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Dr. Abidan Shah, lead pastor of Clearview Church in Henderson, and wife Nicole Shah were the guests of honor on WIZS Town Talk Monday at 11 a.m.
The Shahs were on-air to discuss their newly released book “30 Days Through A Crisis: Daily Devotions to Navigate Your Faith,” a labor of love born out of the coronavirus pandemic.
Describing their trip to a mall at the very start of the COVID-19 scare – before businesses shut down – the Shahs said they experienced an “eerie” uncertainty and a current of fear running through store employees and the few remaining shoppers.
“The idea for the book really began the first week of the shutdown,” Abidan explained. “People were beginning to back off, and fear and hopelessness were growing. When you are in that situation of fear and hopelessness, it begins to mess with your mind. No matter how much faith you have, you begin to struggle.”
The Shahs discussed their feelings from that outing and said they came up with an encouraging list of words like ‘hope,’ ‘love,’ ‘grace,’ ‘resolution,’ ‘self-control’ and ‘patience’ – words that later became chapter headings for the book.
“We said to each other that if we need to hear these principles, others do as well, so let’s do something about it. From there, the book was born,” said Abidan.
Nicole gave her husband credit for the conception of the book but said they both took the idea from there, dividing chapters (30 chapters for 30 days) and offering guidance to each other through the process.
After two weeks of writing and one week of editing and design work provided by a combination of church staff and family, the Shahs published their “simple book of devotions.” “30 Days Through A Crisis” is available in both print and audio format online at Amazon or locally at Hill’s Music Shoppe.
While inspired by the COVID-19 shutdown, the Shahs said the book applies to any personal crisis, including health, marriage, family and other relationships. “There is no way we can go through life without trials and other crises coming along,” said Nicole. “We wrote this book with COVID-19 in mind, but it’s very generic so that if you happen to be going through a crisis two years from now, it should still apply.”
Nicole elaborated, “When we hit a crisis, or when a crisis hits us, we tend to forget what God has done for us in the past, and we tend to forget that we will make it through. It’s nice to have that reminder that God is with us no matter what and He will bring us through.”
The Shahs said they have been appreciative and humbled by the community support of the book, which sold out at Hill’s Music Shoppe within a couple of days of first being released. Books have since been restocked and are available for purchase at the music and Christian bookstore located at 51 US-158 Byp in Henderson.
For more information on “30 Days Through A Crisis” and Clearview Church, please visit the church’s website at www.clearviewbc.org or visit Clearview Church, Henderson, NC on Facebook.
To hear the interview with the Shahs in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.