I Will Never Again Stay Silent Out of Shame

Talking about repentance is not always easy.
But when repentance is born from the light the Lord himself lights within us, it stops being guilt… and becomes correction in love.

Yesterday I took part in this podcast. It was the first time I spoke publicly about this work, the reflections, the texts and, above all, about the Kingdom of God that shows itself with simplicity.

In a conversation in the morning, before the recording, I told the interviewer about a very striking experience I had in Rio de Janeiro, in 2019. He was impressed by the story. And, in the middle of the podcast, he asked me to tell it to the audience.
But I did not tell it.

I thought it would be too crazy.
I was afraid of what people would think of me.
And I realized later, with pain and clarity, that I did not glorify the Lord's name in order to protect my own.
I stayed silent at a moment when I should have exalted the One who has been guiding me and surprising me every day.
I stayed silent before a people who have little knowledge of Him, and who could have seen something real, even if simple.

This morning, the Lord showed me this with gentleness and firmness. And I repented deeply.

I shared this repentance with some friends and family. And, to my surprise, they did not judge me. On the contrary: they asked me to tell the story.
So, here I am, no longer trying to protect my name, but seeking to glorify His.

The story I kept silent

It was in February 2019. Before the trip, my wife and I were worried about the journey because of the flight and the rains. I arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the late afternoon of the 12th, to take part as a guest in an event to train the sales team of Capemisa Seguradora. It was raining, and everyone was talking with apprehension about the next day, February 13.
They said it would be a chaotic day, with storms, strong winds, flooding.

And, in fact, the forecast was serious:

According to UOL (in collaboration with Climatempo), the scenario was a significant drop in temperature, from about 35 °C to 27 °C, with the arrival of a cold front and an air mass that would bring heavy rain of up to 70 mm, with wind gusts close to 100 km/h.

The City Hall of Rio de Janeiro had canceled afternoon classes in the municipal schools, and suspended public events, such as the Vasco game scheduled at the Maracanã that night.
Everything indicated that the 13th would be unstable, dangerous and unpredictable.

But, that late afternoon, while talking with the hotel receptionist, I said:

“No catastrophe is going to happen tomorrow.”

He looked at me, surprised, and asked:
“Why not?”
And I answered, without thinking much:
“Because I am here.”

I did not say it with arrogance. It was not presumption.
It was as if something inside me knew, with serenity, that the peace of God was there, in that place, on that day.
And that peace was enough.

The next day, I took my morning walk through the quiet streets of the city.
Only a light drizzle fell.

In the afternoon I went to the event.
Traffic was calm, because many had stayed home out of fear of the forecast.
The event went on normally.
Nothing that had been predicted came true.
The day ended in peace.

At night, after dinner, I called an Uber to the hotel. The driver was a simple woman, and she said she had escaped the predicted chaos. I joked again:

“Nothing happened… because I am here.”

She looked at me strangely. She stayed silent for a while… and then began to tell a story.

That morning, while taking her daughter to school, a motorcyclist stopped beside the car and stole her phone through the window.
She was desperate, because she depended on the device to work.
But she continued on her way, crying.
A few traffic lights ahead, another motorcyclist stopped beside her. It was the same robber.
He told her to open the window… and gave the phone back.

She was shocked. She said she had never seen anything like it.
And, when she finished telling it, she began to cry and to thank me, without stopping.
Not because I had done anything. But because, somehow, she felt that God was with her in that moment.

May He increase, and I decrease

And now, looking at all of this, I understand more clearly what really happened.
That day, I did not stop a rain.
I did not cause anything either.

But the presence of God was there.
And, by grace, He made me realize that our communion with Him carries effects that we do not always understand.
The Kingdom of God is not noise or an audience. It is presence, peace and truth.

And that is why I repented of having stayed silent on the podcast.
Because it is not about me. It is about Him.
And when He accomplishes something, however small it may seem, it is our role to bless, glorify and exalt His name.

Here is my testimony.
And my prayer:
“Lord, may I never again stay silent out of shame. May I speak with reverence, with truth and with humility. May Your name always be exalted. And may I decrease.”