Redeemed Through Trust

My testimony begins when I was about eleven years old, though at the time I didn’t realize how lost I truly was. I think at that age, many children carry pain they don’t even know how to explain.

It was just my mom, my siblings, and me living together then. I spent most of my childhood outside, staying out late at night with very little structure or guidance. Around the age of twelve, my dad migrated to the United States from Mexico, and that’s when everything changed.

Suddenly, there were rules. Discipline. Restrictions.

From going wherever I wanted whenever I wanted, I was no longer allowed to go out freely. I didn’t understand it at the time. To me, it felt harsh and confusing because we had never really experienced discipline before. Instead of understanding it, I became rebellious.

By thirteen, I had already run away from home several times. I was doing things no thirteen-year-old girl should be doing. Deep down, I was searching for love, acceptance, and security, but I didn’t know it yet.

What hurt even more was feeling like my dad treated me differently than my sister. I could sense it, but I didn’t understand why until one day a family member told me he was not my biological father. I was confused because we shared the same last name, but suddenly so many things started making sense to me.

Throughout high school, I found myself in relationships where I was extremely possessive and jealous. I was constantly afraid of being abandoned. I wanted love so badly, but I carried so much insecurity inside of me.

At seventeen years old, I met my husband. He was a football player and knew almost everyone at school, especially girls. For someone already battling insecurity, that was one of the hardest things for me to deal with.

Every woman who came near him made me afraid. I constantly worried he would talk to someone else or eventually leave me.

In 2008, our beautiful daughter was born when I was only eighteen years old. Instead of healing my insecurities, motherhood exposed them even more. I watched my husband love our daughter in ways I had always longed to be loved myself, and honestly, it stirred emotions in me that I never wanted to feel.

As the years passed, we built a life together, but inside our marriage I was constantly fighting fear, jealousy, insecurity, and emotional wounds from my past. My husband was friendly and outgoing, especially around friends and their wives, but I always felt like I wasn’t receiving enough attention or reassurance from him.

For nearly fifteen years, we struggled through the same cycle. I constantly felt insecure. We fought often. I cried, begged him to change, and searched for peace in all the wrong places, but nothing seemed to change.

Eventually, my husband began losing himself in substance abuse. The drugs made him angry, distant, and broken in ways neither of us knew how to fix.

Then one day, one of his coworkers invited him to church.

At the time, we were still battling addiction, still carrying all of our brokenness, and honestly, I didn’t want to go because I knew change would come with it. But somehow, I still agreed.

From the very first day we walked into church, I felt welcomed. I felt something different. For the first time in a long time, I felt hope.

We continued attending, and during those first few months we were still struggling behind the scenes. But one day my husband said something that changed everything:

“We have to stop. For our kids, for God, and for our family.”

And we did.

We walked away from the substances, and little by little I began seeing a real transformation in my husband. I started seeing the man I had always prayed for. He began respecting me, leading our family differently, and showing love in ways I had longed for.

But even then, God showed me that my husband wasn’t the only one who needed healing.

I had to let go of the past.

I had to surrender years of hurt, rejection, fear, and insecurity to God. I had to stop expecting my husband to heal wounds that only God could truly heal inside of me.

And when I finally did, everything began to change.

Our marriage became healthier. My insecurities slowly faded. Trust was rebuilt. Peace entered our home. For the first time in my life, I truly felt loved, secure, and safe.

We are not perfect, and we still continue growing together, but God redeemed what once felt impossible. Everything I had spent years begging for, God restored when I finally surrendered my pain and trusted Him fully.

Today, I can honestly say I am the happiest I have ever been.

God didn’t just save our marriage. He healed our hearts, restored our family, and taught us what true love, faithfulness, and trust really look like.

Arlene Arellano

Arlene is a wife, mother of two, and devoted member of Family Revival Church in San Diego, California. As a mother to one daughter and one son, she is passionate about building a Christ-centered home rooted in love, healing, and faith. Through her personal testimony, Arlene hopes to encourage others to trust God through every season and to remember that no matter how broken the past may seem, God is still able to restore, redeem, and make all things new.