How Everyday People Live Out Their Christian Faith

Illustrating how men and women display their love for Jesus in their day-to-day lives.
Little things that may have an eternal impact. Might these stories motivate you to use your talents?
  • Overcoming Obstacles Unique Ministries Verbalizing the Gospel

    HELPING VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING

    Kainos is a Chrisitan, non-profit organization in Stuttgart, Germany that helps victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation find freedom, hope and a new life. Kainos is Greek meaning "completely new”, inspired from 2 Corinthians 5:17: Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! It is our desire to help give women in prostitution the confidence, hope and belief in the living God so they can exchange a life of captivity for freedom. We believe this offer of new life is for everyone, and we want to take this message of love and freedom in Christ to some of the darkest places in Germany. Prostitution is legal in Germany, and Germany is known as the Brothel of Europe, an international hotspot of sex trafficking. Brothels are filled with women from around the world, especially Romania, Bulgaria, Columbia and the Dominican Republic. Even though prostitution is legal, it is difficult to regulate, creating a dark place where abuse and atrocities of all kinds are committed every day. It is estimated that 150,000 people in Germany are currently living in forced prostitution and sexual exploitation. However that number only reflects the lack of reporting; most organizations agree that the number could be 3-4 times more. One can go to prison on accounts of rape or physical abuse. However, in Germany, all of that takes place in the brothels. This injustice needs to stop. Our organization was founded in 2014 by my former pastor’s wife. God had put this ministry on her… Read More

  • Overcoming Obstacles

    TURNING FROM A LIFE OF PROSTITUTION

    While Kenya is a beautiful country, about 8.9 million Kenyans live on less than $2 a day. This can lead many to desperate situations, like Priscar Onduso. She is a woman who fell into sin and despair, only to receive a source of unlikely hope when she needed it most. Priscar Onduso was born in Mombasa County in Kenya, in a town called Voi. She was the firstborn of a family of four, and her parents were impoverished with no stability in work. Though she went to church, she did not know salvation. When her mom was diagnosed with tuberculosis, her life became even harder, and she would often miss school, doing a difficult laundry job instead to earn money. Then, unfortunately, her dad was involved in an accident, so she had to fully drop out of school and continue to do laundry to support her family. She finally gained a job as a waitress, but was still living in poverty. Priscar then fell into a dangerous relationship, crushing her innocence. This man led her into a terrible lifestyle of low self-esteem, drinking, and dancing. Desperate for love, acceptance, and money, Priscar became involved in prostitution. This lifestyle, unfortunately, had severe consequences, and one day, she went to the doctor because she was feeling sick. It turns out she had a severe infection due to a sexually transmitted infection, and it was a serious situation. She was ashamed, and she did not know where to turn. That is when she met Peter in the hospital. He is a member of the Schools Family Ministry,… Read More

  • Loss Of Loved One Mentoring

    THE AMAZING INFLUENCE OF MY GRANDMA

    My Grandma was an amazing person. I will never forget her; that would be impossible. So much of me, and who I am as a young woman, is because of her powerful influence. She watched me take my first breath as I entered this world, and I watched her take her last breath as she left it. She has lived with me from day one, for my entire life. The first thing I did every morning for as long as I can remember was to go say good morning to her. And she has been such a strong inspiration of the Christian faith to me. Between my first breath and her last breath hang 23 years full of thousands and thousands of memories. And those will forever be treasures to me. However, my loving Grandma lived a life before I came into the picture. She had a very rough, abusive childhood. She and her siblings were raised in Colombia in the 1950s and 60s. She grew up, got married, and had 2 children, one of them being my mom. She lived a very extravagant life being married, having much wealth. But when her marriage went awry, she moved to the USA when my mom was 12 years old. They restarted their life and had very humble beginnings. As my mom grew up, she and my Grandma worked hard to make ends meet. And even though my Grandma never really got lost in the ways of the world, she still was missing something very big: Jesus. My mom went to a church with… Read More

  • Children Prayer

    WAITING ON GOD’S PERFECT TIMING

    When we first married, I was on birth control but because of persistent headaches, I had to stop. We felt this must be God’s timing for having a baby. Seth even had a dream that we would have twins. We laughed it off that maybe we would since twins ran in my side of the family. After about six or eight weeks, twins were confirmed. Just thinking about it was daunting but we were also excited. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, except for lots of morning sickness, which was to be expected. Amazingly, our beautiful girls came at 37 weeks (full-term) and were healthy. At that time, Seth was a part-time youth minister in Clermont, and I was a full-time teacher. We both felt I really needed to be home with the children. This meant Seth would need more hours, but our church was unable accommodate. We ended up moving, and Lake City Christian Church offered Seth a full-time youth minister position. With our family over three hours away, our new church quickly became like family. Once our girls were about two, we thought we were ready to have more children. For several years, we tried to no avail. A doctor told me I had polycystic ovarian syndrome. Normally when people take Clomid for this, they get pregnant, but I did not. We considered in vitro but then I finally got pregnant. We fully believed this was God’s timing once again. There were no plans for an ultrasound right away, but we really wanted to know if we could be having twins again. It’s rare,… Read More

  • Hospital Overcoming Obstacles Prayer

    A STROKE SAVED OUR MARRIAGE

    On April 26, 2018, my wife had a life-threatening stroke. She was on bone-density pills which led to a blood vessel bursting in her brain. Prior to the stroke, she knew something was wrong with her health and felt I was poisoning her. I was not a perfect husband by any means, but I couldn’t understand why she thought this, and I felt our marriage was over at this point. In hindsight, the swollen vessel was causing her mental issues. What do you do when your spouse thinks you want them dead? She even had a blood test confirming there was no poison. Still, this did not convince her. That weekend was my birthday and I had to go to Jacksonville for my work. This rarely happened, and I asked her if she would go with me so we could spend time together and try to work on our marriage. This was the woman I still wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and we were close to divorcing. She didn't want to go, but changed her mind at the last minute. Late that evening, we went to dinner. The next morning, she said she wasn't feeling well. At first, we thought maybe she had food poisoning but when she was not able to get up and her bowel let loose, I called for an ambulance. They initially agreed it might be food poisoning but when she went unconscious, we knew it was serious. Because we were in Jacksonville, we were only 15 minutes from the Mayo Clinic. This is why I believe… Read More

  • Overcoming Obstacles Recovery

    A NEW LIVER AND NEW LIFE

    In New Mexico, one will find vast blue skies, beautiful mesas, and true evidence of God’s majestic plan of creation. However, while there are many stories of hardship and poverty here, there are also stories of overcoming and endurance through Jesus Christ. Richelle Shorty is a Native American woman from the Navajo tribe of New Mexico. Many people she grew up with had negative views and misconceptions of Christianity, but deep down, she knew these thoughts were not true. As a little girl, she accepted Jesus Christ into her heart on the playground with her friends, but little did she know the challenges that lay ahead of her and the rocky path that would follow. Her childhood was tumultuous, with her parents arguing relentlessly and eventually divorcing. Richelle was used to being “scooped up” from one relative’s house to another, and after her parents’ divorce, she was eventually sent to live at her Christian aunt’s house. Though she didn’t always like her aunt’s rules, she agreed with her on one thing: she didn’t like her dad’s drinking. Unfortunately, despite her critique of her father, Richelle ended up becoming an even worse alcoholic than him. One day, she woke up and the world around her looked eerily brown, and her eyes were hauntingly yellow. She desperately prayed to God not to go blind, and she went to the doctor only to find out the most disheartening news: she had end stage liver disease. Richelle, in her distress, continued to pray. She realized God was her only hope for survival, and in September 2022, she received… Read More

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