The Streets Tried to Claim Him... but God Had Other Plans, with Bobby Bendito (Part 2)

In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Bobby Bendito opens up about how God turned his pain into purpose — giving him a new voice and a new mission through Christian Hip Hop.

He shares how his music has become a tool for ministry, breaking chains and inspiring others to find hope in Christ.

Join me and Bobby as we talk about faith, redemption, and the calling to use your gifts for God’s glory.

Because every story matters — and Your Story is for His Glory.

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Link to connect with Bobby Bendito:

Linktree 

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Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:16

Welcome back to Living Testimonies Podcast. If you haven't listened to part one of Bobby Bendito's story yet, I highly recommend you go back and catch the first. It sets the stage for everything we're about to share. Now let's pick up right where we left off and continue Bobby's incredible journey of faith, redemption, and perseverance.

Bobby Bendito: 0:37

We did start to pray, you know, we're praying before we eat. Now this is something we never did. We never prayed before we ate. We never did none of that, you know. So now me, my wife, the kids, like we're praying before we eat, and we're being lukewarm or being double-minded or being halfway in, halfway out, is that a real thing? Absolutely. It's a real thing. But even in that process, though, when I knew that I was being spoken to by the Lord, when I knew that that I was hearing from the Lord, when I knew like that, you can't fake that.

Israel Caminero: 1:12

Right.

Bobby Bendito: 1:13

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, like, I, yeah, I probably wasn't all the way committed and all the way surrendered, but my heart was in it. Like, we would go to church on some Sundays, and there would be like, you know, like a guest speaker or or the pastor would be speaking, or, you know, it would be like, it would be powerful, man, you know, like stuff that had me in tears, like stuff that was like, like, man, God's speaking to me, you know, like, and I would leave and I would, man, I'm done. Like, I'm through, you know, like I quit. Like, I I really went home one time in particular. I think it happened more than once, but I remember for sure this one time I told, I was like, I'm done. And I threw my scale away, like in the trash and all this, you know what I'm saying? Like, really, literally went outside, broke it, threw it in the trash, like I'm done, you know, like because I was on fire. Like, I like well the message had sent me. I wasn't on fire, like serving the Lord or nothing, but I felt this fire inside of me that hit me, and I'm like, man, I'm done. But then, you know, a couple days later, a few days later, I'm back at the store buying a new scale, you know. Like, you know, and you know, once I learned that, once I read and learned, like, okay, dang, like when Jesus talks about the seeds and how they're they're sown onto different grounds, like I was like, man, that's crazy. Like, that's really, like, that's really, and I believe that every one of us at some point in our life, or every one of those grounds, at least for me, speaking personally, like, yeah, I would hear it. I would go in there, hear the word, receive the word, be on fire, but then boom, as soon as I get back out there, it's like, ah, man, I got this bill, or oh man, it's one of the kids' birthdays, or oh man, they need school clothes, or oh, this or rent or whatever, right? And I wasn't working, you know. Like I this whole time, I was so deceived into thinking that that was the only way for me to survive. Like, I can't go get no job. Who's gonna pay me? I ain't got no GED. I didn't graduate, no diploma, no GED, no work experience. You know, it was like it wasn't even a, it wasn't even an option for most of my life back then to even think about going and applying for a job and just making money like regular men do. You know, like just go and work and get a check and you'll be all right. It was always this, I was stuck in this grind and stuck in this trap and stuck in this hustle and this mentality of no, I gotta, I'm gonna, I just gotta keep even if it was slow, I was still trying to hold on to something even when there was nothing there. I was trying to force it and I and I was I was deceived into thinking, like, nah, man, I this the only way and I'm gonna make something happen. You know, as a man thinking, oh no, I got it, I got it.

Israel Caminero: 3:48

Right.

Bobby Bendito: 3:48

Don't worry, like telling telling my wife, don't worry, don't worry, yeah. We'll be good, we'll be good. And knowing in the back of my mind, I'm like, man, what am I gonna do? Like just straight pressure, you know. I'm I'm I'm I'm hearing the word and I and I'm receiving it, but then I'm I'm I'm you know, it's getting choked out. It's getting it's getting choked out by the by the cares of this world, the seat of riches, and all these things. And it's like, so I was going back and forth, man, for seven years, bro. Seven years from the time it started, you know, from 2010 when we moved the Grand Rapids to 2011, we start hearing from the Lord, people praying and people prophesying. I see this vision on the wall. I know he's real, I know it's real. I'm getting these words from church, but I'm still stuck. I'm still addicted. I'm still using, I'm still praying at night, I'm still doing all these things to feed my flesh. I'm I'm I'm not the man that my wife needed. I'm not the dad that my kid, I was being a dad, right? I was there, I was, you know, sports, school, all that. But man, I was doing, I was, I was doing powder though. Every day. I wake up, take my kids to school, I'm doing a line. I go take them somewhere, they got practice or something, or a game on the weekends. I'm waking up and I'm, you know, I didn't drink coffee back then. You know, I never was no coffee. I am now, but back then I never like I just, it was like I wake up in the morning because I didn't get no sleep. So like my family would be sleeping for years. And when I say years, I literally mean years. I would be up all night, man. Like it used to be a party thing, it used to be a social thing. And you know, it started out like all the fellas, and you know, we go out, we go to the bar, we go here, we do this, we do that, you know, alcohol shots, beer, whatever. But over the years, man, my addiction, it got so bad and it got so strong to where I didn't need people. I didn't need people, I didn't need to socialize, I didn't need to go to the bar, I didn't need alcohol, I didn't need nothing. It was just me and that powder. And because since I sold it, I always had it. Right. You know, it wasn't like I had to go get it, you know what I'm saying? Like it was there, like I already had it, so it was like I'm using, I'm and that was like the battle. Uh my wife would ask me, Are you doing something? And when she said, Are you doing something? What she meant was, are you sniffing cocaine? She never said it like that, but she would always say, Are you doing something? She would look at my eyes, and you know, I would lie, I would get mad, I would blow up at her sometimes. Not all the time, but most times I would, because it's like, dang, you know, I didn't know what conviction was, you know what I'm saying? Like I ain't know what I didn't know what conviction was. Now I know, like, dang, I was feeling convicted inside, but I was switching it around and and like get mad at her. So like she would ask me, I would lie, say no. But then she would also come up to me every now and then. I remember the first time she came up to me and she said, Man, God told me if you would just do what's right, like our whole life would change. And I'm like, What? She's like, God told me that if you would just do what's right, our whole life would change. And I heard her, right? I heard her, but I didn't listen though. Like I didn't take it to heart and be like, okay, even though I'm growing, even though I got a little baby faith and a little baby word, and I'm, but I'm still just, man, my flesh was winning. So she would say it every now and then through the months, through the years, you know, ups and downs. Money's good one day, next thing you know, I'm struggling. Money's good one day, next thing you know, we're struggling. So it was that that game, there's no winning to it. There's no faithfulness to the streets, there's no faithfulness to the dope game. There's no faithfulness. You don't know if the drugs even are gonna make it to where you're at. So it was like I was dependent on something that wasn't even a for sure thing. So it was stressful and it was weighing on me and her. But every now and then she would come back up to me again. See, the first time she said, God told me, she looked at me right in my eyes and said it like as a matter of fact, God told me if you would just do what's right, our whole life would change. But then it got to the point to where she would come up to me and she would like kind of like, kind of like shrug her shoulders, throw her arms up in the air, eyebrows would raise up, like, hey, almost like, I already tried telling you. That was her tone of voice, and that was her her body language was I already, I told you. God said, whatever you do what's right, if you would just do what's right, our whole life would change. So it wasn't as confident as the first time she told me. It was kind of like, dang, man, I already told you once. I'm telling you again, and then she would tell me again, and then every now and then she would tell me, God told me, if you would just do what's right, our whole life would change. 2017, man, out of nowhere, bro. Like she got sick. New Year's Eve of 2016. We went out, we was at a party, you know, just the same lifestyle, you know, everything around us, sin, everything around us, darkness, everything around us. She wasn't happy in it. She got moved in her spirit that night, and God was showing her things. She she describes it almost as having an out-of-body experience where she was like lifted above the whole party, and she got a bird's eye view of all the different levels of bondage that everybody was in, and all the different sin, and there was homosexuality in the party, not that we were involved in, but just it was there. There was domestic abuse at the party. It was New Year's Eve, and everybody was drunk, and everybody was on drugs, and everybody was just wilding out, and she got a view of it that she said she never had before. And so I'm out, I'm leaving in and out of the party to go make sales, and I'm leaving her there while I'm out and I'm going to the gas station or I'm going out to somebody's car and I'm, you know, doing what I'm doing, dealing, and she's in there, and she says that's when she has this experience when I had left for a minute. And so we get home later that night, and you know, she's already moved by that, and she's not happy with our life. She's not happy with me, she's not happy with nothing. We end up arguing about something dumb. I don't know what it was. I was drunk. I was probably, I'm sure I'm the one who started it, started the argument anyway. It gets out of control. She goes and runs in the bathroom and she starts crying. And she's screaming out at the top of her lungs in the bathroom. And she's telling, I don't really know what she's saying because I'm in the living room still. I don't know exactly what she's saying, but she says later she tells me she's in the bathroom and she's screaming out to God, telling God, take me, take me. God, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of him. I'm tired of this life. God, just take me, take me, take, like, like screaming, like crying, like really, really, really upset and just ready to just throw in the towel. Man, the very next morning when she wakes up, January 1st, 2017. The very next morning, she goes into the bathroom, and when she goes to go pee, she's peeing out blood. Never happened before. Never happened a day in her life. And she tells me, she's like, I don't know, it always looked like there was some blood in my pee. You would think that we rushed straight to the hospital. You know what I'm saying?

Israel Caminero: 11:09

Right.

Bobby Bendito: 11:09

But we didn't. I'm already lost for one. My mind's all over the place. It's not that I didn't care what she was going through, but she was always the type of woman. Type of person. I don't know that it's just woman. I'm not gonna say that. But she was the type of person who, no, I don't want nothing to do with no doctors. I don't want nothing to do with no pills. I don't want nothing to do with no, nah, nah, nah. You know, kind of like almost scared, or maybe heard something bad about medical treatment or whatever. I don't know what it was, or even to this day, I don't actually know how that started. But that's just the type of person she was. Stubborn about medicine, stubborn about doctors, or I don't, you know, or maybe fearful. I don't want to go and hear what they got to tell me what's wrong with me. You know what I'm saying?

Israel Caminero: 11:50

Right.

Bobby Bendito: 11:50

I don't know if maybe that was it. So, you know, with our little baby faith, me, even though I'm still up and down, even though I'm still halfway in, halfway out, I'm like, let's pray about it. You know, you if you don't, if you don't feel comfortable going to the doctors and and and and seeing what's wrong with you, because it didn't stop. Now it wasn't like crazy, crazy, crazy blood, but it was. But it didn't stop. Like that was the first day it happened, and it, you know, some weeks go by, and I'm like, well, let's pray, you know, let's pray, let's pray, thinking that I can, you know, hey, I got some little, you know, I got a little bit of faith, you know, let's pray about it. But nothing happened. In fact, it got worse. Everything got worse, and then she ended up in the hospital, man. Like that whole summer, in and out. The doctors are telling her, or the reason why you're peeing when your blood is like, your kidneys are bad. And she's like, What? Yes, like your blood pressure is ridiculously high through the roof to where you almost should be dead. You got kidney disease. Not only do you got kidney disease, but you got end stage kidney disease. And we're like, what? We're like, how? Well, if her blood pressure has been out of control for a long period of time, unchecked, then it's inflamed, damaged, the tiny filters or something like that on her kidneys. They're like, you got end-stage renal disease. I ain't never heard that word in my life. Like, I don't even know what renal is at this time. I'm like, what's that? And they're like, her kidneys, they're they're like, they're failing. She's still fighting it. But we're also going through a spiritual battle at the same exact time. Like simultaneously, there's things going on in the spiritual, there's things going on in the natural, you know, from the outside looking in, it's this lady who don't take care of herself, it's her body, it's her health, and she don't care and she's stubborn and she's fighting. Meanwhile, like her, the kids, all of us, we're like, there's something more going on. And she ends up in the hospital, man, and it's so much happened, bro. Like, the only way I can describe it in the shortest form is to say, uh, you ever seen or heard the movie or watched the movie? Um, what was it? The Exorcist. Yeah. So her head ain't start spinning or nothing like that. But for real, for real, like for real, for real. God knows. My family knows. I know. My wife knows. When she was in the hospital, bro, like we went through so much to where like she was, I don't want to say possessed, but like, there was just like she was talking different. There was like different voices, different things coming out of her mouth. She was telling the people I was trying to kill her, that we was trying to poison her, that we was trying to put stuff in her food. She would say the name of Jesus, and it would, it would be weird, like almost off. Like the way she was saying it, it was almost like somebody was trying to taunt our faith. Like, we be praying, and I'm like, where the heck is this coming from? I'm like, I know this ain't true, Sherry. Like, I know I've been with her since I was 11. I know this wasn't her. And I'm like, what the heck is going on? Like, I know that her kidneys are failing, and I know this and that, but like there was something spiritual going on that I really didn't know. But I thank God, bro, because even though the years leading up to this, like I said, I was not fully surrendered, fully committed, but I was going into every service. What I was hearing from the Lord, I was believing. I just wasn't all in. But I thank God because He was preparing us. He was preparing us for this season of our life that he knew was coming. I didn't know. She didn't know. My kids didn't know. None of us knew what was coming. But when it did happen, was there a little fear? A little bit, you know, was there some tears? A lot of tears. Was there some arguing? A lot of arguing. Was there some back and forth? Who's gonna stay with her in the hospital this day? We're all trying to be there, but yet she's snapping and she's not being herself. And there's these things that are going on, and she's holding her Bible close to her chest, but then one day she's lashing out. Then the next day she's like, no, like, like she's going through this whole spiritual battle, even while she was unconscious at times. She's going through this whole spiritual battle in her mind. She's hearing from the devil, she's hearing from God. She's, I mean, stuff like real stuff, bro, because like the stuff that she was saying that she was hearing during these times was stuff. There was real stuff. Me and my kids are on the outside looking at her. Was she saying she experienced when she came out, these different voices and this battle that was going on over her? Like basically the devil was trying to kill her. She didn't want to take the medicine. They're telling her how out of control her sodium levels are and all these different levels, and they're like, you got to take this. And something was making her not want to take it. Me, the kids, all of us, we're praying, we're like, come on, man, what are you doing? Like, they're saying that this is serious and like you could die. Something was trying to tear us apart. Something was trying to take her life, which I know was the enemy now. But when she's when she started to tell the doctors and just like even police, like that if we were trying to kill her, that I was trying to kill her, that I was trying to poison her food, the doctors, the hospital, the people were being manipulated by a spiritual force that they didn't understand, but I did. Because they're like, nah, you can't be in here. No, you can't. And it's like, no, like, this is exactly what she needs. She needs to, I need to be here with her. I need to be praying with her. I need to be by her side. But they don't see it that way. They see it as no, she's saying you're trying to harm her. It was a manipulation that was it was done by some dark forces. Like, I know it was. Like, at this point, it's pat, it's past the point of, is this spiritual? Like, there was so much that happened that at this point I knew, like, this is this is like a real battle, that they don't see it. They think it's her kidneys, they think it's this, they think it's that. It's like, meanwhile, I know. So, anyway, we get through this whole, man, this whole summer, off and on. She'll be in there for a week or two, come out, come home, go back, be there for another few weeks. Just up and down, up and down. We're at home praying, we're at home crying. She like gained a whole bunch of weight because her body couldn't get rid of the fluid. She's like, I'm talking like just a whole different person physically, a whole different person mentally. But she is still Sherry. She's still there. She's in there, and she's like praying and crying, and we're crying together through the night. But it was just these up and down things that would happen, and where she would start saying different things, and then she would be back to herself. And it was like by far the toughest thing that we've ever experienced.

Israel Caminero: 18:42

I bet.

Bobby Bendito: 18:43

Not even the shootings, the drive-bys, the the fights, the the cops raiding our house, and and going to jail, and all three of my brothers going to prison for attempted murders, and me having to take my brother's kids to go see them in prisons that are over the Mackinac Bridge, and you know, just different cities, and and lawyer fees and bonds, and my mom crying, and everybody crying, and everybody tripping, and all this chaos in our family, and all these drive-bys and stuff like that. Man, none of that stuff even came close to what we were going through in this season. Not even close. That stuff was easy. That's how intense what was happening with her in the hospital and what was happening at home while we were praying and crying out to God to heal her, to save her during this season, bro. That's when I finally I finally let go. I finally let go of the the drugs. Initially, I didn't. I remember her being up in the hospital, and I would be having people meet me outside the emergency room at the hospital because I was like, I still gotta eat. But I was going through this battle, and so I stopped, bro. Like I for real stopped. I told God. After it kept getting worse and worse, I was like, I'm done. One day we're at home, right? And I I'm done. I'm already done. I don't got no scale. I don't got no drugs. I don't got nothing in my house. This dude comes over that I used to sell to, and I'm letting him know. You know, I let them all know. I let everybody know. Man, I'm done. They're like, for real? Kind of the same way, like when I moved from Saginaw and I told everybody that we were moving. And they're like, what? Like they didn't believe it. I tell all these dudes, you know, I'm like, man, I'm done. They're like, for real? I'm like, yeah, man, God's doing something in my life. But then they would still keep calling my phone. And if I didn't answer my phone, man, I'd be sleeping. It'd be like three o'clock in the morning and somebody knocking on my door. And I and I gotta go to the back door. And I'm like, look, like I didn't, I didn't snap on them because I didn't feel like I didn't had a right to get mad at them because I'm the one who's been selling to these dudes all these years. I'm the one who's been who've been keeping their addiction going. I'm the one who's been taking food off of their kids' table and putting it on my kids' table. I'm the one who's been taking money out of their pocket while their wife's ready to leave them, but I'm greedy and I and I got needs and I got a family and I don't care that their wife wants them to stop spending their money on drugs and putting it in my pocket. So when the dude would come, you know, he came over and he's knocking on my door, I'm like, I'm not mad. I'm like, bro, I'm serious though. Like for real, man, I'm done. He's like, man, for real. And I even took a couple little opportunities to preach to some of these dudes, man, and then we ended up both in tears. Powerful moments, you know what I'm saying? But for the most part, they didn't care. For the most part, they were just like, all right, we're out, you know. Right. Not if she okay, do y'all need something? And it was cool. Like, I didn't expect that because I know how it is in the streets. There ain't no love. You know what I'm saying? If you if you ain't doing nothing for me, I ain't doing nothing for you, and that's just how it is, you know. Like it's it's fake, it's fake love. Fake love, right? Yeah, it's fake love. It ain't real. So I didn't I didn't really get mad when they just disappeared, you know, because I couldn't do nothing for them. So of course they're gonna go somewhere else and buy it from somebody else. So during this time, she's in the hospital, she's in and out, she ends up getting put on emergency dialysis treatments, which the doctors initially were like it could be avoided if you're willing to listen to us, which she didn't. But I quit, I stopped hustling, we get behind on rent. Actually, we were kind of already behind. I was playing the catch-up game, but then when I stopped, I didn't have no money, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't like saving, like I was just living, we was just living for the day. I wasn't prioritizing or doing nothing like that, you know what I'm saying? It was just like just living. So when all this happened, I didn't have all kind of money saved up, you know. It was like we're hit behind our rent, the trucks broke down, we're back and forth to the hospital with my daughter, my one of my oldest kids. At this time now, let me not forget this part. We got seven kids. We had our youngest boy two years before she got sick. My boy, speaking of him, even through this, he gets shot in Saginaw. I had him when I was 14, man, so I was lost. Bobby Jr., the one that was born when I was 14 and Sherry was 15, he grew up, bro, and started doing the same thing that I was doing. You know, he gets to that certain age where he, you know, he's in the streets and he, you know, he starts rapping and he's rapping about this same dumb stuff that I used to rap about, and he starts doing drugs and he starts carrying guns and he's in the streets and he's living his life. He did come with us to Grand Rapids initially in 2010 when we left that life behind. But then as he got a little bit older and he didn't want to follow no rules, I didn't kick him out. He left on his own and went back to Saginaw because, you know, my mom, my brothers, you know, he it was still family. It was still basically home. It was just we lived over here, everybody else was over there. So it wasn't like he just left and went back to nothing, but it was like, man, why are you going back? We left that for a reason. So anyway, years and years and years, man, you know, he's he's stubborn, he's listening, he's he's wilding out, he's trying to do what he wants to do, and he's in the streets, and he gets shot when he was 22 years old. He got shot in Saginaw, and he had to get his left leg amputated above the knee. So that was a hard battle, man. That was that was a that was a hard, and this is before my wife got sick, about a year and a half before she got sick. So we we, you know, we had went through that, and then she's in the hospital. Yeah, man, it was tough, bro, because I'm not beating around the bush about nothing. I'm not trying to sugarcoat nothing at that time. I knew it was like, dang, man, this is my fault. You know what I'm saying? Like I I led my boy into that life. You know what I'm saying? Like, man, it even got it even got so bad. We were so deep in the drug game as a family from my childhood to my teenage years to my 20s to my 30s. Man, even even me and my boy started selling drugs together. The same boy that when he was little, I don't even want to smoke around him. I don't even want him to smell the weed that I'm smoking. I'm putting on cologne and I'm washing my hands. And uh the same boy that I once was trying to shield from all that, but yet, you know, being blinded and deceived by the enemy, man, it got to the point to where we were taking highway trips together. We're selling together, we're hustling together. If he needs something, I got it. If I need something, then he got it, and vice versa. It was just we were dad, like I was as a dad, as a man, I was that far gone. It was like the family business for real. And I'm not proud to say that. I'm just being honest, you know what I'm saying? That that's how deep it got and how bad it got. So he ends up when he gets shot, he loses his leg, man. And you know, that's tough on the whole family, tough on him, you know. Um my wife's in the hospital now, here we are, man. Um, I let go. I let go of the drugs, let go of the hustling. We're behind our rent. We get evicted. Now at this time, my son, who got shot and lost his leg, he had he had moved back to Grand Rapids, like right around that same time. So now he's got he's got kids, and his girl and his kids got got a place here in Grand Rapids. And so when we got evicted, my wife's in the hospital. And in fact, she was getting her her first dialysis treatment, and the people came and threw all our stuff out the house, and me and my kids were there, and my kids are looking at me crying, man. I'm I'm looking back at them and I'm crying. And you know, I went from being this dad who always had money and always fed them and provided for them, and used to go do sometimes, you know, depending on how good money was, do whatever we want, eat whatever we want, go wherever we want, take trips, do this, do that. Now they're looking at me like crying. Dad, what are you gonna do? They didn't say it with their mouth, but they said it with their eyes. And I I couldn't do nothing but look back at them and I cried too. I had to face it that at this point, right now, right here, I already told God I'm done. Like I told God that I'm done. I I can't go back. Yeah, we're getting evicted, yeah, we're behind our rent, yeah. Your mom's in the hospital. But in my mind, I'm knowing like I can't go back. Like I already I can't. If there was ever a time for me to hustle, if there was ever a time for me to hit the streets, it would have been this time. Before I was doing it just to live, just living whatever, you know, carefree, whatever, having fun, partying. But my wife's in the hospital on dialysis machine. We're getting evicted, our truck's broke, all my kids are looking at me crying. If there was ever a time for me to be like, uh-uh, you know what I'm saying? Like, hey, I'm sorry, God, but I gotta, I gotta do what I gotta do. Like, I I can't, I gotta come through, bro. I didn't. I I looked up and I told God, like, I don't know where this is going and I don't know what's gonna happen. But God, I trust you. Like, I really trust you. After having all these different experiences with Jesus, praying to Jesus, hearing from Jesus, seeing Jesus, like all this stuff that was happening over all these years. I'm like, I trust you. I don't know how this is gonna end. I don't even know if she's gonna live. But God, I trust you. And whatever I gotta endure, I'm gonna endure. And so we were homeless, bro. We went and moved in with my son into his basement. You know what I'm saying? Like he he he just so he don't even live in Grand Rapids no more. He's back in Saginaw. But at that time, he was in Grand Rapids, and I know it was for a reason. It was because, bro, if he wouldn't have been here, like I don't know where we would have gone. Like, for real, for real. Like we wouldn't have had nowhere else to go. Like, I don't know what we would have done, but I thank God that he was here. Him and his girl and his kids were here at that time because we were able to go into this room. He had one room in his basement. There was me, my wife, my two youngest daughters, and my two youngest sons. Six of us. Six of us total. We had to go hit this one room. We had one mattress on the floor, no box spring, no nothing. One couch in there, and somehow, some way we all made it work. Six of us. Like I was broken, I was sad, I was, but I knew I couldn't look around and blame nobody else. Right. Like I couldn't, man. I'm thinking back on all the times when my wife told me, man, if you would just do what's right, if you know God said if you would just do what's right, if you would just do what's right, like our whole life would change, and to this day, and I'm being 100% honest, and Lord knows I never was that type of man, even in my sin, to get mad at God and be like, Man, God, we've been praying and we we've been going to church, and why is she's she's getting worse and her health is worse, and now we're home. Like I never did, bro, because I knew, I knew, I knew that I was the one who got us here. There was no there was no blaming nobody else, no blaming no devil, no blame. Is the devil the one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy? Absolutely.

Israel Caminero: 30:10

That's right.

Bobby Bendito: 30:11

Is he the one who wants to see our families destroyed, to see the men destroyed, to see the fathers destroyed, to see our sons and our daughters destroyed, to take our life? Yes, absolutely. He's absolutely the one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But we still, I still had a part that I was playing in it. I was partnering with the devil without even knowing that I was partnering with him. And so when this happened, we're homeless, but yet we're in my son's basement where I never should be. My son should be coming to me for help. Our kids should be coming to us, you know. It shouldn't be the other way around, but that's the way it was. You know, I was humbled, I was broken, but I was encouraged. I was encouraged knowing, okay, Lord, we trust you. My wife's going to godless treatments three times a week, four hours a day, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, tired, drained, weak. Went from being filled up with fluid to being like as skinny as I ever seen her in my life. She don't even look like the same woman. She's she's weak. She's coming out of these treatments and she's crying, but she's praying, she's believing, she's got her Bible, she's reading, she's trusting God. She's he said, I'm healed though. He said, I'm healed, Bobby. I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know, but I he said, I'm healed. He told me, he told me I'm healed. So she would be coming out and she would be fighting, bro, like battling. Every time she came off to dialysis machine, I would pick her up and she would come out and she'd be weak and she'd, you know, and we just, man, our faith just just joined. We our faith joined together. We got married while we were homeless 2008, because all these years we were never married, man. We got seven kids, grandkids, been through life together from 11 and 12 years old, but never got married over all these years. We had plans to get married. My bought rings and we had dates, and but somebody like one of my brothers or something would be in prison and I'd be like, nah, man, like we can't get married right now. Like, just dumb stuff, like not even important, but me just like I don't want them to miss it. So our faith is growing. Bro, it went from her, because I remember when I was running the streets and I and I used to come, you know what I'm saying, to come back home. Like she maybe would be in the bed or whatever, and I would lay down or come in the room and I would hear her. And I knew she was praying. Like I didn't hear what she was praying, I didn't hear her words, I would just hear, like, you know, I just knew that she was praying because I knew she wasn't talking to me. So I knew she was talking to God. And she would always be praying, and you know, just she used to be worried when I used to go, just even if it was to go make $20, $30, $40, whatever. It was like she knew I was risking. I already got past felonies from Saginaw. Like, it's like, bro, if I get pulled over and get caught with some more drugs, I'm going to prison. So she would be worried, you know. And um, I remember coming home, so you know, and there would be times where I noticed she was in there praying, and I'm like, dang, I'll feel so convicted, man. Like, dang, I'm out here, what I'm out here doing on these streets, and I'm out here feeding my flesh, and I'm out here doing this and doing that, and it's like, here she is at home in the bed. And this is before she got sick. Here she is at home in the bed, and she's praying and talking to God, and she's trying to do the right thing, and here I am. So, anyway, now fast forward, it flipped. The table's turned. Now I'm sitting here and I'm praying for her. You know what I'm saying? She's going through something, and then and I'm worried for her, and I'm not worried, but you know, still like it was a confident worry. It was a kind, like I wasn't scared. I was like, Lord, right? I I didn't know. It was just, bro, for real, I didn't, it was really walking by faith and not by sight. Because if we were going by sight and I'm in my son's basement and I'm broke and everybody's going through it, my kids are going through it, we're living out of trash bags, they're going through high school. My daughter, who's the worship uh leader for the ministry, is she's graduating that year. But everybody was pushing through. By the strength of the Lord, everybody was pushing through. Every treatment she's pushing through. I'm pushing through. I go get a job. I'm in a third shift uh factory, man, bro. Like not whole new life to me, whole new world. I don't know nothing about these machines, but they put me on as a machine operator. I don't know nothing about making honest money, but I'm but I'm making honest money, and bro, I'm listening to this Christian rap music and I'm listening to Christian music every day that I'm walking in, and it's strengthening me, it's encouraging me, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it unless I had the strength of the Lord and the strength of the Holy Spirit, like just leading me and guiding me. My wife's going through so, man, for two years we're homeless, bro. Two years, one year in my son's basement, the next year we're in my daughter's basement. After four years through all this in the factory, God, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me. Because through my addiction and through all the streets and through my wife's health issues and all the everything, the moving from Saginaw to Grand Rappers, I stopped rapping. And it was probably about five years, six, probably about five or six years, bro. I didn't touch the microphone, didn't touch my computer, my studio equipment, nothing. It just, that was dead. Like that was amongst a bunch of other stuff in my life, that was dead. Like I didn't record or nothing. But while I'm working in this third shift job in this factory, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me, you got something. You and your family got something that can be used in this world. And because I'm like, man, do I really belong here? Like, God, did you save us for me to be here? You know, while she's going through dialysis and we're homeless, and I'm in this, like, God, is this thank you for the job, Lord? I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I'm not in prison or I'm not dead. But is this like, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, no, you got something, and it's that music. And now you're gonna start doing this music, but instead of rapping and speaking death, you're gonna start speaking life, and you're gonna start, you're just gonna go tell people the truth. Just tell the truth. Tell the truth of where you've been, what you've been through, what God is doing for you, what Jesus is doing for you, and go and tell people. And boom, bro, right there. I started writing songs. I started doing Christian rap. I started, next thing you know, I get invited to an event. Then I get invited to another event. Then I'm starting to share my testimony. And then after um two years of being homeless, we got a place. After four years on dialysis, my wife finally got the call for a transplant. The transplant went right. She's doing great today. Man, and ever since like 2020, it was the first time I got on an airplane. I got flew down to Texas. I've never been on a plane and never thought about everything, even imagine that I would ever be on an airplane. To some people, it might just be simple, like, yeah, we just fly. Like, that ain't what we do in fact. Like, we don't do that coming from where I come from and my family that I come from and the background. Like, dude, that was just like so far. Like, that was like, nah, I'll probably never get on a plane. But I but I did get flew down to Texas in 2020, and um, man, I started ministering. And now every year since then, we've been going and traveling, and things have been increasing since then. Since 2017, when I surrendered and told God I'm done. I surrender. We trust you, Lord. Like, yeah, it's been, it hasn't been easy. And I would not sit here and say that it is, but it's been a whole lot easier than my life has ever been. A whole lot more peace, a whole lot less worry, a whole lot less stress, whole lot less weight on my shoulders. I trust in him to provide. I trust in him to lead us. I trust in him. After my wife got her transplant, like I said, she recovered. She's doing great now. She only got to go see the doctors like once a year. Like everything's going good with her kidneys. Um, I've been clean since 2018. It's been like over seven years that I've been completely clean. Ain't never looked back, never went back to no cocaine, never went back to hustling, never went, never even thought about it. Like for real, for real. Like God took the taste out of my mouth. I never had no like no urges to want to do it again. Um, and now, bro, that's what we do, man. We travel, you know, I I do the music, and and it is my whole life is ministry now. From all of that to now, everything about our life is Bible. Everything about our life is prayer, everything about our life is faith. Everything about our life is Jesus. Everything, every area of our life. My wife, my kids, my daughters, me, like everything, bro. My son who got shot, lost his leg. I just baptized him two months ago. Like, there's just a lot going on that God is doing, and and the whole reason why he allowed us to go through all this is so we can go and tell everybody else how faithful he is and how he wants to do the same thing in their life, how he wants to save their family too, and their marriage too, and their sons and their daughters, and how he's got a calling on them, and how like his plan is for everybody. It ain't just initially, I thought, like, why us? Like, why what are we going? Why are we going through this or what's what's the reason? But now I realize that it was never about the kidneys. It was never about the addiction, it was never about my lifestyle, it was never about my sin. It was always about us waking up and coming to the realization that Jesus is really real and that he forgives and he saves, and that he wants us to go and help bring somebody else to the light, bring somebody else to the cross, bring some, let somebody else know that look, bro, just because you're going through this or you're, you know, you come from this family or you come from this background or whatever, whatever, whatever, like his love and his mercy and his grace is for you too. And the same thing what he did for me and my family, and what he continues to do, like he'll do the same thing for you. And that that's the whole mission. That's the whole mission now. That's that's that's our life. That for the rest of the days that I have left on this earth, that's what I'm gonna be doing. It's praising the name of Jesus, lifting the name of Jesus, encouraging his people, praying for his people, loving on his people, um, walking with his people, you know, the lost, the ones that are found, the ones that are lost, alike, both of them. Just however you want to use me, Lord, use me. Because you saved me, you kept me alive, you kept me out of prison, you you pick me up, you clean me up, fix me up, put me back together, put my wife back together, put our family back together, put our marriage together, like everything. Every everything is because of him. All we did was just say yes to it. We received it. We didn't, we didn't. We didn't get we didn't go out there and find something that that that was never there. It was like it's always been there. We just had to really just look up, open our eyes and our ears and say, Okay, Lord, you're there. You're real, you love us, you forgive us. Um now use us. However you want to use us, use us. And that's where we're at today, bro.

Israel Caminero: 40:18

Man, what a story. What you did was surrender. Even your friend that came over that you said lived out of town and prayed for you and planted that seed, and then your mom invited you to the church where Joyce Meyer was, and even that that picture, that vision that you saw on the wall with the tears, these were all signs of God that you weren't picking up on at the time because you were so busy in your flesh and in sin, listening to the lies of the enemy. That's it. I'm sorry your wife had to go through what she went through.

Bobby Bendito: 40:51

Yeah, man, you know what, bro? But for real, like we all know, like, especially me and her, like we just we just have this this this understanding, and we just know that, bro, that's what it took. Like, for real, for real. Like that, and I know some people probably don't get that, and some people would say, well, why would a love in God? Nah, that was God's love. Like that was his mercy. That was his mercy on us. Like that was his mercy, as painful as it was, as scary at times that it probably was or could have been. Like, I would, I don't know where, bro. I don't know where I'd be, man, if that would have never happened. God knew. God knew. God knew. Definitely knew. Yeah, he knew it. He knows what would change all of us. Like he knows our hearts and he knows what we care about, and he knows, man, it's like it was the worst thing, but yet the best thing that ever happened in our life, all wrapped up in one.

Israel Caminero: 41:43

He prepares us for things, even if it means stripping you of everything, leaving you homeless. Yep. So, Bobby, I appreciate you being here and sharing that story with me. Uh, it's a powerful story. I'm sure there's more to it, but as a podcast, there's only a limited time that we can share. But man, did you share a lot? But I want to get into what you're doing now and your ministry now. Because I know the Lord came and he's doing great things with you and your ministry, and that's how I found you actually. I was scrolling through Instagram and I found you, and and I'm sure a lot of people have found you that way. And I just want you to tell the audience uh you used to be a secular artist, but now you're a Christian artist, Christian hip hop artist, I should say. The lyrics that you have on these songs that I've heard, that's a testimony all on itself. And I've seen love and I've seen hate. The hate comes from people that say, Oh, you know, you're using a secular beat. I'll let you get into that, but you're using a secular beat. But if you take those beats away, you're testifying on how God's grace happened in your life. And just because you're not speaking to them doesn't mean you're not speaking to others. So I just want to touch on what inspires your lyrics and how do you balance being authentic while keeping Christ at the center.

Bobby Bendito: 43:06

Amen. Amen. What you just said is exactly what I tell people when I'm ministering live. And that's what a lot of people online don't realize. I I get that, you know, we live in a social media age and we we live in a a time where there's a lot of scrolling and a lot of content, a lot to see, a lot to hear. Some of those people who may not agree or like what I'm doing, it's because they only get to see like a like a one-minute reel, and they and they go off that. They they don't realize that, you know, I'm out in person, like hand-to-hand combat, you know, front lines of different ministries, different cities, different states, um, sometimes neighborhoods, parks, where I'm ministering live, testifying live, praying with people, crying with people, worshiping with people, and something that you just said uh a minute ago is what I tell them. I tell everybody when I'm live there in front of these people, I say, look, if I turn this music off right now, if I turn the music off and there's no beat, no instruments playing, no, no nothing, just me and you sitting down somewhere face to face talking, I could tell you or I will tell you the same exact thing that I'm saying on the songs. Like it's not gonna change. I can turn the music off and we can have a conversation about God's goodness and about what he's doing in my life and about where I've been and what I've been through. And that is what it is. It's testimony, you know. It's it's testimony, and when I write to these songs, I got a lot of original music right now that's that's not finished. That I have already got the beats and I got the songs, and I got, you know, some of them are finished, some of them are not. It's just over these years since I first released my first Christian raps album, first Christian rap CD was in 2018. Then I released another one in like 2021. And over the last four years, I have released a few singles, but it hasn't been like allowed myself to get caught up in like a competition or or I need to like to be anxious. I've learned not to be anxious about rushing too many projects out or rushing too many songs out because I'm trying so hard to be relevant. Some people might see it a whole different way because they're like, well, why would you be using secular beats? Because when I did the boys in the church, this is a true story. I did Boys in the Church in 2022. That's the Boys in the Hood NWA song from the 80s. I I rewrote it. I used the beat, the same beat. Not the original, original, but it's a remake of the beat. I rewrote the verses in a way that were the same cadence and the same, you know, melody and everything. So I did that song in 2022. I released it, it's been streaming since then, and for the most part, some people reacted to it, you know, and liked it. And then, hey man, you know, this and that. I hey that's I like that. That's what's up. Okay, so two years, over two years go by. Over two years go by, and me and my daughter, who who is my videographer, um we went and shot a reel, a couple reels for that boys in the church. Never did it the year it was released, never did it the following year. It was over two years later that the song was released, and we said, well, let's go shoot a reel. And um we sat on them reels for a couple weeks. You know what I'm saying? We didn't I didn't even release it. I just I put it out after about two or three weeks, and it went to like two million views overnight. Like I posted it on a Friday night, and by the next day, Saturday, it was at like two million on Facebook, and then some other people start sharing, and it kind of just took off from there. But the thing is about people who don't agree with what I'm doing, they don't understand. I've never truly been the ones like, how can I get on, or man, what what can I say catchy, or what can I now are the are the secular classic rap songs or beats that I'm using, are they catchy? Yes, because a lot of people are familiar with them. My focus is not on the beat. My focus is on the message, like what I'm writing, you know what I'm saying? I I pray before I start writing, and if it feels right, you know what I'm saying, I'll do it. Thank God in most cases, the ones that I've been releasing for the past six, seven months, they have felt right and they minister to me. You know, they minister to me while I'm writing them. I cry while I'm writing them, I worship while I'm writing them, I think about my own family members who are still in the streets, are still going through things. That's what moves me to write the lyrics the way I do. And another thing that I share with a lot of my listeners is when it comes to my music. I understand that there's a lot of artists, particularly Christian hip-hop artists, since that's what I do, and that's what we're talking about, is Christian rap music. I realize that there's a lot of artists that may be doing it for whatever reason. You know, that's not for me to judge, that's not for me to critique, but I see it, you know. It is what it is. People reveal themselves. Right. So I don't have to judge. I don't have to critique. It's like you can see it. Some people want, they want the fame, they want the crowd, they want the people to get hype, or they want people to jump up and down, and that's not me. You know what I'm saying? Like, I I you you won't probably ever see me jumping up and down, bouncing all over there. And there's nothing wrong with that. Hey, if you want to get hype, get hype. But what I tell people is look, I'm not trying to get you to jump up and down. I'm not trying to get you to like when I when I do my music or we do live events or you listen to my music. What I do want, though, is I want your spirit man to jump. I want what's inside of you to jump. If I can get you to move on the inside, if I could get your spirit man to move on the inside, that's what I'm after. I don't want to, you don't have to bounce around, you don't have to get crazy hype to my music. I just want something on the inside to jump. And so every time I write a verse or a song, I just tell the truth. I tell the truth, you know, about where I was. I tell the truth about what God did. And using them, them beats, did I get a lot of views? Yes. Did I did my followers on Instagram and TikTok and all that go up crazy? Yes, they did. But that's not why I did it. I did it because of the inboxes that come, the messages that come, the comments that come, people that reach out to me and tell me that they just got out of prison or they just got out of recovery center or they're going through this or they're going through that. I didn't know that someone was out there rapping about my life. Like they'll tell me, they're like, bro, everything you just said in that song, that's me. Amen. Like, that's me right now. That's what I'm going through, and that's the mission, you know? That's that's the that's the purpose.

Israel Caminero: 49:52

They might not know Christ, and this is their only way of knowing Christ. They've heard these songs before, and they're like, wait a second, there's this twist, and you're talking about Jesus Christ and the pits that you were in. That's ministering to some people. Amen. And amen. And not only those songs, you know, there's songs that you have. I love the song you have with your daughter. If you haven't heard it, it's called Dear God. There's a lot of songs that you have that it's talking about Jesus. It's not about rap, it's about the message, like you said, that you're putting out there and letting people know of this person that brought you out of the pit that you yourself were in. Good versus evil is one of them. You know, you have nope. That's all about your family. Which of your songs mean the most to you personally and why?

Bobby Bendito: 50:41

Um, Dear God is right up there. Um Good versus Evil is right up there. I would say the take back, man. The take back is um, I released that. It's been it's been it's been a while. That was like one of the first ones that I released. My my daughter Mariah actually shot the video for when she was like 16 years old. Um, the reason why the take back is is really so I wrote that song while we were homeless. Like while we were still sleeping on a basement floor, while my wife was still in the middle of her dialysis treatments. While everything was basically still up in the air. But when I wrote that song, I remember writing the verses and just the feeling that I got on the inside. Like I was talking about how good God is. I was talking about how God is a restorer, things like that. But yet I was still in a position with the with the with the natural eye or with someone looking from the outside looking in, they wouldn't have seen restoration at that point. But I felt it though. I was I was writing that song as if I was already there because I felt like I truly felt that and believed what I was saying, but yet we were still homeless, and yet things were still hard as far as, you know, just a lot of things we were going through in our family. And the take back is about taking back everything that the devil stole. I, you know, I talk about my uncles that got killed. I talk about my grandma and grandpa who who the both of their lives didn't end too young. They weren't young, young, but they still should have lived longer or possibly still be living now had they not, you know, been into the different types of things that they were in, drinking and drugs and all that. So I mentioned a lot of personal things in the song The Take Back, and it's since I released, and I released it when nobody that time, like no one really know who I was or ever heard my testimony or music or anything. So, but that one right there is definitely really special to me though.

Israel Caminero: 52:35

That's a good one too. You're in Christian hip hop, and I know you have a lot of young people that love Christian hip hop. So if a young person was listening who feels called to a ministry like this, what advice would you give them?

Bobby Bendito: 52:52

I would tell them the first thing, obviously, even though it sounds like the spiritually correct thing to say, but it really is, is truly like pray about it. Because for any young person, they know the gift that they have in them. I would say make sure that it is glorifying God for one, because when we do it for the Lord, he'll take it and he'll go above and beyond, just like his word says that he would do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we can ask, think, or imagine. So when we have our minds set on the things of the Lord, when we seek first, like the Bible says, the kingdom of God, it's like I'll be a witness to the fact that when I turn my life over to the Lord, and even when I started to do this Christian rap music, I didn't ask or pray to God for favor on the music or popularity or Lord, just just it was my intention for it to get out there and for ears to hear it, of course, because that's what ministry is. The gospel is to be heard, but I genuinely did not ask for any type of platform like this. Like I truly just wanted my life to be restored and wanted my wife to be healed, and wanted me as a man, as a father, as a former addict and drug dealer and all. Like I was praying for those things. Like, Lord, just I just need hope. I just need healing. I need hope. I need your forgiveness for one before I can move forward. Did I have to do my part as as these years continue to go by with recording, actually recording the music? Yes. We we do have to give God, you know, if if we want him to bless something, we gotta, we gotta give him something. We gotta, we gotta put something there for him to be able to bless. So for any young artists out there or aspiring artists, if you already know the Lord, then with God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible. You don't have to look around because it's real easy today, especially for the younger generation, to get caught up looking at there's just a huge amount of different types of influences that are out there on the internet right now and on these different social media sites, which are they good tools to use? Absolutely. Me and you are talking right now because of it. Like it's a great way. But what I would tell any young artist is don't focus too much on what our other artists are saying or their approach or or let their words sway you or or let their style sway you or let their popularity sway you or let their file, whatever it may be, if you focus on the Lord and what he's telling you, let the Holy Spirit lead you and guide you into what you should be doing, God will use you. God has a lane for you, God has souls for you to reach, God has people for you to reach. And most of all, the music will minister to you and it will bring confidence to you. It will bring something out of you, a gift that maybe you didn't know you had, or maybe you have known that you've had it, you just have been afraid for whatever reason. But the Bible says that He didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. So when you walk confidently and boldly, knowing that God called you to this, just do it because there's somebody out there that's gonna be blessed by your testimony, somebody that's gonna be blessed by your gift, and and man, and God gets all the glory.

Israel Caminero: 56:06

Amen. That's right. Just like this podcast, it's your story, but it's all for his glory.

Bobby Bendito: 56:13

Amen. Amen. But but it's like the Lord knows for a man who sold drugs and ran the streets his whole life, who's to say, who can tell God that he can't say, Look, I got you. For the rest of your days here on earth, I got you and your family. You go ahead, you use this gift to glorify me, you uplift my people, you encourage my people. You now do would I call it that? No, I wouldn't say, you know what I'm saying? But it's like there's there's just some thin lines, you know what I'm saying, that can be crossed, or doesn't matter if they get caught. I don't know, man. I've heard a lot and seen a lot in my last, you know, five, six, seven years being in this thing. And it's it's that's some of those things will sway a young believer to be like, ah, well, I can't take it that serious because I know it's not about the music. But it's like, nah, man, you don't know there's people that are dying on these streets every day that if you take it serious, that they they their their lives and ultimately their souls can be saved because, you know, of you. So sometimes they hear things and it can discourage them and be like, nah, I can't make this. I'm a Christian. I can't make rap a career. I'm a Christian, I can't sell t-shirts. I'm a that's to me, like I've heard so much over the years, but I'm I thank God that the Holy Spirit has allowed me to grow and learn through it to be able to just pursue his will, not success, not favor, not a platform, not a lot of followers. But the truth of the matter is, is that when we're pursuing his will, everything falls beneath that. That that covers everything, every desire of our heart, our marriage, our kids, our family, our health, our finances, whatever it may be, if we're pursuing his will, then whatever he allows from that, I just I don't listen to what people say no more, man. I just I just keep going.

Israel Caminero: 57:59

That's right. What can we expect from you in the future as far as new projects, collaboration, or ministries you're working on? And you can share whatever you're working on right here, because I will have links to everything that he shares out here on the description of the podcast. If you want to go and give Bobby some love, what can we expect from you?

Bobby Bendito: 58:18

So right now, I am frequently I have been, because of the fruit that's coming from it. And when I say fruit, I really mean this with the remix songs and putting all this stuff out and just kind of staying consistent with the testifying, with the praising and worshiping. I'm getting, like I said earlier, so many messages, and and I've even got on the phone with a number of people because I'll do it. Like I don't I don't just got a hundred messages in my inbox and just leave them there. Like I really go through them and I know when the Holy Spirit is leading me, when I read somebody's message or something, it's like, bro, I'll get on the phone with you. Like I'll pray with you. I got a brother, man, who he shared a lot with me. And let's just say that God is moving in his life. So I'm gonna continue to do these remixes. I am working on an album. I have an original album that has been in the works for a couple years now. Um, I got a lot of songs that some of them are all the way done. They just need to be engineered, mixed, mastered. Um, some of them are halfway done, but I definitely feel like God is allowing me now in this season to focus on finishing this album, which will be all original songs, all original beats, because God has put people, God has put the the ears, you know, he's put the ears and the eyes there to where now, okay, I have a responsibility, not to social media or I don't look at people as a fan base, but I have a responsibility to do what God has, for one, what he has called me to, but also what he's allowing. So I am I'm working on that. We try I try. I'm gonna be all over. I have been for the last few years. I go anywhere from Florida to Texas, been in New Mexico, was in California a few weeks ago. We go to Ohio a lot, Michigan. Since I'm based in Michigan, we're in Michigan a lot more than other states. That's it. Like that's that's what I'm doing. You know, is it's traveling, it's recording, just staying present and relevant online because that's the age that we live in. There's a lot of projects. My daughter, Sierra, who you were talking about on the Dear God song, she also has her own music that has been in the works for the same amount of time, but again, God is letting us know in this season that we're in in our life that, okay, go. Now now is the time. Maybe if I would have been anxious about it a few years ago, would there have been a whole lot of people there listening? Not nowhere near as many as there is now. He's revealing and confirming a lot of things to us on how it's easy to say in God's timing, but a lot of times we still try to take things into our own hands. And this right now, I'm just I'm just trusting that this is the time for us to, I guess, kind of push the gas a little bit, and because time is short out here for for all of us it is, but yeah.

Israel Caminero: 1:01:19

You know, and like you said, it's God's timing, it's our flesh that wants to rush things, and uh and he'll orchestrate everything to where you'll see the fruit.

Bobby Bendito: 1:01:29

Amen. Yep. So yeah, we got that coming out, man. I'm gonna keep pushing.

Israel Caminero: 1:01:34

Amen. So I know you had a rough childhood and even adulthood. Do you have a Bible verse that you can go back to and look at when you're having a bad day that stuck with you ever since you found Christ? And what is that Bible verse and what does it mean to you?

Bobby Bendito: 1:01:55

Man, there's a lot of them, but I will say, and it's not necessarily I guess it can be a bad day, it could be a good day, it could be, you know, but it's it's it's it's 2 Chronicles 7 14. It's a special verse for a lot of reasons. Well just the verse is if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, hear their prayers, forgive their sins, heal their land. Me and my wife, when we got married, we were homeless. We didn't plan the date specifically, but man, it was about as humble as a wedding that we could have had. It wasn't the way that we pictured it. But when we got into our place and we weren't homeless after a couple years, I was reading the Bible, getting to know the word more, and I was reading 2 Chronicles 7.14, and you know, we were just fresh off two years of sleeping on a floor and to have our own place, it just felt so good. And then I'm just reading that and I'm looking, and it's like, man, God, thank you for allowing the circumstances for me to be humble. And then once I was humble, I was able to really, you know, I was able to really pray from a real place and seek his face from a real place, a genuine place of humility. And in turn, that's what allowed me to shake that addiction, which is turning from my wicked ways. That's what was allowing me to just become a new man. So then when it said, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land, I started to just think about my land and not only my land, but our land as a people is more than just a physical land. It's it's our families, it's our it's our marriages, it's our wives, it's our talents or gifts or whatever, our callings. When I was reading that, man, I'm crying, you know, because we just got in our place and we're both just reading the Bible and we're crying. Then I look and I'm like, we got to remember this verse, like 2 Chronicles 7.14, and then it hit me. I'm like, man, that's the day we got married, 7.14, and we're both looking at like we didn't really plan it. It was just kind of like one of them God moments where he said, Yes, I it was intentional on my part. Right. We didn't know, but man, like because we were homeless when we got married, we we were in this little small hall that we got blessed. She's in the bathroom getting ready at the hall. I'm in the bathroom at the hall, like shaving and just trying to clean up. And it was nothing that we ever pictured, but we knew it was right. We knew it was God, we knew it was for the right reasons. We didn't need the big fancy dress, the big fancy party, the all the things that we ever may have imagined. So us, the date that we got married after everything that we've been through, seven kids, grandkids, all that, never married. But then when we finally got married on July 14th of 2018, and then when I was reading that scripture, man, it's just that scripture covers so much, though. Like it is so true, and I'm living it. We do have to humble ourselves. And then once we're humble enough to truly pray to God from a place of genuine faith and genuine crying out, he he said, humble yourselves, pray, seek my face, turn from your wicked ways. I love the order of that scripture in particular because how many people feel that they have to turn from their wicked ways before they come to God? How many people feel like it's like that order is so important to me, um, and I believe it's that way intentionally. It's like, look, just humble yourself first. Because if you're not humble and you pray, are you really praying from a genuine place of faith, or are you just like in a bind and just trying to use the Lord as a crutch or whatever, right? So when you humble yourself, you're able to pray from the right place. While you're praying, then you're seeking his face. So as you humble yourself, praying and seeking his face, then it's a whole lot easier to turn from your wicked ways because you know the Lord, you've been fellowshipping with the Lord, you've been seeking his face, you've been praying, you you're humble now. So it's it's it's easier to turn from our wicked ways, and then boom, after that, he says, then will I hear from him, heaven, forgive your sins and heal their land? It's like, man, I that verse right there is so special to me for for so many reasons, man, because it's literally my life story in that one verse. And and it's true. God, his word is true, and and his promises are true, and he and and he has healed what I see as my land, my wife, my kids, my mind, me, me as a man, me as a father, not only her health and her kidneys, but just our calling, our purpose, our identity. It's like all still in the process of being healed and and being things being revealed to us. So, man, yeah, that verse right there is one that I really love. That's good, man.

Israel Caminero: 1:06:42

God is faithful. God is definitely faithful. But now we're going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And well, my back to the past section of the podcast is if the Bobby of today, the man that you are today, can travel back in time and talk to the old Bobby, the knucklehead Bobby, what would you say to him?

Bobby Bendito: 1:07:07

Man, the first thing that came to my mind is God has a plan. Like God has a plan. Because there was a lot of times when I was young, you know, just the the drug dealing, the the violence, the just everything, you know, there was there was some fear, a lot of confusion.

Israel Caminero: 1:07:27

You didn't have that either. You know, you didn't you didn't have that that person speaking life into you.

Bobby Bendito: 1:07:34

Exactly. Exactly. That that's why I'm saying, like, man, if I could go back and just just say, like, man, don't worry. Just God got a plan. God got a plan.

Israel Caminero: 1:07:48

Not saying he would have listened, but he might have kicked you out.

Bobby Bendito: 1:07:51

Nah, nah, nah, yeah, he yeah, definitely probably wouldn't, you know, but it's just, it's just, man. So even like with my own son and just different, you know, younger, just going through stuff, it's like, I know now, like I can tell them from a genuine place, like, man, don't worry, bro. Like, you'll be good. Like, trust me, there's a process, but if God did it for me, as cliche or whatever, you know, as it may sound, and people say it, but it's like when you really experience it though, like when you really experience it and say, nah, listen, man, like I'm telling you, if God did it for me, just trust me, you know, like trust me, like He got a plan for He got a plan for you, you know? Like that's a yeah, so that's right. And that is what I tell some of these youngsters out here when I talk to them. I tell them, like, look, man, you know, it's a process, but just do your part. Pray and ask God. Don't don't wait until you feel like you're in the right place. Don't don't wait until you feel like, okay, now I'm I'm doing good enough to come and talk to God. Like, no, like, like you gotta do that the whole time. Like, you gotta just just just open your mouth. Open your mouth. Speak the name of Jesus and call upon Jesus and and ask him to come in and and reveal what needs to be revealed to you. That's my desire. That's my desire.

Israel Caminero: 1:09:09

That's good. That's good. But I just want to take the time to thank you, Bobby, for being here and sharing your testimony with my audience. What a powerful testimony. And that's just to show that God could take anybody from the pit, whether they think it's too late or not. But before we close, do you think you could pray over us? Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Definitely.

Bobby Bendito: 1:09:37

Father God, we thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you, God, for waking us up this morning and just giving us another breath of life, another opportunity to hear you, to seek your face, to praise you, to worship you, to glorify you, to honor you, Lord, to to serve you. God, I just pray right now in the mighty name of Jesus for anyone, Lord, who is listening, anyone out there who is struggling, anyone out there who is questioning whether you're real, whether your your word is real, whether the Holy Spirit is real, whether Jesus really died on that cross. Father God, I pray right now that you would send your angels of protection and ministering angels and warring angels and Holy Spirit. I ask that you touch them right where they are, right where they lay, right where they sit, right where they stand, right there in their car, right there through that phone, through that computer, through those speakers. I pray that you would touch them right now. Touch them and let them know that you have a plan for them, that there's a way, there's always a way out. There's always a way out. I just pray right now for every man, every woman. I pray for their families. I I pray, Lord, that they would hear you, Lord, that they would have a real encounter with you, Lord. And even for those who may know you or may have walked away, those who have may have backslid or for whatever reason just don't feel the same fire or the same intimacy that they once had with you, Lord. I pray right now for you, my brother. I pray right now for you, my sister. That God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Even when we change, he never changes. And it's never too late to come back. Father God, I thank you, Lord, for this day. I thank you for allowing us to share your goodness, to glorify your name. Um, I pray that you bless my brother, his platform to podcast, and just open up new new opportunities and open up new ideas and new creativity and new resources. And Lord, I thank you for those who will come after me, for those whose testimonies are being written right now, for those whose praises are being sent up to you right now, for the healings and the restorations that are taking place right now in the lives of your sons and daughters. Father God, we lift them up to you and we lift up our praises to you. God, we love you, we worship you, we honor you, and we praise you in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 1:12:22

Amen.

Bobby Bendito: 1:12:23

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 1:12:24

Thank you for that prayer. And Bobby, thank you again so much for sharing your story and your heart with us today. Man, thank you, brother. Thank you, man. Thank you. It was a blessing, definitely. Yeah, I know without a doubt that someone listening was blessed by what God did and is doing in your life. And to all the listeners, remember this God can use your past, your pain, and your process to build a future filled with purpose. Don't ever forget your story matters because it's all for his glory. And you guys make sure you check out Bobby's music on all streaming platforms and connect with him on social media. I'll have links to everything that he wants to share on the description of this podcast. But until next time, stay encouraged, stay faithful, and keep living your testimony. God bless.