Enjoy this excerpt from Matheus' inspiring testimony!

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As a child, I was often lonely ...

You know, I was pretty much the only Christian in school. In Brazil, we have a lot of Catholics, but they just call themselves Catholics. And so, you know, Protestant -- I was the only one.

At church, I was also bullied as well. What really shaped me, though, was an illness I experienced as a child.

When I was five, I had a knot in my intestine. So everything I ate, I just threw up. I was so weak that I couldn't even lift my head up. And so it was just very hard time for my parents because they didn't know exactly what was going on, and none of the doctors could figure it out.

Finally, they tried a last-ditch  surgery and as soon as they applied the anesthesia my heart stopped beating. And my lungs collapsed as well. The swelling around my abdomen was pressing all my organs, you know. So you know, my body couldn't handle the anesthesia. I died, and they had to bring me back with a defibrillator. And that while they're trying to bring me back, some of the doctors come out and tell the news to my parents that I died.

My dad fainted immediately, and as he's falling down to the ground, he's praying to God saying, "if is your will, for my son to survive, I will surrender him to ministry." Then, God gives it gives him this vision of me as an older man. He was just laying down in the casket. And so as soon as they pick him up, he said, my son is not dead, my son is alive! And not too long after that, they were able to bring me back.

Amazingly, the surgery was a success. Everyone was so surprised ... so much so that a lot of the nurses and the doctors came to Christ because I survived something they thought impossible to survive.

For years it has been on my mind: "why did God save me from the hospital?" You know, does he have a purpose for me? Because at the same, I was always being bullied -- believing that I had no purpose.

And so I had this contrast going on in my heart all the time. You know, God is real because He saved me in the hospital. But the world tells me otherwise. And then I always remember this pastor saying, "no, God loves you and has a purpose for you."

One day in my room, I told the Lord, "Lord, if you're a real, I'm a sinner. And I've been not living like a Christian. And if you're real, you've saved me from the hospital. And you have a purpose for me and a reason for me despite what the world tells me. And so I want to give my life to you for the one that is able to give me a purpose."

And so that day, I gave my life to Christ.  And I started to read my Bible every day. And then my Christian life just skyrocketed! And so that's pretty much how I came to know Christ and how I, I grew in my faith...

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