July 2020 — pg. 27
urfm You are the church
Spangler told LIGHT + LIFE, “I remember one of the
first times Nick and Alyssa walked through my office
door. They had come for premarital counseling. That
smile! I’ll never forget that defining, boyish, inviting
smile! As a pastor, I’ve marked ministry over the years by
watershed moments that open the door for the Father’s
presence. Walking with Nick and Alyssa through the
most challenging moments of life while at the same time
sensing that powerful presence was defining for me, not
just as a pastor, but as a follower of Jesus.”
The couple’s former pastor recalled Nick telling him,
“God’s told me that I won’t die from this.” In his mind,
Spangler heard the words of Jesus: “I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die,
he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall
never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26 NKJV).
He later realized, “Nick was absolutely right. And
when I sat with him days before his passage into eternity,
I asked him what he wanted me to say at his memorial
service. Just a few weeks later, I passed that message
on: ‘Tell them I’m blessed, I have no fear, and that they
should trust in God. God’s got this.’”
He said “Made for Brave” is not only “about Alyssa’s
extraordinary experience of faith and trust or Nick’s
indelible confidence in Christ, but it’s also about the
Savior who stared death in the face on the cross so that
we might all share in the hope of resurrection life.”
The Galios family is now active in RockCreek Church, a
Free Methodist congregation in Marysville, Washington.
“Alyssa is passionate about helping people get healthy
and staying fit but also integrates her faith in every aspect
of her business. Her story of loss, grief and redemption will
encourage your heart, fill you with hope and ultimately
help you trust God in greater ways,” RockCreek Lead
Pastor Bryan Rees said. “Alyssa and her husband, Jay, are
incredible leaders at RockCreek Church, and we’re so
thankful they are a part of our community.”
Together for Good
The book is selling well. After its release in November
2019, it became the best-selling new release in Amazon’s
“Christian Death & Grief” category. Alyssa is not
profiting from the book, however; all of the net proceeds
are donated to organizations fighting cancer.
“That was a total surrender decision — not one that I
made easily,” she said. “I just had this feeling in my heart,
that still quiet voice that said, ‘I want you to donate the
proceeds. I don’t want you to have the money from this,’
and I fought Him on that.”
Other people also tried to talk her out of the decision,
but “it didn’t matter what anyone else said, because I
knew what God was calling me to do.”
The book closes with Romans 8:28, “We know that
all things work together for the good of those who love
God, who are called according to his purpose” (CSB).
The book lists its publisher as Romans 8:28 Books, but
when asked by LIGHT + LIFE whether the dual use of
the verse was intentional, Alyssa said the connection
“wasn’t planned. It was a divine coincidence if you want
to call it a coincidence.”
She explained that “Made for Brave” was picked up by
Redemption Press, and the initial draft of the book listed
the publisher as Redemption. However, the company
surprised her by later deciding to publish her book under
its new Romans 8:28 imprint that was established last
year for higher-selling titles such as a devotional book
for the movie “Unplanned.”
“Made for Brave” is one of the publisher’s best-selling
books, and Alyssa said, “It’s been unexpected for me to
see how far it’s gone and how many people are willing to
get behind it and help spread the message of hope even
in hopeless situations.”
The author is more excited by messages she receives
from readers than she is by sales figures.
“There are so many people who are suffering and so
many people who are scared right now, and I think that
if we can allow Him to make good of it and take what the
enemy meant for evil and turn it into good, then we have
so much more potential as Christians,” she said.
“We can trust God no matter how hopeless it looks
— no matter how bleak or how dark — to turn even
the worst tragedies in our lives into opportunities to
get closer to Him and into opportunities for good and
opportunities for His glory. That understanding for me
has allowed me to live through so many additional hard
things.”+
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