Melanie Rivas’ joy for Jesus is contagious. In fact, a recent video about how God changed her life has gone viral on social media, garnering nearly 400,000 views.
Yet, just nine months ago, the 22-year-old was homeless, broke, and fleeing from an abusive same-sex relationship.
“My ex-wife stole all my money and locked me out of all of my accounts. So I had nothing,” she told CBN News.
Rivas says she was despondent and on the brink of suicide. However, a strange email notification led her to randomly purchase a Bible at a local Walmart. Rivas said that as she began to read the New Testament, the Spirit of God filled her car and her life was “completely transformed” in that moment.
Early Years
The Chicago native grew up in a Catholic home familiar with the traditions of the faith, such as baptism and communion. She shared, “It almost felt like a routine for me.” Rivas admits her relationship with Jesus was “like (a) procedure,” and devoid of any connection to Him.
She told CBN News that because she didn’t have a solid relationship with Christ, she was led by the wrong influences.
“I was just following the world, and I was super (impressionable), because I didn’t have Jesus,” she said. “When you don’t have Jesus as your anchor, like you’re just looking at what’s around and you want to be a part of it.”
“I go into this high school where they’re telling me that it’s actually weird that I’m not homosexual,” she shared, explaining that was when she began “entertaining homosexual relationships.”
With little guidance and direction, Rivas also began to experiment with drugs.
“I was in a rebellious state too,” she recalled. “I started doing a bunch of drugs. That’s when I got into weed, and then weed turned into acid and then acid turned into shrooms, and then it turned into cocaine. And I’m doing this as a high-schooler!”
Rivas said she also struggled with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. All of that was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of lockdowns, social distancing, and isolation, she turned to TikTok.
As CBN News reported, the popular social media platform known for quick videos, one-minute dance challenges, and viral trends, became a big hub for witches and warlocks around the pandemic.
Videos with the hashtag #WitchTok had amassed more than 30 billion views and made it easier for would-be witches or those interested in the occult to learn more about it, according to a 2022 BBC report.
Rivas was one of its viewers. “Like I said, for a teenager who doesn’t have Jesus, the culture impacts you so much. So it’s almost like being a witch was cool,” she recalled. “I didn’t think of it as like a witch, like a warlock or something like that. I just thought it was cute.”
The young woman explained that she began to go deeper into witchcraft after she met a girl who worshipped the “idol of death.”
“We’re all created to worship God,” she pointed out. “That’s literally why we’re created to have a personal relationship with Him. But when you don’t have that relationship with (Jesus), you look to worship other things. Like you’re so open to it. I was searching for that missing aspect of my life.”
“I’m sitting there worshiping death. And it’s borderline Satanism,” she added.
The 22-year-old said she eventually married that girl, but the relationship was “very controlling and very toxic.”
Rivas said that the woman convinced her to join OnlyFans. The subscription-based platform is widely recognized for its explicit content. Rivas said she joined just before the platform became popular, but she quickly found herself “deep in the rabbit hole.”
Finding Jesus
Rivas shared that things in her life went from bad to worse overnight.
“(My former relationship) got to the point where we had a really bad fight. It ended with the marriage certificate being ripped in my face, my clothes were in trash bags outside, and I was getting kicked out,” she recalled. “In a single day, I lost my home, I lost the person I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life and I lost my way of getting income…I ended up sleeping in my car.”
Rivas recounts that she spiraled into a depression. “I even tried therapy, and the therapy didn’t work, but the therapist did give me antidepressants.”
The artist said she began to be tormented by thoughts of committing suicide.
“I remember getting to a point where I thought I had tried everything. I tried drugs. I tried spiritual spells… like all this stuff. Nothing worked. I even tried therapy, and the therapy didn’t work. And so I was like, you know what? Like, I am so done with life. I don’t want to be here anymore. And so I ended up planning (to take) my life.”
Rivas remembers sitting in her car with a bottle of pills in her hand. She then made a decision that would change the trajectory of her life – she checked her email.
“I got this weird email from like a horoscope email, and it said, ‘You need to go get a book right now,'” she recalled, adding that she felt deep in her heart to go to the nearest store.
“I had a Walmart two minutes away from me, and I was like, okay, I’ll go,” Rivas said. With five dollars to her name, she perused the book aisle.
“My ex-wife stole all my money and locked me out of all of my accounts. So I had, I had nothing. And so I went to the book section, and there were all these (expensive) books,” she told CBN News. “They’re (books) that are $50, $60. I thought this was pointless.”
“And then I keep looking, and there’s one book, and it’s one dollar, not a $1.50, just a plain dollar,” she said. “It’s the New Testament Bible. And I remember looking at it and was like, ‘You can’t even get a candy bar for a dollar.'”
Rivas says she was shocked and intrigued by her find. She purchased the book, went back to her car, and sobbed as she read the Bible.
“As soon as I opened it…I don’t even know how to explain it. It was like I got this warm feeling in my body,” she said. “I genuinely felt the Holy Spirit.”
Rivas describes feeling God’s love for her, His compassion for her, but also a sense of sadness for how she was living.
“I felt His mourning for me…like He has seen me try and live this life alone…like He’s just been missing me.”
A Voice to Her Generation
It was an encounter with God that has impacted her. Rivas says she has fully surrendered her life to Him and now spends her time proclaiming the Gospel message on social media.
“I got baptized, and that was nine months ago,” she said, adding that God has called her to make an Instagram account to share what He has done for her.
“He’s grown it in like seven months from zero to 78,000 followers. And that’s all Him,” Rivas expressed. “I just proclaim Jesus everywhere I go.”
Her message has been getting out to the masses. Recently, Lila Rose, the president of Live Action, shared one of Rivas’ videos to her social media page, and it has gotten nearly 400,000 views.
Rivas says she will continue to share her story because it reveals “how merciful and how abundant our Father is.”
She is encouraging GenZ to turn to God because a world that promises answers in drugs, sex, and alcohol can only give you destruction in return. Rivas says true peace comes from Jesus alone. She says she hopes her story will help someone open their heart to Him.
“He’ll completely transform your life,” she said.
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