Stories - Page 70 of 88 - 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?

Church Activities Verbalizing the Gospel
HITTING THE STREETS IN GHANA

As a pastor in Ghana, it pains me to see how few people follow or even know about Jesus. You can see it in the traffic patterns. During the weekdays, there's a lot of traffic in town whilst on weekends, there's very little traffic. A lot of people take their work more seriously than God.
But some others just haven’t heard the good news of Jesus. It struck me that only about 50% of the population of my region go to church regularly on Sundays. So I thought, how can we reach the other 50% to let them know how much God loves them and how much He yearns to fellowship with them? On 1st July, which was a public holiday in Ghana, my congregation hit the streets of Kaosa in what we called the Street Rhema. We shared the Word with everyone we met. We started in the township of Kasoa and went out to Kokrobite Beach. We were so surprised to find that some people had never heard the name of Jesus. We wore t-shirts and held placards with messages of hope. We played music along the streets of our town to draw people's attention to what we were doing. We had over 100 souls won to Christ that day. Most of them now go to church on a regular basis. One very important thing I learned from my father---until a soul grows to the point where he desires to bring others into the house of God, that soul has not been won completely. I believe the word of God… Read More

March 13, 2018
Children Labor Special Needs
WONDERFUL THEME PARKS

When God placed individuals with special needs on my heart back in high school, I had no way of knowing He was already preparing me for life with my daughter, Morgan. She has physical and cognitive special needs. Loving a child with special needs has taught me a lot about the fragility of life and how to see the world through a different lens. Just through her smiles and hugs, she is able to inspire others. I am blessed to have her in my life. And, she is the inspiration behind everything I do. After I retired at an early age, I felt called to provide services for the special needs community based on our own experiences with Morgan. I learned early on that Morgan is one of the lucky ones when it comes to having access to medical care. It is costly and difficult, and many of those in the special needs community simply do not have the ability to get their children the help they need. I wanted to develop things and places that would make their lives better and help them feel included. I developed Morgan's Wonderland, the first fully inclusive and ultra-accessible family fun park, after a personal experience. I was with Morgan in a pool one day where other children were playing. When Morgan tried to play ball with these children, they ran off. As a parent, I recognized the hurt and confusion in my daughter's eyes. Because of this incident, I started thinking about where I could take her to play with children where everyone would feel… Read More

March 9, 2018
Children Church Activities Mentoring
GETTING INVOLVED IN THEIR LIVES

As a father of three, my life is pretty busy. My evenings are filled with volleyball games, track meets, and dance recitals as I work to be the best dad I can be. Wednesdays nights, though, are my sacred time. Those are the evenings I spend as the Royal Ranger Commander at my church. When my son turned six, he joined our local Royal Rangers program. Since I wanted to spend time with him, I decided to become the leader of his age group. Each Wednesday evening, I work with a group of boys teaching them life skills as well as how to grow into godly men. We go camping a few times each year, memorize scripture together, and learn about the importance of giving back to the community. What started as a simple way for me to spend time with my son has grown into something much bigger than I imagined. My son is now 20, and I am so proud of the man he has become. He is kind and generous, thoughtful and strong. But I am also proud of the dozens of other young men I have worked with over the years through this program. Some of my boys come from broken homes full of pain. I have prayed with them, fed them, brought them clothes, and mostly, just loved them as a father should love his son. These young men have brought so much joy to me. I know I am much more blessed as their Royal Ranger commander than I could ever bless them. I… Read More

March 6, 2018
Children Hospital Overcoming Obstacles Unique Ministries
THE KIDNEY PILLOW

When she was six years old, my daughter, Erin, was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease: FSGS. Her disease causes her immune system to attack her kidneys, and slowly, they fail. She is nine now, and we remain hopeful and have faith that God is able to sustain her. But, it isn't always easy. When Erin was first diagnosed during one of her early hospital stays, a sweet child life therapist saw her struggling and feeling down. She asked Erin what she would do if she could do anything in the hospital that day. Erin told her she would like to make a pillow that looked like a kidney. Armed with a t-shirt, hot glue, and stuffing, that's what they did. This strange looking pillow ended up being a comfort to Erin---so much so that she asked if we could start making kidney pillows for other kids going through the same ordeal. But, we hesitated. Then, in 2017, Erin went through a rough time and the pillow idea came back up again. This time, we went for it. We started making kits that come with all the materials a child needs to make a silly kidney pillow. In just a short time, it grew in popularity. It blossomed from taking pillow kits to our local hospital to sending them to other countries. My daughter and I have a heart for kidney kids, so it began as a way to offer encouragement and hope to other families struggling with the diagnosis. As a believer, I wanted to give them a little more to help them… Read More

March 2, 2018
Church Activities
THE CHURCH PIANIST

I've played the piano and organ in churches for the last 50 years. I began playing piano at my church when I was about 15 and have continued doing so ever since. Every Sunday, I have found great joy behind the keys at my church. I spend hours pouring over music for Sunday's service. Each week is a wonderful challenge in finding just the right songs to encourage and inspire the congregation. In college, I discovered an even deeper love for music when I was introduced to the organ. I decided to study music and spent almost every waking moment between those two instruments, learning new arrangements for old hymns. I would then try them out on a local congregation I played for throughout college. It was a wonderful time. Since then, each Sunday finds me behind an instrument at two different churches in my community. Because both churches are very small, there just isn't anyone in the congregation who can play any music. Thankfully, the two services have times different enough to allow me to attend both churches. I have served the congregations of these two churches for over 30 years and have loved every minute. Each week when my fingers hit the keys, I look up to see the faces in the audience as their voices belt out praise to God. It truly is a privilege to be used by God to praise His name each week. My prayer is that someone younger will be inspired by the music and begin her own journey in church music, giving God all the… Read More

February 27, 2018
Labor Prison Ministry Recovery
CHANGING THE HEARTS OF INMATES

35 years. That's how long I was dependent on drugs and alcohol. My story is one of addiction and ugliness, that God turned into beauty and a message of redemption. I was sexually abused from five-years-old by three different men until age 14. I was nine when I learned that drugs could numb the pain. I tried to commit suicide at 26, but the Lord intervened. I accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized. But even with a relentless desire to change after accepting Jesus, I couldn't stay clean. I ended up in prison in 2010 to serve an 18-month sentence. But what Satan tried to use to harm me, God used to heal me. I studied every self-help, recovery and psychology book I could find in prison. But God spoke to me in my cell and said, "The only thing that will change the old mindset is the Word of God. Memorize a scripture a day". So, for two hours every day I studied and memorized scripture. This became my tool to freedom. As I began to heal in prison, I found many others had been through these same experiences and faced the same issues. The Lord nudged me in Luke 4:18 to help "set the captives free". While in prison, I started a class for my fellow inmates where I’d help them grow in their faith. We’d talk about the things that happened to them. And I could understand, because I had been there. The Lord gave me a prayer sheet for the ladies and I even sent it to other prisons. It… Read More

February 23, 2018

Browse all categories

Adoption/Foster Care 38

Church Activities 61

Financial Help 18

Loss Of Loved One 47

Loving Your Neighbor 68

Mission Work 52

Overcoming Obstacles 133

Prison Ministry 12

Senior Citizens 23

Special Needs 49

Unique Ministries 176

Verbalizing the Gospel 80

Submit a Story

Listen To Our Podcast

Support The Christian Heart

Sign Up For Our Inspiring Newsletter