Sharon Hobbs was first introduced to the Lord in the 1980s, but she never really committed to the Christian faith. She says, “For many years I considered myself a Christian, but I was not growing—only getting foolish. And as a single mother, I had no respect for my role. I only thought of myself and was very bitter.”
After traveling to the Middle East for work in 2001, Sharon’s life took a completely unexpected and frightening turn. She was abruptly accused of proselytizing to a man whom she worked with, and she was very close to being put in prison. She explains, “The whole experience was so surreal; I went into shock. My body and my mind totally shut down for years.” She became terribly depressed over her legal troubles, even experiencing physical sickness as a result. She says, “I had no hope. I wanted to die.”
Amazingly, Sharon ended up marrying that man, who was also persecuted and threatened with beheading for converting to the Christian faith. The two soon fled back to her home in Canada, where her spiritual journey continued to spiral downward. She explains, “I spent so much time being depressed. My husband and I prayed for the Lord to lead us to the right place because we were going from church to church, but I was just dead inside spiritually. My husband had absolute patience with me and kept praying; he was my rock.”
A New Direction
After about five months of prayer, Sharon was about to give up. That is until she caught Pastor Doug Batchelor one week on a Christian TV network. On that day, he was speaking about what it means to be a Christian and how to follow Jesus. Something moved in Sharon deeply, and she found herself eager to keep watching the program week after week to get a new perspective of God and the Bible.
Then one day, Pastor Doug mentioned our bibleuniverse.com website, which is designed for the irreligious and religious-minded alike to explore the truths of the Bible. She went online and signed up for the Bible studies. The things she learned about God and faith there began to restore her hope. Then our Bible school staff helped to connect her with a local Sabbath-keeping church, where a wonderful pastor has helped her faith truly come alive.
Today Sharon says, “We have been applying everything we have been learning from Amazing Facts in our lives—the Bible’s health principles, the Sabbath, studying the Word, and much more. We tape these programs every week, and I continue doing online Bible studies. We have totally changed our attitudes, and I now have hope and love life and want to work for the Lord in every way possible. My life has just started all over again!”
Sharon and her husband have dedicated their lives to the Lord and hope soon to work for Him on a full-time basis. Please pray for this couple as they continue their journey in Christ.