By: Bro. Charlie A. Dayon
I am Mr. Charlie Anipan Dayon, 59 years old and married to my faithful and loving wife, Mrs. Nenita Simpao Dayon. As I look back on my life, I can only stand in awe of the mercy and patience of the LORD. Before I truly repented and surrendered to JESUS CHRIST as my Savior and LORD, my life was steeped in sin and shame.
From 1980 to 1989, I lived in the darkness of sexual immorality and addiction to pornography. My heart was far from God, and I allowed lust to control my actions. My life was filthy, empty, and heading nowhere.
However, the LORD JESUS, in His grace, began to reach out to me. In 1990, while I was living in General Santos City, I met Roy B. Ruba—the son of my landlady and a cousin of Brother John Brillantes, a student at the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Davao City. Roy invited me to a youth fellowship in Davao, and I accepted the invitation without knowing that the LORD was already setting the course of my spiritual awakening.
At the seminary, I stayed a week after the fellowship, where I met Brother Roldan R. Namion, a seminarian at the time. Through him, I was introduced to Pastor Guinit. They shared the Gospel with me, and something stirred deep in my heart. Pastor Guinit invited me to be baptized alongside some church members at Times Beach Resort in December 1990. I accepted—and for the first time, I publicly declared Jesus as my LORD and Savior. It was a moment of spiritual rebirth. Through the faithful witness of Brothers Roy and Roldan, I was brought into the Missionary Baptist faith.
After a week of stay in the seminary, I asked Pastor Guinit if I could return home to Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Though he had plans for me, he lovingly agreed. But when I returned home and told my parents about my conversion, they were deeply upset and rejected me. I was young in the faith, spiritually weak, and without a support system. I gave in to pressure and returned to Catholic practices. Worse, I slipped back into the very sins I had turned from—pornography, drunkenness, and smoking. For over a decade, from 1991 to 2004, I was a man lost once again.
On October 25, 1996, I married my wife in Sta. Ana Church, Davao City. But my heart was still hardened, and I became unfaithful to her, driven by lust, addiction, and a life without direction. I came home drunk most nights, angry and miserable. There were moments I considered abandoning my family altogether. But in those darkest days, my wife never gave up on me. Quietly, she prayed for me every day, believing that GOD could still touch my heart, and He did.
Sometime in 2004, in SGR Village, Catalunan Grande, I had a chance encounter that would change my life. I met Pastor Roldan Namion again. I poured out everything to him—the filth, the failures, the shame. He listened, prayed over me, and urged me to return to Christ. His words pierced my heart. Right then and there, as he prayed, I cried out to the LORD to forgive me and restore me. I felt the heavy burden of sin begin to lift. For the first time in years, I felt hope.
In August 2005, we moved to Lasang, Davao City. That August, my family and I attended a Sunday service at Pioneer Missionary Baptist Church in Panabo. It was the beginning of our new life together in Christ. My wife and four children were baptized, and I was joyfully accepted into the congregation. Since that day, we have not turned back. We have remained faithful in worship, growing in the Word, and serving the LORD as a family.
I often reflect on how far I’ve come—not by my strength, but by GOD’s grace alone. I was a broken man, unworthy and rebellious, but Jesus never gave up on me. Through every fall, He was there to lift me. Now, I live not in the shame of my past but in the joy of His forgiveness.
Now, to anyone reading this who feels too far gone, let me tell you: no one is beyond the reach of GOD’s love. His mercy found me—and it can find you, too.
To GOD be all the glory.
Note: Presently, Brother Charlie Dayon is a member of Living Victoriously MBC, Panabo.
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