My life used to be centered on me — my happiness, my world. Because I was the youngest and the only boy in the family, I was spoiled, lived recklessly, and did everything on a whim. My high school life was a complete mess. I was branded a bad influence, but that only challenged me to live a more adventurous life. At 13, I was smoking, having premarital sex, and dating girls left and right. Everything just seemed cool.

By 17, my desire for more adventure got me into the crazy world of drugs, and I became heavily addicted. When I wasn’t using drugs, I was selling drugs just so I could support my own addiction. It was a perfect cycle! When the pill “ecstasy” was introduced, I got a good source that allowed me to sell thousands of pesos’ worth of these pills every weekend. Life could not have been any better!

But all that stopped when in February 2000, I was set up by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and got busted! My world crumbled as I was brought to Camp Crame, blindfolded and in fear for my life.

In the days that followed my arrest, there was a media frenzy. PDEA reported to have caught the first and biggest drug dealer of ecstasy! My name was everywhere, and worse, my parents and family experienced deep shame and humiliation. That bothered me for a time, but because of family connections, instead of time in prison, I got away with seven months of rehab instead.

This suddenly made me feel untouchable. I found myself going back to using, selling, and buying drugs all over again. Although the authorities were keeping a close eye on me, they never suspected my involvement with drugs again. But it was not so with my family. Read the rest of this entry »

“Here is a boy with five small barley loves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
John 6:9

Andrew and Philip, two of Jesus’ disciples, looked out over the crowd at the shore of Galilee. There had to be at least 5,000 people there, and Jesus had asked for bread to feed them all! The only food to be had was with a boy, with what was probably his baon (packed lunch) for the day. But, from this meager contribution, Jesus performed a miracle before Andrew, Philip, and everyone else’s eyes, so that the entire crowd was fed — with plenty left over!

God used a boy’s baon to feed a multitude. Did you know that he also used a girl’s penny savings to build a church and school?

In the 1880’s, a minister named Russel Conwell was the pastor for a small Baptist church in Philadelphia. The premises were so small, people had to get tickets of admission, sometimes weeks in advance, to get into the building for Sunday service!

One Sunday, Conwell passed by the place for the Sunday School, which was also very small. He spotted a little girl named Hattie May Wiatt trying to get in through the crowd. Conwell picked Hattie up, carried her inside, and chatted to her a bit. He recorded the conversation in a sermon he delivered in 1912:

As we met, I said: ‘Hattie, we are going to have a larger Sunday school room soon,’ and she said: ‘I hope you will. It is so crowded that I am afraid to go there alone.’ ‘Well,’ I replied, ‘when we get the money with which to erect a school building we are going to construct one large enough to get all the little children in, and we are going to begin very soon to raise the money for it.’ It was only in my mind as a kind of imaginary vision, but I wished to make conversation with the child.

Little did Conwell know that this bit of imagination had planted a seed in Hattie’s heart.

Sometime later, Hattie fell sick with diphtheria and died. After the funeral, her mother handed Conwell a little bag containing 57 cents. The girl had been saving up her money so that she could contribute to the new school building. This so touched Conwell and the other members of the community decided to make the imagination a reality: they began a building project for their church.

Conwell and the congregation had almost no money for this project, but they decided to proceed by faith. First, Conwell auctioned Hattie’s pennies as souvenirs, raising $250 so that the church could meet in a larger building. FIfty-four of the original 57 cents were returned.

Conwell then approached a man, Mr. Baird, and asked how much he wanted for his empty lot. Baird said that he wanted $30,000. Conwell said that they had only 54 cents, but he also declared, the church still believed that they would own the lot one day. After thinking about it, Baird agreed to take the 54 cents as the first payment!

On that lot today stands the Baptist Temple, which seats over three thousand people. And as for Hattie’s wish for a bigger school, Conwell also founded the huge Temple University, which has about 34,000 students today.

Do you feel that you don’t have enough? What little you have, bring it to Jesus in faith. He can provide for you beyond your imagination, just as he fed 5,000 with five loaves and built a church and a university with 57 cents.

He only is the Maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower;
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him;
By Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children,
He gives our daily bread.
Matthias Claudius

Click here to read the original text of Conwell’s 1912 sermon, which tells Hattie’s story.

I am Shella, 39, married, and a mother to three wonderful children.

I first came to know the Lord in 1999, when my husband and I were having problems with our relationship. Having been married for just three years already seemed a lifetime. I was not enjoying being a wife to him. I was not happy.

My family background was not happy, either. My father was irresponsible; he spent his money and energy on women and also much of his time with his peers. My mother, who’s supposed to take care of us in my father’s absence, used most of her time playing a detective, finding his whereabouts and going after his conquests. My siblings and I watched and waited for their attention and never got it. They were too busy with their own lives, and for them we were just spectators, not a part of a so-called family.

Read the rest of this entry »

… But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

Do you want to be made well? Do you want to move on from where you are now? Is there something that stunts your growth as a Christian? Do you experience moments where you’re saying, “I should be doing these things; I need to surrender to you Lord, and I feel like I can’t do it?”

Remember, the impossible is possible with God. He can do amazing things. I know the Lord can change even the hardest hearts.

Charles Finney was a great preacher in the 19th century. He went through the towns and preached the gospel, and thousands of people came to Christ. His memoirs record the conversion of a man in Auburn, New York:

There was a hatter, by the name of H, residing at this time in Auburn. His wife was a Christian woman; but he was … an opposer of the revival. He carried his opposition so far as to forbid his wife attending our meetings; and, for several successive evenings, she remained at home. One night, as the warning bell rang for meeting, half an hour before the assembly met, Mrs. H was so much exercised in mind about her husband, that she retired for prayer, and spent the half hour in pouring out her soul to God. She told Him how her husband behaved, and that he would not let her attend meeting; and she drew very near to God.

As the bell was tolling for the people to assemble, she … found that her husband had come in from the shop; and, as she entered the sitting room, he asked her if she would not go to meeting; and said that if she would go, he would accompany her. He afterwards informed me that he had made up his mind to attend meeting that night, to see if he could not get something to justify his opposition to his wife; or at least, something to laugh about, and sustain him in ridiculing the whole work. When he proposed to accompany his wife, she was very much surprised, but prepared herself, and they came to meeting.

During the introductory services, a text occurred to my mind. It was the words of the man with the unclean spirit, who cried out, “Let us alone.” I took those words and went on to preach, and endeavored to show up the conduct of those sinners that wanted to let be alone, that did not want to have anything to do with Christ.

The Lord gave me power to give a very vivid description of the course that class of men were pursuing. In the midst of my discourse, I observed a person fall from his seat near the broad aisle, who cried out in a most terrific manner. The congregation were very much shocked; and the outcry of the man was so great, that I stopped preaching and stood still. After a few moments, I requested the congregation to sit still, while I should go down and speak with the man. I found him to be this Mr. H…. The Spirit of the Lord had so powerfully convicted him, that he was unable to sit on his seat. When I reached him, he had so far recovered his strength as to be on his knees, with his head on his wife’s lap. He was weeping aloud like a child confessing his sins, and accusing himself in a terrible manner. I said a few words to him, to which he seemed to pay but little attention. The Spirit of God had his attention so thoroughly, that I soon desisted from all efforts to make him attend to what I said. When I told the congregation who it was, they all knew him and his character; and it produced tears and sobs in every part of the house. I stood for some little time, to see if he would be quiet enough for me to go on with my sermon; but his loud weeping rendered it impossible. I can never forget the appearance of his wife, as she sat and held his face in her hands upon her lap. There appeared in her face a holy joy and triumph that words cannot express.

We had several prayers, and then I dismissed the meeting, and some persons helped Mr. H to his house. He immediately wished them to send for certain of his companions, with whom he had been in the habit of ridiculing the work of the Lord in that place. He could not rest until he had sent for a great number of them, and had made confession to them; which he did with a very broken heart.

He was so overcome that for two or three days he could not get about town, and continued to send for such men as he wished to see, that he might confess to them, and warn them to flee from the wrath to come. As soon as he was able to get about, he took hold of the work with the utmost humility and simplicity of character, but with great earnestness. Soon after, he was made an elder, or deacon, and he has ever since been a very exemplary and useful Christian. His conversion was so marked and so powerful, and the results were so manifest, that it did very much to silence opposition.

God transformed that man’s heart, that man’s life. You know God can change the hardest hearts, in people you would never have thought of. Only Christ can transform you like that. He took a man that was hard, proud, and arrogant and turned him into a very loving man. Will you ask Jesus to transform you? (MS)

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine!
Kalan Porter

The account of Mr. H’s conversion is just one of many stories of transformation and revival found in Charles Finney’s memoirs.