God's Underdogs

By Magdana Gedeon

The word underdog is not a biblical terminology, but it should have been. Starting from Adam, especially after the fall, if it wasn't for God's compassion, no one would have a chance at survival. We are all underdogs, one way or another, but this is the story of characters like Gedeon, Hagar, the prodigal son, and so on.

And if you look a little closer, you will see that these stories are your stories. You will see that there is hope for you. When people dismissed you, do not dismiss yourself because inside of you, there is a Jephthah whom God is ready to lift up.

Maybe you are dealing with a situation, and you see no way out, but I promise you there is a way. Read on, and you'll find out that God is still for the underdog. He is for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887633008

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Hagar

From Unknown to Daughter

The Least to Great Warrior

Unwanted and Unloved

Beauty for Safety

Jephthah, an Unlikely Leader

Miserable to Honorable

Bitter to Restored

The Shepherd Boy Turned King

Everyone Will Call Me Blessed

Satisfied Desire

A Father's Warm Embrace

About the Author

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God's Underdogs

Magdana Gedeon

Copyright © 2023 Magdana Gedeon

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88763-299-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88763-300-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated, first of all, to God, my wonderful Father, who has never stopped loving me and whose love pulled me out of the pit of hell. Second, to my teenage daughter whose strength carries me through every day. Third, to my mother whose sacrifices have given me this opportunity, to all my friends, and to my brother Jean who lent me the funds to publish this book. Finally, to my brother in Christ and very good friend Pastor Jocelin Belizaire. To my sister, Anush Hakobyan, for her kindness.

Foreword

This simple yet profoundly written book reveals the wonderful biblical truth of how God cares about the least underdogs. It is so rare to find a book that connects you and me, the contemporaries, with the God of ancient people. Magdana Gedeon doesn't simply create a comforting point for underdogs but shines a light once again on the greatness of God, who is authentic to the contemporaries and raises us from dust to inheritors of His kingdom.

—Anush Hakobyan

Preface

I always wanted to write books, but it was never about this subject. I have the desire to write a book about holiness, marriage, victory, and forgiveness, and I still want to write those books in a future not too far away. God's Underdogs is a book that was born out of suffering, pain, and darkness to duplicate his actions of biblical proportions to our current lives. I do mean literal darkness. I think this is a topic God has given to me and forced me to go through the Bible to see how He has rescued the biblical underdogs and how He is able to do the same because He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever.

On November 5, 2020, my world literally turned into darkness when a laser surgery turned into total darkness. It was not new to me, laser surgery, but the procedure was different—total chaos when this surgery left my right eye drowning in a sea of blood, which left me visionally impaired for the next two years. I had already lost my left eye to retinal detachment and irreparable damages. As the doctor stated, The retina on the left eye is like a tape that has been used over and over, which has collected dirt in the process and now is folded to itself. The doctor placed me under complete general anesthesia, and I woke up blind. My whole life was turned into a tailspin. God talked to me through the nightmare to remind me of His love, and from there, He had truly become my only hope. I often said He was my only hope, but this situation had caused me to be totally dependent upon Him. I lost the internship I was doing at the hospital and found myself totally annihilated. I believe God gave me this subject so that I could see there was nothing that was impossible for Him. I believed he loved me. He had told me He loved me countless of times, but I did not know how to move forward and if God would care enough to heal me. I woke up, but God needed my full attention and my full surrender. Though it was hard, I did just that: I let go and let God. It was not easy. But He needed me to trust Him, and I had no other options. So I let go.

I woke up one morning with this phrase in my head: God's underdogs. It took longer to be written because I never knew what I was going to write about next and where I was going with the story. I would write about a story today, and it would take me another month before I would go back because I did not know, but when I started writing, everything would come into place. These characters are retelling their own stories. Once I read about the person that came to my head, then they'll start speaking. I hope you listen and give full attention to what they're saying.

Through the lives of these people, I come to believe God loves me enough to do anything and everything for me, and He can and will do the same for you. In God's Underdogs, you will find the story of Hagar—the first woman to whom God had revealed Himself and made a promise to. While God made a promise to Abraham for Isaac, God made a promise to Hagar for Ismael. You'll find the story of Sarah, the underdog of her time, Gedeon's story, the prodigal son, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her Son. All these people were underdogs; they were not just underdogs but God's underdogs, and He cared for them.

The other reason for the existence of this book is for me, especially as a believer, of how I usually take sides and forget to see that even those unlikeable characters in the Bible have a story to tell; if only I could see myself in their circumstances or, as the saying goes, walk in their shoes, that would help me preach a better gospel and be a better loving person. Another reason for the existence of this book is because sometimes, as a believer, you and I can be one-track–minded and refuse to acknowledge we could be wrong.

If we are going to invite nonbelievers to sit at the table, it would be wise to listen and see where they're coming from. It does not necessarily mean what they believe is accurate, but everyone wants to feel loved and respected; everyone wants others to acknowledge that they matter and they have something to say. I believe that the biblical characters we hold in high esteem can come off the pedestal and be human as they truly were, and God can be God as He is and always is.

I hope you enjoy this book, and hopefully, it will help you see yourself differently as God's underdogs. Bon appétit!

Introduction

The word underdog is not found in the Bible, at least not to my knowledge. Yet the Bible is filled with the concept of underdogs. Because of who God is or who we think He is, one would think that the God of the Israelites, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Most Powerful Being ever existed would not want anything to do with an underdog. It appears often that people with power do not associate with the lower class except to take advantage of them. God, on the contrary, lifts them up from the miry clay and sits them among the princes of