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 Loving Your Neighbor Mission Work

    KINDNESS THROUGH LETTERS

    My desire to help people began a couple years ago with writing five heartfelt letters of encouragement to soldiers, inmates, and others who needed hope in their lives. But the number of letters I've written has now grown to over four thousand. It reminds me of when Jesus took two loaves of bread and five little fish, and ended up feeding five thousand people. By sharing God’s love with others in these letters, I want them to see that God is good. Sharing God’s Word is food for the soul. During the Covid pandemic, the world was in such a dark place. In my heart, I felt I needed to do something to bring hope where there was none. I prayed God would lead me to a ministry, and that is when I began the Kindness Through Letters Mission Project. Searching through sources, such as Facebook, or doing a search online, helped me get the addresses for service members, prisoners, and others to mail my letters. A little backstory about myself: my name is Allison, and I am 27 years old. I was born a preemie at 25 weeks, and I have mild cerebral palsy. Although I have had a disability throughout my entire life, I knew this was something I wanted to do. The Kindness Through Letters Mission Project is a way for me to spread the Word and tell others about God. I have handwritten each letter personally, which I thought would be more difficult than it has been. From the beginning, this has been much easier than I anticipated. It has… Read More

    August 14, 2024
  • Loss Of Loved One Unique Ministries

    NEVER ALONE WIDOWS

    In 2001, at the age of 23, I became a widow. My first husband, Todd, had a massive aneurysm at 27 years old. At this time, I knew the Lord, but I didn’t know Him in the hard places. Through worship, I learned who God wanted to be to me. I was grieving, but not grieving well. I didn’t know any other widows who were my age, young without children. The ones I did know were in their eighties and felt I just couldn’t relate to them. A couple years passed, and I began dating a family friend, Blair. He was a fighter pilot who flew A-10s. We dated a short while and married in 2003. Life was beautiful once again. We got pregnant with our first child in New Orleans but had to relocate due to Hurricane Katrina. We moved to Mississippi, had our baby and later, another child. Blair wound up training the next generation of pilots. We were busy with family, church and worship. Things were good, but my grief was building. In April of 2008, when our first child was two, Blair went out to fly with one of his students. As they took off down the runway, a cable broke, causing the plane to flip with a full tank of gas. Both men were ejected and were instantly killed. I was now a widow for the second time in my life. I did not have the emotional maturity to process so much sadness, but I clung to The Word and the promise that we are to grieve with hope. “Brothers and sisters,… Read More

    August 7, 2024
  • Labor Verbalizing the Gospel

    SINGING FOR THE LORD

    We have been sharing the hope of Jesus in song since 1982. It has been far from easy, and we didn’t even know music would be a part of our journey. My husband Bob has the ability to push things forward as a visionary, and one day he said to me, “Learn how to paint so I can sell your pictures. I want to sell something I believe in.” After that, we sold artwork for years. Later, when tragedy struck, we had to overcome fires and felt threatened as our character weaknesses were being exposed. A lack of profit margin at wholesale shows in the 1990’s crippled us with debt, all while dealing with multiple deaths in the family, tests of our marriage, and inter-family relationship difficulties as the children entered their teen years. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16 is what we think of when we look back at that part of our lives. It was a time when we knew we couldn’t just live on ideals anymore. We had to actually practice faith, forgiveness, and patience. Jesus was leading us to better embrace living his Word so we could share it with others. Then, in the early 2000’s, the devastation of 9/11 made it especially apparent how difficult it was to let go of control and of our fears. Yet, God delivered the investments needed to switch from artwork to music and to pursue a family band, The Balyeats. God had literally shifted our travel directions from West… Read More

    July 29, 2024
  • Loss Of Loved One Overcoming Obstacles Recovery

    GOD WILL NEVER FORSAKE YOU

    At my husband’s funeral, we played “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”. My mom had to physically hold me up, but I raised my hands in worship. I didn’t know how it was going to be okay, how this could possibly be in God’s plan for me. I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep being a nurse, when I couldn’t see an ambulance without having a panic attack. I didn’t know how any of it was supposed to work together for good. All (and I mean all) I knew in those days was Jesus. My husband had shot himself in our apartment. I’d heard the shot on the other side of a wall. Losing him this way made it feel like there was a hole in my chest. And for months, I couldn’t fathom going on for more than 15 minutes at a time. Eventually, 15 minutes became 30. A little at a time, God started healing the hole in my chest and putting me back together. I moved sleeping from on a mattress in my mom’s bedroom floor to the sunroom in the home I’d purchased with my husband. I moved from the ER to the ICU. I made a friend there, who turned into my husband, who turned into the father of my beautiful son. I leaned into God’s urgings, and I’m now six months away from becoming a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. When I was severely struggling with anxiety, my first husband had said, “I love you… Read More

    July 24, 2024
  • Hospital Overcoming Obstacles Verbalizing the Gospel

    SURRENDERING MY LIFE TO CHRIST

    One week before I surrendered my life to Christ, I was riding my motorcycle home from the gym late at night. Glancing at my phone for a text notification, I didn't see the truck halfway in my lane until it was too late. The collision at 60 mph left me unable to walk for three days, but by God's grace, I escaped with minimal harm. Exactly a week later, I attended a prayer meeting an hour away from home. Through the prayers of others, God supernaturally healed my legs, prompting me to commit my life to Jesus. Repentance, I realized, meant more than seeking forgiveness; it demanded change. I turned away from addictions like drugs, nicotine, alcohol, and cursing, never looking back. In the early days of my faith journey, doubts arose as my old friends distanced themselves, unable to accept the changes in me. Even my closest friend, from a Christian background, drifted away. Though confused initially, I later understood God's purpose in separating me from negative influences. Despite my eagerness to embark on mission trips, I accepted the need to seek God's approval first. This realization led me to focus on serving my hometown of Anderson, recognizing that revival begins within oneself before spreading to others. Since then, I've initiated a home prayer group and increased my involvement in ministry in Anderson. My life's mission is now centered on demonstrating Christ's love and serving those around me, whether in Anderson, Spartanburg, or beyond. My ultimate vision is to see the lost saved.

    July 17, 2024
  • Mission Work Overcoming Obstacles Recovery

    GOD RESCUED ME

    Growing up in a Christian home, I was familiar with the faith. I had many encounters with the Lord as I earnestly desired to be close to Him, but something changed soon after. As I stepped into my teenage years, I became more accustomed to sinning without feeling bad about it, and steadily started to desire everything the world had to offer. There were several moments when I realized that God was still keeping me close, protecting me from going deeper into sin, regardless of where I was. When I turned 18, I had a sobering wake-up call as I ended up in jail, facing a 5-year prison sentence. I immediately decided to stop the sinful things I was doing and start improving myself. I put a lot of effort into changing, but I kept failing. As time went on, I desired to get closer to God, but my own efforts only took me so far. It was a journey of ups and downs for a long and difficult time. At one point, when I felt like I was in the darkest place I'd been in for a long time, God rescued me. I was dealing with anxiety, depression, and sins that caused self-hate. I had started going to a small youth fellowship, but it was difficult for me to be there consistently. One day as I was driving by myself, I cried out to God, “I don’t want anything, I just want to feel your love again.” I know the Lord heard that prayer because when I went to fellowship that week with a… Read More

    July 10, 2024

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Adoption/Foster Care 38
Children 160
Church Activities 60
Financial Help 18
Food 42
Homeless 35
Hospital 44
Labor 170
Loss Of Loved One 40
Loving Your Neighbor 67
Mentoring 50
Mission Work 52
Other 13
Overcoming Obstacles 119
Prayer 57
Prison Ministry 12
Recovery 46
Senior Citizens 22
Special Needs 47
Unique Ministries 171
Verbalizing the Gospel 77
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