“I had reached a level of success I had never known in my life, and yet there was this apathy that overtook my life when it came to my work.”

At 55 years old, Steve Supe was in great shape and had a life most others would envy.
He was reading through his journal when an entry from a few months before caught his attention. In that entry was a memory from Steve’s childhood. At seven years old, he’d attempted suicide twice and didn’t know why.  

“I was very happy, super grateful, but I couldn't seem to get past why I was suicidal at the age of seven.”

Steve met with an advisor and discussed his difficult childhood. 

“My mom was the one who ruled the house with an iron fist. She would literally provoke my dad to anger to get him to beat us. She was tyrannical. It was a very abusive situation in a lot of ways.”

The two prayed and meditated, asking God for answers.

“And in that, two shadowy memories came back. One was being led down a hall by my hand as a 3-year-old child. And then the other was about the same age of where I was fighting to keep my clothes on. And so, I believe that in that moment, God showed me that I was sexually molested by my mother. 

Steve knew to move past the trauma, he had to forgive his mother, but he couldn’t reconcile the gaps in his memories.

“One of the biggest hangups I had trying to forgive was the fact that I couldn't remember everything. How can you fully forgive if you don't know what happened? I was being tormented by my inability to forgive.”

Despite the prayers of Steve, his wife and close friends, he couldn’t move past the hurt and anger.  He even worked through a book on healing abuse and wrote down the things he could remember, hoping to break the cycle.

“I was just desperately praying, ‘God, would you please help me? Would you please help me to get free from this?’ I was like, I can't remember, so, I can't fully forgive. It wasn't an unwillingness to forgive. It was a struggle of ‘How do I forgive?’”

Steve had been wrestling with this unforgiveness for five months when he went for a routine physical.

“She's checking me all out, ears, throat, all this stuff, and she starts checking my heart rate. And she's like, ‘You need to go to the emergency room right now. You're in AFib.’”

Instead of going to the ER, Steve got a second opinion and was told he should undergo a procedure to correct the problem. Even then, Steve was doubtful it would help.

“I knew it wasn’t going to work because I knew my heart wasn't healed. When I was diagnosed with AFib, I was praying and I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Steve, I'm gonna heal your physical heart when your spiritual heart is healed.’”
Steve underwent the recommended procedure and then another a month later. But, as Steve had predicted, neither corrected the problem. 
Desperate, Steve asked his friend, Reuben, a pastor, to come and pray with him. Steve told him what he remembered about the trauma and Reuben explained that remembering everything wasn’t the key to forgiveness.

"It was like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. God can give you the grace to forgive. And that was very freeing. He prayed over me, anointed me with oil, and he said, ‘Here's what I want you to do: I want you to go home. I want you to read it. I want you to forgive everything line by line. And then I want you to put it in the fireplace and burn it.’ And so that's what I did. It was a conscious decision to forgive my mom at that point.”
finally, a breakthrough.

“I really just felt like God met me and gave me the grace to just fully forgive and just let it go. It was a tremendous relief. I really felt a lot of release and a lot of peace.”

Afterwards, Steve spent several hours alone with God in worship and prayer. 

“The presence of God in the room was so strong, if I had opened my eyes and saw the Lord sitting there, I would've not have been surprised, because it was just so heavy in the room that night. I felt spiritually healed. I had a lot more peace. I felt free for the first time in years. And I've been in normal sinus rhythm ever since.” 
Steve is back to enjoying a good run and his heart is finally at rest.

“Now I am free of it, you know? And so, I feel like I can be a better husband, a better father, a better, a better Christian. If you're feeling guilt, shame, condemnation over things that you've gone through, horrible experiences that have happened to you, or that you have done yourself, God can forgive, and that shame doesn't need to be your master. I got free because God set me free.”

Baton Rouge, LA

“For emergency medicine physicians, one of the scariest emergencies we see is lack of an airway. When I saw her, I knew we’d better do something and do it quick because she was going down fast,” says Dr. Wight.

In March 2016, Lorraine Besson went to the hospital for what was supposed to be a low-risk spinal fusion surgery. Her sister Angela remembers the day.

“I was worried about Lorraine. It was a serious surgery where they had to go in, you know, from the front to work on her back. It seemed to go okay and then it was—then when she was at home later, you know, that-that things kinda went south,” says Angela.

At home the next morning, Lorraine struggled to breathe. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Soon after, her brother Neal got a phone call with terrible news.

“When we heard that 911 had been called and she was on her way to the emergency room, my immediate response was to pray,” says Neal. “One of her children saw her come out of the ambulance at the hospital and she said that she totally looked lifeless, that was very alarming to hear, so I knew it was a critical situation.”

“When we got the first call, all I could do was pray—just asked for God’s intercession, you know, to intervene in the situation, because I knew it was really, really serious,” says Angela. “And I honestly didn’t know if she was going to make it at that point.”

In the emergency room, Dr. Lura Wight knew something was blocking Lorraine’s airway. Unable to insert a breathing tube, she considered making an incision in her neck.

“And it was quite obvious to all of us that she needed to be intubated,” says Dr. Wight. “I looked at her neck and I just had this sense of foreboding that-that told me just ‘This is not an option. This is not a viable option to get an airway on this patient.’ And I just—we were able to keep her oxygenated while we were waiting for anesthesia to get there and I chose to do that rather than make an incision in her neck,” says Dr. Wight.

The anesthesiologist arrived and was soon able to establish an airway. They then found the source of Lorraine’s complication from her previous surgery.

“She had a nick in her thyroid artery and the blood was slowly leaking out of that artery into her neck,” says Dr. Wight. “Had we put an incision in her throat anteriorly to put a breathing tube in, she quite frankly could have bled to death right there on the table.”

Lorraine was moved to the ICU on a ventilator in a drug-induced coma. Her family continued to pray.

“It was very hard waiting,” says John. “Lorraine was very much a big support of mine all through my whole life. We kinda came in at-at—when we were given a chance to, and-and prayed with Lorraine there in the room in the ICU and it was frightening to see her lying on her back like that,” says John.

After 10 days, Lorraine began breathing on her own. Her family was thankful that she was still alive yet concerned that she may have suffered brain damage due to the lack of oxygen.

“I thought for sure without oxygen for that long she was going to have severe damage, you know, to her cognitive functioning,” says Angela.

She was sent to rehab to continue her recovery. Dr. Martin Setliff was the attending physician.

“She was having difficulty the first few days even recalling what she did even the previous hour,” says Dr. Setliff. “And she also had a mild component of an anoxic brain injury, which indicates that in the period of time that her airway was blocked she was unable to get adequate blood flow to her brain. I did have concerns that given the nature of her injury and the severity of it, that her time in our unit could be anywhere from three to four weeks possibly,” says Dr. Setliff. “She was fortunately able to undermine my original estimation and she got out of the rehab unit within about 13 days.”

Lorraine made a full recovery and is grateful for the miracles God did for her along the way.

“I know that Jesus is alive and well today and that He does still do miracles,” says Lorraine. “I’m-I’m proof of that. I should not be sitting here telling you my story. It was only through the intervention of God. He had his hand on it from the beginning to the end, from the ambulance all the way to surgery where I was then able to breathe and not in danger,” says Lorraine.

“I am a firm believer in if God is ready for you, you will go, and if God is not ready for you, you aren’t going anywhere,” says Dr. Setliff. “And I’ve seen this happen time and time again. I’ve had people walk into my ER and six hours later they’re on a vent deathly ill and die. I’ve had them come like Miss Besson, critically ill, on death’s door, and end up walking out of the hospital two weeks later,” says Dr. Setliff. “In all of this, physicians play a role, but the ultimate decider of who survives and who does not, is God.”

“It’s been five years since this happened, and I still will ask people, strangers, ‘Would you like to hear my miracle story?’” says Lorraine. “And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told them my story and then they say, ‘Thank you so much for telling me your story, I needed to hear that today.’”

Delfina lives with her 3 children in Guatemala. Her husband works as a farm laborer when he can find work.  Their son, Derik, said there never seemed to be enough food for them to eat saying, “My classmates told me that they ate cereal and eggs. I wanted that but we couldn’t afford it.”  

Delfina tries to help out with the family income during harvest season, explaining, "Here women do not earn much. Depending on the job we earn about 5 dollars a day.”

When they don’t work, the whole family suffers.  Delfina says, "Some days they asked me, ‘is there even an egg or bread?’ I couldn't give them anything because I didn't have it.” Derik shares, “I want to eat chicken and try other foods.”   

Then Operation Blessing visited Delfina and invited her to take part in a chicken project. After her training we gave her a shed, feed and 195 chickens to start a poultry and egg business.  

A delighted Delfina shares, “My kids are happy. My daughter loves scrambled eggs and now I can give them to her. I'm so happy.”  

Derik gratefully says, “Thank you with all my heart for helping us because now we will have a better life.”  

In the bustling city of Abepura, Indonesia, eight-year-old Gloria grew up in a Christian family and was a diligent Sunday school student. However, her transition to elementary school brought unexpected hardships. A male classmate began bullying her, demanding money and resorting to physical violence if she refused. This repeated mistreatment left Gloria with a deep-seated grudge against her tormentor.

The turning point in Gloria's life came with the arrival of Superbook’s Super Easter event. Excitedly, she registered through her Sunday school class to host a Super Easter Movie Party at her home. With courage, Gloria invited her friends one by one to join the event.

During the Super Easter Movie Party, Gloria's heart was profoundly touched by the Superbook episode “He Is Risen.” The story of Jesus' sacrifice resonated deeply with her, reminding her of the bullying she endured and the resentment she held. As she watched, her heart began to soften, overwhelmed by the love and forgiveness exemplified by Jesus.

Moved by the message, Gloria followed the prayer shared during the Super Easter event and made a life-changing decision to forgive her bully. "Lord Jesus has died to atone for the sins of all people. So I must forgive my friends who do wrong to me," she declared.

This moment marked a significant transformation in Gloria's life. The power of God's love and the lessons from Superbook helped her let go of her anger and embrace forgiveness. Her story is a testament to the profound impact of CBN Animation’s Superbook, which transcends cultural and regional boundaries to bring the Word of God to children worldwide.

As we celebrate Gloria's journey, we invite you to join this mission. Your support can help extend the reach of Superbook to even more children and families in need of hope and transformation. Whether by donating to CBN Animation’s Superbook ministry through the link below, sharing this story, or accessing Superbook resources for your own family, you can make a difference. Together, we can continue to bring the light of God's Word to young hearts around the world. 

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