Living by Faith

Carlos Arrue Chaves believed that he was a good person. He provided for his family, he attended church regularly, and he was an honest man. But when a car accident took the life of his son, Carlos learned that dependency on Jesus – through the good times and the bad – is the only way to live.

I had a good job, a happy family, a nice house, and a comfortable life. My children had a good education and we gave ourselves the very best. We really believed that we had everything we needed. We always believed that we could get by without the help of God.

On the day of the accident we were driving to the beach for a holiday when a truck crossed in front of us. I woke up in the hospital and all I could think about was seeing my family. I felt desperate to know how they all were. The doctors told me that my son’s condition was bad – he was in a coma. The Lord gave us two months to prepare us for what would happen next. In that time we felt the hand of the Lord upon us through the care and support of the members of the Reto International Church, the church that we now attend. Missionaries Jose and Esperanza Prada frequently visited our family to pray – prayer is what comforted us. They read us passages from the Bible and helped us to understand the Lord’s purpose. This filled us with faith and showed us that the Lord has a purpose for us all. Until then we didn’t understand eternal life, and we didn’t understand what this life was for. Two months after the accident, we asked the Lord to do with our son what was best. We gave him over into His hands, and the next day, in the morning, our son died. At that moment we understood that we need to leave everything in the hands of the Lord.

There will always be times of hurt, of crying, of missing our son, of wanting to have him, and wanting to hug him. But the love of the Lord is great, and He gives us the strength to go on. Everyday we ask the Lord to guide our steps and to take control of our lives, so that it would be Him who makes us act. We know in reality that nothing we have belongs to us.

I used to believe that only people with problems needed to be close to the Lord – alcoholics, drug addicts, people with illnesses. We didn’t have those problems, so we didn’t need the Lord. Now we know life is not like that. We depend on God all the time – through the bad times and also the good times, because He is the only One who can give us peace.

I want to share my story so that people will open their hearts and receive the Lord. Of this I am completely sure: Jesus gives us real peace and real joy. Before the accident we had religion, and now we have faith. We live by faith. We believe God and we give ourselves to Him everyday.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20