These are the words of a man who lost his dear wife just a few weeks ago. In my life, the marriage of Carlos and his dear wife Natasha was one of the greatest expressions of love, harmony and mutual respect I have ever witness. Carlos wrote these words as a Facebook post and I asked him permission to publish his words here. If you are going through difficult times or if you know somebody who is going through it; please encourage him or her with these words from a dear brother. This is how Christians suffer!
In Difficult Times
In difficult times, tragedy, and just not understanding Gods leadership the enemy comes to steal our joy and thankfulness by trying to cause us to be offended toward God.
He would first try to tell us that God is not good, that God doesn’t want the best for us or that God’s leadership over our lives is not perfect. If I know anything about God is that His his love is perfect and His wisdom is infallible.
If that lie doesn’t work he would tell us that God has given us what we deserve. That is another lie in that the grace, mercy and favor on our lives is unmerited. That’s why one of Gods names is the Lord our righteousness, it’s imputed righteousness through the blood of Jesus. We could never do anything to deserve it…God made a way we’re there was no way.
My confession when I don’t understand is “O give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever”. Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confessions Heb 3:1.
Jesus told John the Baptist disciples that he was the greatest man that ever lived; “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Matthew 11:6
An independent thinker with a profound call to see the orthodoxy of the church and passion for Christ manifesting together. Angel was born in Brooklyn, New York in April of 1968, he was raised on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico where he earned his B.S. degree in Sociology with a minor in Education from the Inter American University in San Germán in 1991. That same year he moved to Jacksonville, Florida. After working construction jobs for a year and learning the English language, his first job working with foster-care children in the capacity of youth care worker was with Jacksonville Youth Sanctuary in September of 1992. With JYS he was promoted several times as group home supervisor, legal caseworker, and program director.
While in Jacksonville, Angel studied a couple of martial arts styles. After earning his black belt, he became the founder of Good Fight Ministries as he used martial arts as an instrument to preach the gospel. In 2004 Angel was selected Martial Arts Instructor of the Year for the State of Florida and in 2005 Angel was inducted in the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame where he also received the Christian Spirit Award. In July of 2005 Angel accepted his call to pastor a bilingual church in Winton, NC where he served for a couple of years. Five months later he lost his first wife to cancer in December of that same year. This initiated a deep valley of suffering in his life, a mountain of costly mistakes and the embracing of lifestyles of sin that are well documented through this blog.
In August of 2012 Angel moved to Fairbanks Alaska with his wife Rayette Casiano and six children who are now adults. In Alaska, Angel continued his social work-related career and his ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. Angel is the author of two books, Hope for the divorcee: Forgiving and Moving Forward and 7 Banderas de Esperanza: La Bendición de Yokdzonot.
In January 8th of 2020 Angel and his wife moved to Arizona. On June 8th 2021 Angel started his home church, not as a starting point, but as a closer way to how the church is suppose to look like according to Scripture.
angelcasiano.com 