A Journey of Transformation: From Addiction to Salvation, with Antonio Rosario

Join me as Antonio Rosario shares his incredible story of transformation. From a childhood marked by absence and neglect to a life of addiction and reckless living, he hit rock bottom. But in his darkest moment, he found hope in God. Hear how he overcame incredible odds to find redemption, purpose, and a deeper understanding of his worth. This episode is a powerful testament to the power of forgiveness, restoration, and the human spirit.

Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:40

I have a good friend of mine. Tony Rosario. Everyone, Tony.

Antonio Rosario: 0:46

So my name is Tony Rosario. I am 46 years old. Currently live in Madonna Ohio. Beautiful wife and three children. We are faithfully serving at a local congregation there in Brunswick, Ohio. I serve the ALG, Assemblies of God, where I'm on the board. And just doing a lot of things for the community and being a blessing. I work in IT information analyst, so basically a data analyst. I was into uh cybersecurity. Um I have a degree in computer and digital forensics. Uh I went back to school after I got a nursing degree. So I ended up in uh computers, and that's a whole long story, but uh it's been good. God's been good to me over the years, so I'm happy to be here, happy to bring the Lord some glory here.

Israel Caminero: 1:40

Amen. Amen. And that's what it's all about to glorify Him. Tony, I've known Him for years now. We met at uh the old church that we used to attend, which was Lakewood New Life Church. Currently New Life. Currently New Life, correct. That's right. And um, I'm sure you've heard a lot of people that are from there uh giving their testimony, and today's Tony's turn. But before we get started, I'd like to just start us out in prayer. Uh, thank you, Father Lord, for this day. As I always say, tomorrow's not promised. You are the orchestrator of all things in our lives, Lord, and I just want you to be here with us today while Tony shares his testimony, that he might touch someone with his testimony that's going through the same thing or things that he went through back when he wasn't saved, Lord, that you just pour down your Holy Spirit on him to give him the proper words to say today, and to just bless him as he's saying them, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Antonio Rosario: 2:38

Yes, amen.

Israel Caminero: 2:39

So, like I said, you know, Tony's a fellow brother in Christ, but he wasn't always that way, and that's what he's here to share. And if you can go back to your childhood and how you grew up, that would be great. The floor is all yours to share your story, Tony.

Antonio Rosario: 2:53

Awesome, yeah, thank you. So I grew up in Lorraine, Ohio, uh, born in June of 77, born in St. Joseph. Um, mother was um, you know, she was having a lot of challenges at the time, uh mental challenges, and so things were very difficult for her. Um after I was born, basically my grandmother kind of stepped in and I was kind of like a kinship placement at the time. So, in a sense, you can call me a foster kid. Um, but you know, I was very active as a child, and uh, you know, I had a lot of um a lot of energy. Sometimes they didn't know what to do with all that, and so um I'd get into a lot of trouble, a lot of fights growing up, right? Lots of fights, lost track of how many. Um my mom was you know in and out of uh different treatment things that she was going through for her own mental challenges and stuff. So what would end up happening is I would kind of take advantage of that as a kid and you know, I'd run the streets. You know, when I was eight years old, I'd you know, would come home and 11 o'clock at night. By the time I got to be 10 years old, it was 2 a.m. Right, sneaking out, coming back. Um but if I back up for a sec, my grandmother raised me. She was a devout Catholic.

Israel Caminero: 4:18

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 4:19

Woman loved the loved the Lord, always in prayer, and and so from time to time she would, you know, she would always take me to church with her and stuff. So I think that's where the kind of like the root of my foundation started, you know, started to get nurtured.

Israel Caminero: 4:32

Gotcha.

Antonio Rosario: 4:33

Started hearing about Jesus from time to time as a kid, you know, throughout my walk. Then uh I was uh I was what you would call a devoted Catholic. Uh I'd show up to church once a year. Not so devoted, but that's tongue in cheek. Um so yeah, I think um I had a uh a lot of of opportunity, I should say, to um kind of run around and do things that were probably uh you know borderline uh you know dangerous.

Israel Caminero: 5:10

Right. Yeah. Now, where was your father? You you didn't mention your father, was he not in the picture?

Antonio Rosario: 5:16

So he actually told my grandmother that he never touched my mom.

Israel Caminero: 5:20

Oh, okay.

Antonio Rosario: 5:21

He took off before I was born.

Israel Caminero: 5:23

Gotcha.

Antonio Rosario: 5:24

So yeah. So when I had the chance to catch up with him a handful of years later, you know, he mentioned um, you know, he you know, he said, Oh, so you're supposed to be the kid that I had in Ohio. And I and I said, I don't know, you tell me. All right. He said, Well, we never had a blood test. And I thought to myself, well, you you kind of told my grandmother you never touched her either. So yeah, the the the streets became my my father, my big brother and gotcha stuff.

Israel Caminero: 5:54

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 5:55

Yeah. So um, yeah.

Israel Caminero: 6:00

So you were running the streets because your mother was obviously uh preoccupied with other uh things in her life, and as any kid would do, it's like you were live kind of back then you were living the life because you didn't have anybody that was there telling you what to do.

Antonio Rosario: 6:19

Exactly. Yeah, the the role models in my life were kind of um yeah, they were I would I would they were unscrupulous at times, they weren't really following the Lord, so I was kind of following their lead, you know, had multiple girlfriends and you know, drinking, you know, for us, you know, it was fun to to to to hang out near the counter during the holidays because we could sneak a couple shots in and stuff like that. So at a young age, I was already drinking. I remember uh showing up to seventh grade uh history class, and I was high.

Israel Caminero: 6:54

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 6:55

You know, here's 12 years old, I'm high, you know, and I'm just completely out of it, laughing. The teacher knew what was going on, right? So um, so then by the time I was 14, I was using a fake ID and buying alcohol. Typical, you know, vicious cycle of drinking, and then I started getting into drugs and learning how to sell it, learning how to weigh it, and just learning how to really dig a deeper hole. Right, because it didn't take long before I started abusing it. Okay, so um, you know, and then that started in in here all along, it was it was really I was just hurt and broken. Right. And I was like self-medicating, using alcohol, using drugs, using women, using fighting. You know, by the time I was 18 years old, because I started wrestling in high school, of course, in junior high, by the time I got to high school, man, I lost count on how many street fights I got into.

Israel Caminero: 7:54

Gotcha.

Antonio Rosario: 7:55

I mean, probably 50 or more.

Israel Caminero: 7:58

So it was just an everyday thing.

Antonio Rosario: 8:00

Yeah, I was just angry at the world and didn't understand why. You know, I didn't know who I was, because of course I was kind of dead in my sin dead trespasses, you know. I was completely uh just unregenerate, just unwilling to um, you know, listen to people that want to talk to me about the Lord. And and you know, I had a cousin of mine that I used to run with back then. Of course, we were distant cousins, so we kind of met when we were 10 years old. His name is Gilbert Sil Soto, and uh he's actually the one who um would he would keep coming around. Since we were 10 years old, we'd known each other, so we would kind of run the streets-ish together. Okay, and the moral of that story is that um he just kept coming around because he got saved, and then he just kept talking to me about the Lord. And I always tell people he's like the one who kind of lowered me through the roof. Okay, you know, right, because he just I couldn't like not tell him, I I couldn't tell him to stop talking about Jesus because he was like a brother to me, exactly, you know, and so uh you know, I just listened, and then one day uh the the the events in my life were orchestrated. I I believe the Lord orchestrated everything, and things got so dark that I ended up um going to church with him because I was broken. And I went up front, Pastor Gilbert Silva was preaching that night. I think it was a it was a night service, I'll never forget. And I remember going up to uh the front, you know, and and receiving Christ, and he prayed over me, and I didn't know what was happening, but I knew something different was happening. Okay, I just felt this burden just being lifted, and um, you know, I I it's still weird because he's putting his hand on my head and I wasn't used to that. Um so He thought he wanted to fight you, huh? Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, we fought. It was a spiritual battle, that's for sure, because that's what that's what I think was happening.

Israel Caminero: 10:00

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 10:00

Because I was looking around, like part of me, you know, was this here's here I am, unsaved. And I'm looking around like, what is this? What is this crap? You know, thinking to myself, what is this?

Israel Caminero: 10:09

Yeah.

Antonio Rosario: 10:11

But that's not where it all really happened. That week I went home. I knew something different happened, but I was really lonely that week.

Israel Caminero: 10:24

Did you continue on the same path after that night? Like drinking and stuff?

Antonio Rosario: 10:29

No, no. So um, so I think uh for the for that that whole week after that, I I knew something different happened. And I was trying, they were they were showing me, you know, like uh drinking the spiritual milk of the word. They were, you know, they they kind of walk you through, they had this link, like nice little program, they would walk you through Peter, and and when you first got saved as newborn babes, you know, desire the pure milk of the word. So so everything was new to me. But then it got to a point where it was like the rubber met the road that week, and you know, still I was still getting into fights from time to time, but I was still angry, just didn't know why. So I knew I needed Jesus to kind of intervene, and so I remember praying, and for like an hour straight, I started crying in my basement. And and then suddenly I just started to hear this voice speaking to my heart, like you know, saying, Shh, it's okay. You don't, you know, it's okay. Think of the people that love you. Think of your grandmother. So here I am thinking of my grandmother in the basement. I'm like 18 years old. And um I think it was real hot that summer. And uh we didn't have AC back then, that's why I remember. But I I I remember just crying, and then eventually I was like, oh my goodness, it clicked. It was like, is that you, Lord? And he revealed himself at that moment. Okay, and so I go out on the streets of South Bahrain and I'm telling everybody about Jesus. I mean, I'm I'm going up to, I don't know if you know, his name was Baby Ray back then, uh Ray Alicea. Lord kind of used me to bring him to the Lord. Then there was uh Elton and then Rob Torres and all these guys that you know that I grew up with, and and they were just all of us running the streets. And it was like the Lord just started this this revival. And before you know it, like all these men who were just always fighting are now walking around with their Bibles and preaching and trying to get more people to come to the Lord, you know. It was amazing. It was an amazing time. Sounds like it's like summer of 95.

Israel Caminero: 12:41

The Lord was using you to disciple to all these guys that you were running with and bringing them to him. That's it. You know, that's it. I think I know Robert Torres. Yeah. He went to New Life, also, right? Okay, I know who you're talking about. That's the only one. When you say you hit rock bottom and it led you to that point, was there like a specific thing that led you to rock bottom or just the everyday life that you were living?

Antonio Rosario: 13:06

So I was doing a lot of uh wallowing in my own guilt. I was wallowing in my own woes me, the woes of everything. You know, I um squandered what I had, I was arguing with my mom, fighting with her a lot, a lot of abuse. Um, and here, you know, if I could back up a little bit, I think a lot of the stuff that I went through, my fighting, my arguing, my anger was built up because I was I was isolating from um keeping secrets, right? Okay. Here I was, I, you know, and sometimes I didn't say I was molested as a child.

Israel Caminero: 13:45

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 13:46

And nobody ever knew that for years. You know, um, I had a s there was a sleepover, a neighbor of ours, you know, I slept over their house, and they had a big brother who was a real perv. And this dude, you know, he molested me as a I don't know, I think it was six. I was like six or seven years old. The guy was like 20.

Israel Caminero: 14:07

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 14:08

Um I mean it didn't get like dangerously grotesque, but it was enough to traumatize me to the point where I was like, all right, now my life has changed for the rest of my life going on. Of course. Yeah. So um, and I never told my mom that, I never told any of my uncles or anything like that. Because I was a shame, right? Right. You know, how many hold it inside? Exactly, you hold it inside. Right. So I had all this built up. And it took years even for like the Lord to allow that to to to to kind of be healed of that because when I first got saved, I didn't understand the idea or the concept of of a daily sanctification.

Israel Caminero: 14:50

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 14:50

Being sanctified, meaning I am I am truly, you know, eat as each and every day goes on, you know, the idea is that I let go of more and more of me. Correct. And allow more and more of him to kind of take over. So and I think sometimes I still struggle in that area, but well, I mean, you know, it's our flesh.

Israel Caminero: 15:12

You know, it's our flesh that struggles. Yeah, you know, it's true. It's it's we fight three people in this world, you know, the world, our flesh, and the devil. There's three enemies that we fight every day, and it's not easy, especially especially being a follower of Christ. You're constantly getting attacked. You were angry for a good reason. Any kid would be angry at that. You held it inside, which probably held more anger because you couldn't let it out.

Antonio Rosario: 15:39

That's right. That's right.

Israel Caminero: 15:41

So you never told anybody you said, and you haven't seen that person or anything?

Antonio Rosario: 15:49

No, no, I was I wouldn't even know what they look like, you know.

Israel Caminero: 15:53

Yeah.

Antonio Rosario: 15:54

Um, because you see somebody in your mind and you see the 18-year-old version of them.

Israel Caminero: 16:00

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 16:01

But I don't even recognize the 18-year-old version of myself sometimes. Exactly. I'm like, wow, that was me.

Israel Caminero: 16:06

Yeah.

Antonio Rosario: 16:08

Man, that was good looking.

Israel Caminero: 16:10

We all say that, right? I don't know what happened. Well, we're still good looking, you know. Yeah. So after that night at House of House of Praise, right? The House of Praise. Where Gilbert. Yep.

Antonio Rosario: 16:22

This was it was in the old building. This was before we built the new building. Okay. But I was there when we built the new building. So uh oh, go ahead. I'm sorry.

Israel Caminero: 16:31

I was just gonna say you got saved that night or gave your heart to Christ that night. And you said that whole week something felt different, and you brought your friends to Christ or preached the word to them and brought them to Christ. Did you backtrack or you know?

Antonio Rosario: 16:48

I did. Oh yeah. I went on a roller coaster. I think um there was the the devil at that time was really trying his hardest to set traps.

Israel Caminero: 16:59

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 17:00

You know, there was people in my life that were coming out of the woodwork, talking about how the house of praise is a sect. And it's uh, you know, uh, Peter is the rock that, you know, because of the whole Catholic um, you know, uh debate. You know, they a lot of them think that, you know, the true Christianity, true Christians, Peter, he's you know, he's you know, they they don't understand, you know, I think sometimes the the Greek, the Petros, and they so they confuse that whole thing with Peter. And so I started believing this for a short while. You know, well, I it wasn't that I was believing, I think it was more just me questioning or or trying to, you know, maybe I was like uh entertaining. Oh, maybe this is, you know, maybe this is, but I I didn't realize what was really happening.

Israel Caminero: 17:46

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 17:47

And I was still young in the Lord. Right. So you know, there was times the Lord would send people after me, I think. You know, there was times uh Pastor Gilbert Solo would try to, you know, talk to me and stuff, and and um, you know, I I would um I was young, you know, I was young, there was a lot of voices, and on top of that I was fighting with my mom, you know, um periodically because she used to get mad at me because I would give um you know offerings to the church. Okay, and we were still kind of broke and I was living with her.

Israel Caminero: 18:20

Gotcha.

Antonio Rosario: 18:22

So yeah, that that would turn into this, you know, I would have these really bad experiences of like rageful arguments with her. And it's like, man, I I would go here. I was like this gentle, you know, newly converted Christian baby to now, you know, where I'm on this pink cloud, I'm sober now, and I'm I'm I'm not even cussing, I'm not even having sex anymore, I'm not doing any of these things. I'm not fornicating, I'm not promiscuous anymore. Um, you know, I had a daughter. Um, you know, I I you know one of my ex-girlfriends was pregnant at the time. Okay. Just before I got saved. And um, so I wasn't doing any of those things, and then I ended up arguing with my mom a lot. So that was uh that was a pretty difficult time in my life.

Israel Caminero: 19:11

Yeah, the enemy will use anybody, won't he?

Antonio Rosario: 19:13

Oh, he sure does.

Israel Caminero: 19:15

He was using your mom and you know, just the whole tithing thing.

Antonio Rosario: 19:19

Yeah, oh all of it. Yep, all of it.

Israel Caminero: 19:22

So once once all, you know, once you backtracked or whatever, what led you back full force or not full force, like you ended up going back?

Antonio Rosario: 19:33

Yeah, so um I had a couple of experiences, you know, from there all the way up until I think 33 years old, where I finally kind of just um, you know, said that's it. I'm done. Um but you're you're done with the church, you mean? No, no, meaning um, I'm sorry. I I had a couple of experiences where I was kind of um I was done going back to my filth.

Israel Caminero: 19:58

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 19:59

Because you know it it would it turned out that when you when you stop reading your word you stop praying you kind of start distancing yourself and you start believing the lies correct you know and it doesn't take long before you start you know you start heating temptation and and wow you know the women start coming at you you know you you know you're back into alcohol and drugs again so I wish I could say I never had an opportunity I never I wish I could honestly say that I never backslid. Okay but you know that's not the case you know I had times where I was you know very very unstable and you know and what what's interesting is even even as we speak you know I'm in the middle of a storm.

Israel Caminero: 20:47

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 20:48

Even currently you know I I mean but what I've learned through all of it is that you know in my weakness like I truly understand for the first time in my life that his strength is truly made perfect.

Israel Caminero: 21:03

Yes it is it's like in my weakness in our weakness when we are weakest it's like we are strongest because he is strong and we're seated with him and it like it didn't make it from my brain to my heart you know the longest distance in the world until you know my older years here you know and I'm 46 years old now and it took me a you know quite a while but you know like um just recently I got a phone call from my mother she you know she was rushed to the hospital well I you know I'm up waiting to hear you know from that report and then that morning I ended up going to bed at 4 a.m that morning uh I wake up I got four to six inches of water on my floor the whole house is gutted so I'm you know like completely messed up my septic system went out and my transmission of my truck like all of these things now and mind you they're not um as bad as other people's storms because I was just talking to my wife about this yesterday I said you know there are storms in life if we're planted on the rock we should be able to weather this we don't want to be building on the sand so I think over the years you know you know there's there's people losing loved ones I mean even you you know and and so not to like compare my storms with somebody else's storm but you know I I feel like there's little little markers for me to say hey you know you know God is still there right well in my eyes yeah no storm is smaller than any other storm no matter how big it looks in our eyes yeah I always say that it might look bigger in some people's eyes because I don't know the impact is different yeah but a storm is a storm regardless you're still gonna get wet it is you know it is so that's what I say about storms that regardless of how big or small they are it's still a storm and God's gonna be there for you to take you out of that storm regardless regardless of what happens throughout it he's he's gonna be holding that umbrella and that's what's so good about him and I I'm sure your storm is gonna be the same way because Amen it yeah it's sometimes it's hard to it's it's hard to think uh I think when you sometimes you think about the Lord and how he looks at us and how he loves us and it's like you want to ask yourself like why why me you know I'm just just dirt you know who am I? Well I think he some people go through storms to in my eyes I think the storms are there to build our faith stronger for him and just to keep our our eyes on him and you know some people might say the heck with it you know I don't I don't want anything to do with God anymore while they're going through a storm. Yeah and that's I believe sometimes that's the whole purpose of the storm is to keep your eyes focused on him throughout him. You know how they say praise him through the storm praise them when you're not going through a storm I believe it's the same way. Yeah that's good yeah um now going back to what you were saying as far as you know you were arguing with with your mom and you backtracked a few times what led you to that point to where you were all in yeah so um the last the very last time where I I kind of went back to my old ways I I ended up so strung out that I I found I found myself with no way out.

Antonio Rosario: 25:11

Okay. And I was either gonna go to prison or I was going to die because there was no way I was gonna go on living like that. I was gonna end it myself or whatever it was. But I remember the Lord speaking to me and it was clear as day he said I know how you can fix this and it was in that moment where he kind of like as soon as I heard that he revealed it's through me. It's in me always it always has been and I don't know what it is about um drifting for some reason we think or we're tempted to think that you know that's it's over we're done but the beauty about God is is that he he never leaves us and his word doesn't return to him void. Right and so even even in our ignorance you know we think you know maybe we've you know it's it's it's too late for me right or it's you know it's over it's but he's sitting there like no no man I I want to I want to confound the wise I want to use people like you to do it. Right but I need you to see you know through my eyes you know spend time with me read my word you know and and you know he's he's good he's waiting for you to surrender. He's waiting for you to surrender.

Israel Caminero: 26:44

You know surrender yourself to him I I I I honestly believe that no matter what people go through good, bad, he's always there. Always but it's our choice to surrender because we're so hard headed in this day and age that we're like okay let me pray and then go out and do the same thing. Absolutely you know oh I prayed you know God's there or whatever. But we're not fully surrendering to him. We're just praying and then going back to the same things that we were doing.

Antonio Rosario: 27:18

So living like a double life almost that's right that's right it's like we we we forget who we forget what we look like as we walk away from the mirror.

Israel Caminero: 27:26

Exactly you know and a lot of people are are like that you know there's people that go to the church and they're still like that and you know they they just oh I went to church on Sunday I went to church on Sunday and that's it. They don't practice it throughout the week or anything like that. And you know that's that's what he wants is true discipleship and true surrendering to him. You know that was the great commission go out and bring people and make them followers of of Christ. That's it. And exactly it you know it it took me a while too to you know I would I would pray every night back in the day and still wake up and do whatever I wanted to do. Yeah but I would pray you know I knew there was a God but was I praying sincerely no you know because I would wake up and just go do what what I was doing you know hit bars, girls, you know, drugs or whatever like you just said yeah so you uh that was the time that you fully was all in yeah so I I surfaced I was in Lakewood when I surfaced okay and uh um yeah so he says I know how you can fix this and so from that moment I began I think a 30 or a 60 day fast uh it was a long time I think I just stopped counting after a while okay I went for um all the drugs I had in that in that moment I just flushed them and it was a lot nice you know a lot of money gone in in my mind I'm like I don't care right and I still don't care but um alcohol all the bottles of liquor beer everything gone right dumped it down the sink um my girlfriend at the time who's now my wife she comes back and she's she's ready to party you know and she's um she's kind of like confused like what's going on she doesn't know about my history with being saved and understanding who who the Lord really is and things like that.

Antonio Rosario: 29:34

She doesn't know any of that about me so she was kind of upset because she was ready to party okay and so I I dumped all that and I I began to fast and um and at first it was solids I think it was like a whole week of solids and then um during that time I was kind of having like a paranoid I was kind of like having a nervous breakdown because um it was like the Lord was allowing me to see into the spirit realm what was really happening behind the scenes. All the different people that I was talking to all the different connections that I had and and the trouble that I was really headed towards the the prison time that I didn't realize was happening. Well during all that the Lord was in the background undoing all of it un unwinding and and and and setting me free. But I first had to commit myself truly commit myself so as I'm fasting I'm just believing that no matter what happens that he's going to be glorified in the end of all this and he's really going to um he's going to like you know basically save me you know from all this craziness and and uh and show up and he did okay he did and I was working at the hospital at the time so from that moment on I mean I was man I was laying hands on people and I remember one time a guy at the hospital started having a heart attack and we're we're doing chest compressions on this guy and he he flatlined and he's dead pretty much and for almost a half hour we were working on him and he didn't come back and I heard the the voice of the Lord tell me I want you to uh slap his chest you know like slap his chest and say in the name of Jesus wake up and I was like I was chicken so I didn't I didn't do it but I earnestly prayed for him like silently I said Lord I don't know if this is really you but whatever you can you know whatever whatever it was that I prayed at that moment and so the the doctor says oh does anybody else want to do anything because there was nothing else we could do they they pushed every single thing they could and he was just not waking up and I said well I prayed for him and just as I said that people started chuckling and then like not even five seconds later his heartbeat came back. Amen so God was using me in a powerful way everywhere I went throughout the hospital during that time during that phase of my life and um then from there we just began to grow and Veronica you know my wife she she ended up giving her heart to the Lord she here she was uh she you know she started going to a small group with Yolanda and and Pastor Bob I started discipling with Pastor Bob and and we she and I weren't married at the time but um we started doing premarital counseling with Ryan Lopez okay and um and his wife and Michelle so yeah it was it was you know the Lord was changing things at the same time I had this vision and I and I believe it was the Lord that I was going to go into the schools and uh take the gospel of Jesus Christ and you know the Great Commission. Right. So I've always had a heart for children um you know whether it's youth um you know I have five of my own okay plus we fostered uh we recently fostered so that's so good yeah and you know and actually praise God we were praying for them praying for their whole family and her uh our foster daughter reunited with her with her mom and dad oh wow and it's it's amazing because they have a similar testimony okay man it's it's just God is just doing amazing things yeah that had to be a little bittersweet though right it was it was very hard it was very hard because I I love that little girl like and I still do like she's my own right you know it was heartbreaking I think for the both of us in a way because it was traumatizing because you know when she came to us she was broken. Okay and then you know for the next day I I I couldn't even stare at her when she first came to us because I would start crying like when we were eating breakfast I'd just look at her and I would start crying dude because it was just really hard because I knew she was going through it and she was only 20 months old.

Israel Caminero: 33:58

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 33:58

And here she you know mom and dad's taken from her all of her siblings are taken from her and split up.

Israel Caminero: 34:04

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 34:05

She was in like four or five different houses. So I told my wife at that moment this little girl is not going anywhere until she goes back with her mom and dad. I don't care what we have to go through. So it's it's a it's a pretty amazing and powerful story you know that's what God worked it out. He did he did man she's back with them now right she's back with them now and and we we kind of like uh we have a good relationship you know we can we we support them they support us okay God's restoring them you know right so and we continue to partner with them. Are they local in the Medina area yes okay yeah yeah okay that's that's good yeah it's it's amazing it's amazing so you still see her um yeah yeah yeah we do so I haven't seen her in a in a in a in a while it's been about you know it's it's been a few months but we had actually we were gonna meet at the park recently but this flood with my house and their schedule screwed everything up.

Israel Caminero: 35:03

Okay yeah yeah that's good though you know foster foster you said one yeah we we fostered one so far we're still open to to do it more what happened was is that before we got pregnant with our own um we weren't getting pregnant and um so we ended up just making a commitment to God saying we're gonna foster yeah you know and I as soon as we said that I think it was like that week we ended up pregnant I'm like all right well so this is so then the fostering sat on the back burner but after we after we um you know had our own and we're you know the factory's closed now we're not gonna have any more right so so my wife's like yeah I think I think it's time to honor our commitment right and I'm like okay and I'm I'm more of a people person than my wife so I'm I'm looking at her like oh this is definitely the Lord yeah because that kind of stuff doesn't really challenge me like it challenges my wife okay you know I'm really just open to you know I'll I'll let a stranger stay the night in my house you know what I mean you know I'm the more outgoing yeah more outgoing yeah exactly she's more reserved yeah I'm the Samaritan she's the Pharisee no kidding don't let her hear that that's okay she'll she'll I know but that's good I know so how are you doing today you know like how's life today obviously besides what you shared as far as your storm that you're going through it's it's rough it's rough um but you know it it's there's no more so I I was sitting on the side we were sitting on the sideline for a while okay we were trying to find a home church and um the Lord ended up guiding us into Brunswick to the harvest time Brunswick uh Brunswick Ohio and we we immediately knew we were home because it's like you know you you it was like the peace of God was all over us.

Antonio Rosario: 37:10

Right I could sense the love of God in the church and and so we knew that we were going to commit but it felt like there was still a little bit of things going on in our life at the time this was like four or five years ago so we didn't really we kind of like sat out for a little bit and just kind of observed to see what was going on and and so eventually it got to a point where it was like okay you know our kids are not infants anymore. Right. I think it's it's safe for us to come off the sideline. And boy we did we're we I can't I I don't want to say like you know we are doing just about every ministry you can.

Israel Caminero: 37:51

Okay.

Antonio Rosario: 37:51

You know my wife and I are both uh doing pre-K you know teaching the kids. Right. On top of that we're uh running the minute the cleaning ministry on top of that I'm on the board um on top of that there's like uh there I don't know if you ever heard of the Royal Rangers so it's like a almost like a Boy Scouts. Okay. Christian Boy Scouts. So I'm the scout leader for that and um and there's a few other I had a men's group you know we meet every other Thursday I had to take a break because of the uh the house builds yeah but but overall you know um the Lord is using us in a mighty way you know and and it's not easy I I feel like um you know I but but we have so many more weapons now you know experience wisdom you know yesterday I was reading Proverbs and and it and it just reminded me how you know we don't we don't search for God desperately like we should amen you know we should we should search for God like we're we're searching for a hidden treasure you know that's good yeah yeah because I think about how so many things in our life you know if we lose a receipt you ever lose a receipt I'm gonna share this at the at the for our Friday fire pit we have a fire pit my pastor asked me if I would do the devotional but you ever lose a receipt to something that you have to take back to the store. Yeah but you can't use it any longer right because the you you know it's broken or whatever but it's worth a lot of money.

Israel Caminero: 39:29

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 39:30

And you need that receipt you're turning over every couch cushion you're looking in the car and you suddenly you're motivated to go cash in this thing that you're gonna take back to the store because it's broken for like I don't know two or three hundred bucks imagine you know if we really understood the value of our salvation and the value of his word you know that's good. Isn't that amazing?

Israel Caminero: 39:57

That is amazing if we searched With for him. Yeah. Like we were searching for that receipt.

Antonio Rosario: 40:03

Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, you know, people, you know, I I remember uh talking to a faithful brother of mine, uh Brian Scott. He's actually the one I so when when we when we got saved in 1995, we worked at the um the ground round, and we both had a similar story. And here we are, we're both working in this dish pit together, and and I'm talking to the Lord, and he's talking to the Lord quietly. And suddenly we just kind of looked at each other and we were like, Wait, you too? And he's like, I'm like, and he's like, You too? So in his story, I think he got saved because Rob Parsley was on TV and he put his hand on the TV. All right.

Israel Caminero: 40:43

I'm gonna I'm gonna touch uh base because I wanted to say something too, as far as that receipt uh story that you said. Yeah, isn't it funny that you're sitting there searching everywhere for something sometimes and you can't find it, and then it appears in the most conspicuous places when you stop looking.

Antonio Rosario: 41:04

Like now, for instance, um, I for I forgot what I was gonna say, but I remembered now. And um, you know, the Bible speaks that, you know, the Bible says that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, right? And um my brother Brian Scott, he's the one who kind of showed me this, you know. I think it's Revelation 19, 13, maybe, says that that uh he had a vessel and it was dipped in blood, and and his name is called the Word of God. And if you if you take every time you see the word Jesus and you replace it with the word, and every time you see the word you replace it with Jesus, it it's amazing how things will open up. Okay, and just it it's it's really deep, you know, because really that's who we're talking about.

Israel Caminero: 41:55

Right. I'm gonna have to try that.

Antonio Rosario: 41:57

Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. You know, it says his word is called, his name is called the word of God. And so, um, yeah, so if we were searching um, you know, for Jesus, if we were searching for his word, for the word, you know, like we would search for a hidden treasure, you know.

Israel Caminero: 42:19

Amen. So a lot of people don't do that.

Antonio Rosario: 42:23

No, no, no. And sometimes we do, and then sometimes we know we should and we don't.

Israel Caminero: 42:28

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 42:29

And you know, the Lord's still there loving us every step of the way.

Israel Caminero: 42:33

Yeah. For sure. He never leaves our side, no matter what.

Antonio Rosario: 42:37

No, he doesn't.

Israel Caminero: 42:38

You know, I mean, we might think he does because of stuff that we go through, but he's always there. That's right. And that's why there's tests. There's with a test comes testimonies. That's right. Like we're doing right now.

Antonio Rosario: 42:52

Man, this is testimonies.

Israel Caminero: 42:55

Right. Yeah. So you uh so right now you're good, you're doing the the church, AOG, you said?

Antonio Rosario: 43:04

Yeah, yeah, I'm on the board at the um at Assemblies of God Church in in Brunswick, Ohio. Okay. I work uh I work for progressive insurance now. Um and you know, part of my testimony, uh I think is is uh my journey of where I've come in in the business world. It's kind of opened me up to a lot of new relationships, um, just new dynamics around behavior, behavior patterns, commitments, deadlines, learning how to understand, um, you know, professionalism, all of these things that I didn't that I lacked when I was younger. Right. Because I I was, and there's nothing wrong with blue-collar work. I was I love blue-collar work. I still, you know, I still do it from time to time around the house and stuff. Now I you know, I work from home. Yeah. I got I got a detached office building where I just I I go out there, no pants some days. Yeah. No, yeah, but you understand.

Israel Caminero: 44:06

I totally understand. I wish I could work from home, to be honest with you. You know, I tried, but they wouldn't let me. Yeah. That's the type of job I'm at.

Antonio Rosario: 44:15

Give it time. Give it time.

Israel Caminero: 44:16

Yeah, you never know, right? Yeah. Or it might work that out for me. Yeah. Um yeah, that's that's a great story, Tony. Is there anything else you want to share before we close out? Or um there's always two questions that I end with, but I'm not gonna end with them unless you're Yeah, no, I don't I don't think I have anything else.

Antonio Rosario: 44:38

I I I really I really felt led to share um, you know, just searching for God. Searching for God. And because we get weak sometimes, and we we don't understand that our when we we take it, we get our daily bread, people don't understand. That is how we're we're strengthened daily. Amen. It's not this one-time thing where we come before God and we get our strength, and then we go out the rest of our lives, and and and everything's hunky-dory and we don't meet God anymore. No, we're we're being strengthened, like we're being sanctified on a day-to-day basis.

Israel Caminero: 45:16

That's right. That's right. So I've I've noticed for me, I have better days when I'm in the Word in the morning before anything, than I do when I'm not. Amen. You know what I mean? Amen. Like, the days aren't the same. That's what I'm saying. Like if I just get busy or something and just forget to read the Bible or just pray or anything like that, the day's definitely not the same. And yeah, that's just what I've come to learn. So I try to make time every day in the morning, as busy as life gets, you know, because life gets busy, but you still gotta make that time to give the Lord some his time.

Antonio Rosario: 46:01

Yeah. It's truly a life of service, you know. Yeah. You know, um, you know, what Christ said, which is which is greater to sit at the table or to serve. Exactly. And and truly it's to um sit at the table, yet I am among you as one who serves. And that's that's the whole point. Yeah. It's for us, we we we go, we get our daily bread, right? We get fed, and then we go out, and now we have energy to go and serve people. We have something to serve them with. And sometimes we lose sight of that.

Israel Caminero: 46:38

Yeah.

Antonio Rosario: 46:38

I know I do.

Israel Caminero: 46:40

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, I'm sure a lot of people do, you know, like I was never a server growing up. I could care less if I served anybody. Yeah, now it's the total opposite. Now I want to serve. Sometimes my wife gets aggravated that I serve so much, you know. But and and I don't get that. That's just a whole different story. But it's just Christ in me that makes me want to serve. That's right. And and I heard you share more than one scripture, and I always ask people when you're having a bad day, or just in general, what's that scripture that you always go to that's one of your favorites that you could rely on?

Antonio Rosario: 47:27

Yeah. Well, it when I was younger, it was um, if you would have asked me this 20 years ago, I would have said uh, you know, for the word of God is alive and powerful, right? Sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing into the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and is a thought discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. But now my uh go-to is looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And the reason why is because the the word picture there is so vivid. When you're running in a race and you're looking into the stands for your father, except he's the only one in the stands, and he's the only one you're looking for. And sometimes I think about how people that were martyred and killed and tortured for Christ, you know, a long time ago or even until this day, I imagine myself going through what they're going through, and the only way I would be able to do that is to look to him. And then it makes sense when I think about Stephen and how he was stoned.

Israel Caminero: 48:39

Yeah.

Antonio Rosario: 48:40

And it just makes sense, you know, whether we're being tortured or whether we're really just having a hard time. Amen. Maybe we lose a loved one, you know. We're just we're just looking at him. We might be crying while we're looking at him.

Israel Caminero: 48:54

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 48:55

But he's like, it's okay. I see you, son.

Israel Caminero: 48:58

Amen. Yeah. And I I get that. You know, I I I was just talking about that. Yeah. It's been in my heart a lot lately, how, like you said, Stephen and the disciples were persecuted all the time for just following Christ. And the fact that they kept doing it, no matter what, yeah, you know, has something to say that I picture myself. Would I do that in this day and age? Would I? Yeah. Nobody knows, right, until it really happens. But I would say I would do it. But let's say someone was persecuting me. Would I really sit there and say his name? I always think about that. And I think I would, but I can't put myself in those shoes unless it really happens. Yeah. You know?

Antonio Rosario: 49:44

That's good. That's good. Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 49:47

But yeah. But now we're going to go back to my back to the past section of my podcast. And if you're familiar with that, is what would the Tony of today, if he was able to go back to the past and talk to the younger Tony, what would you say to him of the things that you know now that you didn't know then?

Antonio Rosario: 50:11

Pray and read more. Spend more time with Jesus. And and not not in the cliche. I would say, you know, dive into your word, search for it like you're looking for a hidden treasure. And just spend as much time with the Lord as you can because there's going to be a day where or a season where you can't. And you're going to need all that time that you spend with the Lord, you know, it's a seed.

Israel Caminero: 50:49

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 50:50

You know? And so you're going to want a good, healthy, strong tree to be planted by that river of living water. Amen. Whose leave will not wither.

Israel Caminero: 51:02

So do you think he'd be like, come on, let's fight?

Antonio Rosario: 51:09

But to see how that worked out for Jacob. Broke broke his hip. Touched his hip.

Israel Caminero: 51:17

Yeah, but the younger Tony would probably look at you like you were crazy, huh? Yeah. You know?

Antonio Rosario: 51:22

I still think about when I first came to the Lord and I would go around to my family members and I talk to them, and a lot of them are still, you know, they're still Catholic, and that's that's okay. I believe that, you know, as long as you have a relationship with Christ, you know, he'll show you which, you know, which doctrine is his doctrine. Right. He'll show you which doctrine is his doctrine. So, but I used to, you know, Bible thump the crap out of them. And you know, I love every last one of them, but I think sometimes I'm misunderstood because they don't realize, you know, um, you know, what the Bible really teaches.

Israel Caminero: 52:03

Right.

Antonio Rosario: 52:03

You know, a lot of them don't. And again, I was one of them. So I I can say that not with a not with like a cocky, you know, smirk or or you know, like I'm prideful about it. I'm I'm saying that with a sincere, like, I understand. You know, if anybody understands, I understand.

Israel Caminero: 52:23

Amen.

Antonio Rosario: 52:24

You know.

Israel Caminero: 52:25

That's good. So that's good. Well, I'd like to thank you, Tony, for being here today and sharing that powerful testimony with everyone. And I also hope, you know, that the listeners out there that it might have touched someone that might might have gone through that or is going through that right now, just so you know you're not alone and how God can just take you out of anything that you're going through. You know, and before we end, Tony, could you lead us out in prayer?

Antonio Rosario: 52:58

Oh, absolutely. Heavenly Father, we come before you, Lord, in prayer and faith. We thank you, Lord, for today's message, for your word. Um, we thank you, Lord, that you would be glorified in all things. Um, you know, we thank you, Lord, that you are forgiving and that you are graceful. Lord, you are faithful and just to forgive us, to lead us and to guide us into all righteousness, Father. We thank you for Izzy. We thank you for the ministry here on this podcast. Lord, we thank you for every single person listening to us here and now, Lord God, and the sound of our voice. Let them let them have ears to hear, Lord God, what the Spirit of God is saying to them, Lord. Uh let their hearts be moved to receive Christ. That they would just open their heart and cry out to you, Lord God. And um, Father, we thank you for uh Izzy's family, and we thank you for continued grace to just give him uh strength to continue doing these podcasts, Lord God, that people would be able to hear a powerful message, Lord God. And we just give you honor and glory today in Jesus' name.

Israel Caminero: 54:11

Amen.

Antonio Rosario: 54:12

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 54:13

Amen. Thank you again, Tony, for being here. It was a great story. Amen. And I just want to say to all my listeners, once again, I want to thank you also for just the love and support that you've given me, not only here, but throughout the world, for sharing the podcast, for the reviews that I've gotten. Like Tony said in his prayer, it's not to glorify myself or himself, it's just to glorify God that I'm doing this. Just so you know how God works in mysterious ways and how God's always there, no matter what storm you're going through. So again, I appreciate all the love that I've gotten since I've started this podcast. And if you like what you're hearing, and if you're new to it, please subscribe to it, leave a review, and help us like what you say.