Rescued for Something: When God Uses Ordinary People to Change a Life with Zahara McCoy!Rescued for Something: When God Uses Ordinary People to Change a Life with Zahara McCoy!
Anchored by the Sword
Zahara McCoy shares how losing her parents, facing child marriage and then receiving sponsorship reshaped her life and faith. Her story shows how God uses ordinary people to bring hope to vulnerable children and challenges others to start with just one act of love.
43:49•1 Sept 2026
Rescued for Something: How God Used Zahara McCoy’s Story to Change Lives
Episode Overview
- One person’s decision to sponsor a child can radically change that child’s future and sense of worth.
- God often works by sending people into the middle of hardship rather than removing the hardship itself.
- Children, especially older ones, are highly vulnerable and need intentional support and protection.
- Seeing children as the message to the future challenges adults to care about their wellbeing now.
- Starting with one child or one simple act of service can create a powerful ripple effect of hope.
“I don’t think I was rescued from something. I was rescued for something.”
How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction and deep hardship? This conversation follows Zahara McCoy’s remarkable journey from a small Ugandan village to leading the Children of Grace ministry, and it’s packed with raw honesty, faith, and practical hope. Growing up, Zahara’s childhood shifted abruptly when she lost both parents to HIV by the age of ten.
As an orphan living in extreme poverty, she heard relatives planning her marriage to a much older man and spent nights crying out to God with childlike questions: "Do you see this God? Do you have a plan for me?" Her story changes direction when a local organisation appears at her aunt’s doorstep with news that she has a sponsor and can go to school.
Zahara reflects on how God used an ordinary person to show His love, shifting her view of God from distant creator to loving father who "chose me" and "wants to protect me." You’ll hear Zahara’s heart for older children at risk of being married off, her conviction that "the miracle is not that he’ll take away our hardships…but that he would send someone to meet us in the middle of that hardship," and her challenge to start with just one child.
Overnight, school fees, uniforms and even daily lunch are covered, and Zahara says it felt like "someone came in, threw me a lifeline and pulled me out when I was drowning." The episode highlights how one woman’s decision to sponsor a child became a turning point not only for Zahara, but eventually for thousands of children through Children of Grace.
Host Gina Fox creates a gentle, faith-filled space for Zahara to share both the pain and the rescue, making this episode especially meaningful for anyone who has felt unseen, abandoned or unsure whether their suffering matters. If you’ve ever wondered whether your small act of kindness could change a life, this story might push you to ask a bigger question: what if you are the miracle someone’s been praying for?
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