Tik Tok Star Delivers Hope from First-Hand Experience

BROKEN BEGINNINGS

Cristina Baker grew up in a broken home and her parents divorced when she was only seven-years-old. When her mom remarried, they moved to Bolivia. Her stepdad was very strict and abusive and after years of abuse, Cristina shut down.

“By the age of fourteen, I had stopped using my voice. I expressed turmoil on the inside with clothes and makeup on the outside. Black on black on black. I was 'screaming' for someone to know how desperate and alone I felt. I longed to feel wanted and loved,” shares Cristina. She turned to alcohol and drugs for comfort.  

By 15, Cristina’s mom and stepdad were at their wit's ends with her constant rebellion. So, they sent her to live with her dad in Hawaii. When she arrived at the airport, she waited six hours by herself for him to show up. After their awkward greeting, he informed her that he was now living in a tent on the beach. Cristina was shocked because he used to be an executive at an oil company and had money. Yet, he lost everything due to his cocaine addiction.

Both atheists at the time, they bonded in their suffering. She managed to stay in touch with other family members by going to a local café that had WIFI. When her aunt heard about Cristina being homeless, she sent Cristina a ticket to Houston, TX where she and other family members lived. 

While in Texas, Cristina bounced around between relatives. When her welcome wore thin, her mom bought her a ticket to see her brother in Pennsylvania. He was attending Messiah College. Not knowing what to do with Cristina, he went to his basketball coach, Coach Manzer, to ask for help. In turn, Coach Manzer asked his church for help and the Hess family volunteered to take Cristina in. This was one week before 9/11. 

When Cristina arrived at the Hess home, they gave her a warm welcome but let her know they had two house rules: Be home by 11 pm and attend church every Sunday. As an atheist, this was the last thing she wanted to do but she had nowhere else to turn. She lived with them for 3 years and she admits that she was forever changed by the unconditional love they showed her, but it would take 10 years before the seeds they planted came to fruition.

She moved out after high school graduation because she wanted more freedom. While on her own, she sunk more deeply into drugs and got pregnant by her boyfriend Aaron. While planning for an abortion, her drug dealer's girlfriend talked her out of it. 

Cristina started working at a university call center where God gave her favor, and she got a promotion. It was just what she needed to provide for her new baby, Evan. 
Two years after Evan's birth, she found herself relying on prescription drugs and marijuana to get high. When a cop pulled her over for expired tags, he found drugs in her car. She was arrested. Cuffed in the back of the cop car Cristina said, “God if you’re real, why are you doing this to me?” Even though she was released on bail, she had to wait three long months until her arraignment. 

During her wait, she continued living a double life—doing drugs at night and working at a university during the day. One day while in her office, she began seriously contemplating suicide and began to make plans to see it through. At that moment a co-worker named Hilroy tapped her on the shoulder and said he had a word of the Lord for Cristina. He invited her to a prayer meeting on the third floor. She was nervous but went to the prayer meeting. Hilroy read to her from Jeremiah and told her this was a matter of life and death. At that moment, Cristina knew what he was speaking was the truth. He led her to Christ, and everyone gathered around her to pray. “Peace like I have never explained before came over me at the moment.” 

WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

As Cristina’s arraignment day came, she was terrified! While in court, her attorney told her she was probably going to do time in prison. She felt a still small voice tell her to talk to the District Attorney (DA). Her lawyer wasn’t pleased, but she obeyed God and went to speak with him. After pouring out her heart to the DA, he responded, “We all make mistakes, have a good day.” She was in a state of total surrender at that point. 

Cristina was overjoyed when she heard that all the charges against her were dropped! “I walked away from that experience, and I realized He was there and He is here with me. He set my heart on fire for Him at that moment." 

That’s when her healing journey truly began. Hilroy took her under his wing and began disciplining her. She attended prayer meetings at work every day and that’s where she learned to talk to God. During this time her ex-boyfriend Aaron, Evan’s biological father, reached out to her. Cristina's phone rang at work, but she was too scared to answer. Afraid, she went to Hilroy for prayer.

He encouraged her to face her fears and trust God to help her make things right. The next day when Aaron called, she took a deep breath and answered the phone. During the call, she not only asked for his forgiveness for things she did wrong but also told him that she forgave him too. Cristina led Aaron to the Lord that day. Tragically, he died in a car crash two days later. Cristina is so thankful that he accepted Jesus! 

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Cristina met Ryan at a service for young adults. She explains, “Ryan showed up in my life as a man who exemplified the Father’s heart—both to Evan and me… His commitment to Evan and me revealed a side of the Father’s heart I had never known.” They got married on March 5, 2005, and soon thereafter he adopted Evan when he was just a toddler. 

THREE MIRACLES

At 21 she gave birth to Evan. She was also diagnosed with a brain tumor, but she ignored it for five years before getting treatment. During this time God performed three miracles in Cristina’s life: 1. Her atheist dad got saved. 2. The surgeon was able to get all the cancerous brain tumor out and she recovered quickly. 3. Her mom got saved and God restored their relationship. 

TIK TOK

During the early days of the pandemic, the Lord gave her a dream about the darkness surrounding social media. She was never a big social media person, but she felt led to post a prayer on Tik Tok. Her posts went viral, and they continue to do so garnering 9.7 million likes with over 800,00 followers. Even though the videos are only 60 seconds long, Cristina says, “God doesn't need a lifetime to do something in our lives. He only needs a moment.”