When Pastor Mario Esparza Jr. talks about his past, he doesn’t sugarcoat it. His story is gritty, real and drenched in the grace of God.
Speaking in a powerful conversation with Richard Lorenzo Jr., Esparza talked about how he spent over a decade addicted to cocaine while hiding behind the mask of a functioning truck driver, husband and father. “It was my peace. It numbed me. It became my god,” he said of his addiction that began at just 17 years old.
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Raised in Oak Cliff, South Dallas, Mario’s life was marked early on by violence, rejection and deep emotional wounds. “I was 17 fighting grown men,” he recalled, referencing a night he was stomped into the concrete outside a gas station. “Death was following me,” he said. But even that wasn’t his lowest point.
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That came in a Motel 6 in Euless, Texas.
There, after bingeing on drugs for days and contemplating suicide, Mario heard a voice—felt a presence. “The Spirit of God flooded the room. I got scared, I thought someone was watching me. It was the fear of the Lord.” Moments later, a stranger tried to open the hotel door, claiming to be a maintenance man. But Mario knew it was more than a coincidence. “God was warning me. He was saving me.”
Though he didn’t end his life that night, Mario continued spiraling—until the day his wife, Tiffany, signed him up for a Christian retreat in Whitesboro, Texas. “She didn’t yell. She didn’t nag. She said, ‘I signed you up.’ That’s when everything began to change.” Still resisting God, Mario slept in the woods during a required prayer session—until something supernatural happened.
“I was walking out, and the sun hit me. Suddenly, I had a vision of Jesus,” he said. “He was beside me, showing me kingdoms, saying, ‘This belongs to you.’ I tried to talk myself out of it—‘But don’t you remember what I’ve done?’ And He just radiated love. He didn’t see me as broken. He saw me as a son.”
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That encounter changed everything.
Today, Esparza ministers to countless men just like him who are battling addiction and are suffering in silence. Through his story, revival is breaking out. Truck drivers, drug dealers and others are getting saved and delivered, finally stepping into their calling as children of God.
If you are in crisis, please call 988 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. You are not alone.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
