"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3I love the word discovery. As humans, we are wired to seek it — new places, new ideas, new truths about ourselves and the world around us. God has always been inviting us to discover. The question is whether we are willing to answer that call.
My name is Mati, and this is what discovering myself — with God — has looked like.
You Are More Than Your Limitations
When I was two months old, my parents noticed I could not hold my head up. Doctors in Mexico told them I might never walk, or possibly not survive. Years later, after moving to Miami, I was diagnosed with Spastic Cerebral Palsy — a physical disability affecting my motor skills and muscles.
Growing up, my disability was always visible. I walked differently. I moved slowly. And I spent a long time asking God the same question: Out of 7 billion people on this earth, why me?
But here is what I eventually came to understand: God did not give me this disability to punish me. He gifted me in spite of it — and through it. Out of the entire spectrum of Cerebral Palsy, my case is considered mild. I believe that was God's hand.
Stop defining yourself by what you lack. The world will try to label you by your limitations. God sees something else entirely. Discovering yourself starts with asking not "What is wrong with me?" but "What has God placed in me?"
Your Hardest Chapters Are Shaping You
When I was five, my family moved from Mexico to Miami. I started school not speaking English, walking differently from every other kid. I got ignored. I got bullied.
In high school, things got harder. I struggled academically. I watched classmates head to their dream schools while I barely got accepted anywhere. I had panic attacks for five months straight before graduation. I felt different, behind, and invisible.
There were years where I looked in the mirror and genuinely did not want to be here anymore. The loneliness, the anxiety, the self-hatred — it was real and it was heavy.
But those chapters were not the end of my story. They were the middle of it.
Don't run from the hard seasons — learn from them. The pain you are in right now is not wasted. God is writing something in you through it. The darkest chapters of your life often become the most powerful parts of your testimony.
Community Can Change Everything
Someone I love told me about a retreat called Effeta. I had said no for a long time. This time, I said yes.
Effeta changed everything. It changed how I see my faith. It showed me that God is not somewhere far away — He is at the center of our lives. It gave me a family I did not know I needed.
Three people in particular shaped who I am today. One became the older sister I never had, always making me feel at home. Another showed me from day one what it looks like to have someone truly in your corner. And the third became my best friend, sparking a light in me I did not think I had left, and showing me what it means to be loved unconditionally.
None of these relationships were accidents. They were answers to prayers I did not even know how to pray yet.
Say yes to community. You were not designed to walk through life alone. A retreat, a small group, a church — these are not just social events. They are places where God does some of His most important work in us.
3 Things I Want You to Know
You are never alone.
There were many moments in my life where I felt like no one cared. But there are always people who do. And more than any of them — God does. Going through this life with a community beside you changes everything.
Living with God is better.
I have lived both ways — with Him and without Him. Without Him, there was always an emptiness I could not name. With Him, even in the hard seasons, there is a clarity and a hope that does not make sense but is absolutely real.
Forgive yourself.
God already has. If the God of the universe can forgive every mistake you have made, why are you still holding it against yourself? You are allowed to mess up. You are allowed to be human. Just do not forget to extend to yourself the same grace you would give anyone else.
Discovering yourself is not a one-time moment. It is a lifelong journey — through the hard years, the unexpected friendships, the retreats you almost skipped, and the quiet moments when God finally gets through.
I am still on that journey. But I am no longer walking it alone.
And neither are you.
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."