Manolo's Testimony: Saved on a Bridge

Manolo is 26 years old. He comes from a non-Christian family, a family where religion isn't even discussed at the table. He went through things no child should ever have to live through. And yet, one evening on a bridge, his life changed course. Here is his testimony, just as he shared it in front of the church.

A childhood marked by betrayal

Manolo grew up in a home where religion was a forbidden subject. When he brought it up, his parents answered with mockery and jokes. The rule was clear: stop talking about it, or you leave the table. Even so, at a very young age, he asked to take catechism classes at school. He started out curious, open.

After a few months, the unthinkable happened. The priest teaching the classes sexually abused several children, Manolo among them. "Something broke in me, something shattered," he says simply. From that point on, he hated religion. "If God isn't behind this, why would I love God, if in the end someone from the church enjoys doing this kind of thing to us?"

At home, the violence continued. His stepfather, an alcoholic, beat his mother and beat Manolo. He used his back as an ashtray. His mother lost a child because of that violence. Manolo kept asking himself: if God exists, why am I living through all this? Why isn't he here to pull us out of this hell, my mother and me?

The years of rejection

As the years went by, he rejected God more and more. He got into trouble, listened to no one, fought often. He made his own rules. A massive hatred settled in him: against the priest, against his stepfather, against everyone who had betrayed or rejected him. He wished them nothing but misfortune.

Still, he kept questioning. Why did it feel, every time he tried to turn toward God, like God had never been there for him? That question wouldn't let go of him.

The Easter evening that changed everything

One day, he began spending time with friends who were "a bit healthier, a bit more Christian." A friend invited him to church. He went without much desire, just to please her. It was an Easter evening service: a carefully arranged setting, a different atmosphere. Manolo expected nothing: "It doesn't exist anyway."

Just as he was about to leave, the singing began. And that's when everything changed. "The songs are what made me stay. They made me sit down. They made me listen." That was the turning point. It's what made him want to come back Sunday after Sunday.

The night on the bridge

His first weeks at church were hard. Manolo went through dark thoughts, thoughts of suicide. He didn't feel like he had a place there, or that he deserved a place on earth. And he didn't yet have God firmly rooted in his life.

One evening, he learned some difficult things about his family. He argued with his mother because he wanted to go to church. She told him it was pointless, that he might as well be disowned from the family. He let his dark thoughts take over. He grabbed the first backpack lying around in his room and left, with only one idea: to say goodbye to everyone and end it all.

He walked without stopping. He climbed onto the first bridge he came to. Just as he was about to jump, he felt something, "as if I was being pushed backward." He fell and hit his head. "It's fine, it hurts, but that's fine."

He wondered why he'd been pulled back like that, since that hadn't been his intention. Opening his backpack, he discovered what was inside: his Bible and his Gospel. He hadn't packed it on purpose. He stayed on that bridge for an hour, crying. He began to read. He began to pray. He began to thank the One without whom, he says, he wouldn't be here anymore.

A life placed back in God's hands

After that night, Manolo made himself one promise: to become a better person. Because without God, he wouldn't be here. And because that's his way of giving him glory.

Since then, he has been at peace. "I feel like I've been freed from a certain weight." He used to feel bad in his body, bad in his mind, just bad altogether. Today, he's more comfortable with himself, more comfortable talking to others, he who is very shy and would never have dared speak up the way he does now.

One phrase stays with him everywhere: "What would God do in my place?" In moments of doubt, he asks himself that question and listens. "It helps me a lot to keep things in perspective, and above all to stay at peace with myself."

Forgiveness as deliverance

Manolo can now say, proudly, that he no longer carries hatred toward his stepfather, toward that priest, toward those who hurt him. He hasn't forgotten them. He has simply let the Lord take the wheel. "I hate them, but it's not my place to hate them. Just help me move past this. Just help me be free of this weight."

A recent example stands out to him. A former best friend, whom he had housed for a year and a half, had cut him out of his life completely overnight, costing him his whole circle of friends. That friend came back "pretty as you please" to ask how he was doing and pick up his things. Manolo was torn between wanting to shut the door and wanting to stay calm. He asked himself: what would God have done in my place? He prayed for a long time. His fear and hatred turned into motivation: he needed to see him, to talk to him, so that weight could leave. The friend came, got his things, and they talked. Without prayer, Manolo says, he would have just done "the wrong thing."

A dream opening up

Since letting God take the wheel, Manolo says he has never had such a simple life. He just made a dream come true that he'd been fighting for for over ten years: moving to Paris to dance at Disney. After refusal after refusal, he recently auditioned and was accepted on the spot.

"At one point in my life, I wanted to disappear. Today, because of all this, I just want one thing: to live."

What he wants to say to those who doubt

His advice for those who are still learning, who carry doubts, fears, apprehension: "Don't give up on anything." The road can seem long, littered with obstacles, full of detours, but the outcome is worth it. "You come out of it healed, you come out of it better, you come out of it stronger."

He adds a word for those who feel alone. He himself has almost no one around him, apart from one very close friend. He lost his whole family. And he can say today that he found a second one at church. "Come as often as you can on Sundays." He, who during his first Sundays was too anxious to talk to anyone, now shows up motivated, with people to tell about his week.

He closes with a prayer: "Thank you, Father, for saving me, for bringing me back onto the right path. I will do everything I possibly can to give you glory every day of my life. And I hope that in my future adventure in Paris, I can help people who were in my situation. Because clearly, it's worth it."

Key takeaways

• A wound inflicted by someone from the church is not God's word over you. It took Manolo years to separate the two.
• Songs can do what speeches can't. It was a song that made him sit down and listen.
• God can stop someone right at the edge of the worst. A backpack grabbed at random, a Bible inside it, an unexplained step backward.
• The question "what would God do in my place?" isn't a pious phrase; it's a practical tool for making decisions in doubt.
• Forgiving isn't forgetting; it's handing the wheel back to the One who judges rightly.
• Church can become a second family for someone who has lost their own.

Going further

• Is there a betrayal that still keeps you from turning toward God today? Who could you talk to about it?
• When you're doubting or angry, what's your first reaction: to act fast, or to take time to pray like Manolo did before seeing his old friend?
• What hatred are you still carrying? What would happen if you handed it over to God, once and for all?
• If you feel alone, what's the next Sunday you can put on your calendar to go to church and get to know people there?
• And you, what "night on the bridge" has God already carried you through? How can you share it today to help someone else?

Verses that echo this testimony

• Psalm 34:18 · "Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit."
• Romans 8:28 · "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God."
• Matthew 11:28 · "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest."

FAQ

How can you believe in God when someone from the church has hurt you?

That's exactly what Manolo had to go through. The answer doesn't come from an argument, it comes from an encounter. The songs at an Easter evening service did in him what theology never could have. Separating the person who hurt him from the One that person claimed to represent is a long process, and it often happens in the presence of other healthy Christians, in a church where you feel safe.

Does forgiveness erase what happened?

No. Manolo doesn't forget what his stepfather and that priest did to him. He simply chooses to stop carrying the hatred. "I hate them, but it's not my place to hate them." Forgiveness, for him, means handing the weight to God and setting himself free, not saying the wrong never happened.

What should you do when you have dark thoughts like Manolo did?

Don't stay alone. Manolo was alone on that bridge; it was God who held him back, and a Bible that happened to be in his bag that made him sit down. Today, his advice is: come to church, surround yourself with people, let people of faith walk with you. If you're going through what Manolo went through, call a suicide prevention hotline right away and talk to a pastor or a Christian friend as soon as you can.