Jonathan Roumie is the actor who plays Jesus in the successful series The Chosen, which is based on the Gospels. Before landing the role of Jesus, Roumie had surrendered everything but his acting career to God. He had been living in Los Angeles for eight years, and he was nearly broke. Roumie said,

There was this one day during May of 2018. I woke up. It was a Saturday morning, and I was 100 dollars in overdraft. I had 20 dollars in my pocket. I had enough food to last a day. I had no checks in sight. I had no work in sight. I had maxed out my credit cards. I literally didn’t know how I was going to exist.

He kneeled and poured out his heart to God, asking him, “What happened?” He had been under the impression that God helps those who help themselves—he later realized that the Lord helps those who rely on him.

For years, my prayer was, “If there’s something else I should be doing, please show me what it is, because this is really hard,” I literally said the words “I surrender. I surrender.” I realized in that moment that in many other areas in my life, I had allowed God in. But when it came to my career, I thought, “I know better. I got this God, I’m the actor here. Don’t worry—it’s Hollywood; I know Hollywood, God.”

Roumie left his apartment and went for a walk to collect himself, buying a breakfast sandwich with the money he had left. Later that day, he found four checks in the mail. Three months later, Dallas Jenkins, the writer/director of The Chosen, called and offered him the role of Jesus.