. I remember that I was in the back of the car, and I was a mess. I was crying. I said, God, why? Why is my life so bad? I had this flashback of just everything that was happening in my life, one thing after another, and then I heard a voice say, when are you going to stop fighting me? When are you going to surrender your life to me? I started weeping, and I said, now, Lord, help me, because I don't know how to change. I remember I was just crying. I get to the jail. They put me in the jail cell by myself, and I remember it was cold. It was a cold concrete floor, and I was just like this, and I was just holding myself, and I was crying. I said, God, I don't know how to change. I want to change, and I don't know how to. I felt like I have no control of my life, God. How are you going to change me? Everything that I do in my life just goes bad. God, help me, because if you're real, I do want to change. I want to get out of this life. If you're real, God, get me out of stripping, and I promise to serve you, God, and then all of a sudden, I'm like this, and I look up, and I was sober, like supernaturally. I said, this is so weird. I said, this is so weird, and I look up, and then I began to just cry even more, and as I'm crying, I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. I felt a tangible presence, like electricity from the top of my head all the way to the soles of my feet, and I'm weeping even more. I knew this was the Holy Spirit because it was such a peace. It was like a holy presence. It was a tangible presence, like I never experienced this, and I said, I've been waiting for this my whole life. I knew what fear felt like. I knew what anxiety felt like. I knew what panic attacks felt like. I knew what worry felt like, but this was different. It's like God was extending His love, His mercy, His grace over me and said, daughter, I hear you. I've been trying to get your attention, but you haven't listened to me. Now are you ready? I am real, and I'm touching you right here, and I said, God, yes, I'm ready. I'm ready. Help me. I want to get out of this lifestyle, Lord. Help me, and so I get out of jail the next day, and look at God, and I had just started talking to this boy who is my husband today. His mother-in-law asked him, hey, tell Andrea that there is an all-women's retreat coming up next week, and I was like, wow. God heard me so quickly that He wants me to go to this retreat, and I said, tell your mom, yes, I'm going to go. I'm going to go, and I told him about my experience, and I was actually so excited. Then, right then and there, I made the decision to stop. I stopped drinking. I stopped smoking. I stopped going to the club. I stopped that lifestyle. I'll never forget, I packed up my bags, and I was so excited to experience God. I was so excited to feel what I felt in the jail cell again, and I remember it was like two hours away, and it was all girls. I didn't know any of the girls, and we get there, and the first night, the worship was so powerful, and all I could do was just lift up my hands and say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for saving a wretch like me, for saving me, someone who was in darkness, someone who I thought you couldn't save, and look at me in your presence, God. That night, I experienced His redemption. He saved me. He gave me a new name. He gave me hope. He gave me my purpose back. He said, daughter, I do have a plan for you. I do have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, but to give you hope and a future, but just trust me, and I did, and I wept, and I remember I got delivered. I started throwing up. I started coughing. I started weeping, and it was the most amazing experience ever of my life, was giving my life to Christ. It was such a transformation. That is my story, my testimony. Andrea, how long have you been faithfully walking with Jesus now? About 13 years, Eric. In the last 13 years, you mentioned all of the darkness that you were in. Talk to us about the last 13 years and how the Lord has helped you, has redeemed you, redeemed that time, and even using you now to continue to share the gospel. What has these last 13 years been like for you? Yes. When you give your life to the Lord, not everything becomes perfect, right? You must read the Word fast, pray to develop a relationship with Him, and that's what I started doing. Along the path with the Lord, I went through trials. I went through tribulations. There were moments that I even questioned Him. Father, where are you? There were moments that He was very quiet, and I went through some things, and many times that I felt like I wanted to give up, but I knew that He was real because I would never forget that experience that I had with Him, and so I kept pushing. Along those years, I lost my marriage. Even as a Christian, we got divorced, and by the Lord's grace, He put us back together, and we got remarried. He makes things easier because when His Word says, give me your burgunds, and I will give you rest. You have something and someone to look forward to. Your daddy to help you, that you don't have to do it by yourself, that we have a heavenly Father who helps us along the way through our tribulations and trials. I became a worship leader. I love singing for the Lord, and I play the guitar for the Lord as well, and He also gave me a voice studio to voice coach people, to voice coach worshipers and worship leaders and worship teams, and I go around in different churches, and I go and I serve the Lord in that area, and yeah, that's what I'm doing today. Yeah. Now, Andrea, you mentioned all of these open doors that came through the witchcraft that you practiced as a child. Did you have a moment in your life after now walking with Jesus where you had that moment of realization of what had happened? What was that like to look back and realize, whoa, as far as the witchcraft, and how did God help close those doors even that once were open? Oh, yes. After I gave my life to Christ, I looked back and I couldn't believe that I went through that. When you draw closer to the Lord, you begin to want to hate what is evil. I started educating myself of what is it that the Lord dislikes, and He says to expose it. I started educating myself. I started reading about being delivered, and I myself went through a deliverance process through my encounter with the Lord. When I first gave my life to the Lord, I got delivered there, and I also felt like it was a process, so it just didn't happen right away. I also felt like I was self-delivered along the way, and it took a lot of fasting for me, several months of fasting, and just renouncing things from my life. I would buy books of how to renounce certain spirits that I had allowed in my life, and it really did help. By faith, many times I would drink a bottle of water, and I would tell the Lord, Father, this is Your blood. I'm going to drink this, and You're going to deliver me from this. That was my process, but slowly but surely, the Lord helped me along the way with that. Andrea, who is Jesus to you? Jesus is my Abba Father. Jesus is my Lord. He is my Savior. He is my Rock. He is my Redeemer. He is the perfect Son of God. That's who Jesus is to me. Andrea, what is a word of advice that you would give to those people who are currently watching right now and are involved with some of the darkness that you were involved in, specifically with witchcraft? Maybe playing with the Ouija board, or maybe they played with the Ouija board before and didn't even realize the damage that it was doing. What is a word of encouragement that you would give them as they're watching right now? I would say to please stay away from those things, because they can cause you a lot of damage, as it caused me. It is very serious, and it's very real. It's very dark, and it's demonic. Just keep it away. Do not mess with these things, because once you open these doors, only Jesus can free you. Only Jesus can save you. So, it is not worth it. It is not worth it. So, I would say stay away from that. And what would you say to the parents, right? Because I think from before and the time in your testimony even to now, we've seen an increase and more stores having this type of content. Barnes & Noble and different toy stores, Target, all of these different places. So, for parents, what would be your advice now from a motherly perspective? Yes, definitely. Just be aware what you are buying your kids. Check in on them. Check, go in their room, see what they're doing. Listen, they don't pay the phone bill. Check their phone, see what's going on with them. It's not about being overprotective. It's just, listen, we live in a dark world, and we need to be on top of our kids and talk to them a lot. Don't hide things from your kids. Just talk to them. Tell them what's good, what's bad, and always encourage them through the word. And yeah, that's my advice. And lastly, Andrea, what would you say or what word of encouragement can you give to that person who is right now going through abuse? You found yourself in a place where you experienced this in your life personally. So, for that person who's watching and is currently experiencing that in their life, what is a word of encouragement that you can offer to them? Sure. You're not alone. The Lord knows what you're going through. The Lord knows your pain, and He wants you to seek help. Don't keep it in. Don't cover up for him or her. Ask the Lord to free you from that relationship, and the Lord is going to heal you through those wounds. It didn't happen overnight for me, but it was a process of even forgiving the person who abused me. Make sure that you do tell somebody before, God forbid, something bad were to happen. So, that is my words for the people. I also wanted to share that after the abuse, after he was deported, I wanted to share with everyone what happened after that. After his deportation, many years down, he contacted me through Facebook, and he asked me to forgive him. He told me that he gave his life to the Lord. He got married, and he has two kids. And, you know, when I heard that, I became so happy for him. And, you know, right then and there, you want to say, no, I don't want to forgive, but you have to forgive. And I had to forgive in order to heal, to close that chapter in my life. I praise God that today I've forgiven him, and I'm so happy that he's changed his life. He also serves the Lord. So, I thought I'd share that with you. Yeah. Amen. Andrea, do you have any last words for people who are watching your testimony right now? Yes. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait to give your life to Christ. Giving your life to Christ is the best decision you could ever make. And I wish that I hadn't gone through everything that I'd gone through. But, you know, we all share a story, and the Lord can use you as well in what you're going through. You're not alone. The Lord loves you. He has a perfect will for your life, a perfect plan for your life. But surrender it to Him. Surrender it all. Humble yourself and ask the Lord, Father, help me in this situation. Father, reveal yourself to me, and He will reveal Himself to you. If He can do it for me, He can do it for you. If I felt like I was a no one, let me tell you something. We are daughters and sons of the Most High God, and He has an amazing plan for your life. So call on Him. Jesus is the dopest decision you could ever make. In Jesus' name. Andrea, can you pray for those who are watching right now and are saying, you know what, I want to know Jesus. You know, I want to encounter Him for myself. I want Him to reveal Himself to me. Can you just pray for them as they're listening right now? Yes. Father God, we come before you today, my Lord, and I thank you for all those who are watching, Father. And I ask, God, that you would remove the veil off the eyes of your children, God, and soften their hearts, Heavenly Father. Father, I pray, Lord, that they would turn to you, that all of a sudden they would just grow a hunger and a thirst, Father, to know you, Father God. Make yourself real to them, Father, and take this testimony, my Lord, Father, to the ends of the earth, to those who are hurting God, and those who are lost, Father. Those who have lost all hope, Heavenly Father. Those who are battling addiction, Father. Those who are going through witchcraft, Father God. Those, Father God, who are just in need of you, my Lord, Father. I ask, God, that they would humble themselves, Father, and turn to you, God, Father. In Jesus' mighty name, I pray. Amen and amen. Click on that, fill out the form, and somebody will get in contact with you locally. Now, this is only available to people in the U.S. right now, but we are working to get resources for our international viewers and listeners. But for right now, if you are in the U.S. and you need help, you need to talk with somebody, please fill out that form, and somebody will reach out to you. God bless you, and we'll see you on the next testimony.