Who Am I and Who Is God?

April 2011

Dear Friends,

If we don’t have accurate answers to these two questions our journey through this life is inevitably confused and difficult.  There are various reasons why many of our friends at Christ’s Body have wrong answers to these questions.  Some of the sources are absent/abusive parents, the lies of the enemy or their own struggles with sin.

Larry is just one example of someone who carried the burdens of wrong answers.  When he first came to our respite care two years ago his answer to the first question was “I was born in sin and because of my continued sin I am worthless.”  His answer to the second question was “God scared the Hell out of me, so I ran away from Him.”  With Larry these wrong answers started with an alcoholic father who told him he was worthless and would never amount to anything.  This was reinforced by time in a church that preached only about God’s judgment and anger.

Because of these false beliefs Larry’s life was full of fear, pain and shame.  It was so bad that he would walk and stay in alleys just to avoid people seeing him.  Because of his past mistakes he felt that all he deserved was death.  “I used to look at the trees in City Park to decide which one I would look good hanging from.”

Over the past two years Larry has been in and out of our respite care as he has been treated for various medical issues.  In the process, Deb Butte our respite care counselor, has spent much time with Larry.  Larry for the first time has felt cared for and appreciated by all of us here at Christ’s Body.  There is nothing more healing than personally experiencing God’s tender mercies.  With Deb’s help and counsel Larry has been able to get Social Security Disability and with that move into his own apartment.

Larry definitely has received physical blessings from God but the spiritual blessings are even greater.  Larry has a huge smile as he tells me “I now know God is loving and nurturing.  Now I have a loving relationship with Him both ways, meaning I love Him and He loves me despite my sins.  I think maybe He even loves me more because He knows I need more nurturing.  I now know Jesus died on the cross for my sins, before I thought that was just B.S.  My whole life has changed.  I no longer have to walk down alleys to hide from people.  I know God is a real good God and I can run to Him instead of away from Him.  He is even a good God to people who don’t believe in Him, they just don’t understand because they haven’t connected the dots.  I smile now and feel like I deserve life when before I deserved death.  I am so grateful to Deb and this place for showing me how much God loves me.”

We are in turn grateful to each of you who make it possible with your support for us to know and love friends like Larry.

Isaiah 46:4  God says “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”