Meet Cherizar, Abandoned to the Mission

My family wasn’t a Christian one. Throughout my life I had different people come and talk to me about Jesus, but I never accepted Him through them. As I grew up, though, I felt God speak to me, reach out to me, in my dreams. My mom died when I was young, and worry became a huge, crippling part of my life.

One night as a young man, a child to support and no one to help our family, I was so consumed with worry that it haunted me. That night in a dream God said, “You have many things to worry about, but don’t you know that I AM the one who can help you?”

When I woke up, I pulled out my brother’s Bible, and I knew I needed help, I knew I needed someone else to be in control of my life.

After accepting Jesus as my savior, my life truly began to change. The biggest freedom He gave me was from worry. The things in my life seemed to take less importance, to fade, and I started spending my time thinking about Him instead. I continued to pray and started growing, and worrying less about the material things in my life. The things that had always dominated my thoughts and my life had totally changed. Christ truly completed all the empty spaces in my life.

I married the mother of my child and now we have three children, and I felt a true calling to enter into theology, again through a dream. I was making a plan for my life, and decided to leave Haiti to try to go to another country to find work to support my family. But in my dream, the Lord made it clear that I should not leave my family, but should enter into ministry.

“How am I going to study when we have no money? And when I have my family to provide for, and I don’t want them to suffer?”

Trust me. Just trust me.

When I woke up I spoke to my wife, and she supported me. Pastor Leme (the VP for HR at Emmaus) and I were in the same church, and I asked him for some information about Emmaus, and he supported me. I came to get more infomation, and asked God to make it clear. I went to speak to my pastor, hoping for more clarity.

Not only did he not encourage me to go into ministry, but he told me he’d help me do anything BUT ministry. He said if I was going to pursue theology and study God’s Word, he would not support or help me in any way, and even said he would make life difficult for me. When I told him I felt genuinely called, and like I needed to obey God, he stopped telling me about church activities, and before long he pulled me off the deacon board and made life at church really hard for me.

This was a really hard time for me. I realized that my pastor feeling threatened by anyone else studying God’s Word was a major red-flag, and that I might need to stop listening to my pastor and glue into what God was saying.

I prayed more and asked more and in the end, pastor or no pastor, I knew God was making it clear, and He was my God. I trusted Him. I came to Emmaus, my wife works to sell things to help our family, and I am here.

I have been loving my Christian Etiquette class, taught by Pastor Josue. It has really helped form and disciple me in Christian living. I learned about what we truly believe as Christ-followers, so that we can stand firm on the truth.

His class helped me understand a lot more about my church and about how I’d been more committed to following my pastor for many years than I had been to following Jesus. It’s showed me how to carry myself as a testimony, as a burning light, in my community…how I had to walk with others following God’s Word. To take care of those around me. To love and serve others well. To involve other members of my community in leading people to the Lord through the way we love each other. How to live well with believers and unbelievers.

The other class that’s changing everything is my Intro to the Bible class with Dr. Fanfan. I had no idea how much I did NOT know my Bible until this class. This is so foundational.

Pray for my spiritual life, that I might have greater faith, and greater courage. Pray that I might be abandoned to the mission He has given me…this life is not easy, but pray that the Lord will give me the capacity to learn and to support my family. Help me to learn more and more about His Word and how to share it…it continues to change my life.

To be a part of a continuing story like Cherizar’s,  please give online here now or send checks payable to Emmaus University to 3170 Airmans Drive Unit 1153-EUH Fort Pierce, FL  34946.  We need your help providing student scholarships in ANY amount to help men and women like these live and study at Emmaus!