Philippine author and entrepreneur Ardy Roberto has experienced God’s wonders personally—including seeing readers come to faith in Christ. “God awaits for us to write about the miracles that He’s done in our lives,” Ardy says. “You’ll never know if one person’s eternal destination will be changed because he picked up and read your book.”
What if the book you wrote would be read by only one person? Would you still have written it?
Recently after speaking at a church service in Tokyo with my wife, a Filipina lady with smiling eyes and a hop in her step approached me and said, “I became a Christian because of your book!”
“Wow! Which book?” I asked, wondering if it was one of my “evangelistic” books.
“Money That’s Never Short[1],” she replied, much to my surprise.
After she introduced herself, I couldn’t help but ask Joanne the question that must be in your minds too. How could a book on money cause a person to surrender their life and put their faith in Jesus and now identify themselves as a Christian?
But because my wife (a celebrity)[2] and I were being pulled in different directions, I listened to her story distracted and dazed. The details I could not recall, but her face, which glowed as she spoke, was imprinted in my memory. Later that night, I got a FB notification and was tagged in a post[3] by Joanne. She wrote:
“This was the first Christian book that I have read from cover to cover way back in 2012: Ang Pera na Hindi Bitin (Money That’s Never Short) by Ardy Roberto. I was then a penniless university student and so the book captured my interest. Little did I know that not only would I learn how to manage my finances but also learn about God’s generosity as He lavished His love upon us through His Son, Jesus. Sir Ardy did not only spark my curiosity in financial freedom but also, more importantly, the freedom from the (debt) of sin that can only be attained when we accept Christ as Lord and Savior. I remember praying that day for Jesus to come into my heart and save me.”
Praise God! I worshiped God and teared up after reading Joanne’s post. This was God’s reminder for me to return to the mission that He had given me decades ago: Write for the Lord. To “publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all His wondrous works.” (Psalm 26:7 KJV).
Writing God’s wonders
I wrote Money That’s Never Short in 2008 after attending my first LittWorld Conference in Kenya. Upon my return to Manila, I was diagnosed with a parasitic blood infection that caused me sleepless, painful nights wherein, like Job, I rubbed my itchy back on brick walls until my skin broke and bled. It was a miracle that I was able to even write. But write I did—even as my body and hands itched—by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When John wrote about the miracles of Jesus in his book, he said, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name.”[4] That was John’s purpose for writing. It was evangelistic. To share the good news that Jesus IS the Messiah, the Savior they’ve been waiting for!
Then John ends his book with this somewhat nostalgic remark, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”[5]
Shouldn’t our publishing houses be overflowing with books about all the “many other things” that Jesus has done today, in our lives, in our churches? Yes, we shouldn’t be running out of miracles to write home about!
Like the time in 1994 when I encountered Jesus through a business failure; and surrendered my double life to him. I experienced what it meant to be born again—a new creation who couldn’t lie or cuss anymore, who wanted to pay off his debts, and wanted to share the good news of Jesus Christ in a 12 page letter. (This letter went on to become Living the Full Life[6], a gospel booklet with more than 500,000 copies printed and sold. A whole family was saved, and in turn started a house church, because of one reader passing on a copy of Living the Full Life!)
Or the time in 2000 when my first wife, Tingting, was miraculously healed of lupus and enjoyed 12 fruitful years until the Lord called her home in 2013 for her “complete healing.” I wrote about that miracle in my book, The Heart of Healing.[7] Or when God healed me of my grief and became a matchmaker to me and my new wife, Miriam. This miracle gave birth to the book: Real Men are POGI[9]– The Christian man’s guide for courtship. (Readers wrote letters such as: “I was a sex addict; I had sex with different people—and worse with other men. But because of your book, Real Men are POGI, I…accepted Jesus as my Lord”)
Or the miracle of a pastor I met and trained in Bhutan who became a Christian because of a Christian book that he picked up in the trash—and after reading it traveled for 4 days around India looking for a church that would baptize him.
There are many other miracles that I could share, but the stories are too many to fit into the 800 word budget I was given by MAI!
Writing for one reader
Martin Luther once said, “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.”
That is the call that we as Christians in the publishing are challenged to do. God awaits for us to write about the miracles that He’s done in our lives. You’ll never know if one person’s eternal destination will be changed because he picked up and read your book.
When I saw the joy in Joanne’s face as she shared with me how she became a Christian, I remember thinking to myself, “Writing that book was worth it. If only for her.”
Ardy Roberto is a “writer for the Lord” – creating evangelistic content ranging from the best-selling gospel tract Ang Buhay na Hindi Bitin (“Living the Full Life”) to the award-winning novel The Happy Entrepreneur. A retired entrepreneur and author of 11 books, he is also the founder of the mentoring program, Project Author. Today, Ardy serves as a volunteer trainer and speaker with Haggai International and Media Associates International, and with his wife Miriam oversees a house church on the Philippine island of Boracay. This story was originally published in a magazine for LittWorld 2024, where Ardy also served as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator.
Related stories and resources
- Wanted: Writers with Beautiful Feet – a webinar with Ardy Roberto coming up on May 27, 2025.
- Writing with Beautiful Feet – a 3 minute video by Ardy Roberto from LittWorld Singapore
- Write to Evangelize – a webinar with Ardy Roberto
Notes
[1] Originally published in Filipino as “Ang Pera na Hindi Bitin” (OMF Lit 2008) reprinted 21 times with over 400,000 copies printed and sold.
[2] Most of the requests were for my wife, Miriam Quiambao, a TV host, model and celebrity in the Philippines and former Ms Universe runner up.
[3] Reprinted with permission and edited for brevity.
[4] John 20:31
[5] John 21:25
[6] Originally self-published then later on published by OMF Lit under the title: Ang Buhay na Hindi Bitin (Life that is never short).
[7] Published by OMF Lit in 2007 and was a finalist awardee for Best Inspirational Book in the Manila International Book Fair in 2008.
[8] YouTube channel: @MiriamandArdy
[9] POGI is Tagalog for Handsome and is an acronym for Pure, Obedient, Gentle and Intense.