For the Broken, the Too-Far-Gone, Never Stop Learning.

I am learning. That’s the key, right?

I am learning that truth really isn’t as hard to find as people pretend it is, it just requires an increasing amount of boldness to believe. Brashness is common, boldness is rare.

Truth requires a boldness that most people will never operate in, not because they can’t, but because they won’t. It’s uncomfortable to stand for truth. Most people don’t like that. It requires going out of your way, doing the inconvenient things, being a misfit, making a stand while the world hurls insults, being alone on the right side of the argument, and drawing attention to the ugly facts.

Most people don’t like the facts. They’re inconvenient. Uncomfortable.

I am learning that boldness, like faith, hope, and love, is a choice.

I am learning so much.

I am learning that to make a stand for Truth often means being verbally abused and blacklisted, whereas spouting off lies warrants ravenous applause.

It’s a choice between fair-weather friends or integrity, to put it quite plainly. There cannot be acceptance by the world AND a life of uncompromised Truth. But that’s no surprise, we’ve been told that before.

You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy! – James 4:4 (TPT)

I’m learning that comfort is nothing more than a deceptive distraction, masked up and parading itself as an unwavering state of being. One can not BE comfortable, but merely experience comfort.

Comfort is fleeting.

God’s peace is unshakeable.

I am learning how to live in the rubble with a smile in my heart.

I am learning that I can be filled with joy without being in control of the details. I am learning how to write when I second-guess every word I share. I am learning how to laugh with my children while the future remains unsure (was it ever really sure before? Another illusion, maybe, like comfort?)

I am learning that it’s important to be vulnerable, at the risk of being judged, and I’ve had to repent for all the times I viewed the vulnerability of others as weakness.

Shameful, I know.

But I’ll be vulnerable anyway, in order to practice being bold.

I’m learning that sometimes boldness looks like weakness.

I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but it’s ok to be bold.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9 (TPT)

I am learning (not for the first time mind you) that the Lord walks WITH me through any and everything I face. He equips the unprepared, restores the broken, strengthens the weak, and comforts the grieving.

I am learning that it’s ok to rise up and be the voice for the voiceless, it’s ok to choose to persevere when it feels impossible, it’s ok to stand for freedom while the rest of the world surrenders theirs, it’s ok to dare to believe when all else doubt.

Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize him. – 1 John 3:1

Friends, if your ache is soul-deep, if you’re fuelled by hatred, or your mind is locked up in chaos, dare to believe differently.

Your circumstances may tell you there’s no way out, no way up, no healing, no cure, no answer, no provision, no future, but the Truth is ALL in ALL.

If you think it’s cliche of me to say that Jesus is the answer to everything you face, then I challenge you to keep learning.

you don’t yet KNOW the full Truth.

neither do I.

Don’t be ashamed of your weakness. It means there’s room for God’s strength.

We are all learning.

We are learning to smile when no one can see it.

We are learning that we don’t have to have it all together before we can go to church.

We are learning that it’s ok to write the blog before we’ve figured out all of life’s answers.

It’s ok to sing the song before you see the victory.

It’s ok to be grateful for the future while grieving a loss.

It’s ok to be bold, even if you stand alone.

At 29 years old I had witnessed God’s mercy in my life. I had experienced healing and freedom where I was told there wasn’t any. I was happily married, and our family was what we would have called “complete” with 4 children.

Then I was shocked by a fifth pregnancy. Five kids is a lot of kids.

I learned then that the majority of abortions are not by young girls who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant. Most abortions are in middle-aged women who find themselves overwhelmed, ill-equipped, and like myself, “done” having children.

Most abortions take place because the pregnancy was more inconvenient than a woman, or a couple could cope with. I never contemplated aborting my baby, but that’s only because I have always believed that life begins at conception, and abortion is the termination of a life.

I know this isn’t what you were expecting to read today.

Be BOLD with me.

I learned something through surprise babies. I learned how devastating good news can be. I learned how confused emotions can get. I reached a new depth of love and empathy for those affected by abortions. I learned how selfish my living had been.

but mostly, I learned that I am not in control, and it’s better that way.

I learned that I still have a lot to learn.

My heart is with you, dear friend. It wasn’t the freedom you thought it would be. You didn’t know your boldness then. Don’t carry shame another minute. There is no shame where Truth is known.

Only forgiveness.

Only redemption.

Your vulnerability is not weakness. Be bold, and reach for Jesus.

You are loved.

You are loved.

You are loved.

Now I am learning daily that the greatest gifts are the surprises. The things we couldn’t have known, or prepared ourselves for, those are the things that God speaks through.

In the darkest nights His light shines the brightest.

In our greatest devastation rests His greatest victories.

I am learning that what this world is missing most is not only the millions of souls formed by His hands, gifted and equipped to change the world and walk boldly in Truth, who were robbed of their very first breathe, but also the voices of the women broken by the choice.

They cannot grieve because it was voluntary.

They cannot celebrate because it was a death.

Trapped in a space between living and wondering. Judgment and secrecy.

Be healed, beautiful daughters, and rise up in your vulnerability, your boldness. Know that you are God’s daughters still.

Even then, he loved you. Even still he loves you.

I’m learning that God is bigger than our mistakes.

I have seen Him redeem what the world condemned.

I am learning that nothing is beyond God.

No one is unsaveable, unfixable, unloveable, unworthy.

I am learning.