Experiencing Liberty After 24 Years Of Prayer
November 17, 2025
The Meeting
I met Ida Villavicencio at an Ankit Rambabu revival in San Antonio in October. She was one of those people you immediately recognize as genuinely good. A school counselor for at-risk youth, a prayer warrior, a woman who had seen things in the spirit realm since childhood. We connected quickly, the way believers do when they recognize the same fire in each other.
She told me about her son Carlos. Twenty-four years old. Diagnosed with Asperger's, OCD, agoraphobia. But that wasn't the real story. The real story was that Carlos had been seeing demons, shadow figures, spiritual entities since before he could remember. Night terrors from infancy. A gift that felt like a curse. A photographic memory trapped in a body that couldn't leave the house. Suicidal thoughts that had plagued him his entire life, held at bay only by his fear of hell.
"Jesus was the only reason I didn't kill myself," Carlos would later tell me. "If this current earthly realm is so painful, I could only imagine how terrible it would be if I had to spend an eternity in excruciating pain and separation from God."
Twenty-four years. That's how long Ida had been praying. How long she'd been interceding for her son, believing for his breakthrough, watching him suffer while trusting that God had a purpose for his extraordinary, sometimes terrifying gift of having what is called "spiritual eyes".
The Invitation
Toward the end of the revival, I said something that surprised even me: "If your son doesn't get healed during this revival week, come with me to my church. My pastor, Apostle Delmar Coward Jr., has a multi-decade track record of healing through the power of Jesus. Disappearing cancers, the blind seeing, even raising people from the dead."
I didn't know if she would bite. It was Liberty, Texas, after all. Hours from San Antonio. A church in the middle of nowhere that most people had never heard of (and at the time, wasn't even on Google Maps). But something in my spirit knew. I just knew Apostle Delmar would be able to help. I had faith that God would evolve this situation.
Ida didn't hesitate. She saw it as a divine appointment. "I felt in my spirit that you were the key," she told me later.
The Warfare
The week before November 16th was intense. Spiritual warfare at every turn, trying to prevent what God had ordained.
Carlos developed severe stomach problems. They had to take him to the ER, where he spent seven hours getting tests. Everything came back normal. The doctors diagnosed it as "gastroparesis."
Carlos shared with me: "If I hadn't gotten sick, I wouldn't be here."
As Ida added, Carlos getting sick actually deepened his conviction to come to the church. A decision he was wavering on. He realized it was an opportunity to continue to pray. And healing.
Jesus, Ida's husband, also had issues that week. Then Ida herself. But they prayed. They prayed together. They prayed separately. They prayed every single day throughout that week to make it to Liberty.
The morning of November 16th, Carlos almost stayed home because he was in such pain. His stomach was still in turmoil. But Ida prayed over him one more time and said: "Son, God does not want you to live in this OCD where you can't leave the house because you have to spend 50 times washing your hands. Or you're afraid of germs. Or you're afraid of sickness."
He got in the car.
The Journey
I met them at the Houston airport Saturday afternoon. Jesus was cheerful, a 5'8" Hispanic electrician with kind eyes. Carlos was 6'3", handsome, put together in a way that belied his diagnosis and decades of spiritual oppression. As we drove to Liberty, they told me their story.
Jesus grew up in Cuba under the religion of Santeria. His family practiced voodoo, made deals with devils. He saw a 10-year-old woman possessed, watched her pick up two people at once with supernatural strength. He was given a fully automatic machine gun at age 10, told to shoot to kill whoever came through the gate. His childhood was guns, drugs, cartels, and demons.
Ida grew up Protestant, a rarity for a Hispanic family. Her family line included ministers and prayer healers. She was born with severely deformed legs, wore a steel bar brace for two years. She had a rare lupus-like disease from birth until age 11 that should have killed her. She was miraculously healed through prayer.
And Carlos, their son, was born at the intersection of all this spiritual warfare. Born with "spiritual eyes." Seeing things others couldn't see. Tormented by shadow figures and demonic entities his entire life. Unable to feel emotions for most of his childhood, just mimicking others. Then at 17 or 18, emotions suddenly flooded in, leading to two years of mental breakdowns and overwhelming regret for his past "shell" self.
"That profound crisis is what led me to a genuine, desperate faith in Jesus as my only answer," Carlos explained.
Over dinner Saturday night, after Carlos had retreated to the hotel room with his stomach still in pain, Jesus and Ida shared their hearts. "We've always said, when you have a child, you live for your child," Jesus told me. "Our life is not our own. We do things for our kids from day one that they were born until now."
Ida's voice was soft but fierce: "All that mattered when I was pregnant with him and then when he was born is that we leave him the understanding of Christ. Because if we die, that's what he'll need. That's the most we could possibly give, any parent could possibly give their kid."
The Service
Sunday morning, November 16th. We arrived early at Encounter Church. The worship had already started. People welcomed us warmly. Some recognized me, greeted the Villavicencios with genuine kindness. We sat in the back rows, soaking in the praise music.
Apostle Delmar took the stage after about half an hour and immediately recognized his guests. He preached a powerful sermon about the healing virtue of Jesus. About how miracles and the ability for Christians to step into their power to deliver people from demons and heal the sick is a defining difference between Christianity and other religions.
"I loved it," I thought. "I'm glad the Villavicencios got to hear it."
Then came the altar call. "Who wants a miracle?"
People started lining up. The Villavicencios were toward the back, but they were witnessing. They watched multiple people get healed. One lady with years of knee pain walked away like she had a brand new knee after Apostle laid hands on her.
Then it was their turn.
The Deliverance
Apostle Delmar greeted them. Ida explained the situation. Her voice was steady, but I could hear 24 years in it: "My son, his whole 24 years with autism. Suicide his whole life. He sees demons, devils. Had to homeschool him at 15."
Apostle looked at Carlos directly. "So what do you see right now?"
"Nothing in here," Carlos replied.
Ida added, "He sees them everywhere he goes. And he can't leave the house ever."
Apostle then said, "We're going to get rid of all that's oppressing you for good."
What happened next, I recorded. But no recording can fully capture the power that filled that room.
Apostle asked permission from both parents to minister to Carlos. Everything done decently and in order. Then he spoke directly to Carlos's spirit: "Spirit of Carlos. Front center. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I bind the spirit of autism. You won't be bothering you any longer. I loose you, spirit of autism, I bind you. Come outta him in the name of Jesus Christ."
Carlos's eyes kept instinctively closing, but Apostle kept commanding his spirit to open them. "Look at me," he said. Again and again.
"I felt something negative leaving me," Carlos told me later. "My body literally felt lighter. Like air. I walked in there feeling heavy, my stomach hurting, just this sense of heaviness. Midway through while he was doing his thing, I felt a lot lighter."
But the most powerful moment was what happened to Ida.
As Apostle ministered to her son, as 24 years of prayers were being answered before her eyes, something broke loose in her spirit. She began crying out, uncontrollably. The Holy Spirit power was so strong it overtook her. She was releasing a burden she'd carried since Carlos was born.
Later, in the car, I asked her what she felt in that moment.
"It wasn't really in my brain what was going on. It was in my spirit," she said. "I was feeling like a release. It's been a long time holding this in."
Twenty-four years.
After Carlos, Apostle ministered to Ida for her arthritis and chronic pain. Then to Jesus for his back pain from a car accident 30 years ago, bone on bone, no cartilage. Jesus had refused surgery because everyone he knew who got the surgery came back worse.
One by one, the Villavicencio family received their miracles.
The Reframing
In the car ride home, Carlos was processing. "The pastor said I have a gift," he reflected. "I literally thought it was just torment."
This was the reframing. What the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good. Carlos's ability to see into the spiritual realm wasn't a curse; it was a gift. Now that the tormenting spirits were bound, now that the spirit of autism and suicide had been cast out, Carlos could begin to understand his true purpose.
"Everyone's calling it a gift," Carlos said, still absorbing this new reality. "Before today, I figured that if I'm going to have to live with this my entire life, I simply have to accept it."
But now it wasn't just acceptance. It was activation.
Ida was overwhelmed with gratitude. "I've been interceding for so long since Carlos's birth. I've been praying and believing and trusting in the process. Ultimately, I knew that Carlos had to make a choice to believe that God loves him and wants more than what he's experienced."
Jesus, usually stoic and old-school about pain ("You take the pain and you shut up"), couldn't stop smiling. His back felt great.
The Aftermath
The drive back from Liberty was filled with testimonies and processing. We stopped at Buc-ee's. Carlos got a sandwich. Ida got coffee. I got an unsweet tea. We sat in the car talking for hours.
Carlos shared about his sleep paralysis experiences. About seeing "a black warbling shape" that formed into "an imp-like creature" that climbed onto his bed. About how his first instinct was to "spam Jesus's name" until it vanished.
"Spam," I laughed. "I love that. That's going to be my new term."
Ida shared about the vision she'd had while interceding for Carlos at the Ankit Rambabu revival. She kept seeing an old man, wrinkled and dark, in tattered clothes, with long fingers. He would look back at her, angry that she was praying, but he was leaving. He had no choice. He was leaving.
"That's what was coming out," she said about her experience during the deliverance. "That heaviness."
Jesus reflected on his journey from growing up thinking all the violence and darkness and drug dealing was normal, to meeting Ida, to gradually understanding there was a better way. "I thought everybody was raised that way," he said. "Until I met Ida. She's like, 'No, it's not normal.'"
We then talked about Ida starting a Substack to write about supernatural experiences. About possibly helping other families walking similar journeys. About what it means when God answers 24 years of prayer in a single service.
"I don't know other than, you know, I just felt when I met you that I wanted Carlos to come meet you," Ida told me. "And I protect him. I'm protective of him. I'm not going to just bring anybody to his space. But I sent him your link and he watched it and everything."
Carlos nodded. "You're like a universe. Millions of universes in the little bit that I met you compared to all the people."
Reflections
The morning after the service, I received a text from Ida. Her words captured the magnitude of what happened better than I ever could:
"Tell Your Teacher… Pastor in Liberty ..That Heaven met us at Encounter church .. and infiltrated every single area that was lied to by the enemy .. every area in mind body and soul was exposed and sanctified in places we knew not even existed .. Our experiences was designed and orchestrated and divinely appointed for God's Glory and his will and to ADVANCE his Kingdom come…,We are set free .. SPOKEN for.. and REDEEMED by the blood of the Lamb… Something shifted on Earth as it is in HEAVEN.. and his GLORY is and forever will be revealed in My life.. Carlos life and Jesus Life … and your life.. we are part of the Kingdom Tribe .. and the years of trusting and faith and enduring and honoring the Lord through every pit and grave and fire and black hole has been REVEALED so our Soul knows And can DISCERN and SEE .. what we are called out of the darkest seasons to do,.. Heal , Deliver, Restore, Pray, Live, move , breathe, praise, , worship and share our anointing .. and freedom stories with the world 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟"
Heaven met them at Encounter Church. Something shifted on Earth as it is in Heaven.
As I write this, less than 48 hours after the service, I'm still processing what I witnessed. The power of persistent prayer. The reality of spiritual warfare. The authority believers have in Christ's name. The way God orchestrates divine appointments.
I met Ida at a random revival in San Antonio. I barely knew Apostle Delmar at that point; I'd only been visiting Encounter Church for a couple months myself. Yet something in my spirit knew to make that invitation. Knew that this family needed to get to Liberty.
And they came. Despite the warfare. Despite the sickness. Despite Carlos's agoraphobia and fear and 24 years of torment. They got in the car and drove to a church in the middle of nowhere because they believed God had something for them there.
They were right.
The most profound thing Ida said came later, when we were discussing why so many people struggle to believe: "When you try to share Christ with people, it becomes like an all-out war."
That's the tension we live in. The world is so anti-Christ that believing feels like the crazy choice. Simply sharing the truth about Jesus can trigger intense resistance. But then you witness something like what happened to the Villavicencio family, and you remember: this is the sane choice. The Christian world is the real world. The spiritual realm is more real than the physical one.
Carlos, who has seen shadow figures and demons his entire life, finally has a framework for understanding his gift. His father Jesus, who grew up surrounded by Santeria and darkness, experienced the healing power of Christ himself. Ida, who has been a prayer warrior her entire life, got to see her 24 years of intercession answered in a moment.
The Bigger Picture
This is what I'm documenting. Not just individual testimonies, but the pattern. The way God is moving in this moment in history. The way He's raising up witnesses and ministers and people with spiritual eyes to testify to His reality.
The medical system told Carlos he had autism, OCD, agoraphobia. Multiple diagnoses. Multiple labels. Multiple prescriptions recommended. But the real issue wasn't psychological; it was spiritual. And the real solution wasn't therapy or medication; it was deliverance.
"There's nothing in mental health that I have come across in all my time that considers the spirit," Ida said. She has a background in psychology and counseling. She knows the system. "That's why I said to Carlos, you're not sick. This is spiritual."
I think about how many people are trapped in the mental health system, being treated for symptoms when the root is spiritual. How many people are on medications that can only manage, never heal. How many families are suffering like the Villavicencios suffered, not knowing there's a better way.
This is why I'm writing these stories. Why I'm documenting these miracles. Not to convince skeptics (though I hope some will be convinced), but to give hope to believers who are in their own season of long suffering. To say: keep praying. Keep believing. Keep pressing in.
God answers. Sometimes it takes 24 years. Through a meeting with a 30-something year old Chinese American. Who brings you to an unconventional pastor in a small town outside of Houston.
But He answers.
The Invitation Extended
Before we parted ways, Ida mentioned another family. Another Carlos. A boy who was in a car accident, airlifted to the hospital, given days to live. His head was split open. The doctors said if he survived, he'd have brain damage, wouldn't be able to walk or talk.
But his mother, Sylvia, said no. "He's not going to die. He's going to live. God says he's going to live and he's not going to have brain damage."
Carlos survived. He walks. He talks. He has no brain damage.
But he's blind. Something in the back of his eyeballs got severed in the accident. He's been blind for five months now.
So Ida told them about Liberty. About Apostle Delmar. About what she witnessed on November 16th.
They're coming. By the end of the year, Ida said. They're bringing their blind son to Liberty.
And I believe he'll see. Because I've learned something in this journey: when God puts people together, when He creates these divine appointments, when families have the faith to make the journey despite the warfare, miracles happen.
That's what I witnessed yesterday. That's what I'm learning to expect.
This is the Kingdom breaking through. This is what it looks like when 24 years of prayer meets a few hours in Liberty, Texas, with a pastor who knows his authority in Christ.
This is what it looks like when broken families get put back together. When gifts get reframed from curse to calling. When the enemy's plans get overturned in a single service.
This is what it looks like when God shows up.
And He's just getting started.
"Cast out demons and heal the sick. Freely you have received; freely give." - Matthew 10:8