God Uses This Powerful, One-Two Punch to Impact Lives

Thirteen-year-old Kari Pankonin faced typical junior high issues: being moody, emotional, and insecure. Then her world turned upside down. Her parents went from having a strong marriage to a marriage on the rocks. Her peaceful household turned unstable and tumultuous. 

To cope with the disruption, Kari started running with the wrong crowd and developing unhealthy habits. She slipped into deep depression. She found herself in her room at night fantasizing about her death and funeral. 

She wrote, “I had my suicide all figured out. I had my funeral planned and my obituary typed up. I was going to kill myself on Good Friday for dramatic effect.” (The Gideon, June-July, 2024, pp. 14-15). 

Fortunately, a friend’s mother and a concerned teacher approached Kari’s mom and planned an intervention that led to admittance to a psychiatric unit for testing and counseling. Eventually, she learned if she pretended she wouldn’t harm herself, she would get privileges, which led to a transfer to a regular hospital room. 

Yet, she still planned to commit suicide when she returned home. On the night before her release, sitting alone in her hospital room, an overwhelming, overpowering, unexplainable sensation came over her. She opened the nightstand drawer, found a Gideon Bible, and opened it to Psalm 22. 

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). That’s how she felt. She continued reading through Psalms until she reached Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation . . .” and then 27:10, “For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.”

Suddenly, she had a life changing experience and received Jesus as her Savior. She shares, “Without Christ, I was lost and hopeless. With Christ, I’m full of hope.”

Since 1908, the Gideons International Ministry has placed 2.6 billion Bibles in hotel and motel rooms, prisons, jails, waiting rooms, and directly into the hands of people. 

These committed Christian businessmen and wives, active in their churches, recognize not only the power of God’s Word, but also know that placing God’s Word into people’s pathways can change lives. That’s a potent combination!

They also encourage pastors. Our local Gideons in their weekly gathering often prayed for me throughout my bout with cancer. A representative occasionally dropped by to check in and to pray with me. I make a point to attend their annual Pastor Appreciation Luncheon to hear inspirational testimonies and to stay updated on the resources the Gideons provide. 

I always invited a Gideons speaker to bring a five-minute report every Spring in a worship service and took a special “over and above offering,” every penny of which went to purchase Bibles to distribute around the world. 

Someone shared every time our heart beats, two Bibles are placed by a Gideon somewhere around the world. 

One reached Tracy Johnson of Tiff, MO. In 2009, Johnson was a hardcore drug user practicing witchcraft. She stole a Gideon Bible and started reading it. She came to Deuteronomy 18:12-13, where it says that all that use witchcraft, divination and consulters are like an abomination to God.

She was crushed to discover she was an abomination to anybody, let alone God. She thought she was a good person who didn’t lie, cheat, or kill (she just stole Bibles). 

She shared, “I always believed in Jesus and knew it all was true. I even knew at one point that I had to be born again, but the devil has a way of causing one not to think upon those kinds of things. I didn’t think I was anything near what the Bible said I was. Then the Lord began to reveal things to me from His Holy Word and called me to a definite crossroads over the next month. I needed to choose who I would serve.

“So with only a Bible from the Gideons . . ., I got on my knees and repented.” Tracy prayed to receive Jesus.

Time and time again, God’s Word impacts lives. As Isaiah 55:11 reads, “My Word shall not return void . . .” We simply need to find ways to get God’s supernatural Word into people’s hands.

As Kari Pankonin wrote, “I’m so thankful the Bible was in my hospital room that night. Without that Bible, I would not be alive today. God used that Bible to get ahold of my heart.”

(David L. Chancey lives in Fayetteville, GA, and serves as transitional pastor at Griffin Church, Griffin, GA. Visit www.davidchancey.com to see more of his writings and to order his books).