Letters from the Lighthouse

From my earliest memory, I can say I believed there was a God.  I just wasn't sure WHO that was.  In my early twenties, I was already a wife and mother, blazing a swath through many cult and occult teachings, searching for a God I knew was out there somewhere, never satisfied that I had found the One who made me, the One who truly saw my heart. That's when I was asked, "Why not give Jesus a try?"  I wasn't being asked to watch Him from a distance or sit in a pew once a week.  Someone dared me to try knowing the real Jesus. Not a distant, wooden Jesus nailed to a cross on a wall in a sanctuary . . . but a real, live person who could be as close as breath to me.  Someone dared me to walk with Jesus, bringing to it all the fire and intensity I'd thrown after everything else.  And it suddenly occurred to me . . . why not? 

 

Now, after four decades of walking with Jesus, I can tell you unequivocally that I wouldn't trade my best day in the world with the toughest day I've known as a Christian. 

 

A lot of people have the false idea that once you become a Christian, the "happily ever after," the "all misery is gone" part of life should start.  It's what everyone longs for and, tragically, it's a false promise made by some who claim to represent my Father—causing many a shipwreck of faith.  But there really is no such thing as happily ever after in this world.  There is no place on this planet where you can live in a bubble of blessings that never pops.  Not if you're rich, not if you're slim and have great skin, not if you're the ruler of your own country, not if you're famous, not if you could isolate yourself on your own little island—and not if you become a Christian. 

 

While I do believe that Jesus can and does work miracles in the here and now, I can also state that knowing Him doesn't make all your problems here vanish.  Receiving a miracle doesn't mean nothing else will ever grieve or harm you.  Rather, knowing Jesus is the comfort and surety that someone (who won't forsake you for a single moment while you are here) is willing to walk through every valley with you, forgive you when you fail, encourage you along the way, and celebrate with you when you have those seasons of blessing.

 

That's what I want people to know.  Jesus calls me to write stories that shine His light of REAL freedom and hope as we walk through a culture that celebrates bondage and glorifies darkness.  I want to tell others that Jesus is the peace in any storm, the author of our victories, the one who can be closer than our very breath as we sojourn on this earth.

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Terry has another article on the Call of a Christian author:  Writing our Stories (from Inside the Ticking Clock).

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