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What is 'The Christian Heart' and Why Am I Getting This E-Mail?

The Christian Heart is part of the AllWorship ministry. The Christian Heart highlights what people do in their everyday life to show their love for Jesus. Our mission is to encourage Christians to put their faith into action. You are getting this email because you are part of our AllWorship family. If you choose to opt out of The Christian Heart emails by clicking the "unsubscribe" icon below, you will still receive your weekly AllWorship emails as you always have. Here are just some of the stories featured on The Christian Heart stories from the past few weeks...

Truly Unstoppable

I lost my left arm in a shark attack while I was surfing at age 13. I felt a sudden tug and pressure on my arm and saw a flash of gray which turned out to be a 14-foot tiger shark. I went into survival mode and began praying, “God, please help me, please get me to the beach.” I prayed this prayer many times. I was rescued and rushed to the hospital where I lost 60% of my blood. I’m thankful I made it through that day and the difficult week that followed. So many doubts, fears, and unknowns flooded my world. But I had the peace of God to carry me through. When I was recovering, I thought, Okay, God, what are you up to? But I knew God was in control and had a plan for my life. I knew something good could come out of this. I just didn’t know what that was at the time. I put my trust in God to get me through this and not let fear control my life. The hope I found as a Christian led me to overcome this, along with the amazing support of my family, the kindness of my community and having a passion for life. I had learned to surf when I was eight and had really gotten into surfing competitively. That passion I had for surfing was greater than my fear of sharks so...

A Second Chance At A Family

My heart broke when I read the story of seven siblings that lost both parents in a horrific car crash. Their entire family was traveling with a moving trailer when they veered off the highway and flipped several times, throwing everyone from the car. All seven children, ranging in age from 1 to 13, sustained head injuries and had to be hospitalized. When released, they were put into a foster home since there weren't any family members able to take them. My heart was touched reading their story. It would be devastating for these children to be split up into different homes, especially after the heartbreak they had already endured. I could feel God moving and see how He had prepared both me and my husband for this moment. We had raised five biological children in a large six-bedroom house. It was now empty. We had discussed selling it, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do that. Now I could see why. The Lord had also nudged us to become foster parents five years earlier so our hearts, and our lives, had been prepped. The day I read the story, I cried several times and knew what I wanted to do. I sent the story to my husband at work, fully expecting him to slam the idea that was stirring my heart. Later that night, he looked at me and said, "We need to adopt those kids." I immediately started...

Empowering Cuts

I travel around the country giving free haircuts to the homeless, veterans and anyone going through tough financial times. There is something about a fresh haircut that puts a bounce in your step. But I don't look at these as just haircuts. I feel I am empowering people because this gives them a bit of hope and an assurance that someone cares about them. That's why I named my ministry, Empowering Cuts. As a kid, my dad used to give me haircuts because we couldn't afford going to a barber. But honestly, he would mess up my hair really badly. So I guess that is where I got my interest in going to barber school. When I was there, my instructor would take us to homeless shelters to get some practice cutting hair. I loved talking to these men because I wanted to understand their addictions. You see, both my mom and dad were drug addicts. I wanted to try to figure out what leads to addiction. Even though my childhood was difficult because of this, I know I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for my faith....