Testimony Tuesday: Sharing the message of hope

By Bella Agnello

One day, junior Psychology major Carissa Yager hopes to work at a hospital as a child life specialist. At Cedarville University she is being equipped with biblical truths that will help her spread the hope found in Christ to patients and their families.

Her training did not start at Cedarville – God has been pressing this love for the message of hope  into her throughout her life.

Yager grew up in a Christian household in which she learned about the Bible and the gospel. Yet, when Yager was four years old, she understood the gospel for the first time in Sunday school.

“We were talking about Heaven and Hell, and that if you aren’t saved and don’t put your faith and trust in God, you would go to Hell and be separated from God,” Yager said. “It was like, ‘Oh, it’s[Hell’s] a real thing.’”

She continued to learn about God and the importance of salvation, and in sixth grade, Yager learned what it meant to be a Christian and live out the faith she professed. Sharing her testimony did not just mean verbally communicating what Christ did for her – it also meant living differently than the people around her and learning to trust God no matter what.

Around the same time, Yager began to experience pain in her ankles – an issue she continues to struggle with nearly a decade later. These sprains sometimes grew so painful that she needed to use crutches. During these times, God grew her trust in him, though she could not see why he allowed her to have this kind of pain.

“I hope I get better but even if I don’t I hope he’ll use it in some way,” Yager said.

She now sees how God gave her the issue to help connect with kids about injuries and inform her ministry. 

As a freshman in high school, Yager heard about Cedarville through graduates who attended her church. Later that year, she decided to tour the university.

“As soon as I stepped onto campus I fell in love with it,” Yager said. “You can see the authenticity of everyone [and] the genuine Christian atmosphere at Cedarville.”

Around the same time, Yager grew a joy for sharing the gospel. In high school, while working at Texas Roadhouse, she and a coworker began talking about Jesus during one of their breaks. The conversation lasted for 30 minutes.

“I was able to share the gospel from creation to Jesus’ death and resurrection,” Yager said. “She had never met a Christian before, so I was her first interaction with Christianity.”

Yager did not have a chance to prepare for the conversation. And yet, God used this to grow her dependence on him and trust that he would give her the words to say every time.

“Even if you don’t think you’re ready for a gospel conversation, he has prepared you even if you don’t expect it,” Yager said.

Though her coworker did not come to salvation that day, Yager did not grow discouraged. The experience ignited her heart for more gospel conversations, and with each conversation she trusts God with the outcome of their story.

“Even if you don’t see someone get saved, you’ve planted the seed at least and someone else will water it so that it will grow,” Yager said.

God also taught her how to trust him with the conversations she had with Christian friends. During her freshman year of college, she and a friend lived in the same hall, just a few doors down from each other. Though she could not see it immediately, God drew her closer to this friend, who was privately struggling with mental health.

“I’d be like, ‘Oh I want to visit my friend!’ and it was always during the times she was struggling the most, and she didn’t tell me until that summer,” Yager said. “She said, ‘God put you in my life for that moment.’”

God also grew Yager’s dependence on him as she chose her major. Originally, she started as a Nursing major. However, she began to feel God guiding her towards another career path.

“I researched before I switched just to see what else the Lord was leading me to, and then I saw ‘child life specialist,’” Yager said. “I had a bunch of friends who were in psychology, so they just encouraged me to reach out to the head of the psychology department – that was super helpful.”

Now, her classes are training her to encourage her future patients and their family members with Christ’s message of hope, that he is sovereign, loves them and came to save them from sin and suffering.

Whether it is empathizing with a child through injuries or praying with parents before their child’s surgery, Yager is excited to share God’s message of hope that continues to encourage her.

Yager is not waiting to start her career in order to share this message of hope. She is learning deeper intentionality as she pours into her close circle of friends.

“We are meant to build each other up and encourage each other with Scripture in everyday life,” Yager said.

Yager never learned to grow out of her need for God – in fact, she continues to see how much she needs him wherever he guides her. She presses into the truths found in Proverbs 3:5-6, that it is through trusting him that she can experience and share the message of hope.

As God presses this truth into her, Yager allows God to guide her into deep intentionality with her friends and to more conversations about the gospel.

“He will guide me – my life is his to use.”

Bella Agnello is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major with a concentration in Journalism. She enjoys thrifting, listening to records and reading classic Russian literature in her spare time.

Photos provided by Carissa Yager