Cristina Baker and Hope in 60 Seconds (Part 2)

John Farrell: You mentioned your TikTok. Some of your videos went viral and started to garner you a lot of attention. Once you became a TikTok sensation, if you will, did you feel any pressure to change your content?

Cristina Baker: No. God gave me this assignment. I actually had a dream about this whole thing. He gave me a dream right before the pandemic started and the assignment was to get on social media. That was the assignment from the beginning. It was pray and give hope, and that was it. He hasn’t changed the subject, and I don’t believe the subject will ever change.

I definitely didn’t feel any pressure to change because I saw that there was a clear need to pray for people and to give them hope. That’s what I’ve done for these last little over two years – pray and give hope.

We were very surprised when the videos started going viral one after another. Videos go viral all the time. We thought maybe it’s just a one-off. It happens. But it’s continued for two years. Videos consistently go viral because people need hope and through the power of prayer God doesn’t need me or anybody to be present in front of that person.

The prayer could have been prayed two years ago, but the moment that person looks on the smart screen and comes into agreement with that prayer, it is still just as valid and powerful and full of hope as it was two years ago as it is today. That, in itself, is like wow. It’s fascinating that the Lord does that. But no, I did not feel pressured to change anything and I still don’t. The need was clear and it still is the same today.

JF: So, what did you learn about yourself from writing the book?

Cristina: I would say more than what I learned about myself was the Lord just kind of peeling back an onion of who He is and who He’s always been and will always be in my life. The more we get to know the Lord, the more our identity is unraveled in Him.

The scriptures talk about us. I believe it’s in the book of James where it talks about being purified through trials. It’s like a blacksmith or silversmith when they can see their reflection once they’ve gone through the fire. I feel like that’s what writing this book was. It’s going back in time and then going, “God, You were here. All these lookout points in life, You were there with me on the beach, You were there with me in jail, You were there with me in the cancer center. You were there with me in all these moments.” And a revelation of my identity in Jesus becoming more and more clear, like never before.

It was very painful. Writing a book is very cathartic. You’re peeling back an onion and it’s a lot of hard work that the Lord does in writing a book. But when I was finished writing, I felt more in love with Jesus than ever. It was like, wow. So, what I learned about myself, I believe my identity in him just became more clear as it should for the rest of our lives and our relationship with Him. I was like, wow, this is who I am. This is who You’ve made me to be and because of the cross I get to stand here today alive in you.

JF: What’s next for you?

Cristina: The assignment God has given us, my husband and I and our son, just as a family, is we are in pursuit to share the love of Jesus with everybody we encounter. Be it through a book, or TikTok, out on the street, in a grocery store. For us, the assignment has always been the same and I believe that it will always be the same. It’s just the one.

We are after the one every single day. Every single day we wake up, we’re like, “God, send people we can minister to.” My husband works in a secular atmosphere. It’s like send us to the one. Our mission is the one and he’s a masses God and He sees the masses, but He also goes after and sees the one. So, our heart is like, “God, we’re after the one.” Whoever that next one is. That’s our passion. That’s our mission. I hope that makes sense.

JF: Where can people best connect with you online?

Cristina: I’m on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. I have a website, Cristinabaker.com. I’m not on Twitter because it just seems to be a different kind of platform, but I put the videos out on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

JF: Is there anything you would like to add that perhaps you didn’t have a chance to say, or is there something you’d like to reemphasize?

Cristina: All roads lead to the cross. The broken ones, the straight ones, the narrow. Every single road leads to the cross.

Sometimes we think God needs a whole lifetime to do something impossible: heal a child, bring a prodigal home, whatever the case may be. Just a deep place of pain in someone’s life where it’s like, “Wow, this is going to take 50 years.” But what I have found is that God only needs a moment of surrender. One moment of surrender can change the rest of our life, and what we think would take a whole lifetime, He can do in one moment.

I encountered that at different places in my life, where there was nowhere to turn, no one to save me. He stepped in like a hero of hope.

You know how you think about a story? It’s like the hero. The knight in shining armor. Jesus is that knight in shining armor that Hollywood portrays that doesn’t exist in the world. He is that. He embodies everything that we need, everything that we’re looking for, all of the hope, every single thing He embodies. That was my hope. I wrote this book for that. That people would just find him. I think a lot of people are grasping at different things right now. It’s like, “I have to fill this area. I have to work more.” Toxic things, drugs, alcohol, whatever, but He embodies all of that. And He fills those areas. That’s my hope, that people would find hope in the cross and hope in the name of Jesus.

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Order your copy of Hope in 60 Seconds: Encountering the God of Impossible by Cristina Baker