The Arrow of a Second Chance

By Maritza Oliveras

Maritza is a single mother of one beautiful girl. She struggled most of her life with mental health issues caused by physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Throughout her journey, she faced betrayals, abandonments, bullying, homelessness, grief through failed relationships, loss of jobs and family members. She was led by all her emotional pain, causing her to lose her identity. As she came into her darkest valley, she discovered an arrow that led her to repentance and surrendered her heart to Jesus. Facing her truth was painful, but long overdue.
It was a liberating experience, for the truth has set her free and now walking in a healing journey, shining her light of hope to the world. What once was dressed in darkness now is light. What once was dressed in pain and loss of hope, it’s now her strength of redemption. For all those who come from the same place of darkness, she hopes to be the compass that leads them to God so they can find the salvation, love, grace, mercy, liberation, healing, and redemption they have longed to find.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886859300

Book preview

Sexually, Mentally, and Physically Abused Women of My Generation

Natividad Canales—my grandmother (paternal side); physically, emotionally, and verbally abused (RIP, February 7, 2017)

Esther Mercado—my grandmother (maternal side); physically, verbally abused (RIP. September 7, 1924–April 28, 1996)

Lourdes Oliveras—my mother; sexually, mentally, verbally, and emotionally abused (RIP. October 15, 1946–April 20, 2015)

Sonia Virgen Albino—my aunt; physically, emotionally, and mentally abused

Most of the women in my family were abused. I watched them struggle, but I also saw a strength in them to press on. I watched them suffer and saw how they coped with their own pain. At times, they were a hot mess; other times, well, too much out of control. Overall, they were all great women who didn’t deserve to be abused. We make wrong choices from time to time. We are led by outer influences where we place our trust to be let down and betrayed.

Yet I still see where God has sprinkled his miracle and given his grace. Back then, I may not have taken great notice, but spiritual matureness has opened my eyes. The enemy may have had me holding on to resentment, but God helped me let go. His grace is enough. His love heals. His Word has freedom.

Today, many women are abused in some type of way. We may have set ourselves for it through a bad decision and choice, but it doesn’t mean it gives wings to those to abuse us. Wrong is still wrong! Many of us who have been victimized through an abuse go on living without justice being served. Let me tell you this disempowers us. It’s a bullet to the heart that prolongs agony and perhaps deepens the wounds.

Let us be grateful that there’s a God who is just, and he brings justice to those who haven’t received it. Nothing goes unnoticed, for God sees all that happens under the sun. Society, man, and the world may try to overpower us to cover the truth and silence us, but God will come through for us eventually. What happens in the dark soon comes to the light.

Stay strong, beautiful woman. Your value has not decreased. You are worthy to be healed and saved. You have a fire and a light in you that the enemy doesn’t want you to see. But I tell you, rise up. Rise up in Jesus’s name! Rise up and do not be silent. God is not creating meltdown Christians or soldiers. We need to rise up and stand with justice and stand in truth. Do not be weary and do not fear. God is always with you, making a way possible for you. If nothing is in your favor, keep showing up, and keep praying like the widow in Luke 18. Let’s rise together and stand for justice.

To All Those Who Were Victims of Bullying

I remember the dread I felt as a kid getting ready to leave for school each morning. The harassment wasn’t limited to name-calling. The bullies at school would always be thinking up ingenious new ways to torment the quiet, sensitive, vulnerable kid I used to be. Like many parents of my generation, my parents thought the solution was to tell me to learn to stick up for myself. That advice never helped, for I was always surviving each day using my fist. Every day was a battle. Every day, I just wanted peace—a peace that I never seemed to grasp, for I spent way too many days battling physically with peers and mentally with myself. What ultimately brought an end to the bullying was a nervous breakdown and a transfer to a private school and, many years later, my closeness with God.

Looking back now, I’ve found an upside to all that bullying: it made me tougher and at the same time more empathetic to the suffering of others. But even after all this time, it still hurts, but its effect becomes lesser and lesser the more I stay focused on God. Just a little note to remember: Your imperfections are perfect for the person that God has for you. Just the way you are is just enough for the heart that is meant to love you. You’re beautiful, and never let people who are blind to beauty make you think any different. Keep smiling and keep being you because somewhere, someone will fall in love with your smile and accept you for exactly who you are. There is a light inside you that is calling to come out and is the light the world needs.

Although people like myself can sometimes find a positive outcome to the bullying we endured as children, there is now mounting evidence that many are left with scars in terms of poorer mental and physical health—that can last a lifetime. Not many are as lucky or as strong as I was to survive bullying. Bullying is one of the many leading factors to suicide. That’s why I wrote this book—to encourage parents to keep a great communication with their children. The more you are involved with your children, the more encouragement you can provide to help them survive, cope, and make rational decisions in their everyday lives. Our children are our future, and without proper guidance, the future is doomed. Set the arrow for them that directs them to the path of triumph, peace, and love. Communication is the key.

Some will push you away and ask you to leave them alone. Do not be discouraged but show them love. Let them see you are still there for them whenever they are ready. Still hug them, still let them know you love them, still advise by sneaking information via text or leave it on their bed. Still stay praying without ceasing. God will take care of the rest.

Introduction

Growing up, I felt quite alone, and the direction of my life lacked a good support system and guidance. Sure, it took many years to finally open up my eyes and realize I wasn’t alone and that all I needed was Jesus. I just needed to find the truth that the darkness robs us blind of. I was blessed to find it just in time before it was too late.

Needless to say, it demonstrates that it is never too late to finally find the light at the end of the tunnel that arrow to your freedom. You just have to take a stand for yourself and seek the answers, even when standing in darkness. You need to stop depending on others to bring happiness to you and resolve all your troubles (when it’s obvious no one can bring it, for we are all in need of guidance and direction) and start believing in yourself. There is no greater strength than the one God provides. There is no happiness that is brought by the things of this world.

True fulfilled happiness comes from God by following the footprints Jesus has laid out for us, an intertwined union where the arrowhead becomes two heads that points toward each of you to become one. No matter which way you look at it, from which point you are standing, the arrow always points and connects to one another.

My mentors may not have been physically close, but they were there in spirit. That’s how God works. He utilizes any form to bless you, communicate with you, touch you, lift you, heal you, and mold you, even when you choose wrongly. God didn’t send me just one person or things to guide me. He used numerous ways to reach out to me. That’s how amazing God is! He placed his arrows everywhere to lead me back to him.

It’s unfortunate how a lot of people become too oblivious to see truth and accept it because the dark forces are so powerful it disables the capacity to see. That’s what the enemy wants! We allow the enemy to influence us, and once he has us, we allow his influence to become a power source where we connect with him, and his currency transmits within us; therefore, we operate under the influence of the enemy.

I give thanks to the Lord for his unconditional love, his Word, and truth, his continuing guidance, for dying for me, forgiving me for my sins, and paying my debt at the cross. I’m grateful that the Lord gave me enough time to find my arrow of truth and find healing, guidance, and liberation through his Word. His power source transmitted into me has brought a complete restoration. A fresh start of life.

I couldn’t possibly thank God enough when he and he alone was the only arrow I needed to direct my steps for me to be able to take a stand in my truth and his truth. Life is not all about our troubles and being so serious. Life is not about all the negativity that occurs in our daily life. There is more to it than that. We have to learn how to laugh in between our mishaps and troubles to enjoy the one-time life opportunity.

Life wouldn’t be life without the ups and downs. Ups can’t happen without the downfalls. Strength and wisdom don’t come from the ups. You have to be in the bottom of the mountain down in the valley of the shadow of death where no sun shines to be brought up to the light. You, my friend, have to grab your shovel and dig in deep because the arrow of a second chance is there, waiting.

I stand for truth. That is the key element to a healing heart to find truth and purpose in your lives. How can I be happy when I am going through troubles, you ask? Just like Jesus told his disciples when he wanted them to follow him, he said, "Come and see!"

Special thanks to the therapist I had in the past, who helped me find my own way through her therapy sessions. I never thought anyone could see the real me in this world besides God. I tried therapy with other therapists, but none really had the essence like she did. The one I have now also sees me for who I really am. God surely aligns the right people toward you.

Once I saw she understood everything I had experienced, and she respected the person I really am without judgment, she changed my perspective toward life, the world, and myself. Was that enough to send me off and face life? Absolutely not! It was a good start, though. Many years later, I ended up right back at the therapist’s office. Why? Because the key source, the key component, was buried within me that hadn’t been dug up. I needed a shovel! So I went to Home Depot and bought me one—just kidding! I began to dig deep as far as I needed to until I found the arrow of truth.

The many years of overcoming agoraphobia, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, anxiety and bullying, suicidal thoughts, mental, physical, emotional and sexual abuse (Wow! What a mouthful) has finally become a closed chapter. That arrow no longer points toward my direction. Do you think God is the only one who sets his arrows before us? Of course not! The enemy who prowls, seeking for someone to devour, also sets his arrows as a way to entrap us, an influential road map toward him and away from God. It is like a bone to a dog to entertain him and keep him occupied for a while and refrain him from moving. That’s what the enemy does to us. He throws his arrows of influence upon us to entertain and keep us at a standstill and distracted. Once distracted, he then has the power to steal, kill, and destroy. He is a sneaky father of the devil himself.

Although from time to time my past still affects me emotionally, the difference is I don’t suffer from it any more. What do I mean? When I start to tell my story, it stirs up the effect of the cause, but it doesn’t mean I am still in bondage to the pain. I don’t get emotional because of the effect of the wound.

I get emotional because of the effect God had and still has on me during the restoration of my despair. I get emotional because of all the goodness God has done in me and in my life.

I took control of my life to strengthen my spirituality and healed every wound inflicted throughout my journey. Most of all, I learned to stop continuously being a victim and stepped into survivor mode. I no longer have a victim mentality. Every prayer, every time I got on my knees, it brings power to my deliverance, and I use the sword which is the Word of God to fight the dark forces. I’ve learned to dig deep to find that arrow that will help me fly with wings of an eagle. A believer on their knees praying is a force the enemy can’t come against. Prayer is open to anyone, any gender. God listens to all.

Once again, thank you, Lord, for being a patient God, a loving God, a forgiving, merciful and graceful, sovereign God. I’m overjoyed to have dug up within me the source of what was missing in my life to set me free from the imprisonment I had placed myself under—the influences of the enemy. I am now free from the chains that imprisoned me mentally and enslaved me as a whole. The devil may point arrows at me to destroy me, but God—oh yes, but God redirects them back so it doesn’t prosper. What the enemy meant for evil God used for good. The same very thing that the enemy broke, God picked up all the broken pieces and made new. I am his masterpiece.

The same way the enemy came in and used a woman from the beginning of time to tempt and cause her to sin under his influence, God also used a woman to come in this world to bring a Savior so that we may be restored and made new. God is always working. He never slumbers! My arrow is now aligned in the direction of God’s plan for me from the beginning; the double-headed arrow is now in progress and fully plugged to my power source—God! That’s the arrow you need to dig and find, the only one you need.

In this book, you will learn my journey and how I overcame everything, and hopefully, it will give you clarity about your current situation. You will learn the power you have to really take control of your life. It doesn’t matter how broken or how damaged you think you are. It doesn’t matter how young or how old. It doesn’t matter how bad or ugly your situation is. God restores all! He is your strength and comfort and healer. His grace is enough for all who want to accept his arrow of truth and rise with him.

The Beginning Arrow

But first…a prayer

My heavenly Father, thank you! My gratitude could never reach the level of capacity to all that you are and all you deserve. My sweet surrender to you is my offering. I found many arrows in the past times that inflicted me and left me wounded. I had searched in every direction of this world and never found you. Please forgive me for trying to direct my own steps and allowing influences to direct them that weren’t aligned to your will for me. Your arrow of truth pierced me, and feeling your wrath was harder to bear than any outward afflictions. Thank you for being the Great I Am! You have been everything to me and even more than I could have ever imagine.

May this prayer, Lord, by the power of your Word and by your Spirit, God, that is within me be the guide through my prophetic testimony. And by inviting the Holy Spirit to come upon all those who read this book, for all those who slumber, may they be finally awakened by you. Thank you again, Lord! May your glory shine upon the words of this book and your light shine upon all those who read them. In your power and glorious name I pray. Amen!

Yes, Jesus!

*****

Hello, everyone. I am so overjoyed you came across this book. We have been placed in this life, thinking we are out here, doing things alone. Well, my friends, let me tell you are never alone. God didn’t create and place us here without instructions nor to live life doing it alone. God’s very first set of instruction in Genesis before he created man was, Let there be light, and there was light. The very first set of instructions given to man after God created man was, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Gen. 2:16).

This instruction was made for us to obey and be guided through God’s will to direct our steps. The very first set of instructions to not eat of the tree of the garden was teaching humans to have self-control. This instruction is what started sin by way of disobedience. We have come to live life out of control in the desire of the flesh. This is the evil part. To our advantage, there’s always two sides of every coin. We get to know the good side as well if we submit to it, if we only flip the coin to look on the other side.

Unfortunately, the evil forces prevent us to flip that coin. They throw arrows to divert us away from the goodness of God.

This is the start of the devil’s influential arrow to make us stumble in our steps, and he pulled man away from the will of God. Satan separated man from God through a demonic spirit called rebellion, which is disobedience, to steal the authority power God gave man. Jesus explains the essence of the devil. Jesus informed us that the serpent, the devil, came here to steal, kill, and destroy. From the very beginning, he began to steal and worked his way to kill and destroy. This is what we are fighting against. Whether you believe it or not, just like there are angels, there are demons among us. This is real, people.

This is the very reason you are standing today, wondering and asking yourself:

My friends, I am here to tell you that God and Satan are as real as you and I. In Genesis 3:14–15, God addresses the snake at first in verse 14, but then he addresses Satan in verse 15. So you see, Satan is real. Not only do I know this because it is biblical but also because God opened my eyes and allowed me to see the demons and experience hell. But I will tell in detail about this later on. Just know we are in spiritual warfare and that life is not a game.

Hopefully my testimony can clarify and answer some of your questions and doubts, the very same questions and doubts I had at the start of my life. My life didn’t start all peaches and cream, but reality is life isn’t all peaches and cream. Life is not a game either. We are fighting against evil forces. My fight began quite early. Before I can commence telling you my story, I want to point out a few scriptures of what spoke to me to really put this book together to sum up what takes root in our lives and the influential arrows that appoint us to make certain decisions and head toward a certain path in life.

I want to symbolize our life as a tree. I broke down this tree into five parts: the seed, the root, the bark, the branches, the leaves.

Let’s begin with the seed and the root. So let’s go from the beginning of creation.

In Genesis 1:2, The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now let’s read few more verses.

In Genesis 1:3–4, God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw it was good.

From these three verses, I already know God is light, God’s Word has power and he is powerful, God is our Creator, and his light draws out the darkness.

Let’s jump to verse 11, And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so.

So now I know God is light, God’s Word has power and he is powerful, God is our Creator, and his light draws out the darkness, but also that God brings and produces good seeds of various kinds as it exactly states in verse 12: According to its kind. Meaning different seeds bring forth its own vegetation according to what they are as a seed, basically saying you reap what you sow.

You are probably wondering where I am going with this, but hold on to your seed because this will take root that summarizes the entire book and your life.

Now let’s look at a few more verses. In the beginning, God gave specific instructions. In Genesis 2:16, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Woo! I am going to die? I am not eating from that tree then. Period! I don’t care if it wasn’t a physical death but a spiritual one. The word die is enough for me to obey. I’m sure nobody wants to die. Well, Eve, who was enticed by the sneaky clever snake, caused us to die spiritually. This crafty little snake had to come in and ruin it all for all of us. Curse you, devil, for twisting God’s Word and making man fall into this stupid curse and have us go into war with you. Thanks a lot! Keep burning in hell for all eternity.

When I look at verses 16–18, I see that God gave his specific instructions to Adam only in which later Adam told Eve after God created her. She did know because she told the serpent exactly what God said. So she knew what the instructions were. So I want to take you into two other verses that describe the essence of this woman. Genesis 2:18 and then verse 24.

Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. Verse 24 says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Women, by nature, are helpers. When married, you become one flesh with your partner. Now this doesn’t mean that you are stuck like glue attached at the hip or, in this case, at the rib. This means you are in unison to one another, a team player. Unison and team player means you communicate with each other. Just like player in a sport. This is why we say you were a good sport.

Now let’s break this whole thing down. We already know God is light, God’s Word has power and he is powerful, God is our Creator, and his light draws out the darkness, and he brings and produces good seeds. He gives instructions because he knows what’s good and better for us. We know women were created to be helpers and becomes one with her husband. We also now know that the serpent is the devil who twisted God’s Word. He is the deceiver and possesses.

What puzzles me a bit is this: Did animals speak back then? I mean, if they didn’t, why didn’t anyone send this crazy animal talking chick to see a psychiatrist or better yet and lock her up in a mental institution, for that matter? Didn’t that alarm her? I know I would be running faster than Speedy Gonzalez back to my husband and ask him to get me some Depends. That would have scared the living poop out of me to last me a lifetime.

Secondly, she wasn’t a good sport for not communicating with Adam first before she made a decision. I’m sure if she did, Adam would have presented it to God, and God would have crushed that serpent’s head like a bug.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Another thing I would have known is even after eating the tree of knowledge and causing the Fall, I would have taken a bite of the tree of life, and boom! We never die! We would live immortal lives for all eternity, knowing good and evil. That would have saved us all from all this spiritual warfare. Again, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

And this leads me to this: timing, to me, seems crucially important because if you are not in God’s presence long (in the Word of God), you can be deceived very easily. Even if you are in the Word of God daily, you can still fall because none of us is perfect. We are still in this fleshly sinful body, but spiritually, we are made righteous. The chances of falling are less of a percentage than not being in the Word. So spending time with God is crucial to me because it disciplines us. Those sets of instructions he gave Adam and Eve were the start to teach them to be disciplined in having self-control. God’s Word is our weapon to be able to discern. Spending time with God is our training bootcamp, so when the time comes, when we are faced with a trial or trials, we are able to face them like good trained strong soldiers ready for battle.

From the time Eve was created to the time the devil deceived her, how much time was she in God’s presence? To me, not long, for she wasn’t a good sport by not communicating to Adam and definitely wasn’t any help for him, for she gave him from the same poison she was poisoned with. Doesn’t that look like some people today? They are sour pusses and they go around, pissing on everyone’s cereal or Kool-Aid. They are no help to us. What seeds are rooting out of you? Good seeds God produces and provides that bring life? Or the bad seeds of the devil who deceives, possesses because he possessed a snake and twists God’s Word and brings destruction? How are you presenting help to another? Is your help a beneficial seed or a bad unproductive seed? Who is preparing you for this spiritual battle?

We already know who we are fighting against. Do you really think you can fight using your own power (strength) and win the war by using your own will power? I’ll sit back and wait for that answer. It’s impossible for any of us to be able to win this spiritual warfare without the help of Jesus. If we were able to win it by our own strength, then Jesus dying at the cross was in vain. His sacrifice was useless.

So what are your roots reaping? Everything that is in your roots feeds the rest of what produces out into the world which is the visible things.

The bark

The bark is the visible thing you see from the seed that took root and sprouted. After you have sown your seed and decided to receive good seed or bad seed or a mixture of good and bad seeds, how are you reaping? When I look at the word bark, I think of the word embark. Embark is to go on board, step aboard, take off, hop on, jump on. So what seed have you reaped and embarked with in your child development? What seed have you collected through and passed down to generations from past generations? What have they reaped into in you and in your life?

Iron sharpens iron. Who you hang with affects who you also become. Who is sharpening your edges? Who is enhancing your good seeds? Who is bringing good seeds to you? And who are you appointing to be your advocate? God says you will know someone by their fruits. What fruits are you offering and presenting? This determines the way you branch out to the world.

The branch

I like to think of branches on a tree like a bank where we keep our money. Whatever connects to you feeds off you, so it’s important that what we sow and reap is helpful for you and others. You have many open accounts, but some need closing because it produces no good value, just like you see those branches hanging on to another tree for dear life and it doesn’t fall. These branches, I call them interest. They are either your interest you are gaining or interest you are paying out and losing.

You have people in your life that you’re trying to let go of, but they just keep hanging on to harass you, threaten you, and even stalk you, sucking out all the good out of you until you become the same monster they are. They are only investing in hurting you and taking away your happiness. Misery loves company, and interest, well, it leaves you broke. This interest is an expensive payout that will cause deep pocket wounds. They possess your life because they take control of you, affecting your life as well. This will dull your ax. You will be forced to use more strength, more energy just fighting with them, robbing away your peace.

Don’t allow them to dull ax edges (your essence). Close that account and let the wind blow them away