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?
  • Children Mission Work Unique Ministries

    BRINGING HOPE TO A SLUM IN AFRICA

    I’ve always felt a pull toward Africa. In my twenties, I was so moved by God’s love for the poor that I felt compelled to act. I intended to start a children’s home in Nairobi, Kenya. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa. The one-room homes have corrugated metal roofs, cardboard walls and dirt floors. Surveys report 98% of residents have witnessed a violent crime in the last year, and 66% of girls prostitute themselves for food before age 16. While there, a team of us went door-to-door and asked hundreds of mothers, “If you could change one thing for your child, what would it be?” We anticipated answers such as move to a different community or secure a good-paying job to support my family. But we were wrong; every single mother said the same thing: get my child a good education. My plan to start an orphanage changed to focusing on schools. The Headmistress of a school in the slums identified hunger as the #1 issue. She explained how hard it was to have students complete standardized tests because they would cry due to hunger. “How much would it cost to feed the 70 kids who don’t have food?” we asked. Her answer: $200 a month. Though we aren’t rich according to American standards, my husband and I immediately committed to paying this ourselves. God provided us with the means to do so, and this was the easiest “yes” we’d ever given. All the teachers at this school were volunteers. Thanks to supportive donors, the teachers now receive the same wage as government-paid teachers in… Read More

    November 28, 2023
  • Children Prayer

    PRAYER BABY

    I was beyond excited when we found out we were going to have a second child. Having dealt with infertility issues and other medical problems, I was considered extremely high risk. My obstetrics doctor had scheduled an ultrasound right away so the baby could be monitored carefully. When I went in for the appointment, I was looking forward to getting ultrasound pictures and anxious to hear the baby's heartbeat. As the tech did the tests, he had a look of concern on his face. Normally, there's friendly chatting during the procedure, but not this time. I expected to meet with the doctor next, but for some reason, she never came in. I felt like something must be wrong. The assistant explained that he saw no baby and there was no heartbeat. He told me I had probably had what's called a missed miscarriage, where the body absorbs the fetus. Instantly, tears ran down my face. How could I have lost the baby when there had been no symptoms of miscarriage? The idea seemed impossible. It was also incredibly odd that the tech gave me this information instead of my doctor. He told me I would need a procedure called a dilation and curettage, or a D and C, but I couldn't bring myself to schedule that without a second opinion. Leaving the office, I sobbed uncontrollably in the car. I was so distraught my husband came home from work to be with me. That day, and every day for the next week, I prayed continuously for my baby to be there. “Pray in… Read More

    November 21, 2023
  • Labor Verbalizing the Gospel

    A STAR THAT SHINES FOR JESUS

    Candace Cameron Bure rose to fame as a child actor in the late 1980s as D.J. Tanner on Full House. As an adult, she has appeared in countless Hallmark and Great American Family movies, as well as Dancing with the Stars, The View and Fuller House. She's a wife, a mother of three, a producer and a best-selling author. But she’s also become very well known for her love for Jesus. “While I am thankful for all of those opportunities and titles, I feel that the most life changing one I identify with is ‘Christian.’” writes Candace on her website. “I am a Christian woman who loves Jesus and seeks to give Him the glory above all else.” Candace’s faith is the core of who she is; it is not something that stays at home when she goes to work. “My faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of who I am. My faith is so important to me whether in celebration or in challenges,” Candace told Today.com in an interview. “I stay in God’s word, the Bible, so I am comforted by truth and the hope God gives to all humanity and not allow fear to drive my emotions or decisions. I also know that when I have feelings of hopelessness or fear, that God understands them and wraps His arms around us like the Father that He is.” She was not always so grounded in her faith. “Many people think I grew up in a Christian home, but I didn’t,” she writes on her website. “I grew up in a moral home, a home… Read More

    November 15, 2023
  • Labor Mission Work

    TRAINING NURSES IN ETHIOPIA

    God used the Covid pandemic to prepare me to do something I never imagined. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was an orthopedic surgery nurse practitioner. The world was on lock-down, so surgery follow-up appointments were virtual and all elective surgeries were on hold. I sat in our empty clinic doing telemedicine visits primarily for knee and shoulder pain. Meanwhile, I heard reports from the hospital of countless Covid patients dying each week. The work I was doing was important, but the hospital desperately needed help, so I offered to go to the ICU. In those early days of Covid, we didn’t see many people walk out of the hospital. No visitors were allowed in, so I video-called countless families to give them daily updates or tell them when their loved one passed away. It was devastating. I felt honored to be used by God to care for patients in such a terrible crisis. I also learned a tremendous amount and subsequently completed a critical care fellowship. Little did I know, God was teeing me up for something even bigger. Earlier this year, I went on a month-long mission trip to a hospital in Ethiopia. Ethiopian nurses are some of the most intelligent and caring nurses I’ve ever met, but their training is generalized and includes very little critical care training. An African medical research organization even deemed the quality of nursing care in this region as “substandard” and the hospital facilities as “unsatisfactory.” When I was leaving Ethiopia, the missionaries asked me to consider returning long-term. And that is what God has led me… Read More

    November 8, 2023
  • Food Prayer

    GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES

    As a young girl in 1979, my family packed up and moved from a very small town in Hamilton, Ohio to a rural part of the state called Morrow. Our previous home was quite small but this house was three stories and was built before the civil war. With three children under the age of ten, no running water, and no electricity at first, my parents had their hands full. Our nearest neighbors were over a mile away in any direction and our house was located on a busy highway called State Route 22. Until the water and electricity was working, we took baths in a creek behind the house. Money was often tight, and it seemed there were many struggles for us. During one such time, when our pantry was almost bare, I listened as my mother spoke her fears aloud. For her, prayer was an ongoing conversation with the Father, not something that needed to be formal. She prayed, asking God to help my father find steady work, and for God to provide our home with food. My siblings were too small to understand much of this but I wasn't. I also prayed and hoped God would help us soon. My mother assured me, “God always provides.” Sometime the next day, there was an unexpected knock at our door. Since we were not expecting visitors, my mother wondered who it could be. An unfamiliar man stood before her. He explained that his refrigerated grocery truck had broken down on the highway, practically in front of our house. Wanting to call for… Read More

    November 1, 2023
  • Mission Work

    SHOWING CHRIST’S LOVE IN HONDURAS

    I needed an interpreter to speak to my patients. I always looked my patients directly in the eyes when I spoke with them, communicating as much through my eyes and body language as I could; then my interpreter would tell them exactly what I said. In turn, I’d listen as my patients spoke back to me, absorbing as much as I could through their gaze, facial expressions, and hand gestures, and then get the rest of the story back from the interpreter. On my first mission trip to the mountains of Honduras, our bus and truck were loaded up with a generator, refrigerator, stove, and food. We were able to use a school as our medical office, since the children weren’t there at that time of year. We slept on cots and rearranged the desks and chairs in the classroom to create a makeshift office. There wasn’t much privacy, but we did the best we could. We try to do this every year, although we were unfortunately interrupted by Covid. Every day, patients would come in one after another, all day long. We didn’t leave the office until the last person had been seen. Often, whole families would come together for the day, receiving medical care and then going out to get rice and beans with vouchers, or to look through the donated clothes and shoes we had brought for them. The work was exhausting but so rewarding! With each patient, I tried to transfer the love of our Heavenly Father to them by giving them the care they needed. I had to… Read More

    October 25, 2023

Browse all categories

Adoption/Foster Care 34
Children 145
Church Activities 57
Financial Help 18
Food 38
Homeless 30
Hospital 34
Labor 153
Loss Of Loved One 28
Loving Your Neighbor 62
Mentoring 47
Mission Work 46
Other 12
Overcoming Obstacles 80
Prayer 49
Prison Ministry 9
Recovery 31
Senior Citizens 21
Special Needs 44
Unique Ministries 153
Verbalizing the Gospel 66
Submit a Story
Listen To Our Podcast
Support The Christian Heart
Sign Up For Our Inspiring Newsletter
X