Growing up in a Catholic home as a kid and preparing for first communion, there were many questions about science and what was being taught in my first communion class that were not matching up. After giving up on God, listen to this story about meeting Jesus in a dream.

Joey’s Story is a story that defies the odds. Joey is honest and open about his struggles and how real life is. Even when we think we have arrived as humans we find ourselves messing up time and time again. Joey says “Forgiving yourself is one of the hardest things you can do” this is so true but we have to forgive ourselves, pick ourselves up, and move on. Joey makes it clear with Christ this is possible. To find a Celebrate Recovery group go here.

Brian talks openly about his journey from isolation to community and from fear to grace. Today’s stories call us to leave fear and isolation behind and embrace honesty about our mistakes; an important step toward victory. Additionally, we must find a community of supportive and encouraging believers. These can be difficult steps when we consider how our sin has affected our lives and the lives of others.

True, it may be hard for others to accept our “real” selves at first. But in the family of believers, there are those who graciously and obediently support us. In Paul’s writings, he often shares his story openly, giving Christ and his church credit for bringing him to victory. Brian’s story, too, reminds us that the daily and shared pursuit of Jesus and God’s purpose in our lives is a key factor in our victory over sin.

Even those “raised in church” will find their faith challenged. Jennifer shares the story of how an unplanned pregnancy brought her to cry out to God in ways deeper and more meaningful than ever before. Consequently, she learned what we should all strive to know… that God is bigger and more.

Adam Leak tells his story of not being able to find direction and purpose as a teenager or having a place to fit in. This lead to a lot of free time, which resulted in him trying a number of drugs with friends.

Over time the drug use got increasingly heavy and resulted in an addiction to meth, which took over his life by his early 20s. Getting arrested, and spending five nights in jail was the wake up call that Adam needed to decide he needed a heart change which ultimately lead to him giving up the drug use.

Since then Adam has found a place to belong in his church who accepted him immediately, knowing his current situation. Over several years, this has lead to his heavy involvement in the men’s ministry and as a youth sponsor providing both direction and purpose.

Christian Mayberry’s life changed forever one day when he went on a four-wheeler trip with some buddies from school and was involved in an accident that left him unable to walk or talk.

Over the coming years Christian and his mom Kim trusted God to provide miracle after miracle, which he did. Thousands of people followed along with Christian’s journey on Facebook as they “Prayed for Mayberry”. He spends his time now as a motivational speaker, telling everyone he can about his encounter with the God who healed him.

Kim stresses the importance of the lesson of forgiveness that she learned through this journey. She explains how she could not go through life asking God for a miracle on one hand but harboring hatred and resentment on the other.

Peggy Nunley tells her story of growing up in abusive households with her alcoholic father and step father. She shares how this shaped her self-image making her feel unworthy of being used by God because she knew who she was and where she came from.

At the age of 15 she attended a youth conference where she heard Walker Moore speak and felt called to attend a mission trip being organized by Awe Star Ministries. She didn’t feel qualified or capable but after sharing her story with her small church they provided everything she needed and she went to Budapest, Hungary.

While sharing the gospel with two prostitutes in the red light district of Budapest, they challenged her view explaining how they did not want to be in this line of work, but God had not answered their prayers to provide another way.

Becky tells her story of coming to terms with an abusive relationship and becoming “a missionary in her own home” as she tried to show God’s love in a broken marriage.

She explains how choosing to follow God can often come at great cost – detailing how this played out in her own life, the price she had to pay, and why she believes it is still ultimately worth doing.

Becky also shares with us what she has learned about the character of God through this, and her experience with the restoration He ultimately offers.

Mark talks about times of trial and heartbreak in his life while trusting that God is good and has a plan through the midst of it all. He covers the death of his cousin as a child and how he came to terms with mortality as a teenager.

He talks about himself and his wife losing two children during pregnancy, going through a major financial crisis and how he learned that God is faithful and can be trusted through the hard times.

Around the start of the COVID crisis in 2020 Mark was diagnosed with cancer. He details his journey of putting his faith in God during this crisis and how God brought him through.

Jadon takes us on his journey from initially being turned off by Christians who came across as “too religious” to realizing as the years went by that his own relationship with Christ had become lukewarm.

As he sought others in the church who would challenge him to truly live out the great commission he became discouraged that all he could find was comfort, not accountability.

He describes how the Spirit producing the fruit of joy in his life is how others notice there’s something ‘peculiar’ about him. Their wanting to know what it is opens the door to sharing Jesus with them.

John talks about living his life like a ‘wild donkey’ in his youth. The years of prayer that his sister put in that eventually lead to him joining a Bible study, seeking after and coming to know God.

He goes into detail about his addiction to cigarettes and numerous failed attempts to quit over the years. About the wake-up call he received one day after three months of prayer that lead to him finally being set free from the addiction.

John discusses how his life is different now that he’s come to know the Lord, has fully put his trust in him and how he is now guided by his Spirit.

Logan Mayberry talks about how he got his start making viral videos as a child. He built his channel around feel-good content that makes people happy. Now he is shifting from producing content that makes people laugh to content that inspires others to want to be better people.

He describes an encounter he recently had with God during a trip to Florida that deeply impacted him and lead him to want to be baptized.

After sharing his testimony online and seeing how it has impacted people, others started to approach him with their stories. He believes this is how God wants to use him going forward, providing an outlet for others to share their stories.