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When it came to spiritual matters, Dana Espinoza had seemingly done it all.
Her mother, Karina, came to know Christ when Dana was just a few months old. Karina began faithfully serving her congregation and, as a result, Dana grew up in church and was exposed to countless children’s and youth studies and activities. She even helped minister to younger children in the church.
Dana had done just about everything—except make a personal decision to follow Jesus. Though her quiet and reserved nature concealed it, she was struggling internally in a way that not only impacted her life, but also her family. Starting in ninth grade, Dana surrounded herself with friends who were bad for her. Social pressure, loneliness, and a desire to fit in led her to behaviors—including alcohol consumption, vaping, and truancy—that distanced her from God.
“She was a very serious girl—without light,” said Luis González, then pastor of the Spanish-speaking congregation at Lamar Baptist Church where the family attends. “When they came to [our] church, they were already having those problems [with her].”
By 11th grade, Dana was transferred to a new school. Her troubles continued, and she even ran away from home at one point, leaving her mother distraught. “In my desperation to get her out of that, I fell into depression and anxiety,” Karina confesses. “I wondered why [Dana was struggling so much] since she had grown up around the gospel.”
Dana’s story underscores a truth many youth leaders and parents know well: Being steeped in church culture and activities does not automatically mean a youth knows and embraces the gospel.
But for Dana, that would soon change.
‘She told me I had to change’
Dana had attended youth camps before, even coming forward to receive prayer. At one camp, González presented the gospel to her for the first time. She listened, she cried, but she didn’t make a decision.
“I didn’t feel ready,” she recalled.
That changed when she attended Florece, the annual women’s retreat hosted by SBTC En Español. During one of the general sessions, she heard a message referencing God as a light and guide, of the need for repentance, and of the difference between the way of the world and the way of Christ. During an altar call, a song touched Dana’s heart deeply and she began to cry.
“I felt it was directed at me,” she said.
The worship leader noticed and came over to pray for her. Then another woman came and hugged her, along with her mom. Afterward, a third woman approached her and shared her personal testimony, showing her a bracelet inscribed with Bible verses.
“She had gone through the same thing I was going through,” Dana said. “She told me I had to change, to leave behind everything that was separating me from God.”
After Florece, Dana clearly expressed she wanted to change and be baptized. González first took time to carefully share the gospel with her.
“Many young people don’t really understand the gospel,” said González, who now serves as director of SBTC En Español. “They think it’s about not failing, about behaving well. … The gospel is not that you transform yourself first and then God saves you. The gospel saves you, frees you, and then transforms you.”
In the days that followed, González taught Dana about baptism and also met with her parents. At that meeting, Dana asked her parents for forgiveness for all the suffering she had caused them. Then she turned to González.
“Like the passage about the Ethiopian in Acts, if there is water here, can I be baptized?”
On Sunday that week, she was baptized.
After her baptism, Dana had another relapse. But this time, something was different. She leaned not only on the support group God had placed around her, but also on her genuine confession of faith.
“The key was not to let her go,” González said, “to take the time to be with her, to patiently explain who Christ is and what it means to follow Him.”
Dana’s decision impacted her family, as well. Karina said she recognized God was working in her own heart. At another church the family had attended, Karina had been so focused on serving in worship and children’s ministry that she neglected her personal devotion and time with her children. At Lamar, she has rediscovered the importance of prayer and daily dependence on the Lord.
“She has had an impact on other girls. Now she talks, shares about Christ, and wants to help.”
Passing it on
Today, the change in Dana is evident.
Once withdrawn, quiet, and living without purpose, the 17-year-old is now lively and communicative with a desire to serve. She does not present herself as perfect, but as a young woman in progress.
“She has had an impact on other girls,” González said. “Now she talks, shares about Christ, and wants to help.”
Dana’s testimony is a powerful reminder that God continues to work in new generations when the gospel is presented clearly and accompanied by love. She has also been an answer to prayer for leaders involved with Florece, who have been asking God to raise up and awaken the next generation of young women for Christ.
For Dana, Florece was where she truly met Jesus. Leadership follow-up was critical. God’s grace did the rest.
