Still Resurrecting

The Ramos family's story begins with a childhood marked by instability and trauma. Jason and Jon, twin brothers, and Missy, grew up in Waco with their mother after their parents divorced. Shortly after, their mom remarried an abusive man, and this new relationship introduced violence, drug use, and set a destructive pattern that would affect their entire family for decades. The kids witnessed domestic violence regularly, with weekend beatings becoming normalized. They experienced the terror of police interventions and even helped hide drugs to protect their family from arrests. This environment of fear and substance abuse laid the groundwork for their own struggles with addiction later in life.

As Jason, Jon, and Missy grew into adulthood, they each followed similar paths into addiction. At just 12 years old, Jon started smoking, drinking, and tried cocaine. As a young man, he found himself in prison several times and his life controlled by addiction. Missy was in an abusive relationship centered around methamphetamine use. Jason grew up his entire teenage and young adult life in crime and addiction. Not bad people, just bound by brokenness. Their lives became characterized by incarceration, abusive relationships, and a seemingly unbreakable cycle of substance abuse that continued for many years. For their mother, this pattern tragically extended to the next generation, her children: "It's like all my children were in trouble in drugs like I was." The whole family seemed trapped in an inescapable generational curse of addiction and violence.

The turning point began with a simple birthday wish from Monica and Jason's 10-year-old son: "I want to go to church. I've never been to church before." This innocent request, coupled with a chance encounter with a stranger who offered to pray for Monica at a grocery store, set in motion a series of life-changing events. While Monica was at the grocery store buying stuff to make a birthday cake, she was approached by a stranger offering to pray for her. She declined and then accepted and asked to pray for her to get a job. After paying, on the way out of the store, Monica unexpectedly reconnected with a former employer at the door who offered her a job—an answered prayer that began to inspire faith in her.

Shortly after that encounter, Monica started attending church; one Sunday, a particular verse resonated deeply with her: "I set before you life and death, blessings or curses. Choose life so that you and your children may live." This realization that they had been "choosing death every day" prompted a profound spiritual transformation in her heart. A few weeks later, Monica gave her life to Jesus and her addictions to drugs and alcohol were gone.

The ripple effect of redemption spread throughout the family. A year and a half later, Jason, broken and desperate, would cry out to God himself and have an encounter with Him. After giving his life to Jesus, his heart was transformed. He created a prayer list of loved ones still struggling with addiction, praying not that they would change according

to how he wanted them to, but that they would encounter God personally. His persistent prayer bore fruit as one by one, family members began their own journeys of recovery.

Jon, after years of prison and addiction, started to notice this life transformation in his brother Jason, and through conversations with Jason, was ready to experience freedom and know Jesus personally, too.

Years later, Janice experienced a powerful moment at a Mercy House banquet where her son, Jon, was giving his testimony, describing how he experienced finding God to a group of recovering addicts. Janice described the moment as "the Holy Spirit just came down" and in a miraculous moment, drug addiction was completely taken off her. After over 38 years of drug addiction, brokenness, and violent relationships, she found Jesus and has now been free from drug addiction for over 8 years. She says, "The taste, the feeling, everything is gone. I don't even remember what it's like to be high." Janice enjoys her 9 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren and resides in Waco with her family.

Today, the transformation in the Ramos family stands as a powerful testimony to breaking generational cycles. Now, Jason works as a city outreach director, working to bring the gospel to the most vulnerable in the city of Waco with his wife, Monica, who is a devoted mother, grandmother, and nurse in the hospital. Jon, now a husband, father, coach, mentor, and business owner, is impacting lives all around him. Missy's family has also been restored. She and her husband remarried. Both set free from a life of bondage and now following Jesus together. She also is a mother, grandmother, aunt, and inspiration to many. Missy is an advocate for Unbound and works with survivors of human trafficking. She says, "My grandchildren will never know the old me," highlighting how the cycle of trauma has been interrupted and stopped for good. Today, the entire Ramos family celebrates Jesus and His pursuit of them, never giving up on them and bringing their entire family from brokenness to wholeness.