A famous makeup artist recounts how God healed, saved and set him free from homosexuality after he suffered a fatal brain injury that left him in a coma for nearly four weeks.
“I’m a miracle and I got a second chance,” Samuel Rauda said on Youtube. “I thank God for loving me unconditionally!”
The former celebrity makeup artist grew up in a Christian household but decided early on that he wanted nothing to do with God.
“It wasn’t until I was in high school that I allowed the enemy to take control of my thoughts and actions. It was like an inner battle,” Samuel explained. “I was in church, but not in church. There were a lot of battles and I started rebelling against God.”
Rauda admitted that he started experimenting with drugs and also struggled with a pornography addiction.
“I was hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong time. Nobody was going to stop me. I was living my life on my own,” he explained.
The Texas native decided after graduating that he wanted to become a makeup artist. He packed his bags and moved to Los Angeles, but shares that his addiction to drugs and partying only got worse.
“We went to clubs, parties, lots of hotspots in LA. [I] tried many different drugs for fun at first. But soon I was addicted to LSD, cocaine[e]grass, mushrooms, ACID, e-cigarettes, etc. I needed more drugs and alcohol.”
His thirst for fame and success led him to be one of the go-to makeup artists for Kylie Jenner, Lisa Rinna and other celebrities.
Despite his hectic lifestyle, he stayed in touch with his parents who always took the opportunity to share God’s truth.
“I couldn’t understand why I felt an emptiness inside and yet I wanted nothing from God. During the seven years that I was away from home, my parents always shared the Word of God with me and I knew they were always praying for me. They never turned their back on me, even though they didn’t agree with the way I was living my life.
“Even though I was living a life of sin away from God, I still experienced his mercy,” he added.
In 2021, Samuel fully embraced a gay lifestyle sharing with his over 250,000 Instagram followers that he loved who he had become.
“It took me this long to fully accept myself,” he wrote at the time.
But two months later, a freak accident would change the course of his life.
Samuel’s father called him a week before a trip to Miami to tell him he felt something bad was about to happen.
“I brushed it off and told him I was going to have a great time,” he recalled.
After dinner and late-night drinks, Rauda said he was dancing to a crowded golf cart. It was later reported that he “flew from a moving vehicle” and hit his head on the sidewalk.
Rauda was unconscious for a few minutes and his friends then took him to a hotel where he started vomiting blood and complaining of headaches. Hotel staff called 911.
He was transported to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
A neurosurgeon at that facility shared on YouTube that Samuel had multiple head injuries.
“(It) had taken blood inside his brain, blood outside his brain, and the blood outside his brain was creating a lot of pressure on his brain,” Dr Smith explained. .
Smith said he had to remove part of Samuel’s skull to drain the blood, but he realized his brain was bruised and started to swell.
“That’s the most dangerous part of someone taking a big blow to the head,” he added. “If we’re not able to control the swelling, it’s not compatible with life and that’s what most people die of.”
Dr. Smith was able to relieve some of the swelling, but Samuel remained unsteady. He suffered a stroke and several infections while in hospital.
Meanwhile, his family was praying.
A week later, Samuel began to show signs of improvement. Four weeks later, he was taken off the ventilator. A month later, he was sent home.
But Samuel told his disciples that despite his rapid improvement, he refused to give his life to God.
“I was happy to go home, but my heart was still on my career as a makeup artist,” he said. “I remember my dad was trying to give me the Word of God and have a conversation with me as a son, but for some reason I started feeling a strong resentment towards my dad. So I didn’t wanted to hear nothing about God.”
Samuel’s family persisted in prayer.
And one night Samuel says he finally cried out to God.
“That night…I asked God ‘if you’re real, I want you to change my life,'” he said.
Samuel remembers waking up the next day feeling completely changed.
“I gave my life to Christ and it was the best decision I ever made,” he said. “The burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I was free from all the sins I had committed. For many years the devil had tried to destroy my life, but now I see how God was always there for me. “
Samuel ended the video by inviting people to give their lives to the Lord and prayed for his viewers.
“I looked at other religions and found no happiness there. I have now found the true happiness that God gives,” he explained. “God wants to save you. He wants to reach out to you.”
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