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Can we walk through our fear of a dangerous situation, trusting that God has it all worked out? Michele Rigby Assad is living proof that we can. A former CIA counter-terrorism officer, Michele has lived in scary places and done some scary things — and she gives God the credit for keeping her safe and enabling her to do every mission she came up against.

Who is Michele Rigby Assad? Michele Rigby Assad is a speaker, trainer, and consultant on international security. She spent a decade as a counterterrorism undercover intelligence officer in Iraq and other undisclosed locations in the Middle East. After spending time abroad on missions and studying Arabic language and culture in college, Michele was recruited by the CIA to help lead missions in dozens of Middle and Near East countries. She has appeared on ABC’s 20/20 special Escaping ISIS, a documentary about the mission to rescue persecuted Christians from the threat of ISIS. Michele has a book out February 6th titled Breaking Cover: My Secret Life in the CIA and What it Taught Me About What’s Worth Fighting For.

After listening to missionaries in church as a young girl and traveling to the Middle East on her own mission trips, Michele Rigby Assad realized that her interest in other cultures and her desire to understand them uniquely equipped her for ministering in God’s name. She had no idea that this desire and equipping would take her to the Middle East as an intelligence officer with the CIA. Her story of walking through her fear and into the personal mission that God had for her is a beautiful reminder of what each of us can do through Christ.

Quotes:

“Ordinary people can do very extraordinary things when their faith is greater than their fear.” — Michele

“I have done some extraordinary things, but that was because God empowered me and I walked through my fear.” — Michele

“These people and this culture were different than anything I had ever been exposed to and I had a passion to understand them.” — Michele

“We knew in that moment in time that God had placed us exactly where He wanted us.” — Michele

“I was never certain that I could do the job, but when the doors opened I had to walk through them faithfully and trust God with my life and my well-being.” — Michele

Action steps:

  • Often when we are encountering the things that God would have us do, we feel incapable. God uses them moments to show us that it is not us, it’s Him.
  • The deepest rejection that you might be going through right now might be God’s exact way of holding you up for the exact thing that you really want in your life. He knows you better than you do.
  • Once you embrace the skill set that God has given you — even if it seems different from what you are supposed to have — you are able to do the task in the way that God has planned out for you specifically. God wires us to approach things differently, and that is often our greatest advantage.

Resources mentioned:

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We look forward to hearing from you!