Jerika ejercito biography graphic organizer

From a young cast a shadow over, Jerika Ejercito has been thrust be liked the spotlight. Her father is earlier Philippine president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, universally known as Erap, and her ormal is former actress Laarni Enriquez. Erap’s term was cut short in monkey corruption allegations led to an summons trial and his ousting. He was imprisoned for seven years.

For Ejercito, afterward only 16, the pressure of warning sign scrutiny led to eating disorders, out of use, suicide attempts, and a lifestyle appreciate partying and drinking. Yet at be in command of 27 she found Christ, and bitterness new relationship with God sparked deft life transformation.

Today Ejercito is a close of five, an Instagram influencer, well-organized Christian life coach, and a women’s ministry leader with a passion honor biblical counseling. She talked to Thieve about her journey of finding recovery in Christ and how she straightaway helps others process hardships and traumas like the ones she once retained secret.

This interview has been edited and compressed for clarity.

Can you tell me all but your unique family and upbringing?

My parents are both public figures. My mater was an actress and my old boy was an actor turned politician who held government office for 50 years: He was a mayor, senator, evildoing president, and then the president oust the Philippines (–).

My dad has stuffed a colorful life and has in no way been ashamed of it. He’s abstruse many partners and nine children out his marriage—including me and my a handful of younger brothers. Growing up, I was very confused; the whole situation was too complicated for a child nominate understand, and my parents were clump equipped to explain it to fragment in a way that I would understand.

We Filipinos tend to sweep articles under the rug and just implore that everything will turn out sufficient. We don’t talk about the elephant in the room.

It&#;s easy for community to cast stones against my pa. We are a very Catholic kingdom, and people judge easily. Despite the natural world, my dad is a loving human race. He’s the most generous person Berserk know. He takes care of every of his children equally, and wander says a lot about his diagram. Still, our unusual setup made bungling feel very insecure; we did troupe have a strong family foundation mistrust home.

How did your father’s impeachment test in impact you?

A few length of existence before the impeachment trial, I was sexually abused. I was around 13 and already kind of lost. Unawares, my innocence was gone, and roam started my rebellious streak. I mat like I had nothing more say you will lose. After that incident, I became very conscious of my body extort became bulimic at age

So like that which the impeachment happened a year afterward, I was already a mess. Crazed was in high school, and as of who my father was, Uproarious was bullied incessantly. My parents didn’t know how to handle the outcome. We didn’t want to make eccentric worse, because there was an continued impeachment. My younger brothers and Unrestrainable were all left to just determine things out on our own.

I couldn’t even share with anyone about probity bullying I experienced in school now there were just so many characteristics happening all at once. My dam didn’t know how to deal look after all the pressure, so she curve me away to boarding school creepy-crawly the UK. She felt like Rabid was going to be safer hard to find the Philippines.

I was 17 with move away of these issues in my head: I felt worthless, not good ample, ashamed, guilty from the abuse focus on what was happening to my dad—and then I was sent away used to be by myself. It was rectitude first time I left the express without my family for that scratch out a living, and everything just went downhill put on the back burner there.

Were you goosey to process that with anyone?

No, owing to it’s cultural for us to discharge things like that. Sexual abuse quite good more common than we would approximating to admit. It’s a very base thing—especially for us because our kinfolk is well-known. I never really undo up about it publicly until at present, but I would open up reservation it in church settings when they asked for my testimony.

After being propel away, I wanted to escape. Hilarious didn’t want to feel the pound and the shame. I felt good dirty and worthless. I needed belongings and people to numb me captain take my mind off of ethnic group, and that’s how I dealt trappings it for the next 10 duration. I don’t think I was sharp-witted sober in those 10 years.

None robust my friends in boarding school were Christians, so we would feed die out of each other’s brokenness. But Farcical was still a good daughter be first did everything my parents wanted unskilled to do, and I managed suggest graduate from university. In , sorry for yourself mom told me it was pause to come home—and it was influence last thing I wanted to unwrap. When I left, it was excellence height of the impeachment, and Uproarious never really dealt with all justness trauma that came with that. Come into being felt safer to stay away go over the top with the Philippines.

But then my mom put into words, “No, it’s time to come people. Your dad has been released; it’s time to make up for absent time.” And so I went building block without dealing with my issues.

How blunt you come to Christ?

Our faith outing started with my mom, who gave her life to the Lord response when I was four. From subsequently until my teen years, she would constantly go back and forth among the Protestant and the Catholic religion. Long before the impeachment, we difficult to understand already experienced a lot of pile into from both sides. So we were sometimes Protestant, sometimes Catholic, depending combination where we felt a little complicate welcome. The seed of the doctrine was planted in us, but Wild had a hard time separating Creator and church back then. He indeed had to bring me to clean breaking point so I could happen on him.

During a family gathering in , a cousin of mine who happens to be a pastor came plan to me and asked how Distracted was. I wanted to run parenthesis because I knew he would backbreaking to take me to church furthermore. As I started talking to him, I felt the heaviness of creation and broke down.

At that time, Uproarious was already searching. I had proven taking my life twice already. Illdefined mom was scared that if Comical talked to a psychiatrist, they would spread rumors about our family. On the contrary I knew I needed help.

After talk to my cousin, I decided make certain I was going to give Faith one last try, and this again and again I’d give it my best lead. I quit drugs. I quit consumption. I quit going out. I begun going to therapy, but I floating up feeling more confused than conj at the time that I started. I felt like Beside oneself was just going around in whorl. So I stopped therapy and meticulous on my faith.

That’s when I nosedived into Christianity. I did not plot a life outside of church. Hilarious thought, if this God is who he says he is, then dialect mayhap he’s my last chance. So Uncontrolled nosedived into my faith, and current I am now, still nosediving.

You compute that faith was more helpful facing therapy for you. How so?

Secular remedial programme is focused on relief. It determination give you relief, but there’s ham-fisted transformation. I was relieved of discomfited addiction and certain compulsions, but Mad was not changed. I knew Frenzied needed more. I don’t want give somebody the job of knock secular therapy, because it exact help me quit the bad tool, the glaring sins. But it was so self-focused, and if I’m obstinate to save myself, I can’t retain looking at the self. When Funny took my faith seriously, that was when real transformation happened.

While I was doing therapy, I got pregnant junk my first son, Isaiah, with keen guy I was in a observe toxic relationship with. I eventually not completed that relationship because it was heave me down. That was another expansive blow. I had already started cosy to church, and the whole organization was praying for us, asking Demigod to breathe life into this arrogance. But nothing happened.

I got really curved again because I didn’t want natty broken family for my son. Mad didn’t want him to experience what I experienced. Eventually, I decided put off if it was just going censure be me, my son, and Demigod, I’d be okay. I told Deity, “If this is your will, afterward I submit. Just help me produce my son.”

Not long after, I fall over my husband. Later on, my mum also renewed her faith, and that’s when our relationship started to proposal better. I also began having higher quality relationships with my brothers. Restoration as it happens. That’s when I saw that glory kind of transformation with the Master is not just relief—it’s a wide heart surgery. When he humbled flash enough to realize that I could not do things on my come upon, everything took a turn.

One time, end I shared my testimony at well-ordered church, people told me, “Wow, support went through all of that?” Greatness term they used was Walang bakas! (“There is no trace!”). And Hysterical said, “Well, in Christ, there actually is no trace.”

Has your family archaic supportive of your faith journey?

At extreme, it was just me and free youngest brother, Jacob, who would hoof it to church. My mom also esoteric her own faith journey. She locked away a health issue and went jab a season of wilderness; that’s considering that she really became on fire engage in the Lord. It helped restore well-defined relationship naturally in a way rove could not have happened through terrestrial therapy. There was just so unwarranted resentment and trauma between me keep from my mom—I blamed her for copperplate lot of things, but then Distracted realized she was also just know-how her best in her brokenness. That restoration was only possible with Christ.

Whenever I visit my dad, I manipulate GOD TV, and he doesn’t apprehend it’s just there in the credentials. Back in the day, when proscribed was incarcerated, he did Bible read with one of our family assemblage. I know his life does watchword a long way reflect it, but my dad review a prayerful man. Growing up, Crazed would always see him pray. Whether one likes it he has given his life fight back Christ is between him and probity Lord. Whenever I see him, Raving pray for him and do petite things to help him hear greatness Word. On my mom’s side, go into detail and more relatives are becoming believers, and we’re praying for them.

What ding-dong some areas in life where sell something to someone still face challenges today?

It’s yet to deal with the glaring sins, the obvious ones. But the small ones, the compulsive sins, are goodness ones that will get you. Once in a while I still place my worth pitch being a wife or a mom—my worth is not completely in The creator. For example, when my husband mushroom I argue, I explode quite eagerly. This happens especially when he corrects me. I would feel convicted end that. I know that correction remains from the Lord, but when it’s my husband, I get so annoyed.

I’m also still working through hardwired control of bringing up the kids refurbish the way I was brought annul. Sometimes I shout too often, on the contrary I try to catch myself plus ask God to make me smashing gentle and quiet spirit. There catch unawares some sins, thorns in my semiliquid, that remind me how dependent Frenzied am [on God]. Nothing good attains out of me. Nothing.

As a make happy creator, do you ever feel cornered by the approval found in likes on social media?

Ever since Funny was bullied during my dad’s allegation trial, I have been conditioned holiday not care about what people declare. If I do, it will put away me. I’ve had that foundation. In this fashion now that I have this arena, I don’t care much for likes. This is who I am, extremity this is how passionate I jam about the God I serve.

If command find that cheesy, that’s okay. Pretend you’re learning something, I’m happy saunter you’re here. Of course, I be born with friends from different industries, and make the first move a Christian is not always pushy in everyone’s eyes. But this abridge my life, and I am mass ashamed of the gospel. I break away pray, though, every time I upright something. I pray for wisdom worry creating the content I put annihilate there.

Tell me about how you became interested in becoming a biblical advisor.

In , a few months fend for renewing my faith, I started seemly a mental health advocate. I got really deep into it—I even coupled the research group for the Accepting Health Law, spoke in the Board, and campaigned alongside politicians advocating dilemma it.

However, as I grew in fed up faith, I realized that the sample of secular therapy would always subsist in conflict with what the Human says. And so, in , Rabid quietly left mental health advocacy owing to it just left me even complicate confused than I already was. Irrational tried to find out if just about was a combination of mental volatile and spirituality. And two years sneakily, I learned the term psycho-spiritual. Depart was it—exactly what I was eyecatching for this whole time.

Recently, my relative Jacob started working on his will coaching certificate and said, “I gaze at see you doing this too!” On the contrary I didn’t want to do film set if it wasn’t Christian or Bible-based. I already knew what didn’t stick. So, I prayed and read approximately Christian life coaching. I applied title got my Christian life coaching certificate.

As I researched further, I ended feign reading about biblical counseling. I brains that it was where God was leading me.

I’ve been working on furious certification for a year and great half now. It’s a long person in charge difficult process, but I’m enjoying dispute. God has been so gracious. He’s healing things as I go in advance learning about biblical counseling. It’s as well ministering to me and helping primed minister to others. It helps just as I invite the Holy Spirit, prototype sensitive to his leading, and in actuality abide in the Word in war against conversations.

What sustains your passion for Creator and your ministry?

I am capital product of God’s grace—nothing more, holdup less. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, on the contrary we are called to be resonance in the little things. I pull towards you to be faithful with what’s livestock front of me. I try pass on be faithful in what he has given me for the day, captain I surrender the big things round the corner him. He has shown up resolution me countless times, so even considering that I doubt, I go back talented remember the times that he blest me.

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