I was born in New Jersey, and I grew up in inner city Miami, Florida. The flashiness of the 3–0-5 and South Beach, which may be seen on TV and in the movies, was not exactly how I grew up. I grew up the son of very hard-working immigrant parents from Colombia (Dad) and Ecuador (Mami). I grew up thankful for always having what I needed, but it was in a low income environment where crime was common. The schools I attended were challenging due to what can be typical of inner city schools. Thankfully, my parents stressed the importance of education, so in spite of many challenges, I graduated from high school and college. This was such a blessing, and there were so many other material blessings at the time in my life as well. Experiencing all those blessings on the outside before I came to faith, helped me to realize how empty and dead I was spiritually on the inside.

One reason I felt empty and dead was because graduating from college with honors did not fulfill me, and I realized nothing in this world could. Thankfully, the ultimate blessing of the Lord calling me to Him came next. At the time, I was an atheist / agnostic, and I persecuted those who were Christians, and I had a very disrespectful view towards anything about God. This along with me realizing where I was internally were pivotal in me deciding to take a step of faith and make a change. I studied the Bible and learned about Jesus. For me, I realized, “How could I not believe this!” The above resulted in me becoming a Christian. While I have definitely made poor choices as a Christian, which included a pretty significant prodigal son phase, the Lord has always been there to help me to learn what He was teaching me, and I have gotten to fulfill my destiny of being a Christian counselor.

To summarize, after being an atheist / agnostic, the Lord blessed me with faith, love, salvation, my beautiful wife and beautiful daughter, and so much more. The Bible says: I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. (New International Version, 1973, Ephesians 1:18)

When I was an atheist, I desperately wanted to see God. God truly enlightened the eyes of my heart to see Him, but I was thinking I would see him physically. Thankfully, I will literally see Him in Heaven, but until then, I’m truly blessed to be able to see Him, hear Him, and feel Him in so many ways. There are two examples of how I got to see what God wanted me to see that I want to share. One example is how I see my beautiful wife. Of course, I see her with my physical eyes, and truly God created perfection when He made her! However, that’s not the only way I get to “see” her. Blessed beyond words I am to be able to “see” her inner beauty that the Bible speaks of: 

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. 

(New International Version, 1973, Ephesians 1:18)

Her inner beauty is this bright light of a quiet and gentle spirit along with this purity and reverence that shines through from the inside out. It shines through her actions, how she treats others, how she deals with difficulty, how she loves me, and even through her smile, which fills and lights up my heart. Some of this I see with my physical eyes and some with the eyes of my heart. Furthermore, while my wife is wonderful, it’s also amazing to see how she chooses to grow in allowing herself to be more and more like Jesus. She truly has a deep conviction about repentance and change. For her, it’s not just about saying the right things and doing the right things. It is truly a change from the inside out that lasts. She allows her heart to change, which is her allowing her thinking and beliefs to change to match Jesus more and more. While her example is challenging for me in a good way, it is also helpful and inspiring because she illustrates a living and breathing example of Jesus. God works through her to stir something deep within me to be who God created me to be. Again, while I can see a lot of the above with my physical eyes, I am also blessed to be able to “see” her heart with the eyes of my heart. There is so much more that I can share about my beautiful wife! Another example of who I get to “see” is my eight year old daughter. 

She has the same Biblical, inner beauty as her mother, my wife. For example, it is so beautiful and fun to watch my daughter sing and dance to worship songs. She even creates her own songs. It blew my mind as I listened to her lyrics because they actually made Biblical sense. The Holy Spirit is truly speaking through her. According to the Bible, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (New International Version, 1973, Matthew 19:14) Jesus, of course, is completely right. Children really do have a special connection with God. Furthermore, it’s wonderful how I get to see and feel my daughter’s love for me and God’s love for me through her even with something as simple as her calling me, “Daddy!” And what a blessing it was to baptize her when she was seven. I choke up with tears of joy and gratitude to God for the wonderful gifts He has given me, my wife and daughter. 

The above examples I share because it truly has been a blessing to also witness clients see through the eyes of their heart as God has blessed them whether they identified as believers or not. What a wonderful