Christian athlete Nicola Olyslagers has continued her strong season by winning the 2025 Wanda Diamond League Final—once again pointing to God as the source of her inspiration.
Last week, Cody Mitchell published an article on how Aussie athlete Nicola Olyslagers’s Christian faith motivates her to press through adversity. Her story is a powerful witness to the resilience and courage her Christian faith inspires. I encourage you to read that piece if you have not yet.
This weekend at the 2025 Wanda Diamond League Final, Nicola soared to new heights—beating her own Australian and Oceania records, clearing the highest mark of any athlete this year (2.04 metres), and outperforming the current world-record holder, Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
What a great testimony this is of God’s power and faithfulness when we trust and obey. The least we can do is to share it with others.
Craig Deall’s family farm was seized by the government of Zimbabwe 20 years ago without any compensation. Rather than fight or flee, Craig’s faith compelled him to forgive – a decision that has reaped a great harvest in more ways than one. Deall was raising his family on the same farm he grew up on when in 2003, the unthinkable happened. “It was obviously extremely traumatic,” he told CBN News. The government forced Deall, his wife, and children to leave their home and farm that had been in his family since 1948 as part of the government’s land reform program. An effort to more equitably distribute land between black subsistence farmers and white Zimbabweans of European ancestry. He had three choices. “We could fight, we could flee, or we could forgive“. “Some of my friends fought for their land and ended up getting killed for it,” Deall said. “Most of my friends left the country, and no answer is wrong. But we as a family decided to pursue the third option which was to forgive. (Only Christians can understand why anyone would make this decision. It is opposite to what Satan would have you do). We felt that if we chose bitterness instead of forgiveness, there’s no country far enough away where it doesn’t smell.”
Deall kept going back to one scripture in the Bible’s New Testament. In that scripture, Jesus says, ‘If a man steals your coat, give him your tunic as well.’ (Matthew 5:40) For us, it meant, if a man steals your farm, teach him how to farm. And that’s what we did. And with that, the pressure lifted, there was a great release over us, and we knew that God had opened up an avenue for us to serve the least of these and to bring them the Gospel,” he recalled. Deall moved his family to Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, while about a dozen other families took over his house and land. He then joined a group called Foundations for Farming. There, he began to teach the new owners, as well as other small-scale farmers, a unique way of farming that God revealed to the group’s founder, Brian Oldreive. “He went with a child-like faith into virgin bush, into virgin forest and he sat there and he asked God, ‘Teach me how to farm’, and the two things that he saw is that there is no inversion tillage in nature. And the next thing he saw is that there is this beautiful mulch cover that covers the forest floor, and that’s actually God’s mechanism for feeding and protecting the soil,” Deall explained.
“So, he went back to his farm, and he literally tried it. Just without any tillage and no burning, which is contrary to the conventional way of farming, and he immediately got outstanding results like 10-time increment in yield,” he continued. “And so, he knew that it worked, and he started to grow it bigger and bigger but he knew that God had given him this revelation, not for himself but to extrapolate across the continent of Africa to the rural farmers, the hurting, the poor ones around the continent.” The success of the Zero-Tillage technique caught the attention of the Zimbabwe government which endorsed the method. And in 2020, the country experienced its first food surplus in two decades. “In fact, the food production has jumped four times, between three and four times, are the official estimates of the food increment in the year 2020,” Deall said.
The country’s main crop, corn, tripled with the method and now Foundations for Farming teaches the technique all over the world with the main goal of sharing the Gospel. “But 80% of what we teach is the heart. It’s using agriculture as an entry point for the gospel,” Deall said. Even with all their success, the Zimbabwean government never offered Deall any compensation for his home, land, or time teaching, but he says the way God has provided, he wouldn’t change a thing. “We have a saying in Foundations of Farming: ‘I used to own a farm in Africa, now Africa is my farm,’” he said. For more information on Foundations for Farming, visit foundationsforfarming.org
Josh Timonen was one of Richard Dawkins’ (author of God Delusion) closest companions from 2006-2010. He was even working for Richard Dawkins when Dawkins was publicly shaming Ray Comfort for videos that appeared as if Ray was saying that bananas prove the existence of God—which eventually culminated in Ray being known as The Banana Man. Yet by the grace of God, over a decade later, Josh ended up coming to Christ! Here’s his story. You will be encouraged in your faith by watching this video.
One of the reasons I believe God is in control of all events that occur in His world is the number of divine appointments He arranges for me when I go on missionary trips. Now, when I go on trips I expect that God has gone before me to make sure the right people are sitting next to me. My trip to Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda in April/May of this year is a good example. I had ten airplane trips and two long bus trips and on every occasion, the person I sat next to was a ministry opportunity. It was mind-blowing. I gave away five of my books and am corresponding still with two of the connections made. As well, in Kenya, I stayed two nights at the Ark Guest House (owned by the Anglican Church) in Nairobi. At breakfast, I was joined by an Anglican minister who was in Nairobi for a conference with about 70 other Anglican ministers. He was taken by the fact that I had come all the way from Australia to put on a training session for leaders of the Kenya House Church Movement in Migori County. He sought me out at dinner the same evening and asked me if I was prepared to pray for him. What was missing from his and I expect many other Anglican church ministries was a belief in the work of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives. We ended up going back to his room where I prayed for him and his ministry. He is one of the contacts with whom I still communicate.
Matt Augee who works in a ministry to veterans in the USA supplied this remarkable story about a divine appointment.
“I had a God encounter a week ago at a veteran’s memorial monument when I was meeting a family to plan the celebration of life for the veteran they had recently lost. I felt God prompted me to go early and I arrived 25 minutes early, just in time to be there when a young woman walked in with her head down and face hidden and sat down at one of the memorials etched bricks in the ground and kept touching it and quietly sobbing and speaking without any sound. I watched her for a little bit and I instinctively felt that I needed to talk to her and that she was suicidal.
My service dog went over to her and sat down next to her and leaned on her. That opened up the opportunity for me to talk to her. She had lost all hope and she came to say goodbye to her grandfather who had raised her and died five years earlier. She came to say goodbye to him and then to take her own life right there. If I had not arrived early I would have come across a dead woman right there at the memorial. I asked her some questions and if she was open to talking about spiritual things and she was. I was able to pray for her and to get her help from our staff which gave her hope. She has subsequently, texted us to let us know that she’s doing better but she’s going to need a lot of care and follow-up. I’m just grateful that I was in the right place at the right time and ready to talk with her and give her hope in Jesus.”
The big question for all of us is are we available for Gods use and expectant on all occasions?
The story of the divine appointment given by Matt Augee was taken from the article “May God Open Our Eyes to the Needy People Who Surround Us” by Randy Alcorn on December 16th, 2022 – http://www.patheos.com.
I just heard Jodi Benson give her testimony and it challenged me. She said she lives one day at a time because this really is all that we have. She is so right each of us needs to live this way being accountable to God for each day.
Legendary in the USA, “Little Mermaid” star Jodi Benson said she tries to find a way to serve others each and every day, explaining her hopes for the legacy she plans to leave behind for her family. “I would like God to be able to look at me and say, ‘You loved well and you served well,'” Benson told CBN’s Faithwire at the red carpet premiere of “The Wingfeather Saga.” “My daily prayer … is to be light, salt, and love every single day when we wake up.” She said she ponders how she can love and serve someone each and every day. “That’s all I’ve got — I’ve only got today,” Benson said. “And I want to be my best today.” As for “The Wingfeather Saga,” a new animated show from Angel Studios, Benson said she’s elated to be voicing the character Nia, and to be working with fellow Christians on the project. Watch what she had to say it is inspirational, encouraging, and at the same time challenging.
“I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”Psalms 91:2
A Pakistani teenager has reportedly led his entire tribe to embrace Jesus, a remarkable story shared this week by Mission News Network (MNN).
A 17-year-old going by the pseudonym “Rehan” for security reasons was working as a waiter when he met Safdar, a truck driver, and partner with a missions group called Foursquare Missions International (FMI).
Safdar gave Rehan an audio Bible after they met, and the teen listened. Then, he started meeting with Safdar to talk about God and the Bible. Soon, he became a Christian and was baptized, according to Missions Network News MNN.
Rehan soon shared the Gospel message with his family and community members. Considering the sweeping and intense persecution Christians face in Pakistan, these actions were dangerous and, without a doubt, courageous.
Pakistan (MNN) — In Pakistan, a 17-year-old boy led his entire tribe to follow Jesus.
At first, Rehan’s parents, who were receptive to the Gospel, were scared. But he reportedly forged on.
A man named Nehemiah, who works for FMI, explained that Rehan wasn’t dissuaded. He invited missionaries to minister to his tribe and share the Gospel – and the results were incredible.
Rehan’s 60-person tribe reportedly stopped participating in Muslim prayer and turned toward Jesus.
“One evening, he gathered all the tribe’s members under one big tent. First, Rehan showed a movie about Jesus,” Nehemiah told MNN. “Then, an FMI partner shared a 15-minute devotion about new hope in Christ. That day, a 17-year-old boy led his whole tribe to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now, the missions groups ask for prayer for this tribe and others in the region.
This story is especially remarkable, considering the hostile arena in which Rehan boldly shared the Gospel. As Open Doors USA’s “2022 World Watch List” notes, Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. The nation ranks eighth on the list, with Islamic oppression serving as the primary form of persecution.
“In Pakistan, Christians are considered second-class citizens and are discriminated against in every aspect of life,” Open Doors reported. “Church leaders can be arrested if they don’t abide by the authorities’ wishes. These arrests act as warnings to the Christian minority and intimidate them further.”
Regardless, God is at work as Rehan’s story demonstrates it just requires willing workers that God can use.
Dr. Francis Collins is considered to be one of the most effective and ground-breaking scientists in the world. Collins graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia. He earned his PhD in chemistry at Yale and then decided, for good measure, he would go to medical school at the University of North Carolina. From there, he returned to Yale and later, the University of Michigan. He is most noted for having been chosen to chair theHuman Genome Projectwhere, in 2003, he led an international collaboration of two thousand scientists in sequencing the human genome. More recently, he was appointed by President Obama to be the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Clearly, he is a prominent scientist, but what is perhaps even more interesting is his spiritual journey.
DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH
“As a scientist, I had always insisted on collecting rigorous data before drawing a conclusion. And yet, in matters of faith, I had never collected any data at all. I didn’t know what I had rejected. So, I decided that I should be a little better grounded in my atheism. I better find out what this is all about. So, I challenged a patient of mine who was a Methodist minister. And, after listening to my questions and realizing that I was not dealing with a very full deck of information, he suggested that I read the Gospel of John, which I did…I found the scripture to be interesting, puzzling, and not at all what I had thought faith was about… then I began to read C.S. Lewis and realized there was a great depth of thinking and reasoning that could be applied to the question of God.”
Lewis convinced Francis Collins that reason and faith go hand in hand, though faith has the added component of revelation—the Bible. Collins had previously believed that Jesus and the stories of the Bible were nothing more than mere myths. Again, as he studied the historical evidence, he was stunned at how well documented and how historically accurate the Bible is. He also saw a surprising fidelity of the transmission of the manuscripts that were passed down over the centuries. And, over time, Francis Collins, based on the accumulation of the evidence that he observed, concluded that God exists, and that Jesus is the Son of God.
He also concluded that most of the religious skeptics that he knew and that he meets today are just like he was. That is to say, they didn’t want to think about these things and never looked at any evidence, never drawing conclusions from the real evidence that was available.
This is what Dr. Dallas Willard, former professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, believed was a major problem with individuals who considered themselves to be agnostic or atheist. Willard found that so many of the students and scholars he encountered on campus and in the world were guilty of what he called “irresponsible disbelief.” These bright men and women would often choose to disbelieve in something without any significant commitment to an investigation of that disbelief by way of sound reasoning and careful examination of the evidence.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 