Stories - Page 19 of 82 - The Christian Heart

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?

Unique Ministries Verbalizing the Gospel
RANDOM NOTES OF ENCOURAGEMENT

I could not stop wasting time. It was crazy. I wanted to do something with my life. I wanted to help people, but instead, I went to sleep, sang in the shower, or sat and stared at the wall. I didn't talk to anybody. I was introverted from the moment I was born, it seemed. I wanted to reach people and show them the light of Jesus I had been shown as a young child, but I never had the right words to say. I felt there was no way to overcome my fear of talking and telling others about God's love. Every single person you meet has their own story. There are no exceptions. You become a part of it by how you treat them. We all have stories we won't ever tell. I learned at a young age that most people hide their hurt and traumas behind a beautiful mask. I have a gift for seeing through the masks, the pain, and the emotions they try to hide. That's what got me into writing random notes of encouragement. Perfect for me who never has had the right words to speak, but I have always had the words to write. I began to write words of encouragement and uplifting scripture on pieces of paper. I would always ask the Lord to give me the words to express to others how beautiful His love is for them. Then I would go throughout my day in the city and place them in library books, restaurant menus, coffee shops, airports; wherever anyone could find them. It… Read More

January 25, 2023
Adoption/Foster Care Children Special Needs
THE DOUGHERTY DOZEN

Be careful what you pray for. We went through nine years of infertility and had at least 11 miscarriages. But I kept praying to become a mother. And God certainly answered my prayers—and then some—because now we have 12 children! When you have a dozen children, life is a little hectic. We do five loads of laundry every day. We spend over $1,000 each week on groceries and have four full-size freezers in our garage to store food. We recently purchased 12 lockers so the kids have their own space for their coats, backpacks and all their shoes. We need a 15-seat passenger van to go anywhere. I go to bed at 11 each night and wake up at 4 in the morning to get everything done. It's amazing what you can get done if you're on the go for 19 hours each day! Our days are loud and full of chaos, but they’re also meaningful and full of love. We became known as The Dougherty Dozen in a fairly unique way. During the pandemic lockdown, we were losing our minds because we were all quarantined together. Imagine all of us in the same house 24 hours a day for months on end. Since the kids were doing their school work from home, we were forced to upgrade the wi-fi in our house to a business account because we were using so much bandwidth. It was getting a little claustrophobic in our house and our nerves were frayed, so I started making silly videos to entertain our family and make them laugh. Just… Read More

January 18, 2023
Overcoming Obstacles Unique Ministries
OUT OF THE DUST

“I don't think I believe in God anymore and I no longer want to be married." What happens when the life you've built turns to complete dust? These are the devastating words I heard from my high school sweetheart and husband. He had been wrestling with his faith and had finally told me. Even though we were in ministry, he had been on his own quiet journey through addiction, doubts, and deconstruction. It is normal to wrestle with faith and fight to find truth, but his journey took him down a path that nearly destroyed us. After our painful divorce, he continued in this painful, isolating direction for quite some time while I slowly rebuilt my life with the support of my family. After such a deep hurt, I was so confused and frustrated. I had never thought that he would question his faith or question our marriage. But as I was on my own, I tried to pursue God while trying to heal and make sense of all I had been through. In time, the Lord graciously got a hold of my husband's heart and he experienced a true-life transformation, only to realize he had made a huge mistake when he left our marriage. He began to reach out to me. After some time, we took a long walk and talked. For several months, we met with a counselor separately and then together. But, honestly, there was nothing left, there was really no hope. But out of the dust, acting only as God can, He breathed life back into our story. Through God's… Read More

January 11, 2023
Overcoming Obstacles Prayer
A GRANDFATHER’S ANSWERED PRAYER

My life has been in shambles on a number of occasions. But Jesus, and my grandfather, have rescued me from the depths of depravity to make me the Christ follower that I am today. My father was a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel and died in a collision when I was four, and my mom was eight months pregnant with my little sister. That was the first time my maternal grandfather stepped in to help guide my life and become our surrogate father. He was a solid Christian who became the anchor in our lives. From time to time, I would feel a closeness to God, an emotional bond, but emotions have a shelf life. If you don’t continue to seek Him, the world can crowd Him out. When I was a teenager, that certainly took place in my life. At 16, I started to experiment with marijuana and alcohol. That experiment quickly turned into a semi-addiction. On weekends, I’d get into some hallucinogenic drugs; by 18, I was into cocaine and heroin. After high school, I entered Auburn University but drank every day and flunked out. I returned home and fell back in with my heroin buddies. I was also deep into sexual promiscuity. I felt God could only love good kids, so I figured He was angry with me. Consequently, I ran from God as fast as I could. It was an ugly life. My best friend overdosed on drugs and died when I was 18. It didn’t do a thing to snap me out of this. I was living a… Read More

January 4, 2023
Children Homeless Loving Your Neighbor
THE CIRCLE OF LOVE

The Circle of Love is not just a toy drive where we supply Christmas presents each year to 700 children in need. It is a way to give forgotten children a sense of worth and value, a way to give them an ability to dream. We started The Circle of Love in 2004, and over these 19 years, we have touched over 8,000 children who live in shelters and in impoverished areas. You can never fully explain to a child why Santa Claus will not come to visit him and his family. For children in transitional housing, having gifts to open on Christmas morning is not so much about the toys, but about reclaiming a sense of normalcy. So many kids in shelters or in poverty feel invisible or forgotten. I know this from personal experience. There were seven kids in my family growing up. We were extremely poor and went without in just about every area of life. I know what it’s like to be hungry or only wear hand-me-down clothes. I know first-hand that if you come to school in the fall without school supplies or return from Christmas vacation without something new, other kids can be cruel. And that is sure what all of my siblings experienced. But for me, there were two big turning points in my life which altered the way I see the world. And truly cemented my Christian faith. When I was nine years old, we were living in a house on a farm in Altoona, Alabama, the farm on which my parents worked. It was Christmas night and, as… Read More

December 21, 2022
Church Activities Senior Citizens
SERVING THE SENIOR ADULTS

Although I grew up going to church, I didn't take God seriously until I was 20 years old. There were always things that I let get in the way of my relationship with God. In my teen years, I never really decided to give my life to Him. My sister and I are the third generation of my family to attend the Salvation Army church in our city. Our mother and grandmother set the example for us as women of God. Even though I attended church three times a week growing up, I still held my full heart back from the Lord. When I was 20, I attended a special Youth Ministries conference and the call of God spoke deeply to my heart. I remember feeling the Holy Spirit touching my life that night over 50 years ago. Since then, everything in my life changed. In 1983, I began working with the Senior Citizens club at my church. I have been blessed to lead this ministry ever since. Back when we started, I had a group of 87 "Golden Chords". The Golden Chords would visit the local nursing homes and sing songs for the residents, a service very much needed in the lives of the elderly. Not everyone realizes that volunteering at nursing homes makes a huge impact on people's lives. Some residents get very few visitors. A smile and a listening ear can make all the difference. In my work with the Senior Citizens Club at my church, I take members on trips, we go to shows, camping in cabins, we do… Read More

December 12, 2022

Browse all categories

Adoption/Foster Care 38

Church Activities 60

Financial Help 18

Loss Of Loved One 38

Loving Your Neighbor 67

Mission Work 52

Overcoming Obstacles 116

Prison Ministry 12

Senior Citizens 22

Special Needs 47

Unique Ministries 166

Verbalizing the Gospel 76

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