I am so thankful to the Lord for His sovereign arrangement in my life. I was born in a family that believed in God. As I grew up, although I believed and trusted in the Lord, I did not have a personal relationship with Him. My knowledge about the Lord Jesus was very superficial and I had many questions about Him. Also, the Bible was a mystery to me. When I was in high school, I began to read the Bible trying to find answers to all my questions. However, after reading a few chapters of Genesis, I stopped reading because I was not able to understand.
At the age of seventeen, I started college at the National University in Mexico. During my second year of college, I had a classmate who always carried a Bible in her hand. That was very interesting to me. I thought: she reads the Bible! After a time of informal conversation with her, she began to read verses from the Bible to me that clearly showed me that Christ wanted to make His home in my heart (Ephesians 3:17), and that I just needed to open my heart to Him and receive Him. As she was speaking and reading many verses of the Bible, some of the questions I had in my heart were answered. It was when she read to me Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household,” that my heart was melted by such a promise from God. I realized that He not only wanted me, but also my whole family. On that day I was born again by receiving the Lord Jesus as my Savior and life. Then I began to meet in small Bible studies with my classmate and other students who, like me, had believed in the Lord Jesus. Very soon, the Bible ceased to be a mystery to me. My love and appreciation for the Lord Jesus increased by meeting with other believers who loved Him. I started a personal relationship with God by praying and reading His Word; in this way God became my best friend. Although I met regularly with that Christian group for two semesters, the academic load upon me was very heavy, and little by little I began to lose contact with my Christians friends. Consequently, my relationship with God became weaker every day.
After I finished college, I began a masters program at the National University of Mexico. It was then that I met the person who is now my husband. He was not saved, and although I wanted to speak with him about the Lord Jesus, I did not have the words to explain to him the divine life that I had received when I was in college. But praise the Lord for His faithfulness and sovereignty! One day, unexpectedly, I ran into my college Christian friend who had first preached the gospel to me, and who after a little while helped me to preach the gospel to my future husband. After he got saved we began right away to meet with the same Christian group that I had met with during my college years, and after few months we both got baptized. Through my baptism, I wanted to declare to the whole universe that I belonged to God. I experienced a joy that for years I had not experienced because I was away from the Lord. My relationship with God was recovered. I realized that in order to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him I needed to meet regularly with other believers who loved and pursued the Lord.
In January of 1990, I got married and moved to Austin in order to begin the PhD program in pharmacy at The University of Texas. When I came to America, having left my family, my Christian friends, and my country, everything was new and unsettling. I had to adapt to this new community. In those days, everything looked difficult to me, even the matter of communication since I did not speak much English at that time. I asked the Lord to help me and show me the way to go on. I really thank God for answering my prayer, for at this point I met Christians on Campus through my husband. The members of Christians on Campus were a significant source of support for us, both practically and spiritually. Many times they offered rides to the grocery stores and to Christian meetings. I was impressed when I met some married couples that opened their homes during the evenings for the students to have dinners and spend time to read the Bible and sing to the Lord. I could see the invisible love of God expressed through those Christians. I remember vividly the times when my husband and I, hungry and tired after many hours of work at the laboratory, were pleasantly surprised by some friends from Christians on Campus who cared for us by bringing us dinner without us asking them.
The aspect that impressed me the most about Christians on Campus was that its members were serious in their love and pursuit of the Lord Jesus by praying and reading the Bible. Every semester the PhD program had its pressures, but it was during these times that I had the opportunity to be surrounded by members of Christians on Campus who always prayed with me in these difficult times and brought me back to the enjoyment of Christ. In all the meetings with Christians on Campus, I received a lot of light from the Bible, something that I did not have when I read the Bible by myself. All this helped me to know God in a deeper way. Also, such enlightenment from the Word gave me the way to speak about the Lord Jesus to my family every time I had the opportunity to visit them in Mexico City. I am grateful to the Lord that now all the members of my family have received Christ. Praise the Lord!
My involvement with Christians on Campus was a salvation, a joy, and a blessing to me. Without fellowshipping with these Christians I do not believe that I would have gained the spiritual nourishment that sustained me during my PhD program. They helped me to know, pursue and love the Lord Jesus in a deeper way. I am so thankful to the Lord for taking care of my husband and me in such a thorough and tender way through these dear believers in Christ.
Marta Escobar
— Austin
