The Well | Revive our Hearts - Niles - Michigan - USA Archives

Jennifer (USA)

Meet Jennifer

Jennifer started life as a God-hater. She was sexually molested by someone in her church growing up, and she resented God because of her parents jokes that she was supposed to be a boy and God had made a mistake. In her emotional pain, Jennifer turned to drugs and ended up living life on the streets. She was arrested for drug possession and robbery. She went to prison aged 22. Jennifer says prison was the best thing that ever happened to her because she found Jesus Christ there and He freed her from her bondage to sin. Jennifer describes the awesome ways God has changed her thinking and her ways. She is now very active in ministry life.

(Jennifer’s story is presented in the first 20 minutes of the video. Her story is part of a conference presentation including other women who received Christ in prison).

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This story was produced by Revive our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Arrested - drug possession, Arrested - robbery, Christianity - dislike or hostility, Drug abuse, Drug addiction, Emotional pain, God - angry with God, God - hostile towards God, God - lack of knowledge about God, Imprisonment, Life of crime, Low self-esteem, Reckless lifestyle, Self-worth, Sexual abuse, Stealing, The gospel - don't know it, Unhappiness

January 16, 2019 0

Cindy (Dominican Republic)

Meet Cindy

Cindy explains how she was a very career-orientated woman, and after she got married she passionately pursued her career. She talks about the stresses on her marriage as a newlywed. Around this same time, she felt compelled to find spiritual answers. She had grown up in the Catholic tradition, but her husband had an evangelical background. She attended an evangelical church. Her spiritual curiosity grew, and she ended up at an evangelical conference in the US, where she believed the gospel and became a follower of Jesus Christ.

God has shown Cindy through the Bible His design for womanhood and the family. Over time God changed Cindy’s thinking about work and home life. Cindy shares how God did the unthinkable in her life by giving her the desire to become a stay at home mom and homeschool her children. Cindy experiences joy in her life because she knows she’s living out God’s will for her, rather than what the world defines as success in a woman’s life.

Gospel

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Cindy’s story was produced by Revive Our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Answers to life, Catholicism, Christianity - curiosity, Christianity - lack of knowledge, Christianity - view on family, Christianity - view on marriage, Christianity - view on womanhood, Controlling, God's plan for me, Life priorities, Marriage - newlywed problems, My Christian life - I thought I was a Christian, Spiritual curiosity, Striving for success, Success - career, Success - unfulfillment, The gospel - don't know it, Work life - over-working

December 13, 2018 0

Vicki and Bill (USA)

Meet Vicki and Bill

This is two stories in one video – married couple Vicki and Bill. Vicki talks about her luxurious lifestyle and successful career in New York, and how she could not escape from a gnawing sense of emptiness. She followed a party lifestyle for a while involving cocaine. She also got married thinking that would fill the void. Then she was invited to an event where she heard the gospel. She received Christ that night. Vicki was having severe marriage difficulties and had separated from her husband Bill.

Bill was a very successful businessman, who lived a very reckless life involving cocaine, alcohol abuse and affairs with other women. He had separated from Vicki and was living with another woman. Unbeknown to Bill, Vicki and their children were praying for Bill to come to know Jesus. Vicki arranged an evening where Bill was invited. He heard someone share their testimony and Bill decided to place his faith in Christ.

Vicki and Bill talk about how God has helped them recover their marriage. Vicki now helps other women work through their marriage difficulties.

Gospel

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Vicki and Bill’s story was produced by Revive Our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Affair - multiple, Alcohol abuse, Drug abuse, Drug abuse - cocaine, Emptiness, Husband - unfaithful, Marriage - separated, Marriage – crisis, Reckless lifestyle, Searching for fulfillment, Sexual life - promiscuity, Success - unfulfillment, The gospel - don't know it, Unfulfillment - career, Unfulfillment - marriage

December 12, 2018 0

Nedelka (Nicaragua)

Meet Nedelka

Nedelka grew up in Nicaragua where she experienced sexual abuse by a trusted employee of her family. She describes how this experience colored her thinking about men, children, and her own body. Nedelka and her family moved to Canada, where Nedelka’s emotional pain led her to punish her body through anorexia. She tried to commit suicide several times, including by starvation. She describes sensing God speak to her while she was wasting away and urging her to return to Nicaragua. She went back to her home country, to her mom, who had become a Christian. She shares how she encountered Christ and how she learned all about the gospel.

As soon as Nedelka trusted in Christ, her relationship with food changed. God used the teachings from a women’s ministry – Revive our Hearts – to give Nedelka a Biblical understanding of womanhood, marriage, and children. God transformed Nedelka’s wrong thinking about children – and she and her husband now have adopted several children.

Gospel

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Nedelka’s story was produced by Revive Our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Christianity - view on children, Christianity - view on manhood, Christianity - view on marriage, Control of life, Eating disorder - anorexia, Emotional pain, Negative thinking - about children, Negative thinking - about men, Sexual abuse - childhood, Suicidal, Suicide attempt – multiple

December 12, 2018 0

Lore (USA)

Meet Lore

Lore describes some difficult things that happened to her growing up – her brother was tragically killed and her parents divorced. She felt lonely, but that loneliness was overcome when she joined a very welcoming church. She describes hearing the gospel at church but never really understood about Jesus, His death and her sin. Her deep sense of lack of peace came to a climax when she told her pastor (and employer) that she had doubts about God’s existence. Shortly thereafter she gave up her whole life and moved to another state just so she could sit in on a Bible study run by Jen Wilkin. There, reading Genesis 1:1, God revealed Himself to Lore and she believed the truth of the gospel. Over the next few months reading the book of Genesis, Lore came to a rich understanding of God and her own sin.

Gospel

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Lore’s story was produced by Revive Our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Family member - death, God - angry with God, God - asking God why, God - feeling distant from God, God - skeptical about God, God - who is God?, God's identity, Lack of Peace, Parents - divorce, The Bible, The gospel - confusion about it

December 12, 2018 0

Brooke (USA)

Meet Brooke

Brooke grew up in a home hearing about God and what Jesus had done for her on the cross. But she chose to reject God and push Him away because she was sexually abused as a child. She talks about her anger, hatred, and bitterness toward God. She chased after a worldly lifestyle instead. Then, at a Revive Our Hearts event, Brooke witnessed the way Joni Eareckson Tada coped with her physical suffering yet still loved God. God used this to break into Brooke’s heart and she turned to God and received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Brooke talks about the weight lifted from her, and how God turned her life around.

Gospel

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Brooke’s story was produced by Revive Our Hearts, Niles, Michigan, USA.

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Tags: Bitterness, Burdened, Christian upbringing - reject it, College - party lifestyle, Coping with suffering, Drug abuse, God - angry with God, God - feeling God is indifferent, God - hostile towards God, Sexual abuse - childhood

December 12, 2018 0

Heidi (USA)

Meet Heidi

Heidi says she started out as an atheist and disliked Christians. However, she found herself spending time and getting close to her husband’s aunt who was a Christian. Heidi opened up to her that she didn’t believe in God. Heidi reluctantly agreed to let her husband’s aunt pray for her – to be open to the truth. The next day Heidi bought a Bible with the intention of proving her husband’s aunt wrong. However, God used Heidi’s Bible reading time to convict Heidi of the truth and she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Heidi talks about the difficulties in her marriage once she became a Christian. Her husband did not want Heidi to become a follower of Christ. But Jesus has given guidance to Heidi through the Bible and mentoring from other women, and Heidi’s marriage remains intact.