If you met Mary DeMuth today, her joy would confuse you. Who she has become in light of tragedy is a testimony of Jesus’s ability to transform a broken life. A child of three divorces, a victim of sexual assault at a young age, with a father who died when she was ten, Mary wanted to end her life in her teens. In the tenth grade, she heard about Jesus, and she knew she wanted to chase after Him for the rest of her life. Thankfully, He chased her.

Mary is the author of thirty-two books, including her latest: Jesus Every Day. She has spoken around the world about God’s ability to re-story a life, bringing needed freedom to her audiences. She’s been on the 700 Club, spoken in Munich, Cape Town, and Monte Carlo, and planted a church with her family in southern France. Her best work? Being a mom to three amazing young adults and the wife of nearly 25 years to Patrick. She makes her home in Dallas alongside her husband, and two dueling cats.

In 1977, Gene McGuire’s life as a free man ended. He was one of three persons involved in the late-night robbery of a bar. One of the men stabbed and killed the bar owner. Gene was sentenced to life in prison without parole, on a second-degree murder charge. He was 17 years old. Nearly ten years later, after achieving influence in the prison culture of drugs, power, money, pornography and disdain for authority, Gene humbled himself and experienced a Christ-transformation.
After submitting to years of discipleship, Gene became a spiritual leader to thousands of inmates. With no hope for release himself, Gene instead developed a fruitful, fulfilling ministry within his world of incarceration. He became an elder in the prison church, developed small groups and yard Bible studies and led others who were also without freedom to true freedom in Christ.
Then, almost 35 years into his prison sentence, came an unexpected miracle. On April 3, 2012 Presiding Judge Russell D. Shurtleff addressed the crowded Wyoming County Courtroom in Pennsylvania. He ruled that Gene had been wrongfully charged, that his life sentence was reversed and that he had already served the appropriate sentence due. Gene was released a free man — no parole.
His story is riveting — from a life sentenced to imprisonment to one filled with the power of God’s love, forgiveness and freedom, bringing hope to all.

by David French -  nationalreview.com - December 27, 2017 If I had to pick one of the most under-appreciated and under-reported stories of 2017, it would be that a post-Christian America is a more vicious ...