More than 26 million Americans suffer from diabetes. That’s 10 times the number from just 50 years ago.

But even with diets filled with sugar and soaring obesity rates, there is hope. Some people are reversing their Type II diabetes, getting off their medications, and feeling great.

This report focuses on Type II diabetes, which represents 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases.

Like millions of Americans, Janet Huffstetler felt diabetes was ruining her life. Then she changed her diet.

“I will tell you I have never felt so good,” she said. “I think having my body free of sugar and carbs and processed chemicals has made such a difference in how I approach everything. I am just an entirely different person.”

It’s a far cry from the fear she felt eight years ago when doctors first diagnosed her with diabetes. She had seen what the disease did to her uncle.

“He ended up on full dialysis and blind,” she recalled. “He also had coronary bypass surgery. They had started talking about amputation, but he died.”

Diabetes is when you have too much sugar in your bloodstream. The standard treatment is largely medication.

More Meds, More Problems

Huffstetler’s first doctor put her on medication that led to weight gain and depression.

“[It] kind of made me feel sluggish, it made me dizzy, it made me lethargic,” she recalled. “It was very hard to get motivated to do anything I should have been doing, more exercise and everything.”

Daily life became a series of finger sticks, constantly monitoring her blood sugar levels.

“I was doing it four times a day, and they would tell you ‘You have to do it on this side, so you can do it on that side the next time.’ And your fingers became very sore,” she said. “And I work at a computer and it’s not fun.”

Believing there had to be a better way, she changed doctors.

“I came home and Googled and Dr. Westman’s name kept coming up. And I was fortunate enough to get in to see him within a month, which, I must have called and gotten an immediate cancellation,” she said.

Diet-Only Approach

That appointment sent her to the nationally recognized Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic led by Dr. Eric Westman. He helped reverse Huffstetler’s diabetes through his diet-only approach.

“Diabetes and obesity is complicated,” Westman explained. “There are lots of factors that are involved, but most experts agree that it’s the foods and the beverages that people eat that are the major cause for diabetes and obesity in the U.S., and so that should be the major focus of treatment.”

Instead of treating the sugar in his patients’ blood with medicine, Westman instructs them to eliminate their sugar intake.

Westman said he gets diabetes patients who are unhappy with the treatment they’ve received thus far.

“I took someone off 180 units of insulin for their diabetes in two days. And this is not unusual,” he told CBN News. “This individual was on diabetes medicine, injectable insulin, for 10 years. And just by changing the foods that person no longer needs insulin in two days.”

“And that’s because the insulin was treating the sugar in the foods that the person was eating,” he continued. “In that case the individual was drinking two liters of sugar-sweetened beverage every day and taking insulin to treat the sugar-sweetened beverage.

“Now this could be sweet tea in the South, orange juice in the North, any beverage that has sugar in it, this was raising the blood sugar,” Westman explained.

“And the doctor, the clinical doctors, put him on insulin without addressing the food component, the cause from the foods,” he said. “I instructed him to take away all the sugars, the starches in the foods and in the drinks. He never needed insulin again. It’s pretty amazing.”

Westman said his program is tremendously successful for the patients who do it.

A Success Story

Susan Hollowell did it and went from spending $400 a month on diabetes drugs down to zero.

“I was insulin-dependent, five injections a day,” she recalled. “The third day of my diet my blood sugar dropped to 150 and I asked Dr. Westman, ‘What should I do about my insulin?’ I didn’t want to go over. And he said, ‘Get off of it.’”

Three months later she was 20 pounds lighter and had more energy than before.

“I wasn’t involved in any clubs or organizations, didn’t want to go to church very often, and now that’s not the case,” she said.

Managing Sugar Withdrawals

Westman admitted it’s not easy for some people to give up sugar.

“There’s a feed-forward, a drive that comes from eating sugar, that eating sugar makes you want to eat more sugar,” he explained.

So his patients use artificial sweeteners to manage their withdrawal symptoms. Huffstetler remembers how she did it.

“When I first started, the little individual sugar-free Jello things, I would come and put whip cream on it; it would take care of the sweet,” Huffstetler recalled.

“Now I was so amazed with this program,” she said. “After a while you don’t crave those things any more. You don’t want it. When I have family dinners I have to really work on thinking about dessert for Thanksgiving or whatever because my mind just doesn’t go there anymore.”

In addition to sugar, Westman’s diabetes diet also limits starches, like bread, pasta, and rice, because they also raise your blood sugar.

Butter and Oil, It’s All Good!

Surprisingly, the diet allows patients to eat fats: the unsaturated kind like olive oil and avocados, and saturated fat like coconut oil and butter.

Although this diet might sound revolutionary, it’s actually a throwback. If you notice, old medical textbooks dating back to the years before insulin was discovered, advised physicians to put their diabetic patients on a low carbohydrate, high fat diet.”

Westman tells his patients not to worry about eating saturated fat because he says the latest science reveals it does not cause heart disease.

“So now we’re in a phase of education, trying to get the word out about the cholesterol in the blood and the arteries and all that, do not get adversely affected by a high fat diet,” he said.

So to avoid diabetes, or reverse it, put the brakes on sugar and starch. It’s not always easy but well worth the effort.

For the original article, visit .

I have a monster in my house—and the monster is me!

I opened the door to the sitter’s home and found two children smiling sweetly and talking barely above a whisper. Their halos were brighter than normal. Then my little one runs inside and without any hesitation jumps off the couch! She was ready to play—I mean chase, hide, or jump off anything that could be dangerous.

I immediately thought, Why doesn’t my kid like to sit quietly reading or sweetly singing to her dolls? Conviction set in when I began the comparison trap. The little green monster of envy I thought I had rooted out years ago reared her ugly head.

For me, the cycle of envy reaches far beyond my kids’ behavior all the way to the very working of my soul. What about you? How often have you measured your mothering skills to the mothers around you? How about when you start comparing the skills you carry to the ability of those in the spotlight around you or in your sphere of influence—or to the pastor’s wife down the street?

Ecclesiastes 4:4 says, “And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another” (NIV). I am tired of all the toil, aren’t you?

Romans 2:4 says God’s kindness leads to repentance.

Ultimately, His kindness was His definitive movement to come serve humanity by His sacrifice. We have the most consequential, momentous opportunities as ministry wives to serve others. Amazingly, as we serve others, we allow His kindness to encircle us.

We must exemplify the kindness of God not only to others, but also to ourselves! Let His kindness, His servant nature, lead you to genuine change. I predict as we live in response to His kindness that we will see further transformation among those we serve.

What monster is rearing its head in your life? What will you do today to stop allowing that monster to live rent-free in your heart?

© Reprinted with permission from the Assemblies of God Women’s Ministry Her Green Room. Lacey Hartman and her husband, Troy, serve as the campus pastors at North Point Church East Sunshine Campus. Lacey works as a professional life coach, aiding individuals to discover their God-given potential, mitigate challenge, use tension as a tool to move forward, and unlock the keys to make their future the best it can be. Connect with Lacey at or email hartmancoaching1@.

As a Jewish person, I can tell you that the word baptism conjures up horrible images for my people. From the early years of Catholicism, Jews were forced to be baptized as Christians. Sometimes it was under the threat of death. Other times the consequences of not being baptized was “merely” being thrown out of your home and country.

For example, the Spanish Inquisition declared that Jews who would not convert to Catholicism (and thus be baptized) must leave the country.

In some cases, Jews were kidnapped and forcibly baptized—one being the son of a rabbi in 1762. The worst case was in Russia just two centuries ago. The Russian empire kidnapped Jewish males from the age of 12 for military service. “The number of forced or virtually forced baptisms which resulted, probably exceeded all similar cases in other lands throughout history.”

He Did What?

Because of this thuggish history, Jewish people tend to cringe when they simply hear the word baptism. When news gets out of a Jewish person coming to faith in Yeshua and willingly getting baptized, they are disgusted. And it’s understandable, based on the history. But it wasn’t always like that.

And that leads us to what I consider to be the strangest verse in the entire Bible: 

 “How can anyone object to these people being baptized in water?” (Acts 10:47).

Who are “these people,” and who is talking? The speaker is the Jewish apostle Simon Peter, and he is referring to Gentiles at the home of Cornelius. It was a major controversy for Gentiles to be baptized as believers in Yeshua. This had not yet been done. For the first nine years, the gospel was preached exclusively to Jews.

Simon Peter, after a vision and a word from the Lord (Acts 10), slightly confused, goes to the house of this Roman soldier and shares with the people in the house the message of Yeshua. The Holy Spirit falls upon these people in the midst his sharing. The Jewish believers witness this and are stunned—Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit!

Simon Peter declares, “How can anyone object to these Gentiles being baptized in water?” This was a major controversy that wasn’t settled for another 10 years at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15).

Reverse Controversy

But since when is baptizing Gentiles controversial? Can you imagine someone objecting at, say, First Baptist Church that they are baptizing non-Jews? That would be ridiculous. However, if they were baptizing large numbers of Jews, that might make some waves.

What most people—Jews and Gentiles—do not know, is that baptism (or water immersion) is Jewish. Long before Queen Isabella sought to compel the Jews of Spain to convert and be baptized, the Jews of Israel would wade through the waters of immersion.

When John the Baptist, the Jewish prophet, came preaching repentance through baptism, we have no record of anyone protesting, “What is this strange new tradition you are evoking?”

Water immersion was already a major part of Judaism. The Torah teaches that priests would need to be immersed in water as part of their consecration (Ex. 29:4-9). Before any Jewish man could bring a sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem, he would first have to walk though a mikvah, a water immersion tank, to symbolize ritual cleansing.

Immersing 3,000 People Without a River

Furthermore, have you ever wondered how Simon Peter and the apostles immersed 3,000 Jewish men in one day in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv or a city in Galilee, where the Mediterranean Sea or the Jordan River could be utilized. Jerusalem sits on a mountain. There are no lakes, rivers or seas nearby. However, archeologists have unearthed nearly 50 mikvot—immersion tanks—that were used in temple worship. With 50 tanks receiving 60 people each, 3,000 could be immersed in a matter of hours. Without these Jewish mikvot, it would have been impossible.

Today, mixing Judaism with an act of water immersion, as we see among the Jews of the New Testament, is like mixing oil and water. But in the first century, it was not like that. The controversy of their day had nothing to do with Jews being immersed, but Gentiles! And Simon Peter heard from other Jewish people almost immediately after he did the “unthinkable”—baptizing Gentiles into the body of Yeshua.

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (Acts 11:3)

How strange is this?

Ron Cantor is the director of Messiah’s Mandate International in Israel, a Messianic ministry dedicated to taking the message of Jesus from Israel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Cantor also travels internationally teaching on the Jewish roots of the New Testament. He serves on the pastoral team of Tiferet Yeshua, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv. His newest book, Identity Theft, released last year. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

I have always loved to laugh with my kids. Who doesn’t, right?

A dad named Richard tells about one night when he was reading books with his 4-year-old son. Little Matt wanted one more book, but Richard said it was time for bed.

Now, Richard and his wife typically offer their children choices to help shape their behavior; the two choices, both of which are agreeable to Richard and his wife, establish appropriate boundaries while giving the children a sense of power in day-to-day matters.

Well, on this night Richard found out that Matt was catching on to his system … sort of. When Richard said again, “Sorry, son, that’s enough for tonight,” Matt came back with, “OK, Dad. Would you rather read me another book or have me poke your eye?”

Fatherhood brings lots of those priceless moments of humor and joy to our lives—among many other benefits. But too often the serious and sober realities of raising responsible children overwhelm our spontaneous, witty and playful sides.

But we need to remember that humor and laughter promote health—physically, developmentally and relationally. Physically, laughter relaxes muscles, releases stress hormones, reduces pain and may even enhance our immune systems—according to Paul McGhee, Ph.D., who has done extensive research on humor.

As children grow, if they learn to appreciate humor, they will develop higher creative skills because humor and creativity both draw on divergent thinking—they bring new and unique insights to problems and situations. That capacity also helps children deal well with the unexpected, which is beneficial for coping in day-to-day situations.

Surely you’ve surely seen the power of laughter in relating to your children. In tense situations, a good dose of laughter can open doors and restore a sense of hope. When you’re having fun with your child, you both let your guard down and you’re likely to have better communication and just enjoy each other’s company. Laughter makes you more approachable—especially if you can laugh at your own shortcomings.

What are some ways to do this? From what I’ve seen, play and humor come natural for most dads. I’ve provided some suggestions in the Action Points below, but I’m really hoping you’ll provide me (and other dads) with a bunch more ideas by leaving a comment either below or on our Facebook page.

Please let us know: How do you and your kids have fun and laugh together most often?

Action Points for Dads on the Journey

• Humor is a great strategy with children of any age, if you know how to get to their funny bone. Figure out how to have fun on your children’s level by immersing yourself in their world. Hang out together, read their books, play their games, listen to their stories, etc.
• Play make-believe with your young child. Let yourself go! Shake hands with “imaginary friends”; use your silly voice; make the chair talk and the flowers sing.
• When something funny happens, capture it on video, audio, in a photograph or in a journal. Relive that memory when everyone is frustrated, depressed or just needs to laugh.
• What common interests do you have with your child when it comes to humor, and what you enjoy? What causes laughter and silliness in your daughter? What brings that mischievous grin to your son’s face? Find out, and then capitalize on it for the benefit of your relationship.
• Tell each child about the joy you felt at his or her birth. Recall other specific times since then when they have brought you joy.

Carey Casey is the CEO of the National Center for Fathering, a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the culture of fathering in America by enlisting 6.5 million fathers to make the Championship Fathering Commitment. NCF believes that every child needs a dad they can count on, and uses its resources to inspire and equip men to be the involved fathers, grandfathers and father figures their children need. Subscribe to his weekly email tip by clicking here: “Yes! I want tips on how to be a great dad who lives out loving, coaching and modeling for my children.”

For the original article, visit .

My wife and I raised four daughters—without shotguns in the house!—and three of them have already married. We love our sons-in-law, and it’s obvious God handpicked each of them to match our daughters’ temperaments and personality.

I have always believed God is in the matchmaking business. If He can do it for my daughters, He can do it for you.

Today I have several single female friends who would very much like to find the right guy. Some tell me the pickings are slim at their church, so they have ventured into the world of online dating. Others have thrown up their hands in despair, wondering if there are any decent Christian guys left anywhere. They’ve begun to wonder if they should lower their standards in order to find a mate.

My advice stands: Don’t settle for less than God’s best. Too many Christian women today have ended up with an Ishmael because impatience pushed them into an unhappy marriage. Please take my fatherly advice: You are much better off single than with the wrong guy!

Speaking of “wrong guys,” here are the top 10 men you should avoid when looking for a husband:

1. The unbeliever. Please write 2 Corinthians 6:14 on a Post-it note and tack it on your computer at work. It says, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (NASB). This is not an outdated religious rule. It is the Word of God for you today.

Don’t allow a man’s charm, looks or financial success (or his willingness to go to church with you) push you to compromise what you know is right. “Missionary dating” is never a wise strategy. If the guy is not a born-again Christian, scratch him off your list. He’s not right for you. I’ve yet to meet a Christian woman who didn’t regret marrying an unbeliever.

2. The liar. If you discover that the man you are dating has lied to you about his past or that he’s always covering his tracks to hide his secrets from you, run for the nearest exit. Marriage must be built on a foundation of trust. If he can’t be truthful, break up now before he bamboozles you with an even bigger deception.

3. The playboy. I wish I could say that if you meet a nice guy at church, you can assume he’s living in sexual purity. But that’s not the case today. I’ve heard horror stories about single guys who serve on the worship team on Sunday but act like Casanovas during the week. If you marry a guy who was sleeping around before your wedding, you can be sure he will be sleeping around after your wedding.

4. The deadbeat. There are many solid Christian men who experienced marital failure years ago. Since their divorce, they have experienced the Holy Spirit’s restoration, and now they want to remarry. Second marriages can be very happy. But if you find out that the man you are dating hasn’t been caring for his children from a previous marriage, you have just exposed a fatal flaw. Any man who will not pay for his past mistakes or support children from a previous marriage is not going to treat you responsibly.

5. The addict. Churchgoing men who have addictions to alcohol or drugs have learned to hide their problems—but you don’t want to wait until your honeymoon to find out that he’s a boozer. Never marry a man who refuses to get help for his addiction. Insist that he get professional help and walk away. And don’t get into a codependent relationship in which he claims he needs you to stay sober. You can’t fix him.

6. The bum. I have a female friend who realized after she married her boyfriend that he had no plans to find steady work. He had devised a great strategy: He stayed home all day and played video games while his professional wife worked and paid all the bills. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonians, “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either” (2 Thess. 3:10). The same rule applies here: If a man is not willing to work, he doesn’t deserve to marry you.

7. The narcissist. I sincerely hope you can find a guy who is handsome. But be careful: If your boyfriend spends six hours a day at the gym and regularly posts closeups of his biceps on Facebook, you have a problem. Do not fall for a self-absorbed guy. He might be cute, but a man who is infatuated with his appearance and his own needs will never be able to love you sacrificially, like Christ loves the church (Eph. 5:25). The man who is always looking at himself in the mirror will never notice you.

8. The abuser. Men with abusive tendencies can’t control their anger when it boils over. If the guy you are dating has a tendency to fly off the handle, either at you or others, don’t be tempted to rationalize his behavior. He has a problem, and if you marry him you will have to navigate his minefield every day to avoid triggering another outburst. Angry men hurt women—verbally and sometimes physically. Find a man who is gentle.

9. The man-child. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m suspicious of a guy who still lives with his parents at age 35. If his mother is still doing his cooking, cleaning and ironing at that age, you can be sure he’s stuck in an emotional time warp. You are asking for trouble if you think you can be a wife to a guy who hasn’t grown up. Back away and, as a friend, encourage him to find a mentor who can help him mature.

10. The control freak. Some Christian guys today believe marriage is about male superiority. They may quote Scripture and sound super-spiritual, but behind the façade of husbandly authority is deep insecurity and pride that can morph into spiritual abuse. First Peter 3:7 commands husbands to treat their wives as equals. If the man you are dating talks down to you, makes demeaning comments about women or seems to squelch your spiritual gifts, back away now. He is on a power trip. Women who marry religious control freaks often end up in a nightmare of depression.

If you are a woman of God, don’t sell your spiritual birthright by marrying a guy who doesn’t deserve you. Your smartest decision in life is to wait for a man who is sold out to Jesus.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma and the director of the Mordecai Project (). You can follow him on Twitter at @leegrady. He is the author of 10 Lies Men Believe and other books.

Wendy Griffith is beautiful and has a glamorous job but has experienced a devastating heartbreak and the ups and downs of dating. She shares her story in You Are a Prize to Be Won, which has been released in time for Valentine’s Day. A CBN news anchor, Griffith shares advice learned the hard way of dating a noncommittal man who broke up with her because he knew he was going to marry her.

My favorite chapters are “The Dangers of Recreational Kissing” and “Purity Is Sexy.” Griffith is her 40s and knows the challenges of dating with standards set by the Bible as far physical intimacy goes. The book is chock full of sound advice on how to date without compromising your Christian faith. In the chapter “Avoid the Counterfeit,” she offers these three steps:

1. A man’s intentions and feelings about you should be clear. You shouldn’t be forced to guess how he feels about you. The counterfeit guy I dated told me month after month, “God keeps telling me, ‘One day at a time.’” But if a guy doesn’t know what his intentions are after several months of dating, he’s “playing you, not planning with you,” as author and comedian Steve Harvey says. Yes, I bought the “one day at a time” thing, and now I know what was happening—I was being played! Sometimes we have to learn things the hard way.

2. Listen to God. God will warn you. He loves you. He wants you to make good decisions, especially when it comes to your love life. I ignored numerous warning dreams from the Lord because they didn’t fit in with my fairy-tale plans. Don’t ignore the little promptings, the red flags and the warning dreams. However God speaks to you, pay close attention. We often need God’s help to discern the real thing from the counterfeit.

3. Make sure a man’s words are consistent with his actions. “I love you,” “I miss you” and “I need you” all sound wonderful, but they only ring true if a man’s words match his actions. After months of “I love yous,” if a guy’s not popping the question to you, chances are that he’s not really serious about you. Sincerity is proven by action. If you find a man consistent in his pursuit of you who puts his words into action, you may have just found “the one.”

Griffith includes entries from her journal and stories of covering Hurricane Katrina and visiting the Philippines to follow up the Gracia Burnham story. Every chapter ends with questions for personal reflection. This is a great read for singles in every situation—widowed, divorced, young or older—as there is wisdom for everyone. Click here to order the book.

 Below is a video of Pat Robertson interviewing Wendy Griffith on the 700 Club.

Leilani Haywood is editor of SpiritLed Woman and a frequent contributor to Charisma. She is a Kansas City, award-winning writer and columnist. She has been published in the Kansas City Star, Metro Voice and other publications. Follow her on Twitter @leilanihaywood.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 John 4:18, ESV).

What do you fear?

Whether it’s death, pain, loss, loneliness, shame or anything else, fear is not from God. Jesus described Satan when He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

What have you allowed him to steal from you? Your peace? Your confidence? The assurance that God loves you? Yes, the enemy is active on this earth. But so is God. After describing Satan’s plan of attack, Jesus spoke of His own plans: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

If you’ve ever allowed dread and anxiety to invade your thoughts, you know living in fear is the opposite of living abundantly. God knew we would struggle with fear. From Genesis to John, the words do not be afraid appear again and again, often coming straight from the mouth of Jesus.

Jesus knew we’d encounter fear—not just a healthy fear of God, but distracting, stifling, crippling fear. He wants to help us conquer it because it’s not from Him.

First John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Jesus loves us unlike anyone else—with a perfect love. A fearless love. If we focus on Him when we’re afraid, we can be fearless too.

Fear has to do with punishment, and Jesus put an end to the worst punishment of all when He died on the cross. If we confess our sins and commit our lives to Him, our souls will never die. We’ll never face the punishment our sins deserve.

When we’re no longer afraid of death, other fears are put into perspective. But how can we tackle fear of failure, rejection and so much more? King David figured it out. “I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps. 43:4).

Don’t keep your secret fears welled up inside. Seek the Lord. Tell Him your fear. Ask for His help, and have faith that He’ll come through.

When you look to our great, big God, everything else gets smaller. And remember that nothing—not life, death or “anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

Struggling with fears? Read this Billy Graham Daily Devotion, titled “Cast Your Cares.” Read the original article at .

Doctors want to put a premature end to their unborn baby’s life, but one Australian couple refuses to take this hypocritical action just because their bundle of joy has two faces—and two brains. That Australian couple, Renee Young and Simon Howie, are my pro-life heroes this week.

The parents were admittedly shocked when an ultrasound revealed their twin baby girls were actually one baby with two faces and two brains. A 3-D ultrasound shows the baby has only two legs, two arms and one body.

Who wouldn’t be shocked and upset? That’s a natural reaction. But when doctors called for an abortion “because it would be looked upon by the public as a freak,” the couple stood on the side of life—and love—saying they would give birth to their baby and surround it with “people who love it.”

No baby has ever survived this condition, known as craniofacial hyperhidrosis or diprosopus (only 35 cases of the rare form of conjoined twins have ever been recorded), but this brave couple is nevertheless choosing life.

There was no mention of God in their story, yet A Current Affair titled its segment “Miracle Baby.” And when asked if they had a religious or moral objection to abortion, Howie said his objection was moral. But I, for one, am convinced God is in this mix!

“It’d be the same as being a child with autism or Down syndrome,” Howie told A Current Affair. “I don’t believe in terminating the baby if it’s healthy and growing fine, and everything is going to plan.”

Doctors told the couple their baby would be a “freak,” but the couple’s sense of right and wrong is guiding them to choose life—even if the baby’s life turns out to be short. And who knows? Maybe it really will be a miracle baby. Is anything too hard for God? No, God can do a miracle in the womb. Why not give Him a chance? Can you imagine the impact a miracle of that magnitude could have on the pro-abortion movement that likes to terminate if babies are defected (or even an undesired sex)?

“If I only get two days with the baby, I only get two days with the baby,” Young, now 19 weeks pregnant, told A Current Affair. “At least I have some time with it. That’s just the time we actually get to spend with the baby and its brothers and sisters get to meet their little brother or sister.”

It appears that the parents are neither on-fire Christians nor married, but they are still choosing life in an era that is largely focused on death. (Some commenters, for example, have even suggested euthanizing the baby as soon as it is born.) This couple is showing a dark world that you don’t have to be a Bible-toting, churchgoing, pro-life-sign-carrying Christian to celebrate life. You just have to respect the sanctity of life.

I am not sure why God allows these sorts of trials, but we know that if God doesn’t perform a miracle, the baby girl will go on to be with the Lord. We know that these parents are expressing love and the will of God despite no mention of His name. We know that God is getting glory out of this story as the parents choose to go against traditional medical advice for the sake of life and love.

And I believe that some scared, pregnant mother somewhere may just hear this story and decide to keep their perfectly healthy baby. I believe this couple’s story will give courage and inspiration to young women who are considering an abortion. I believe God will work the story of the so-called “miracle baby” out in conformity to the purpose of His will (Phil. 2:13). Even Howie said he had “hope and a little faith.” Ms. Young and Mr. Howie, God bless you!

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

The global persecution of Christians has gone from bad to worse, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Smith, a New Jersey Republican, along with other U.S. House subcommittee members and various speakers gave testimony about religious hostilities against Christians worldwide. Speakers noted that religious persecution violates basic human rights.

Smith likened the persecution of Christians in Iraq to genocide.

“Christians remain the most persecuted group in the world and thus deserve special attention,” he said.

Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that past administrations have not taken the issue of Christian persecution seriously enough.

“The system isn’t working properly,” said Abrams, who serves on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “It sends a message to other countries that we don’t care.”

Abrams held up several photos of Christians who had either been harassed or killed for their faith. “These images reflect a disturbing reality,” he said.

Other countries such as Nigeria, Vietnam, Burma and Egypt are notorious for persecuting Christians.

Abrams and Smith stressed that those countries that experience religious liberty must hold other countries to a higher standard.

John Allen, an associate editor at The Boston Globe, agreed by saying that in the Western world, Christianity is seen as a “social institution.”

“It is hard for Christians to wrap their minds around persecution that takes place around the world,” Allen said.

Copyright 2014 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

The Bachelor star Sean Lowe shares candidly about his experience on the reality TV show, finding love, waiting for marriage and living out his faith in a new short film released Wednesday on , a website featuring more than 100 athletes, actors, models, musicians, pastors, politicians and everyday people sharing stories of hope.

A Dallas native, Lowe recently married the love of his life, Catherine Giudici, whom he met on ABC’s The Bachelor, in a live ceremony broadcast on ABC Network Jan. 26.

Before starring on The Bachelor, Lowe won the hearts of America on season eight of The Bachelorette. It was Lowe’s sister who originally turned in his application to appear on the show, unbeknownst to him.

“I said, ‘Listen, I have no desire to be on reality TV, and I certainly don’t want to subject myself to all the public criticism that comes along with being on a show like The Bachelorette,” Lowe first told the producer when approached about being on the show. “Guys go on there, get drunk, and there’s the fantasy suite and there’s sex and nudity. It just didn’t seem like something that represented me.”

After thinking about the producer’s offer for about a week, Lowe eventually thought he could use a free vacation and agreed to appear on the show. He flew to North Carolina, where he and the other men were put up in a “big palatial mansion.”

At first, Lowe simply enjoyed hanging out with the other contestants, but after a few weeks of getting to spend time with the bachelorette, Emily Maynard, he realized he was falling for her.

“I’m actually developing feelings for this girl when there are all these cameras around,” Lowe describes in the I am Second film. “This is kinda nuts. I can see myself being her husband, and she had a young daughter, and I thought, ‘Wow, God has used this reality TV show to introduce me to my wife and my future daughter.’ And after about six weeks of being on the show, I knew that I loved her.”

A week before The Bachelorette finale, Lowe entered the rose ceremony with two other contestants and walked away without a rose.

Heartbroken, he returned to Dallas, still thinking of Maynard all the time, longing for answers of why he was eliminated. A few weeks later, a producer approached him again, this time to be the next star of the The Bachelor.

“I’m getting over a broken heart, and I’m still trying to mend,” Lowe says in the film. “The first go-around wasn’t the greatest experience for me. I said, ‘I don’t know.’ On the show, bachelors traditionally get raked over the coals. It’s not easy to maintain that good-guy image when you’re the star.”

Lowe assumed his family would discourage him from being on the show, but they surprised him by doing just the opposite. A few months later, Lowe was taping the first night of The Bachelor.

“It’s unnatural to date 25 women at one time, and it felt wrong a lot of the time,” Lowe describes. “I wrestled with it quite a bit, thinking, ‘I’m pretty sure God opened this door, but what if He didn’t? … What if people look at me and they say, ‘This is what is wrong with Christianity’? That was a big fear.”

After weeks of eliminations, Lowe proposed to “his best friend,” Catherine. It was in the aftermath of answering media questions honestly that a firestorm brewed and Lowe was labeled “the virgin Bachelor.”

In his I am Second film, Lowe describes the basis for his decision to forego sex until marriage, speaking honestly about his past mistakes and how the decision has impacted his life.