Sadie Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" fame shared the powerful conversation she recently had with an atheist -- and how his life changed as a result.
On her Live Original blog, the 20-year-old revealed that last fall, she visited one of her close friends at Pepperdine University.
"Earlier that day, she had been telling me about one of her good friends who had been struggling with faith and fear," she said. "She invited him to come hang with out with us one night in hopes we would get into a conversation about faith."
Before speaking with the young man, Willie and Korie Robertson's daughter prayed that the Holy Spirit would lead the conversation.
"This guy in particular was one of the smartest guys I have ever had a conversation with," she said, explaining that their conversation "took a turn" when he began to share his story.
"He started to share with me how he was deaf for a long portion of his life," Sadie said. "An accident had taken place when he was a young boy and it took away his hearing. Recently, he was able to have surgery that allowed him to hear again. He thought this was the answer to his prayer, but when he began to hear the way his voice sounded when he spoke, which sounded a little different than the 'normal', he became very mad God and extremely insecure."
The young man told her that every time he speaks, he's afraid of what people think of him due to his disability.
"His heart was so heavy and the pain he felt was very deep," she said. "I asked him why he feels he cannot live a normal life, and he said, 'Well it's really hard when your speech is your weakness.'"
She told him, "What if the thing that the enemy and the world has been throwing in your face and calling your weakness, is the very thing that God intends to create as your weapon of strength? You just have to take authority over it in the name of Jesus. It's like the cross. A cross that was meant to kill is now our victory."
His next answer was a little shocking: "He said, 'Sadie you don't understand. I have literally come to the point that I am an atheist. I've just decided that I'm not going to continue to believe in a God I can not see,'" Sadie recalled.
When she asked him if he knew the definition of fear, he could not answer. Fear, she said, is this: an unpleasant emotion caused by the BELIEF that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
"So, fear is literally believing the worst thing is going to happen," she said. "I asked him, 'Can you see fear, have you heard people make fun of you, have you actually seen the things you are scared of?' He just kind of sat there and thought about that one for a minute. Then he laughed and said, 'No. You're right.'"
"I finished with this," she said. "'You have a choice. You can choose to believe in fear, or you can choose to believe in the faith of God. Both things you cannot see. One ends in death and one will end in life. One ends in defeat and one will end in victory. You have a choice to wake up every morning and see your imperfections as a weakness or to see your "imperfections" as what makes you original, and as an opportunity to reflect the glory of God as a strength for the kingdom of heaven.'"
That night, the young man gave his life to Christ -- and today, he's the president of a fraternity, a job that requires a lot of speaking.
"He decided to walk in victory," Sadie said, recalling how David trusted God to give him victory over Goliath.
"When David went up to this giant, he didn't carry any weapons because he was too weak," she wrote.
"Goliath was the champion of this story, but here is the thing about champions - a champion is only a champion until the next person wins, but a legend will last forever. David was a legend," Robertson continued. "The important thing is that you don't have to look like a champion to become a legend."
"Friends, you have a choice today to not take away the meaning of the cross, and to take that thing you have been calling your weakness straight to the cross to allow it to become a strength for the kingdom," she concluded.
