Stories - Page 35 of 83 - 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?

Labor Mission Work
SHOWING GOD’S LOVE IN A NEW LAND

According to the gospel story, God came into this world as an ordinary man, and experienced the struggles and joys, the failures and triumphs, the fears and hopes of his community. "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." (John 1:14, MSG). He loved His community so much that he was willing to die for the sake of its restoration. I am so privileged and joyful to embody this story in my Central Asian community. In 2017, it was time to start the next chapter of my life. Having served as a principal of a Christian school in England for over 20 years, I felt I had done the best I could and didn’t want to outstay my welcome. I resigned from my job but still wanted to teach a few more years in a new place. Little did I know that God would guide me to my forever home in a far-away land. Growing up in England, I experienced many comforts. Perhaps these comforts were talking when people laughed at my plans to work in Central Asia: "You'll probably end up living in a yurt in the middle of nowhere, milking goats, and teaching in a wooden shack." I knew that wasn't accurate, but I honestly didn't know what to expect. Even though the process of coming to Central Asia involved loads of red tape, God made my transition seamless and gave me peace concerning my decision. I had been abroad lots of times with packaged holiday deals. Coming to live in Central Asia opened up… Read More

April 13, 2021
Children Hospital Unique Ministries
EMILY’S AWESOME TOY DRIVE

I feel I was called to organize toy drives after I found myself in the hospital on Christmas at age four. In 2009, I became very sick and was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital on Christmas night. The next day, a Child Life representative greeted me with a large gift bag filled with toys. My mom thanked her but said that I had already received my Christmas presents. The Child Life team explained that no child should be in the hospital during the holiday season but if they are, they should feel the joy of the holidays while they are here. From that year on, I was determined to help those hospitalized during the holidays. For the past 10 years, I've done a toy drive in my community, asking for donations of new, unwrapped toys. We collected about 20 toys the first year. And it's grown dramatically every year since, so much so that we donated 4,412 toys last year. I now donate toys to children in several hospitals and organizations throughout Long Island: Cohen Children's Medical Center, Stony Brook University Hospital, Winthrop Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House, the John Theissen Foundation, and Angela's House. Some of those organizations also keep siblings in mind as well and that is very important to me. My goal this year is to exceed the number of toys collected and delivered last year, and bring joy to the children that need it most. My isolated incident and hospital stay in 2009 set the tone for me wanting to pay it forward. My grandfather, my family, as well as… Read More

April 6, 2021
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

Browse all categories

Adoption/Foster Care 38

Church Activities 60

Financial Help 18

Loss Of Loved One 39

Loving Your Neighbor 67

Mission Work 52

Overcoming Obstacles 118

Prison Ministry 12

Senior Citizens 22

Special Needs 47

Unique Ministries 169

Verbalizing the Gospel 77

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