Without exception, we all have a unique and powerful story to tell.
We know this because God has designed each and every human who ever walked the face of the earth for a specific purpose, as part of His grand plan. He doesn’t solely use celebrities, the powerful, the rich, the talented — in fact, God delights in letting His majesty shine through the least likely people, at the least likely moments.
These testimonies are often when God shines brightest.
CBN’s Abigail Robertson recently stopped by Faithwire to discuss her latest project which aims to show God’s extraordinary work through regular, ordinary people.
It’s called Rise Up: Stories of Remarkable Faith and Relentless Courage and Robertson was a lead editor on the book. She explained that CBN has covered “literally thousands” of powerful testimonies over the years, and this was a chance to highlight some of the most striking examples of God breathing new life into seemingly hopeless situations.
“For literally decades, CBN has shared stories of people with remarkable encounters with God and where God has done amazing things in their life. A lot of times they’ve hit rock bottom and that’s when they’ve decided to cry out to Him — and He’s shown up. And we’ve shared these stories forever on the 700 Club, so I was really excited about sifting through them and picking some to put in book form,” she said.
We all love seeing celebrities have their lives changed by God, but we don’t often get to see how He’s changing the lives of ordinary people. “Chances are you’ve never heard of anyone in this book. These are regular people and everybody’s story is so different,” she explained, before adding, “but the one thing they all have in common is just the remarkable way God transformed their life when they just put their situation in His hands.”
You can check out Robertson’s full interview with Faithwire here:
From an executive at Enron to a person caught up practicing witchcraft, the stories featured in ‘Rise Up’ will leave you encouraged and inspired in your walk with the Lord.
One of Robertson’s favorite testimonies featured in the book is that of Rifqa Bary, a former Muslim who ended up pursuing Christianity as a teen despite death threats from her family, including her own father. Despite facing such severe consequences for following Jesus, she chose to do so anyway. That story took place in the United States, which Robertson says is shocking because it’s something you’d normally expect to hear coming out of the middle east.
Other stories aren’t about literal life and death but about trust and obedience, such as with a local church that decided to ask itself a tough question: would anyone care if we folded up shop tomorrow? It was their honest assessment of this question – and the resulting answer to prayer – that led them to a home that housed many refugees in need. After serving them, it led to more efforts and eventually to what is now a thriving ministry that focuses on leading refugees to Christ.
Incredible stories that will no doubt encourage you as you look to make an impact for Jesus. If you’d like to order a copy of the book, you can do so on Amazon.