It's Time to Tell Ourselves the Truth

How many times per day do you need to tell yourself the truth?

By “truth”, I mean this truth:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? -Romans 8:31

Romans, in its back-and-forth Paul-questioning-himself format, sums up the gospel in a hundred tidy little ways, but this truth—that God is for us and therefore nothing can be against us—knocks the ball out of the ballpark, doesn’t it?

It’s a biblical mic drop to end all mic drops.

Idioms aside, we really need to take a look at Paul’s letter to the Romans with fresh eyes these days. Your year may feel as embattled as mine, because in addition to the personal hardships and hurdles, we have this shared suffering that is a pandemic. We can go to bed every night convinced that God and everyone are against us.

But that’s not the truth.

I’ve had the privilege of listening to a hundred stories over the past few years because I wrote a book about our journey into and through hyper-religion, and so when I’ve been invited to tell our story, I get to hear your stories, too. Boy, if you ever want to believe you’re not alone, tell your story.

What I’ve learned is that hands-down, 100% of the time, we just cannot believe that God is for us. Our biggest sin and deepest struggle is that we just don’t believe how much God loves us.

But that’s the truth.

You will know the truth when you read his words, like these:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. -Romans 5:6, English Standard Version

Those words also read like this:

When we were utterly helpless, with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him. -Romans 5:6, The Living Bible

And this:

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. -Romans 5:6, The Message

Christ arrived. We didn’t know we needed him. He didn’t make us do anything. He just loved us. That’s the truth. If there were ever an illustration of how much God loves us and that we don’t need to clean up, “get right” with him, act all religious, be a good person, try real hard, and rescue puppies to make him like us, the books of Romans is it.

You can lay down your hurt. You can talk to your fear. We can come back to the truth every morning and remember that he loves us, period. In a world that expects some sort of economic return, it’s a truth beyond our understanding. But then, what kind of supernatural love would it be if we could comprehend?

Just believe. You can ask God to help you believe it and he will. It’s the truth. And we couldn’t ever be good enough to earn the love of God, anyway.

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Lost & Found Printable Graphics for You!

It has been a year since Lost & Found: Losing Religion, Finding Grace hit bookstores. I am so grateful for the readers and the feedback. Seems I'm not the only one who got stuck in the mire of religious behavior.

My local friend Holly created a couple of lovely calligraphy quotes from the book that I want to share with you. Just right-click on the one you want and save it to your device. You can then use it as wallpaper, a screen saver, a placemat, scratch paper for your kiddos to paint. . .

I believe these words with my whole heart because they are simply the truth of the gospel: God hates evil, fights its effects on your behalf, and loves you relentlessly. He could have chosen an infinite number of ways to achieve that, but He chose one. My desire as I continue to write here (and a new book, too!) is that I get out of the way so you can see that one great hope — Jesus. 

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After Lost & Found: Caroline's Story

How do you miss a ruptured appendix that probably burst 24-48 hours before you see the signs? How do astute, concerned, attentive parents miss all of that and allow a child to become just so ill?

If you've read Lost & Found, you know that's exactly what happened. There is a back-story that includes all nine of the rest of us down with some sort of hellacious stomach bug that had us vomiting in stages and running the washing machine for four days straight. When I mention this to health care professionals, they respond with a knowing "Ahhhhhhh", which makes me feel slightly better as a mom.

Slightly.

Caroline is now 15 years old, and she hears me tell her story often enough. She remembers feeling so sick she lacked the will, even at eight years old, to muster play time or television viewing. She recalls long nights in the hospital, intubation, her dad trying to get her to breathe through the measuring tools, and painful walks around the ICU that shot bolts of misery into her abdomen, even as nursing staff and doctors insisted it couldn't be "that bad".

It was that bad.

Post-Surgery #1

Ruptured appendices don't play well with the rest of the body. The infection can spread quickly and disturb every other organ, and they also tend to leave permanent effects. In Caroline's case, that means she'll likely have fertility problems. We are thankful to live in a time when medical care is of the highest quality in history and advancement is occurring at breakneck speed, and we look forward to seeing what can possibly be done to help.

We also live in a state of dependence on God, and stories from other female ruptured appendix survivors tell us that she perhaps will have to go the route of adoption instead of carrying her own biological children. There is sorrow in that, but also a sense of joy and wonder that some little people out there could be given to our sweet Caroline to raise. God is good, all the time.

In the meantime, Caroline is the girl with the golden voice. She sings in school productions, the local opera company, and on the worship team at church. She babysits, organizes circles around Martha Stewart, and enjoys close friendships. She has a future ahead of her designed by the God who loves her. 

Want to read more of Caroline's story? Pick up a copy of Lost & Found: Losing Religion, Finding Grace.

Caroline with little brother Christian, December 2016

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