Thank you Jake and Simei for sharing your story. From overcoming cancer to finding a deep faith in times of trial, the Garcias’ message inspires hope in a walk of faith. It reveals more about the goodness of the ‘Blesser’ and reassures each of us that there is something more God has for us—something Beyond Expectations.

Jake Garcia: When we first got married, it was a bit of a struggle. Our faith was just a little bit stagnant, it didn’t seem to be growing at the level that I would have liked it to.

Simei Garcia: We started going to church. We were slowly beginning to have a relationship with the Lord. We started going to church. You hear a lot about, “Oh, this is my testimony. This is what the Lord has done. This is how I came to know Christ.” And Jake would always say, “I don’t really have a testimony.” So, “I never had anything crazy happen in my life, or anything like that.”

Jake Garcia: I feel like we were kind of praying for more. We were praying for a closeness with God, we were praying for more closeness within our marriage. There was just something lacking. I started getting some really severe shoulder pain, and it just hurt more and more and more. And, it got to a point where I went to the doctor several times. And, that got me in a scanner, and that’s what really revealed the real problem.

Simei Garcia: After the scan, I remember the surgeon said, “It’s either a bone infection or cancer. Go home today, pack your bags. You’re going to the hospital tonight.” And I remember as I was packing our bags, I felt this … I was praying, and I just felt the Lord tell me it’s never going to be the same.

Jake Garcia: Eventually when they went in and checked it out, they sent it off to pathology, and that’s when they found that it was cancer. Not only was it cancer, but it was one of the most rarest forms of answer that they had ever seen. That’s when it got really tough. And he basically told me that I wasn’t going to be able to work, that I would basically be almost in a vegetative state, that I would be constantly sick. I wouldn’t be able to get up, that Simei wouldn’t be able to work either. Somebody would have to take care of me the whole time. He told me that I could possibly lose my arm.

Simei Garcia: We just kept getting bad news after bad news after bad news.

Jake Garcia: We walked to the car very quietly. We almost didn’t say a word. I mean, there was nothing to say. And I remember just breaking down in the car, and we cried in the parking lot for 30 minutes, an hour. I mean, it felt like time went on. And, it was just, we felt completely helpless. Like, how are we going to get through this? I mean, not only that, but my outlook was not looking good.

Simei Garcia: There’s a verse in Psalms that says, “You are good, and all that you do is good.” And so, I just stood on that, because there was nothing else to stand on.

Jake Garcia: We had to be in contact with our LifeGroup through virtual means, since we weren’t able to be around large groups of people.

Simei Garcia: I wish my family was close by, but God gave me my church family. And they were here for me. They really served us in a way that I just never could have expected.

Jake Garcia: I started reading God’s word a lot more, and I think that I started to want to read it. That was a yearn. And, I don’t know how else to explain it other than I felt my mortality, and I felt that requirement to figure out where I stand with God and establish that connection with him. And at the time, I didn’t know what my outcome would be. It was just peace. It was a sense of calmness I genuinely hadn’t felt before.

Simei Garcia: I was really grateful to the Lord for the time that he had given me with Jake beforehand. He had used such a terrible time to transform my husband, and that now we were going to walk through this life in a different way than we did before.

Jake Garcia: I think that God really started sprinkling good news. I mean, that’s the best way I can put it, is he was just sprinkling all over as we walked through it. And I remember the first follow up after my surgery, the surgeon came into the room, and this is what he said. He goes, “What magic concoction are you drinking?” Because he had never seen the level of healing that has occurred. I told him, I pointed him to Christ immediately. I said, “Well, it’s all God.” I genuinely like to tell people that I am thankful. I’m very blessed and fortunate that this happened to me, because I feel like it strengthened my relationship with Christ, it strengthened my relationship with my wife.

Simei Garcia: Nothing is better than beholding who God is, and having a relationship with him. And through all of this, what I learned is, yes, we’re grateful for the healing, but the Blesser is so much greater than the blessing.