05/28/2026
Dr. Mauldin's Weekly Devotional: BOBBY'S STORY
Congratulations to the class of 2026!
We had a record number of graduates with 24 students who walked across the stage receiving their diplomas and 260 people in attendance at our graduation ceremony this week. (Usually we have 8-10 graduates with less than 100 in attendance.)
Graduation is a big deal to our residents at Smoky Mountain Children’s Home—oftentimes they have to overcome many obstacles and hardships to achieve their high school diploma. But our students have learned tenacity and perseverance! And we celebrated their hard work and success with so many of our staff standing in support. We could not be more proud of these young adults.
One student gave an amazing testimony in his student address about how he became a Christian at Smoky Mountain Children’s Home and was baptized this year. He began his testimony by recalling that he was at an extreme low while spending time in a juvenile detention center. In the detention center, he began searching for something more and was introduced to Islam.
Bobby stated, “Islam gave me the discipline I craved, but even then, I was still searching. Something in me still knew there was more, and I had not touched it yet. But God put the right people in front of me [at Smoky Mountain Children’s Home]. It wasn’t just something they believed, it’s what was lived… they showed me the real power of Christianity.”
He continued, “One day one of them shared their testimony with me, and while they were speaking, something in me shifted. It wasn’t emotion, it wasn’t persuasion, it was just the Holy Spirit who touched me that day. That was the day I felt it for real."
Bobby committed his life to follow Jesus Christ that night. Then he said these powerful words: “Every demon that was attacking me went away.... In that moment, I knew that what I had been searching for — I knew what had been pulling on me so hard — I finally found it.”
God took every detour Bobby felt in his life and turned it into direction. Bobby emphasized this by giving all recognition to the power of God in reading 1 Corinthians 2: 4-5: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power."
He concluded by saying, “That’s why I’m standing here now. If it can happen to me, it can happen to all of you.”
This young man stood before us completely transformed— walking in wisdom and with God. This is just one of the many stories we celebrate here at Smoky Mountain Children’s Home. It was a wonderful night and a reminder that God can take any person’s detour and turn it into divine direction.
You can never walk too far down the “wrong path” to where you are out of God’s reach.
We will always remember Bobby's Story!
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