Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Rivera.
Hi Billy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Billy J Rivera born and raised in Cayey, Puerto Rico. My father is currently retired with 33 years of service from the Puerto Rico police department, and my mom has been a nurse for over 17 years. I was raised by hard-working and strict parents who gave me a great life as a child and protected me with many sacrifices. I was a brilliant child when I was little, with a massive passion for music that I have always carried for my entire life. I have always been in love with music but mostly with urban music, specifically Reggaeton and rap. I started writing my first songs when I was 15 years old in a genre not made for kids due to their lifestyle, lyrics, and everything that usually goes with urban music. I was becoming good at writing and singing urban music, but I was doing it without the support of my family since they knew the lifestyle I was adopting for myself was not the best. My career as a singer-songwriter was only starting when I got a break to meet with a record label, but my parents shut this down since they knew the kind of people I had to get involved with. I will always be grateful for that decision, they knew what was best for me, and because of them, I am the person I am now. As I moved forward from rejecting an opportunity to sign with a label, I never left my passion for music, and I kept writing songs and throwing them away so they didn’t notice what I was writing about. What was I writing about? Sex, drugs, alcohol, and party.
After I graduated from high school and moved to college, I became more intrigued by the urban lifestyle and adopted it for myself. After 2 years in college, I moved to Orlando, Florida, with the mindset of staying forever there. I went to work for the Disney college program, where I ended up living in what I consider one of the wildest places to live and what I considered by, the time, the best place to continue the “urban/party animal lifestyle” and the place where I met my beautiful wife. When I met my wife in 2009, I decided to slow down the party. Even though I knew she was the one for me, I had the standard set by the music I was listening to, and we broke up. I went back to the party guy I was until I realized that I loved her and wanted to be with her, and after 2 years, She became pregnant. We were thrilled and excited until we lost the baby during the six almost seventh months of pregnancy. The darkness of death covered us, and we were unable to recover, and we had our second breakup.
After losing my first child, things got dark for me, and I threw myself into the same old habit that was not taking me anywhere. I was trying to fill a void in myself, and I couldn’t find what it was. I always had an emptiness that I was trying to fill with parties, music, and girls. But it was never got filled. My wife and I went back together and broke up about 4 more times during the years. The last brake up I had with my wife was back in 2014 when we both decided to move on, but we couldn’t live without each other and became great friends. Even though this might sound weird, she had her life with another person, and I had my life with another woman, and our friendship never broke. I got to see things in her that, after seven years of relationship, I never saw before. Our relationship as friends was stronger than before until we realized a void still needed to be filled. There was still something missing between us and our separate relationships. We stopped talking as often for some time, realizing that our problems were beyond ourselves.
When I was a teenager, I told everyone I was an atheist. Even though my mom took me to church when I was little, my grandmother was a firm believer who passed away in 2014. My grandmother always talked to me about God and always tried to guide me to him. I loved my grandmother like a mom. But I still grew apart from the church. It was November 2016 when I had the biggest encounter of my life, and I met God at 3 AM by my grandmother’s hand, who gave me clear instructions to get my life straight. Since I knew my wife (ex) was a believer at that moment, I called her and told her I needed to go to church. She was amazed by that since one of our problems in the past was religion. She knew I was an atheist, but without hesitation, she told me that she would serve me the next day and said she would take me.
The day came, and as weird as this might sound for some people, I finally found what I was missing. I finally found love and God, the only person that could fill the void I had for years. I discovered real joy, real happiness. The first thing I did was cut all secular music from my life and all urban music that influenced my life. I deleted all my playlists and phones and changed everything to Christian music. I only listened to Christian music for years to “detox” from the music that was hurting me and was so personal to me. During this time, God took control of me. I restored my relationship with my wife, Dyandra, in January 2017 and married in June of the same year. We both found what was missing in our relationship. We found the source of love, we found God, and since I still had a big passion for music, I wrote my first song dedicated to God and the reassurance of my faith.
Something people don’t expect when they meet God is the test. Your faith will be tested, and the problems will come, and during that test, I lost my job, lost the chance to get a house, and found that my wife couldn’t have kids, which was big for us since we lost a child in 2011. Our faith was bigger than any problem or disappointment. I asked God for a job 8 to 5 with weekends off. And after 2 months of trusting him, he gave me that job. When the chance to have a house went away, God told us to wait 3 years, and we were told that we couldn’t have kids. God told us that he was bigger than science. After separating from music, I started writing poems and spoken words for God and dedicating my life to serving and spreading the word.
God gave us a ministry to manage called Him + Us Ministry with the slogan “We are called to be one” and the purpose of getting other churches and ministers to work together. Also, to impact the social networks and start one of the first Christian podcasts out there called Desde La Sala video podcast. Desde la sala means from the living room and shows that we all can talk about God anywhere but start with you at your house; it can begin with the living room when we sit as a family. I didn’t know anything about streaming media nor the technology I needed to do this, but I had the teacher of teachers. I had God telling me what I needed, and under his instruction, we put together a team and started a podcast.
We now have done about 4 seasons of Desde la sala, and there is more to come since we are under a break because you know how I told you before that God told us that he was bigger than science? Well, he is. He gave us our first child against all diagnoses from doctors. Our miracle baby was born in 2019 against all odds. Do you also know how I told you before that God told us to wait 3 years for a house? Well, 3 years after on the dot. We got our own house in orange city, FL. Since we now have a 3-year-old, our podcast is on hold. But God knows you more than anybody else and knows your dreams. God allowed me to become a recording artist and record my first single 24/7. Now I can see life from a hole different perspective. I can see life through God’s eyes and testify that he does have a plan for you. All you have to do is surrender and trust him in the process.
24/7 is a Christian reggaeton song about how God is with us 24/7. I keep choosing reggaeton/Urban music to talk about God because it is what we need the most, and I can testify about it. I used to be ruled by music with the wrong message, and I know that many younger kids are doing and thinking the same way. To have something different, we have to be different. Because of God, I am now the best version of myself; I am chosen, his child, and you can be too.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I moved to FL for the Disney College Program on February 8th, 2009. I came to the united states without any English, and I was thrown into a job where most people spoke English. After I finished the program in July 2009, I was determined to stay in the US. I was homeless for a month, sleeping in a stranger’s house closet until I found an overnight job, and my parents decided to get a loan for me to get a car and a down payment for a place to live. (Btw this is the first time they are going to hear that I was homeless) it was a very rough start, and I changed jobs about 10 times due to my language barrier and racism.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Aside from working on Him + Us Ministry and my music under Billy Javy Music, I also work for Volusia County, Florida, under pretrial services and Drug court. A job that I became very passionate about due to the opportunity to help addicts to overcome their addictions.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
I have been blessed with some great people, starting with my wife Dyandra, my parents Virgilio & Blanca, and my best friend and brother, Billy. When it came to my professional career, I had a manager that became a mentor and talked so much sense to me, and to this day, I don’t think he knows how much he taught me. His name is Brian Walker. Every time I have any issue at work, the guidance he gave me comes to me. On my way to God, I had a few people who gave me many teachings and support. Pastors Abraham and Bethliza were the first ones to start guiding me on my path. A side of pastor Xavier and Marenid that helped me to find myself in Christian music. Pastor Elias Cintrom also became a mentor and guided me to build a relationship with God that goes beyond humanity. And my current Pastors, Peter Rivera & Stephanie. They don’t only guide me through my faith, but they support me like no other. They have become family.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=1vx6xf7abs3io&utm_content=omazjcs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BillyJavyMusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillyJavyMusic?t=reYHOPr81jIsKDmzcHi-Eg&s=09
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFKeYHtkM-399Xdz7xn2Thw
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/track/24jGOzOoqK56eJrfACqQYl?si=BDOq0NTkSbSwciEpJQekaA&utm_source=copy-link & https://www.tiktok.com/@billyjavy?_t=8VDj0PJdMUE&_r=1
