La Pastora Alma Cristina de Santiago cuenta a Visionarias cómo conoció al Señor Jesucristo y sobrevivió a una vida de excesos.
A través de diversos medios diariamente conocemos historias de violencia, drogas y abuso, pero poco escuchamos sobre testimonios que hablan de sobrevivencia, como por ejemplo el de la Pastora Alma Cristina de Santiago, quien conoció a Dios cuando se encontraba en un fondo muy oscuro.
El enemigo en casa
Siendo la cuarta de cinco hermanas, Alma Cristina fue parte del abuso al que eran sometidas por su propio padre, un hombre al que describe como inteligente y muy preparado, por lo que a muchos les costó creer lo que era capaz de hacer a sus hijas, incluso a su madre, quien aún así decidió denunciarlo a la policía.
Cuenta que fue cuando tenía 10 años que su mamá se enteró de lo sucedido y a partir de ahí sus vidas cambiaron para siempre, empezando por perder la comodidad a la que estaban acostumbradas, pues era él quien llevaba el sustento a casa, mientras su madre se dedicaba a ellas.
Pero el encarcelamiento del hombre que se suponía debía protegerlas, no acabó con el martirio de las mujeres, pues ahora debían enfrentar las amenazas que la familia paterna les hacía, así como las necesidades que cada día se volvían más frecuentes.
Comienza la caída
La madre de la pastora sentía que las había traicionado y el tener que dejarlas solas para trabajar y poder darles de comer, creía que las había traicionado, por lo cual se refugió en el alcohol, lo que nubló el pensamiento de la pequeña Alma Cristina.
“Por ver a mi mamá triste y como lloraba empecé a llenar mi corazón como de mucha rabia y mucho rencor”, recuerda nuestra entrevistada.
Al crecer prácticamente solas, ella y sus hermanas, comenzaron a juntarse con supuestos amigos que las llenaban de regalos de dudosa procedencia, especialmente uno, el cual cuando ella cumplió 15 años le obsequió un auto, comprado con dinero producto de la venta de drogas.
Poco a poco Cristina comenzó hacer uso de las drogas y el alcohol a inmiscuirse en ese “ambiente”, pues creía que ahí se olvidaría de sus necesidades.
“Comenzamos a conocer a otro tipo de personas, gente de altos mandos, comenzamos a conocer gente que andaba movida en el narcotráfico muy tremendamente… ahí fue donde mis hermanas y yo entramos en esa vida y empezamos con el consumo y narcomenudeo en el narcotráfico”.
18 años después
Han pasado 18 años desde que Alma Cristina tocó fondo y con el tiempo logró sobrevivir la adversidad y superar ese mundo de droga y narcotráfico.
Ella nos cuenta que el amor y el deseo de estar con sus hijos la hizo agarrarse de la fe y el amor de Dios para poder cambiar, fue muy difícil pero no imposible, comenzó una vida entregada a la palabra de Dios, como también a la iglesia, se convirtió en guía y directora del centro de rehabilitación donde le cambió la vida, ahí se enamoró del líder que la recibió el pastor Fernando Hernández Marin y con quien formó la familia que tanto quería.
Ahora, ambos convertidos en pastores, sirven al Señor y están al frente de la congregación llamada Renovación en el Espíritu Santo, el templo está ubicado en las calles Andrés Ortiz y Alberto Álvarez número 9540, en Juárez Nuevo.
La pastora Alma Cristina y su familia trabajan con mujeres y hombres con problemas de adicciones, atienden comedores de niños de bajos recursos y son apoyo en su educación.
Llevan el evangelio a colonias o zonas sumidas en la drogadicción y trabajan de la mano con la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional del Estado de Chihuahua (UPNECH) Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), a cuyos alumnos ofrecen realizar prácticas en sus diversas actividades, todo tomados de la mano de Dios y con el objetivo de encaminar las familias.
“Creemos mucho en la restauración de la familia”, dice esta visionaria, quien hoy, después de ver a los ojos la maldad y el mundo oscuro, se dice afortunada, feliz, plena y muy agradecida con el Señor Jesucristo por haberlo conocido.
Let it be God to do things
Alma Cristina de Santiago tells Visionarias how she met the Lord Jesus Christ and survived a life of excess.
Through various media, we know daily stories of violence, drugs, and abuse, but little do we hear about testimonies that speak of survival, such as that of Alma Cristina de Santiago, who met God when she was in a very dark background.
The Enemy at Home
Being the fourth of five sisters, Alma Cristina was part of the abuse they were subjected to by her father, a man she describes as intelligent and very prepared; so many found it hard to believe what he was capable of doing to his daughters, even her mother, who still decided to denounce him to the police.
She says that it was when she was ten years old that her mother found out what had happened, and from then on, their lives changed forever. They started by losing the comfort to which they were accustomed since he was the one who brought home the livelihood, while her mother dedicated herself to them.
But the imprisonment of the man who was supposed to protect them did not put an end to the women’s martyrdom; for now, they had to face the threats made by their father’s family, as well as the needs that became more frequent every day.
The fall begins
Believing that she had betrayed them and had to leave them alone to work and feed them, her mother took refuge in alcohol, which clouded little Alma Cristina’s thoughts.
“Seeing my mother sad and crying, I began to fill my heart with anger and resentment,” recalls our interviewee.
Growing up practically alone, she and her sisters began to get together with friends who showered them with gifts of dubious origin, especially one who, when she turned 15, gave her a car, bought with money from the sale of drugs.
Little by little, Cristina began to get involved in that “environment” because she believed she would forget her needs there.
“We began to meet other types of people, people in high places, people from the police; we began to meet people who were involved in drug trafficking… that’s where my sisters and I entered that life and started with drug dealing, with drug trafficking”.
Facing death
But beyond getting everything that money can buy, Alma Cristina tells us that she lost herself in such a way that she lost her peace. Between drug and alcohol chases, an overdose, and even a forced abortion, she thought many times that she was going to die.
She tells us that, together with her partner, she began to set up several drug “little shops,” which her sisters and even her mother ended up taking care of, while the man who would eventually become the father of her children got involved in contract killings, which led to his death during the first wave of violence that hit this city.
It was at this stage that she had a complex addiction.
“God kept my life because God is great; I know he had a purpose for me,” she mentions.
Reaching the bottom
The strong addiction and feeling alone led her to give her children to a relative while she lived on the streets amid drugs and other dangers, which had her tired.
However, her 8-year-old sister led her to reflect on whether this was the life she wanted, although another of her sisters told her about Christ, who had come into her life and kept her sober.
On a visit to her home, she gave Cristina a pamphlet titled “Christ breaks the chains.” This upset Cristina.
“I left that day with her and started to cry a lot. I started to remember, until I talked with the Lord, ‘If you exist if you are God, if you have power, if you are that one, change me, do something in me. I don’t want to go on like this,’” She mentions that this is what he told her.
That same afternoon, she returned to her sister’s house, and with the help of a lady, she was taken to a rehabilitation center, where she finally accepted God’s call.
“I had the privilege of meeting the Lord 18 years ago, around the age of 22, when my life, at that young age, was destroyed. I ended up terribly… I no longer wanted to live. I believed that everything was over, that there was no longer a future, and that there was no longer something to live for,” she says.
Rebirth
When she arrived at this site, she met one of its leaders and a couple who took her to their home. There, she was guided to get ahead and recover her children, who could live with her.
On the verge of tears, she confides that at that point, the only thing she wanted was to be with them, play with them, take them to school, and feed them, so she accepted all the conditions of the center to recover and be able to have them by her side.
18 years later
It has been 18 years since Alma Cristina hit rock bottom. With time, she overcame adversity and became a guide and director of the center, which changed her life; there, she fell in love with the leader who received her and with whom she formed the family she loved so much.
Now, both have become pastors. They serve the Lord and are at the head of the congregation that attends Renovación en el Espíritu Santo, a temple located at 9540 Andres Ortiz and Alberto Alvarez streets in Juarez Nuevo.
Alma Cristina and her family work with women and men with addiction problems, attend soup kitchens for low-income children, and support their education.
They take the gospel to neighborhoods or areas plunged in drug addiction and work hand in hand with the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), whose students are offered internships in their various activities, all hand in hand with God and to guide families.
“We believe very much in the restoration of the family,” says this visionary, who today, after looking the enemy in the eye, says she is fortunate, happy, fulfilled, and grateful to the Lord for having met him.