15 YEARS LATER...

 

DONI JONES LIVE SHOW 8

Enjoy this recent interview with Doni Jones!

IN TODAY'S INBOX

Here's part of a sweet message that I received today...

"You're my hero!

Your story has kept me alive.

Tried to kill myself because I'm gay and because of how I was treated by people in the church.

Now I understand God's love for me  :-)

And your son is amazing.  Never met him before but have watched his sermon/messages online.

It sucks that you went through all of that pain but it saved a life.

...Wish you all the best!"

- PS

FIVE YEARS LATER

October 13, 2010. It's hard to believe that that was 5 years ago today...1/2 of a decade...but it was, and lot has happened in that length of time.

Today I am happily and legally married to a wonderful man with whom I've been in relationship for 3 1/2 years. Not only that, but as of today, Marriage Equality is legal in all 50 states, which is something that I wouldn't have believed would have been possible 5 years ago.

We are in our 2nd year of ministry at METRON in Midtown Atlanta, and it is a wonderful and blessed thing in my life. It is not a "gay" church, and I do not have a gay ministry. There are several excellent gay churches in the Metro area, and many more gay-affirming churches here, but METRON is something different. In a word, it is simply the ultimate manifestation of "Real People Experiencing the Real God in the Real World", and I am honestly the happiest and most spiritually fulfilled that I have been in 43 years of ministry.

After I came out publicly, we definitely lost a lot of people from Church In The Now, (the church I started in 1985), which ultimately resulted in our losing the 25 million dollar property and complex that we built there in Conyers, but CITN did not close because of what happened on 10/13/10.

The church continued to function successfully in another location in that same area with a congregation of around 500 for the four years subsequent to my coming out, and Debye, my ex-wife, continued to be my Associate Pastor for the duration of that time. I am happy that CITN continued there for those four years, because during that time we definitely all did something that had never been done before, and proved the naysayers wrong about the end of our ministry. In fact, I could have easily remained there in the Conyers/Covington area and could have bought the building that we leased there, and could easily be pastoring there even today if I had so chosen. But I felt that we had made a sufficient statement, and that our season there was over at the end of that time.

Debye still lives in Covington, has a very successful business, and is over 4 years into a relationship of her own. My kids and grandchildren are all well and each live 5-10 minutes from where Ken and I live. I see them all the time, and my sons often provide the music for METRON. Ken's sons are also doing well, and we see them often, too. He has also become a grandfather since we were married (see the previous post for a video about all our kids).

There are a couple of places on the right-hand column of this blog where you can click to see my coming out video. A few hours after it was originally posted, it went viral, and became the most-watched video on YouTube for a couple of days. It instantly connected me with 2,500 new Facebook friends in about 48 hours. To this day, five years later, I still hear weekly from someone somewhere in some part of the world who has just now discovered it online, and wants to tell me how much it meant to them. Many people have even told me that it saved their life.

I don't really get hate mail or death threats any more. Most of that stuff died off quite a while ago. My most vocal detractors have all been scattered in the last five years, and several of them have died, so I pretty much live in total peace now.

Aside from the 15 minutes of fame that I experienced when I first came out, I have been approached by 10 different reality shows in the last five years, and 2 of them are still in the works. I don't know what will happen with either of them, and I am good with whatever does or doesn't materialize with that. One thing is for sure, the Universe is obviously trying to tell my story, so we'll see.

I have no regrets about coming out. I am proud of what we accomplished in Conyers, but do not miss the stress of maintaining a Megachurch at all, so I do not consider losing the property there a failure. As I said, I am happy that we didn't lose the church, which is not a building or real estate. In fact, the majority of people who attend METRON are people who were a part of Church In The Now. The fact that we did what we did there for as long as we did it is miraculous, and still brings a lot of confidence into my life.

I am angry at no one, and have no bitterness whatsoever about the relationships that were severed by my coming out. Many of those relationships have been restored over these five years, but even without that, my life is very full, and I am surrounded by love and support. I love all and forgive all.

I am happy.
I am blessed.
I love the truth.
I love my husband.
I love my kids.
I love my life.
I love my God.

I am excited to see what the next five years bring!

It is all very, very good!

"AT LAST" - In The Now with Jim Swilley Special Edition with Ken Marshall

See all episodes at www.youtube.com/bishinthenow

'In The Now with Jim Swilley, Episode #27' - GOT TO BE REAL (Part I)

Here's Episode #27 (Part I), and this one is very special and may be one of the most important things I've done in recent years...as always I want to thank Avery Price Rogers, Charles McFall and especially BJ Bueford for your excellent work behind the cameras...but I REALLY want to thank Tony Howard, Wayne Freeman, Robert Rutherford, Eddie William Sellers and Ken Marshall for your courage, honesty, transparency and integrity, all of which is very evident here in front of the cameras...you didn't have to do this, but I'm so grateful that you did...it really is a new day...can't wait for Part II!

For other videos in the series, please visit youtube.com/bishinthenow

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

This little video is in response to those of you who have asked me to expound on this particular passage even more than I did in my book, FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: The Positive Truth About God, the Gospel, and What it Really Means to be Gay*...I hope it brings some clarity, especially to those of you who are young and intimidated by religious authority figures who manipulate the Scriptures for their own prejudiced purposes...the Bible is a wonderful collection of inspired books that can really help you in your life if you know how to "rightly divide" it, as Paul instructed, and my prayer is that some of the things I share here will draw you closer to it in a positive way, and will remove any fear of it that you may have...John said that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"...you don't have to be afraid...YOU ARE LOVED!

For further exploration of the Scriptures on this subject, check out other posts on this blog...

 THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

(*available at http://www.jimswilleybooks.com and at http://www.amazon.com/jimswilley)

Brian Anderson Payne with Jim Swilley on The BAP Project Radio Show

Advertising TBAPP Interview at METRON 4/12/15

 
    CLICK HERE FOR ENTIRE INTERVIEW

NO NONSENSE!

Sigh...I wasn't even going to comment on this, but enough people have asked me about it that I guess I will, and then I will be done with it...

The vid of the young man being "delivered" from homosexuality at a recent COGIC meeting that is currently circulating on FB is so sad and ludicrous that it doesn't even merit commentary, but it is in fact part of the reason that I wrote the post on Neuroplasticity on one of my blogs (http://jimswilleyblog.blogspot.com/…/ive-been-readingstudyi…)...

Bottom line is this kind of nonsense is ultimately coming to an end, and these kinds of occurrences only help to show how ridiculous the notion of changing a person's sexual orientation actually is...there are much bigger problems in the world that need to be dealt with, and church people and people in government who are on the wrong side of this issue need to stop wasting their time on obsessing over trying to change what doesn't need to be changed...

I've already written a book about this, so I don't want to repeat myself, but I will say again that same-sex attraction isn't a demon...it's not a choice...it's not a "lifestyle"...the world isn't turning gay...there is no gay agenda...gay people are not anti-family...heterosexuality is alive and well, and shows no signs of going away...those of us from a Scriptural background already read the things Moses and Paul said, and we don't relate to them any more than any straight person does...Jesus never said anything about gay people, and He never wasted His time trying to get any of them "delivered"...in fact, if you really understand the story about the Roman Centurion and his relationship with his servant, and the way Jesus responded to the man's request for the servant's healing, you already know where Jesus was on the subject...

I so loved the things that Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said about being proud of who he is when he came out, recently...makes me enjoy using my Mac even more than I already did...I add my voice to his in saying that I am also proud of who I am, and am in good company with Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tchaikovsky, James Baldwin, Katharine Lee Bates, King James, and a host of other brilliant and creative people who have given so much to the world...

I do feel badly for the young man in the video who got caught up in the religious fervor of the moment, and said what the people in that room wanted him to say...we should keep him in our prayers, and learn from his example to not allow that kind of spectacle to happen again...

That is all...

Interview with Travis Nadeau

CLICK HERE: Bishop Jim Swilley - Live & Recorded Episodes:

THE NEXUS INTERVIEW, Part II

Neal Campbell

Neal Campbell is an Internet TV pioneer, producer/co-creator of Nexus, one of the most disruptive and inspiring new shows of 2014. In a previous life, he was the producer of GeekBrief.TV. He launched GeekBrief in 2005 as one of the first video podcasts.It became a podcasting hit: within about six months from launch each episode was downloaded at least 300,000 times.

The show won a People’s Choice Podcast Award in the Technology category and a 2010 Telly for an episode titled A Geek Brief Bedtime Story. In it’s five years of production, Neal wrote, edited and produced over 700 episodes. GeekBrief.TV remained in the top 10 technology podcasts in iTunes and top 100 of all podcasts in iTunes for all five years.

Jim Swilley Interview: https://machine.fm/nexus/6

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: A Thorough Examination

Hi Bishop!

Kevin Main blessed me with a copy of your book and I finally got it on Thursday. Read almost half of it in the first sitting that same day, then finished it off on the second pick-up on Saturday (yesterday). I had felt like I was the last person on earth to get to read it and so the anticipation was huge. I had avoided, as much as I could, reading your early blogs that shared parts of the rough draft and I think I only read one. So I really wasn't sure what to expect.

What I discovered was a book that captivated me, kept a smile on my face faithfully, brought me to tears more than once and continued to confirm what I've always said before: you are the most anointed and relevant minister I've ever known.

This is a well-crafted masterpiece. Rare and original. I'd often toyed with the idea of creating such a book based on my own studies and life. But in the past few years when I finally discovered that there were believers who had already published such affirming books I felt it was not necessary, nor did I feel any longer qualified as theirs were so good.

Yours certainly joins the ranks as a "must read" and adds so much more to it that, as you said, it's not really just a book about being gay. You had something to say that no one else could have said.
 
I also appreciated the fact that you shared opinions/beliefs that are not necessarily in alignment with those of other authors of gay-affirming books. Such as what certain verses really say. Example, if Jesus really did (even thru implication) say anything about gays, if the word Eunuch could imply both gays AND physically mutilated men, if Paul ever had in mind any same-sex oriented men in  his writings, etc.

I'll admit when I first read books such as Gay Christian 101 (by Rick Brentlinger), The Children Are Free (Connely & Tyler?), Pastor Sandy Turnbull's latest (God's Gay Agenda), etc, I was quick to agree with their findings. We often do that, don't we? We can get so eager to "prove" our beliefs, so when we hear anything that adds weight to our argument we eat it up! "See! See! They see it too! Why can't you?!" hehehe.

But you have helped me to appreciate, once again, a diversity of perspectives. Even concerning bisexuality. So I'm still digesting all you said and of course will begin reading it again probably later today or tomorrow. I'm still shaping and forming my beliefs as we all are. Right now I DO think the books of the Bible contain many affirming passages (including things Jesus said) and that in it's original language and context none of the "clobber" verses were referring to the committed love relationship found between two people. But again I take your thoughts into consideration and value them equally as well.

As I've said before, our personal stories aren't identical but they do have points that are similar, so your personal letters at the end to your kids and Terri and Debye moved me personally as well. Your pain from venom-laced messages from "concerned friends" is a pain many of us have felt for decades, yet I think you probably get top-prize for volume. Take what I dealt with from others and multiply it by a gayzillion and that's probably what you went thru. Hats off to ya again! You stood your ground, kept your cool (as much as you could) and are still standing!

Finally, I thought your book was complete and covered much of my favorite issues within religion, fundamentalism, and current mainstream theology. I loved the way you kept the GOOD NEWS thread clear through it all. You wrote about what you knew and that was powerful! I only have three questions that lingered in my mind as I finished.

1. You had mentioned in Chapter 9 that you'd talk about David & Jonathan but you didn't get a chance to or perhaps changed your mind about addressing your thoughts on their relationship. I'm just curious what you see there between them, if anything.

2. You mentioned not really seeing others as bisexual. I, myself, don't use that label anymore, but I still have to admit I have an attraction to women. I've read studies on how its all on a scale and that someone can be like 80% attracted to the same sex and 20% to the other or 60% to same and 40% to opposite and so on. From an early age I recall attractions to both and they were genuine. So I can't deny its a real issue for some. If we flat out deny there is such a thing as a bisexual, isn't that the same as when others flat out deny that we are born gay or that we could have possibly started having same-sex attraction at an early age? Which brings me to the final question:

3. You mentioned believing that we are born gay. I believe the same also. But do you think its hereditary? In the genes? From what limited studies I've found on it, there does seem to be some findings to suggest it, and in my own family I've seen a match on what I read but I was just curious what you think.

So once again you have created a gem, worthy to stand alongside all your other classics. Your mind, your writing style, your "realness", your wit, your ability to talk TO this generation and not over them or down to them (us) is always refreshing and once again I'm changed, encouraged, built up, inspired and more determined. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Christ,

Mike Gordon

Gordon Family Ministries, Philippines

Thanks so much for your very thorough, thoughtful, and insightful review, Mike...I really appreciate it...I was going to answer your three (very good) questions here on the post, but I think I'll just write them to you, personally, for now...again, thanks!

In Today's Mail

"Bishop Jim I just finished reading your new book about Good News. Wow thank you for your openness and transparency...It was so refreshing to read your thoughts and inspirations. Thank you, thank you for being real! When I got to the story of your first love at age 11 before Wed. Night church I just wept driving my car with my mother-in-law and my drummer just looking at me. I turned the kindle off and drove the rest of the way in silence to church. You brought me back to Love! It has opened a place in my soul to love like when I was 11. I have spent so many years as an out gay affirming minister helping our community reconcile their love for God and the Bible that I truly had lost the tender innocence of love. I have been singing a song all year in my private worship time by Amy Grant called "innocence lost"...Thank you for being obedient to The Lord and writing that painful chapter. I am amazed and thankful at the gentle work of Christ in our lives."

JW
 

Thanks so much...your message really did make my day! As I said in the book, that chapter was really hard to write, but I included it for the sake of all the straight people who think that orientation is a choice, or that being gay is just a sexual aberration or some kind of fetish or perversion...I get so much mail from people who tell me they have similar stories of non-sexual, first-love...some people call it puppy love, but that kind of love is very real to the puppy...many of the gay teen suicides aren't about being victims of bullying, they're about relationships, and kids trying to understand their innate, emotional feelings...

 

Thanks again for your kind words...I took the liberty of including them on the blog...may God continue to bless you in all you do!

 

JES

A Letter to a Fundamentalist Homophobe

Dear Fundamentalist,

Please stop sending me passages of Scripture that you think are applicable to my life, in an effort to vent your homophobia upon me, and sit in judgment of me or of things about my life that you couldn't possibly understand. I've read the Bible throughout the entirety of my life, and have studied at length the handful of statements made by Moses and Paul that people like you continually use to try to manipulate people like me, and I understand them in their proper context, so your efforts to rebuke me are in vain.

I am a Christian, and I know that Jesus was completely silent on the subject of sexual orientation, so don't even try to go there with me, because what matters most to me as a follower of Christ is what He said.

Don't tell me about Sodom and Gomorrah, because the weird account in Genesis of those ancient, barbarian people wanting to gang-rape angels ("strange flesh") in the streets has no more relevance to my life than it does to yours. Besides, according to Ezekiel (16:49), the "Sin of Sodom" was arrogance and indifference to the poor.

Read your Bible.

And don't quote me the two statements Moses made in Leviticus about two men lying together. You don't live by Levitical Law, so don't try to impose it upon me, either...unless you also think it's wrong to eat shrimp, lobster and pork, shave, wear blended fabrics...or you stand for a law that says that kids who have bad attitudes should be stoned to death by the elders of the city, or believe that when your wife is on her menstrual cycle she should sleep outside, or that if your daughter is raped you should be able to sell her to the rapist at a reduced price. If you're going to play the Moses card, then play the whole deck!

And please don't cut and paste the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans to me. Whatever rites of pagan temple worship involving prostitute-priests that is described there is no more applicable to me than it is to you. Besides, I do retain God in my knowledge, I am very thankful, I do worship the Creator, and believe that He is the Creator of all things, and I certainly have not been "turned over to a reprobate mind". People like you really like to use that one because it can be so intimidating to people like me, but I assure you that I know I have the Mind of Christ, and my knees bow and my tongue confesses to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord! You should read the rest of the chapter and look at all the kinds of people who are listed there, and you may find that YOU have, in fact, been turned over to a reprobate mind! Then go read the first part of the next chapter and see what it says about the people who judge the people mentioned in the first chapter! You may be surprised.

Paul I know...

And I know what he said to the Corinthians in his first epistle to them (Chapter 6). Don't try to keep me out of heaven with that one because he was talking about who he personally thought would not inherit the kingdom, and it wasn't just people with same-sex attraction. And, by the way, if you're such a devotee of Paul's, then you better have short hair if you're a man, and long hair if you're a woman (and cover your head in church and submit to men), you better be cool with slavery, and you better not get married for any other reason than to keep yourself from burning with lust!

Paul was a great man who was mightily used by God, but even he himself said that some of his words were just his opinion, and not the commandment of the Lord. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it was written by straight men to straight men, and is therefore limited in its scope of understanding of the issues of same-gender loving people.

And don't call me a "dog"...I am a Son of God, and that word (translated into Elizabethan English) was used for any one who was perceived to be "different". And in the last chapter of Revelation, John says that the Spirit and the Bride say "Come" to all who are outside the City of God, including the "dogs"!

And don't cite stupid platitudes to me like "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", or tell me that you "Love the sinner, but hate the sin", because I know the Genesis story, and I know that you don't love me, or people like me, you just have a need to mind the business of other people for some reason, or you fear what you don't understand. Perhaps you are dealing with your own sexual orientation issues and need to deflect on people like me. Whatever the case, you're wasting your time in trying to clobber me with the same 5 or 6 Bible verses. I wear the helmet of salvation, and am immune to your silly mind games!

And I've heard it all before.

The bottom line is that you don't own God or Jesus or the Bible or Christianity. He's my God, too, and I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He's my Jesus, too, and He is my Lord. It's my Bible, too, and I love it as much as you do, even though I know that it must be rightly divided, because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life! I've always been gay because I was born gay, and I am fine with who I am, just as I am ("Can the thing formed say to Him that formed him, Why did you make me thus?"). I am God's workmanship!

How about just minding your own business, and try concentrating on doing what JESUS actually said...and what He didn't say. He didn't say a thing about homosexuality, but He did say a whole lot about walking in LOVE!

Oh, one more thing...King James, the one who authorized the version of the Bible you like to quote so much was an openly gay man.

Just thought you should know.

Sincerely,

A Gay Christian

Just Because He Breathes

CLICK HERE FOR THIS POWERFUL ARTICLE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-robertson/just-because-he-breathes-learning-to-truly-love-our-gay-son_b_3478971.html

A MESSAGE TO GAY TEENS (From Jim Swilley's new book: FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS)

A MESSAGE TO GAY TEENS



Dear One,



You're beautiful, just as you are...and God loves you just the way you are!

NEVER let anyone convince you otherwise!

You are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (which is just an old-fashioned way of saying that God created you perfectly, in every way!)

You are not broken.

You are not inferior.

You are not weird.

You are not a pervert.

You're not abnormal.

You are not less than.

You are not an abomination.

You are not going to hell.

You don't need to be "fixed".

In a word, you're AWESOME...

And you're in good company...

Many important historical figures were gay...



...Plato...

...Alexander the Great...Pope Julius II, to name a few...

Alexander the Great

...so were some of the greatest artists who ever lived, such as...


...Leonardo da Vinci...

'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci

...and Michelangelo...

'The Creation of Adam' by Michelangelo

...as well as some of the most important composers and musicians of all time, such as...

...Tchaikovsky...

...Leonard Bernstein...

'West Side Story' by Leonard Bernstein

...and Katharine Lee Bates, the woman who wrote 'America the Beautiful'...

(Here's a clip of gay rights opponent, Mitt Romney, singing 'America the Beautfiul' composed by lesbian, Katharine Lee Bates: http://youtu.be/w9v0Yf9wHlQ



And some of our most important writers were gay...people like Walt Whitman, Thomas Mann and James Baldwin...

I could also mention sports figures like Billie Jean King...

...or actors like Raymond Burr...

Raymond Burr, star of 'Perry Mason' and 'Ironside'

...or religious icons, such as King James of England (yes, that one!)...

The list of important historical gay figures goes on and on, but the point of bringing them up is to reinforce the truth that these people undeniably made huge contributions to our culture and society...

...and the world is waiting for you to make your own unique contribution to it!

I hope that you have the love, understanding and support of your family, especially your parents, but even if you don't because of your orientation, let me encourage you to still love and be who you are.

As a gay man, a minister, and a father (and grandfather) myself, allow me to speak to you as a father...always be yourself, and love, accept and respect yourself as the wonderful creation that God brought into this world...your life is very important, and God has a purpose for it!

If your parents support and accept you as you are, then count your blessings...you have amazing parents!

If they don't, then pray the prayer of Jesus for them, Who said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", and move past it as best you can...don't hate them...hatred will never bring anything good into your life.

They may feel that it is their responsibility to try to change you (even though you are who you are, and always will be!)

They may have limited understanding of the Bible, and think that preaching it to you will change you (even though God knew exactly who you were when He created you!)

They may feel that your orientation is their "fault", and are dealing with a lot of unnecessary guilt over it (even though the overwhelming evidence points to the fact that you were born the way you are!)

They may feel sadness at the idea of you not ever getting married or giving them grandchildren (which, in this day and age, is becoming less and less of an issue for gay people!)

They may be afraid that if you're gay you won't have a good life (which you have to show them is a fallacy by living a good life!)

They may simply be afraid of what they don't understand (in which case, help them understand if you can, and if they're open to it!)...

They may be thinking and feeling all of the above.

Just have compassion on them, and show them that you are happy with yourself. The more the people in your life see that you're OK with you, the more they will relax and just let you be yourself. You know the truth about what it means to have same-sex attraction...that it's not a choice, no matter how much straight people constantly insist that it is...so in this case you have to be the bigger person (which isn't easy when you're the kid and they're the adult(s)!...but it is what it is...so get it together and live your life, and if they accept you, great...and if they don't, find people who will, and love and honor your parents for the simple fact that they are your parents. We all want the approval of our parents, but sometimes we just have to take what we can get, and know that God (our heavenly Parent) approves of us.

And don't let anyone use a few Scriptures, taken out of context, to confuse you or clobber you with. Do your homework...find out what the Bible actually says (and doesn't say). Never let anyone use religion to manipulate you or try to control you. Knowledge is power!


And finally, NEVER, EVER, EVER let some ignorant, homophobic bully rob you of any part of your life!

NEVER, EVER, EVER do anything to hurt yourself, no matter how bad the bullying is!

Push back!

Speak up!

Say something!

Get some help!

Tell somebody what's going on!

Don't shut up until you get the help you need!

Make some noise!

Make a difference!

Bullies are cowards who are drawn to your insecurities like sharks are drawn to blood!

The more comfortable you become with yourself, the more powerful you become, and the less likely you will be a target for homophobes.

You have a responsibility to live the life you were meant to live, so never even consider the possibility of ending that life! If you do, you will break all of our hearts, and you will miss out on so much! Don't do something crazy in a moment of despair! There's always hope!

"If God be for us, who can be against us?!"
(Romans 8:31)

You have a responsibility...a responsibility to help create a new world...one in which bullying is simply a thing of the past.

No matter how overwhelmed or scared you may feel, you have to live! You have to be strong! You have to rise above it!

If you let the bullies win, then all those gay kids (and any other kids who are "different" in any way) who will come along in the future will have to deal with the same nonsense!

Don't just survive for yourself...do it for those kids!

Don't ask for trouble, but at the same time, don't forget that this is your world, too, and no one has the right to tell you how you should live in it!

God believes in you.

I believe in you.

And there's a whole world of people out there who will believe in you, too...don't allow some bonehead to steal your world...your life...

Believe in yourself!

Be the thermostat of your life, not the thermometer...

You can determine the life that you will live...

Your best days are ahead of you...


There really is a new world coming, one in which people can just live their own authentic lives in peace, without the threat of someone always trying to control or change them.


Now that's GOOD NEWS!


I speak a blessing over you, and over your family...and over your future...I pray for good friends...a good support system for you...for your protection...for favor with God and man...for your well-being...for your happiness...that love will be in your life...for healthy relationships...that you will continue to walk in truth, and that that truth will continue to make you free...that God will make Himself real to you, and that you will know and believe from the bottom of your heart that He is love, and that He is good!

"I know what I'm doing.

I have it all planned out— plans to take care of you,
not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

(Jeremiah 29:11 - The Message)