At a hearing last Friday, many voices spoke up to ensure the young christian convert’s safety and protection, including Florida Governor Charlie Crist. “I am grateful to Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson for his decision to grant Fathima Rifqa Bary the right to remain in Florida,” said Crist in this statement. “We will continue to fight to protect Rifqa’s safety and wellbeing as we move forward.”

Rifqa secretly <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/newchristians/p/becomechristian.htm”>became a christian four years ago, but ran away from home in July when her Muslim parents found out about her conversion. The 17-year-old girl insists, “If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn’t be alive.”

The teen’s father, Mohamed Bary, denies ever threatening his daughter, saying in court last Friday that if she returns home she will be free to practice whatever religion she chooses.

The case has received international attention, and now Rifqa faces new dangers. Her lawyers say that a radical Muslim group in Columbus, Ohio has targeted the girl, adding to fears for her safety should she be returned home. According to her attorney, Rifqa wishes to stay in Florida with her christian foster family until she turns 18 a year from now.

The next hearing will be held on Sept. 3. I’ll continue to follow the case closely and keep you informed of any new developments.

Also:

• <a href="http://christianity.about.com/b/2009/08/19/family-says-runaway-christian-teen-was-brainwashed.htm”>Family Says Runaway christian Teen Was Brainwashed

• <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-21239-Oakland-Skepticism-Examiner~y2009m8d21-Honor-killing-feared-for-christian-convert”>Honor Killing Feared for christian Convert

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/u/ua/testimonies/hardtimesstory.htm”>

Although the unemployment rate has dropped for the first time since April 2008, still many Americans are out of work and running out of benefits. Times are hard, not just in the U.S., but for people across the globe. The suffering reaches beyond the financial realm, with serious hardships leading many people to experience feelings of hopelessness and depression. The World Health Organization reported in 2001 that 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression. And, according to a pbs.org report, by the year 2020, the second most common health problem in the world will be depression.

The Bible says God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). One way we comfort one another is to offer hope in the midst of <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/prayersverses/qt/hardtimesbible.htm”>hard times. When we read testimonies of God’s faithfulness to other christians who have struggled through hardships, we gain <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/prayersverses/qt/couragebiblever.htm”>courage to keep on believing, trusting, and not lose faith.

I’d like to give you the opportunity to offer hope and encouragement to fellow believers who are facing difficult times today. Comfort a brother or sister in need by sharing your hard times story.

• <a href="http://christianity.about.com/u/ua/testimonies/hardtimesstory.htm#ua_form”>Share Your Hard Times Story

_{Photo: Digital Vision / Getty Images}

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/depressionandsuicide/a/sherlytestimony.htm”>Sherly’s true story is one of our many <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/od/testimonies/”>featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/library/blsubmittestimony.htm”>Submission Form. To receive weekly messages of hope and encouragement from real-life stories of changed lives, sign up for <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/c/ec/30.htm?once=true&”>eTestimonies.

• Read: <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/depressionandsuicide/a/sherlytestimony.htm”>Sherly’s Sweet Home

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I shared some highlights of our dream vacation—an Alaska christian cruise—through this day-by-day <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christianbooksmovies/ss/christiancruiselog.htm”>cruise travel log. As promised, today I’d like to invite you to read a <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christianbooksmovies/fr/alaskacruisereview.htm”>full review of our 7-day Inside Passage Alaska cruise with <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christiancelebrities/p/charlesstanley.htm”>Dr. Charles Stanley and friends of In Touch Ministries.

While the Alaska tour was one of our most memorable trips, surpassing all expectations, many aspects of the experience deserve careful evaluation. We tried to focus on assessing the christian-themed aspects of the vacation, so that if you’re considering a christian cruise, this review will help you reach an informed decision.

• <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christianbooksmovies/fr/alaskacruisereview.htm”>Alaska In Touch christian Cruise Review

• <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christianbooksmovies/ss/christiancruiselog.htm”>Alaska christian Cruise Travel Log

_{Image: © Bill Fairchild}

I appreciated the deeper message of the video. This is what it said to me (interrogatively speaking): “Are you a christian in name only, or in truth and in deed? Does the very life of Christ indwell you and influence every aspect of who you are and what you do? Are you content to simply wear a label—”<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/od/glossary/g/christian.htm”>christian“—or are you compelled to live out the life of Christ that bubbles up from the inside? Is your nature transforming through the power of the <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/topicalbiblestudies/a/whoisholyspirit.htm”>Holy Spirit, conforming to his image, or are you simply following a script, reading your lines, performing?

As I see it, rejecting the term “christian” is not the significant point of the video campaign. Rather, rejecting performance-based, outward-only, dead religion—that is the message I hear.

Unfortunately, the advertisement simultaneously sends a regretful message. In light of these words of Christ, both the “christian” and the “Christ Follower” fall short:

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/p/newinternationa.htm”>(NIV)

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/membersubmittedprayers/qt/beautyfromashes.htm”>
Image: © Davide Guglielmo

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/membersubmittedprayers/qt/beautyfromashes.htm”>Beauty from Ashes


Tears like waves come pounding against the shore of my heart—

Strong and fierce, they threaten to sweep me under.

Yet, as the currents wash over me, stillness calms my soul,

And I hear Your gentle voice calling through the crashing thunder.

Day after day, stormy seas batter with their endless fury—

So sudden, so final, the unrelenting, all-consuming grasp of death.

About to drown, I catch a glimpse of sunlight through the clouds,

And Your hand reaches me as, once again, I catch my breath.

Read more … <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/membersubmittedprayers/qt/beautyfromashes.htm”>Beauty from Ashes.

Do you have an original christian prayer that would encourage or benefit a fellow believer? Perhaps you’ve written a unique poem you’d like to share with others. We are looking for <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/prayersverses/Prayers_Verses.htm”>christian prayers and poems to encourage our readers in their communication with God. To submit your original prayer or poem, please fill out this <a href="http://christianity.about.com/library/blsubmitprayer.htm”>Prayer / Poem Submission Form.

Four years ago, after an “incredible encounter with Jesus,” Fathima Rifqa Bary secretly <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/newchristians/p/whychristianity.htm”>converted to christianity. She kept her <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/conversion/p/salvation.htm”>salvation experience hidden from Muslim parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, until recently when friends from her family’s mosque saw the girl’s Facebook postings and told Bary and his wife about their daughter’s christian faith.

According to reports, 17-year-old Rifqa ran away from home when she began to fear for her life, stating that her mother insisted she renounce her <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/christiandoctrines/a/basicdoctrines.htm”>christian beliefs and her father had threatened to kill her. The teen’s parents and brother, Rilvan, have all denied the accusations.

Last month Rifqa left her family in Columbus, Ohio, taking a bus to Florida, where she stayed with Pastor Blake Lorenz of Global Revolution Church in Orlando. Rifqa met the minister and his wife through a Facebook prayer group.

Currently, the Barys are trying to regain custody of their daughter. They say she has been “brainwashed” and “coached” by Pastor Lorenz. At a Florida hearing last Monday, the girl was mandated to a group home with the Florida Department of Children and Families until Aug. 21, the date of her next hearing.

With two states involved, and the fact that she’s a minor and not a U.S. citizen, Rifqa’s case is complicated, to say the least. She is being represented by an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that aggressively defends religious freedoms.

If you’ve been following the case, what do you think? How will the courts determine who is telling the truth?
What if the girl’s life truly is in danger, but the Florida judge decides to send her home? Should she then submit to her parent’s authority and denounce her faith? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/nonfictionbookreviews/fr/secretsprayer.htm”>
Image Courtesy of Chosen Books

To find out more or to submit a book review, check out this <a href="http://christianity.about.com/library/blbookreviewsumform.htm”>christian Book Review Submission Form.

The latest guest book review is <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/nonfictionbookreviews/fr/secretsprayer.htm”>Secrets of a Prayer Warrior by Derek Prince, a biblical study on effective prayer. Guest reviewer Judith Mereki was so moved by the book, she says she promotes it as though she wrote it herself. Giving it 5 stars, she states, “Reading Secrets of a Prayer Warrior was truly like being in a science lab. I not only read about prayer, but as I turned the pages, I paused and prayed as my eyes were opened to biblical truth.” She assures readers, “It’s not a book that you will easily put down and forget about. Rather, as you apply these secrets of a prayer warrior, you will find your prayer life being injected with new life.”

If you’ve read the book and would like to post your own comments, please be sure to select the “Write a Review” button at the end of the guest review.

• Read Review: <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/nonfictionbookreviews/fr/secretsprayer.htm”>Secrets of a Prayer Warrior by Derek Prince

<a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/crimeandprisontime/a/cowboytestimony.htm”>Tom’s true story is one of our many <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/od/testimonies/”>featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it.

• Submit your testimony by filling out this <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/library/blsubmittestimony.htm”>Submission Form.

• To receive weekly messages of hope and encouragement from real-life stories of changed lives, sign up for <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://christianity.about.com/c/ec/30.htm?once=true&”>eTestimonies.

• Read: <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/crimeandprisontime/a/cowboytestimony.htm”>Tom’s Lonely Journey to Jesus

For several years as a young believer, I longed for the kind of intimate relationship with Jesus that I’d heard others speak about and had sensed in my heart was possible. Yet, I didn’t know how to get close to a God I couldn’t see or touch. Initially, I set out to get to know him better by reading and studying the Bible. Although this helped, there still seemed to be something missing in our relationship.

Everything changed when I went to live as a missionary in Brazil. At first, I didn’t know the Portuguese language, so I had no close friends to speak with and share my deepest thoughts. During this time, I began to sit at my window and have long talks alone with Jesus. I poured out my feelings and let him know my hidden fears. However, not everything I shared was serious. I chatted with him about my day, or laughed with him over the latest blooper I’d spoken in my broken Portuguese. Before long, I realized I had a whole new relationship with God, and inside I felt profoundly different. Trust in the Lord replaced fear. The old inner-turmoil and anxiety I had often experienced was exchanged for peace. I sensed a more constant, abiding presence of the Lord throughout my day. At last, I had tapped into an intimate relationship with Jesus, and it’s been building and strengthening ever since.

Perhaps you hunger for an intimate relationship with Jesus, but at the same time feel confused over how to go about it. In this devotional, <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/singlesresources/p/biojackzavada.htm”>Jack Zavada of Inspiration-for-Singles.com lays out the practical and spiritual principles you’ll need to understand in order to build an intimate relationship with Jesus.

• Read: <a href="http://christianity.about.com/od/topicaldevotions/a/relationshipwithjesus.htm”>How to Build an Intimate Relationship with Jesus

_{Photo: David De Lossy / Getty Images}