A Miracle of Forgiveness - Christine Garza

Hello, brothers and sisters, my name is Christine Garza and we go with freedom in Jesus and we go around ministering to our brothers and sisters incarcerated in prisons. You know, we have a heart for for our prisoners that are locked up, you know, that are going through something. And I can relate to most of y'all's testimony out there, which I had experience. And first of all, I want to get into this Bible verse before I want to share my testimony and what God has done in my life and what he can do in your life, too. You know, you're not too far behind God. God rescued me from from the trenches and the trash. And but before I start sharing my testimony, I want to read you a Bible verse. It's let me put my glasses on. It's on Ephesians 430, Ephesians 432. And it says and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. You know, I want to speak about forgiveness and forgiveness is a big old part of my testimony. You know, I was I was with the cartels for seven years. I was a bad mom, a bad parent to my daughters. I used to be a drug addict. I used to do meth. I used to shoot up, you know, everything that everything I had an addiction to everything I had addiction to pills, to just cocaine, crack, ice, you name it, I did it. But today, my testimony, it's about what God did for me in my life and how he changed me. And I know that he can if he did it for me, he could do it for you. You know, back in 2020, my 2021, my daughter passed away. She got she got killed by by a shooter. You know, my daughter was 25 years old, you know, and, and she she has such a long life to live. And it's, it's hard for always for me to talk about this, but this is a part of my forgiveness. And, well, here in here in Lubbock, Texas, she was given a friend a ride. And this

friend of hers and his brother were disputing over the phone. And my daughter had no no idea what they were arguing about, or, or I don't know how that situation was. But the brother threatened his brother that if he went over there to, to the to the house where he was at, that he was going to come out with the rifle and fire at his own brother. So of course, who would think right that you're going to kill your own brother, you know, it was a threat. But this young kid, you know, did it. And he came out with the rifle. And instead of hitting his brother, he missed his brother and hit my daughter in the car when she was driving off. My daughter was so young and, you know, she died instantly, you know, she died, you know, on her way to the hospital, she didn't have she didn't have a chance, you know, and it took me a very, very, very long time. I was, I was full of hate. And I was full of bitterness. I was I had, I wanted to go retaliate. And me coming from my background, you know, her dad was in the cartels. And, and I had a lot of cousins that were coming. And we were gonna go do a drive by at this young kid's house. I mean, I had family members that automatically gave me this this address, where his sisters lived at where his mom lived at. And we were gonna go do a drive by because in my mind, it was an eye for an eye. And that's the way we used to think, right, you know, revenge, I'm going to get you back. But when we're serving Christ, he created in us a new heart. And, and so I was walking out of I remember that day that clearly it was, it was a few days after they they murdered my daughter. And I remember walking off that front porch. And I had my cousins waiting for me in an SUV we had, they had AKs, and they had all sorts of rifles, my cousin. And he got off the SUV. And he told me, Are you ready?

Kaboom! We're going to actually go kill these people, his family. And I say, yes, I'm ready. So when I was getting off the porch of my own home, I felt this hand right here, this beautiful hand. I cannot explain this hand. And I heard the God whisper to me, you're not that person anymore. And I started weeping. And I told my cousin, you know what, I can't do this. I'm going to let God fight my battle. I'm going to let God take control of this. And little did I know, God had a bigger, bigger plan for everything that had happened to this young kid and the situation. And so I was always, always in my prayer closet. And I knew that I had to forgive this young kid who took my daughter's life. Because honestly, he was all drugged up. He was on drugs. And I remember that I was in my prayer closet one morning. And I was just so weeping. And I knew what God wanted me to do. God wanted me to forgive this kid. And I was fighting with the Lord. I was like, God, I said, ask me anything. But I can't forgive this young boy. And God reminded me. I heard God's voice telling me, he's my son too. So you got to forgive him.

You can't say you love me and not have any kind of forgiveness. So you know, I got a reality check from the Lord. And it hurt. I mean, it hurt so bad releasing the forgiveness. I had unforgiveness. I had for this young kid. Well, fast forward. You know, time went on. And we would go and preach in the prison ministries. I mean, inside the prisons. And I would always tell my brothers in white and my sisters in white, like, I know that one day, I'm going to see Gabriel right there. And I'm going to tell him that I forgive him. And I would say that I was saying this for three years. I was already speaking it. And God makes no mistakes. And on October the 3rd, this past year, 2025, a week before we went into the prison ministry in Fort Stockton, God woke me up at 3 in the morning for a whole week to pray for Gabriel, this young kid that took my daughter's life. And I haven't thought about this young kid in a very, very long time, you know. I released him to the Lord and let God handle him. But at 3 o'clock for a whole week, God was telling me pray for Gabriel, pray for Gabriel. And I was getting up not knowing God's beautiful plan. So I got up and I started praying for Gabriel

every day for a week at 3 in the morning. And so a week, two weeks later passed. And we were supposed to, my husband and I, were supposed to go minister in Arkansas. And my husband wanted to go. He wanted to go minister over there in Arkansas with some brothers in Christ. But I felt the Holy Spirit telling me, no, don't go. And I told my husband, I said, we can't go. I said, we're not supposed to go to Arkansas to go minister. And Freedom in Jesus was going to be in Fort Stockton that weekend as well. And I said, let's go to Fort Stockton. Fort Stockton is one of our favorite units. And we always go there. I mean, we always go over there, my husband and I. And I said, let's go to Fort Stockton. I feel that the Holy Spirit is leading us to go to Fort Stockton. So we called Stephen. We told him we were going to go to Fort Stockton after all. And it was on a Friday, October 3rd. And God had His hand on everything. From the time He was telling me to wake up and pray for Gabriel, He knew what He was about to do. And I had no idea. I just knew that I had to pray for Gabriel and that we weren't supposed to go to Arkansas. We were supposed to go to Fort Stockton. So it was on a Friday, Friday morning.

And we went to the unit. And one of the speakers that was supposed to show up, Maggie, didn't go. She was delayed. And when we got there, we saw that there were very little chairs. in there, because when we go to the Fort Stockton, it's a lot of charity where we go in and share and preach in the chapel and all that. And there's always a lot of brothers in Christ in there. And for that particular day, God was moving. We saw like 40, 50 chairs there. And I was like, hmm, that's weird. You know, there's never that much, that little chairs inside the chapel, inside the gym. And then they said, we're releasing the G4s out. And I said, that's even crazier, because the G4s never come out. Since we've been ministering there for three years, G4s have never, ever came out for service since we've been there, especially on a Friday. I don't know with anybody else, but when we were there, G4s never came out. So this one particular morning, you know, Maggie didn't show up. And we didn't go to Arkansas. We decided to go to Fort Stockton. And God was working. Even when we don't see it, God is still working. And he, so Stephen said, Stephen, Mr. Canup said, go up there and share your testimony to the G4s. They never heard it. So when I was sharing my testimony about how this man that took my daughter's life and how I wanted to go retaliate, everything that happened to my daughter, I was sharing my testimony to these brothers. And I said, and I know that one day I'm going to see Gabriel sitting right there, and I'm

going to forgive him. I'm going to tell him that I forgive him. Little did I know Gabriel was sitting there. I didn't know that Gabriel was sitting there. It's just God's beautiful plan. And so I was, you know, church, you know, service was over and I was taking names for salvation. And these two guys came up to me. And one of them was tall, tattooed, skinny. Another one was kind of short, stocky. And they had mentioned, they said, was your daughter named Bonnie, that they used to call her Bonnie? And I said, okay, yeah. You know, that was her name that they gave her, you know, some friends. And I said, yeah, they called her Bonnie. And he said, the skinny guy told me, this is Gabriel, the one that took your daughter's life. He was standing inches from me. And I was, I was in shock. And I said, what? And he said, Gabriel said, I'm the one who took your daughter's life. And it was like, I felt my body like, like in shock and, and I was weeping, but I was still not comprehending. And I had Gabriel right in front of me. And he said, I'm sorry. He said, please forgive me. I took your daughter's life. And I looked at him, you know, and I, I didn't see a murderer. I didn't see this mean guy that they had posted on, on his mugshot pictures. I saw this broken kid.

He was so broken. That's all I saw. And I told him, I forgive you, Gabriel. Now you have to forgive yourself. And the skinny kid that brought him to me, he says, Gabriel never comes to service. He says, this day, Gabriel decided to come to service. And everybody around us was crying and, and, and my husband saw that we were crying and I told my husband, I said, come here, honey. I said, this is a guy that killed our daughter. And my husband automatically told him, can we pray for you? You know, forgiveness, it's, it's a lot, it takes a lot to forgive. If we could, if we could forgive this man that killed my daughter, you can forgive anybody that hurt you, anybody that has raped you, that sexual abused you, that hurt you, that mistreated you. I mean, you got to let that unforgiveness go. You know, when I saw Gabriel, I saw that he was living in, in just in remorse. I didn't see a killer. I didn't see nothing, but I just saw this broken young kid that made a mistake and cost him 30 years. And I know that one day when he gets out on parole, I'm going to go and I'm going to speak on his behalf. because, you know, we all deserve grace. You know, God is a God of mercy and grace, and we can't not say we love God and have unforgiveness in our hearts. You gotta release that unforgiveness to God. Yeah, it may hurt. You may be hurting, because I was. You may be hurting, you may be going through something, and you can't hold on to anger.

You can't hold on to bitterness. You can't hold on to anything that the Lord does not want you to hold on to. These are the times that you gotta release all that to God. And on my way after service, you know, I had told Mr. Canup, Mr. Canup, Stephen Canup, so I was crying. And I told Mr. Canup, I said, I saw the guy right now that took my daughter's life, and I forgave him. And Mr. Canup started weeping. We all started weeping. This has never happened before with freedom in Jesus. It was, this was God's divine plan, because only he knows what Gabriel was dealing with. He was dealing with this weight of taking somebody else's life. You know, we all make mistakes, and that mistake costed me my daughter. I forgave him, I really did. And if we were allowed to hug, I would've gave him a big old hug. But I just want you to know that forgiveness is found in the Lord. And that day, we were heading to the hotel room, and it just reopened wounds again, seeing Gabriel and hearing my daughter's name again. And I was just crying and crying and crying, because I missed my daughter. And so we got to the hotel room,

and I told my husband, can you go down and get me some Visine, because my eyes were red. And he went downstairs, and I was just speaking to the Lord, like, okay, God, you know, you did your plan. And I clearly heard the Lord tell me, forgiveness was not for you, it was for Gabriel. And, you know, I released Gabriel to the Lord three years ago. And God was working in Gabriel's life since Lubbock County. Little did we know that one of our freedom in Jesus, David Allison, met Gabriel in Lubbock County, ministering to Gabriel in there. I've had people come up to me telling me that when Gabriel was in Lubbock County, he was dealing with this, and he was so remorseful and hurt. He was hurting for doing this. And I love Gabriel, and I forgive him. Maybe you don't know how to forgive. You just gotta, when God tells you to surrender, he means everything. That includes the unforgiveness you have so deep in your heart that makes your heart so bitter, so hard. You cannot have a heart of stone and say you love the Lord. It just don't go together. You know, and I wanna share this powerful testimony

that not even the warden knew what to do in that unit. He had a car hire up because I did not go back to that Ford Stockton unit. But God did what he had to do that moment. You know, the praying for Gabriel, it was just like a puzzle piece. God was showing me his hand was doing a puzzle, and it was for forgiveness for Gabriel because he was dealing with a lot of unforgiveness. You know, if you did something that bad, you know, you got to forgive yourself. You know, if God already forgave you, you gotta forgive yourself. You cannot hold on to something that God's trying to take out of your hand. You gotta release it to the Lord. If you did something that bad, release it to the Lord. If somebody hurt you that bad, release it to God because you cannot love the Lord because he forgave us when we were sinners. I mean, I did so much stuff back in the days that I shouldn't be forgiven for, but God did forgive me. And you know, God is a loving God, and he don't hold nothing against our past. And if when our past comes up, you know it's Satan. So you gotta remember who you are in Christ. God is an amazing God. He loves us, and God never forsakes us. And his grace is so beautiful. He gives us grace constantly, and his mercies are new.

You know, yeah. we slip up, we're not perfect, but get back right with God. And I pray that, you know, that any unforgiveness you have in your heart, any bitterness or any being spiteful, anything that hindered your walk with the Lord, you got to release it to God because God is just so beautiful and he wants to do greater things in your life, but he can't do that until he cleans out your heart. You know, it's a hard check. You got to release anything. And sometimes when we forget, God reminds us of who we are. You know, we all have a testimony. There is tears in your testimony. And I know that God is working right now in your life. You know, yes, we're not perfect. You know, I have daughters that are not saved. I'm going to be real with you. I have daughters that don't talk to me, but I release my family to the Lord because he is the ultimate father and he's our creator. You know, we go through a struggle. We go through trials, especially when trials come like somebody killing your own daughter or your own sibling. You know, you have a lot of hate. You really do because I did. I had a lot of hate.

I had a lot of anger towards the Lord. Like, okay, God, why me? I'm serving you. But yet this is happening to me. You took my daughter, but God makes no mistakes. You know, I know that my daughter is rejoicing in heaven. And I know that one day I'm going to see her. And you know, she always would tell me, mom, I'm chosen. And, you know, she was right. You know, she's chosen by God. And this God's plan of being in the prison ministry, God had a purpose for that because he knew I was going to meet Gabriel one day. He knew my daughter was going to get killed. He knew that I had to forgive Gabriel in prison where he was at. And I pray that Gabriel finds, really, really seeks the Lord constantly. And I pray that he will never let go of God's hands, especially when he gets reminded about what he did to my daughter. I pray that he forgets all that. I pray that God will give him peace of mind. You need a peace of mind as well. You know, whenever God, I mean, Satan brings up anything that is not of God, I pray that you remember what my words is that, you know, we do great things in him and through him only. And you cannot hold on to nothing

if you want God to do great things in your life. Maybe you need restoration for your family. Maybe your kids do not like you like mine. You know, I'm not a perfect mom. I was a really horrible mom, but I'm learning how to build that relationship with my daughters. And it's very important, you know, that anything that you hold on to, and that is not of God, is just blocking your blessing. Because God wants to do good things in your life. God is a God of righteousness. He's a beautiful God, and he wants nothing but good for us. And I pray that, you know, you will find it in your heart to forgive those people that hurt you. Pray for them. Instead of cursing at them, pray for them. And, you know, when Satan reminds you, oh, you're gonna let that go? Yeah, let it go. Because you don't want nothing to hinder your walk with the Lord, especially unforgiveness or bitterness. And I just, I love you guys, and I thank you. And just know that we are always praying for you. You know, just continue to pray for our prison ministry with freedom in Jesus. And just remember, unforgiveness has no place in God's kingdom.

So we love you guys, and I just wanted to share my testimony and what God had did in my life. But we thank you, and we love you. God bless you. Bye-bye. ♪♪