As Shelley Dorigo idly clicked through the channels, a program titled Amazing Facts grabbed her attention. Curious but skeptical, she paused to watch. She explains, “I thought, ‘I want to know what these amazing facts are.’ That was a smarty-pants response, but the program got my attention.”
A few weeks later she returned to the intriguingly named program. She says, “I liked what I heard, so I ended up watching the rest of the series.”
Wanting more information on the Bible truths she was learning, Shelley responded to a free offer from Amazing Facts for a Study Guide detailing Jesus’ work in the heavenly sanctuary. Soon she also began receiving the Inside Report magazine. “It was great,” she says. “It was like a whole shopping list of books!” Thrilled by the wealth of materials available at her fingertips, Shelley began to place orders for books, Study Guides, and DVDs. As she studied these and compared them with the Bible, even her most difficult questions vanished in the light of God’s truth.
A Rocky Road
Shelley had little spiritual guidance growing up. Her parents attended a church when she was young, but they divorced while she was still a small child. From then on, Shelley and her siblings were on their own spiritually. “But the Holy Spirit was working on me even then,” she says. “Deep down I had a sense of truth in my heart.”
The years that followed were filled with hardship and sorrow. Both of Shelley’s parents remarried four times. Their choices robbed Shelley of her childhood and the innocence of youth. Then her brother committed suicide.
When Shelley married she finally felt the warmth of a family she so desperately wanted. But tragedy struck again when a year later her husband died from cancer. “Death was always around,” Shelley says. “I couldn’t understand why. That’s when I began searching for answers.”
Searching for Truth
Shelley was spurred on in her quest for truth while attending the funeral of a man whom she deeply respected. His parting gift was a letter he had written to be read at his funeral. She says, “In it he was telling about his faith journey. At the end he wrote, ‘I challenge you to find the truth about the Lord.’ This challenged me to dig; I wanted to know what insights he knew about the Bible.”
In her search for answers, Shelley explored several different churches but left each one with questions that could not be answered. When Shelley finally stumbled upon the Amazing Facts TV program years later, she was already taking a Bible study course through another Christian organization. Undeterred, she enrolled in the Amazing Facts Bible course too. Eventually, she realized she had to choose one course to continue. She chose the Amazing Facts course, because it was colorful, down-to-earth, and more understandable.
As she grew in her understanding of Bible truth, Shelley began to look for a Sabbath-keeping church. She even read the Amazing Facts book The Search for the True Church, and it made sense to her in her search.
Equipped to Share
About this time Shelley wrote to Amazing Facts with a question about baptism. She had been baptized as a child, but now she wondered if she should be rebaptized. “I got a nice answer back,” she says. “The letter gave a list of reasons why someone would choose to be baptized again. I realized that, as a child, all I knew was Jesus and Christmas. I didn’t understand about Jesus and the cross, so I wanted to be rebaptized.”
The letter also included information on the nearest Sabbath-keeping church and directions on how to get there. In addition, Amazing Facts contacted the pastor of that church to let him know of Shelley’s interest. A few days later the pastor and an elder came to visit her. They were amazed with how well she understood the Bible—and how extensive her Amazing Facts library is. Shelley was baptized a little while later.
“My life is now rewarding,” she says. “I’m not so afraid of dying or of other people. I feel more strength and faith. Now I’m happy, and I can truly dance for joy!”
At least 1.5 million people like Shelley learn about God’s truth in the security and privacy of their own homes each month through Amazing Facts. As their faith and understanding grows, they are emerging with a burning desire to go to church and tell others about Jesus. Your gift today will change even more lives! Please consider a gift to reach another searching soul like Shelley ...