Stories - Page 33 of 81 - 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?

Financial Help Homeless Recovery Unique Ministries
EMERGENCY RV

I've spent the last two years placing families who have lost their homes through natural disasters into free RVs so they have a place to live. But I’ve received the greatest blessing because I’ve seen God working miracles and bringing me back to Him. I accepted Jesus at 16 but I hadn’t been walking closely with Him for some time. In 2018, my six-year-old daughter, Luna, and I were preparing to have our first Thanksgiving alone in Colorado. I wanted to do something to show her the meaning of giving. I heard about the people of Paradise, California where 50,000 people were left homeless from wildfires. I saw a story of a man giving thanks that he still had an RV to live in. That’s when the idea came to me. Why don’t we buy a used RV, drive it to California and give it to a family that lost their home. I contacted everyone selling an RV locally on Craig’s List and told them our plan. One guy sold me his RV for $2,500 instead of the $12,000 he was asking. That was the first time God showed me His hand in this. Once Luna and I took off for Paradise, I saw more evidence of God's presence. On Facebook, I told people to email me if they knew of a family in Paradise that was now homeless. I got several hundred emails. But people also wrote they'd donate their RV to give to a family. A friend in media relations heard our plan, alerted the press and we had requests from TV… Read More

March 30, 2021
Financial Help Food Labor Prison Ministry
THE FUNNEL CAKE QUEEN

If you’ve truly hit rock bottom and come out of it thanks to God’s blessings, then I think you should be a light to others that are struggling. I’ve lived with no running water, had my car repossessed and sold drugs just to feed my three little kids. I hit my lowest point 11 years ago when I saw an acquaintance walking on the street. I just offered him a ride and he gave me $10 for gas. What I didn’t know is that he had robbed someone earlier in the day. He was arrested, and because he was in my car, I was arrested; then tried and convicted as an accomplice. I spent three months in prison. But it was the most rewarding three months of my life. I needed that time in prison so God could sit me down, show me who I had become and bring me back to Him. While in prison, I was surrounded by Godly women and invited to their Bible studies. I had always known about Jesus but I needed to believe and follow Him once again. And I recommitted my life to Him. At the beginning of 2020, I started a funnel cake business. I top them with powdered sugar, whipped crèam, ice cream, candy or syrup, and sell them at my store called Funnel Cake Queen. And people love them. But I was feeling a nudge from God to give back. I knew people were struggling, especially during this pandemic. So I posted something on Facebook, asking people what bills they were worried about. I got… Read More

March 23, 2021
Financial Help Labor Loving Your Neighbor
BLESSING OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED

We run a business called Cayman Kayaks. Or I should say, we ran that business. The pandemic has shut down the tourism sector in the Cayman Islands and so we're living off our savings. We didn’t want to just feel sorry for ourselves so we vowed to help others with all this extra time. We started volunteering with an organization on the island that delivers food to families in need. We did this twice each week for several months, and really formed relationships with these families. We had the opportunity to be a living example of Christ and we made extra time to pray with them before the deliveries. One day, a single mom living in a shed with two kids confided in me that she was pregnant. This woman had nothing for her expectant baby and couldn't afford to buy a thing. My heart went out to her, so I made a post on a Facebook group I'm part of, asking if anyone had any baby clothes or items for this expectant mom. We were overwhelmed with over 50 individual responses. We were able to abundantly meet her needs. We thought we could bless others with some items that we'd received from this outpouring of kindness. So we did. And word started to spread. Even more people started calling us, wanting to donate clothing items for all ages for us to distribute to people in need. At the same time, we heard about more people that were struggling on the island. We were inundated with clothes and toys, far more than we… Read More

March 16, 2021
Labor Prayer Verbalizing the Gospel
NEVER GIVING UP ON SOMEONE

I just started a new job when I met him, the man God wanted to reach. At the time, my job was to work on radio towers and he soon became my climbing partner which meant we were now climbing up radio towers together. You get to know someone really well when you are stuck with them 9-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week with literally nowhere to go. I never wanted to push God on him, but I also wasn’t going to hide who I was from him. I would share with him how every morning as I drove to work, I turned on worship music and had a list of people that I would pray for. He responded, "you don’t pray for me, do you?" It turns out he hated God. Still, I continued to pray for him and kept telling him I was praying; I wanted him to know someone cared. After a while, his response softened and he told me, “well, if you’re going to pray, pray for my daughter but not for me.” He later moved away, but we stayed in touch as I saw his heart continue to soften. He fell off the wagon one night and became suicidal. He came to me that night, and as my dad and I sat with him for two hours, all we knew to say to him was he had purpose, that God had a plan for him. Later, we found out that simple truth saved his life. He ended up in jail that night, but… Read More

March 8, 2021
Labor Mission Work Verbalizing the Gospel
WORLD WIDE CHURCH PLANTERS

In 1998, the Lord placed a dream in the heart of two men: to see the world come to Christ in their lifetime. That year, Dr. Steve Wilkes and I decided to follow the Lord's command and start a new type of missions organization. Through our ministry, World-Wide Church Planters, we work in harvest areas around the world to not only see people come to Christ, but to also see new churches started. We train local church planters to evangelize within their communities and start Bible studies which lead to new churches. These new churches are then challenged to start other churches. The ministry and reach of WWCP has been tremendous. In the years since we first began, WWCP has done ministry in 25 nations, has seen over 600 new churches planted, and has seen thousands of professions of faith. However, He was not done with us. In 2004, we began working with indigenous pastors in areas where there were no missionaries, and this has become our current method of ministry. We do projects all around the world, but our two biggest areas of work are in Burundi, Africa and the Amazon Basin of Brazil. In the small, war torn country of Burundi, we have found a remarkable mission field. Our first major project here was in 2004 to train 23 church planters. From this class, we saw 72 churches planted. Since then, we know of over 300 new churches that have begun in Burundi alone. God is good! We also began work in the Amazon Basin. Our best understanding is… Read More

March 1, 2021
Labor Unique Ministries
HIGHLIGHTING PEOPLE THAT SERVE

I started Support Someone Saturday last year to highlight the great things people are doing to serve others during the pandemic. I had an idea about doing a video interview series back in February. Then in April, I went through some major dental issues. I was in significant pain with an ice pack on my face for about ten days. I had eight dentist appointments over two months. During that painful time, I would pray while icing my face. It was then that God really impressed upon me to start the Support Someone Saturday interview series. My goal is to get the word out about all the positive things people are doing through charities, foundations, ministries and nonprofits to help those in need, especially during the pandemic. Support Someone Saturdays is an interview that lasts about 30 minutes. I have talked to founders, directors and leaders of organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Administer Justice, Team World Vision and more. The purpose is to inform the viewers about the founding of the organization, the mission and what they are doing to help those in need. Those I interview usually share some real-life stories of people that have been helped. They also share ways that people can get on board, donate, or volunteer. They talk about how the pandemic has affected their organization. I hope to interview more organizations not only in Illinois but around the United States. I want to inspire Christians and others that watch the interviews to start giving back, to do more to tangibly step out and meet the needs of… Read More

February 22, 2021

Browse all categories

Adoption/Foster Care 38

Church Activities 59

Financial Help 18

Loss Of Loved One 38

Loving Your Neighbor 66

Mission Work 51

Overcoming Obstacles 111

Prison Ministry 11

Senior Citizens 22

Special Needs 47

Unique Ministries 160

Verbalizing the Gospel 73

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