Picture This

This picture hangs in my living room.

It is the first thing you see when you enter my home.

But it is much more to me than just a beautiful art piece that my amazing artist-friend painted…(And incidentally, painted upside-down at that! www.alancapps.com)

It represents a picture of the last chapter in Behind Those Eyes, The Truth Heals.

As I’ve said before, The Truth Heals is my favorite chapter in the book, without a doubt. It resonates with me like none other, probably because it is the message that took me the longest to own. It was written, almost before any other word in the book. Before I knew exactly how the rest of the chapters would play out, I knew for sure where I wanted to end up…discovering what are the results of a truth-centered life: that of a healed, thriving existence. The results for me didn’t come easy. But I can say that they have been tried and tested and proven true.

To get there I have asked you, my girlfriends, to consider some things. I have asked you to do some things that were not necessarily easy or comfortable. I have asked you to get real and become vulnerable, maybe...for once...and prayerfully...forever.

The first time I introduced truth to you in this book in Chapter One, The Truth Hurts, it likely did not soothe you in the way you craved. Many of you told me so in your emails and posts and comments. Instead, it pushed you and challenged you and made you question whether or not the truth journey was really that important in the first place. You just don’t know how earnestly I prayed that you would stick around long enough to read the end of the story.

And nine chapters and many weeks of soul searching later, my prayer today is that looking at truth now incites different feelings for you than it did on week one. I pray you know today in the deepest place in your soul, all of these beautiful and true things that you are…

Imperfect.

Forgiven.

Loved.

Accepted.

When we are free to be imperfect, loved anyway, and created for a purpose, we see for ourselves that the benefits of facing truth far outweigh any temporary pain we might feel to get there. No matter how hurtful the initial heart digging might have been, it's my strongest belief that living in complete and total authenticity is worth the very painful extrication effort.

I hope and pray that is your testimony.

Now, friends, is the time to apply it. It’s time to live out the message in Behind Those Eyes…the message of TRUTH that the picture hanging on my living room wall represents. As I said in THIS POST (written on week one of the study), I can’t convince you to make the necessary application -- though in the 226 pages of this book, I have certainly presented you with my best plea. But at the end of the day, that is a decision only you can make.

With the study nearing its end, someone recently sent me an email and thanked me for the “simplicity” of this book. When I read the email, the word “simplicity” struck me and I immediately began to think of the book in those terms. Though I love and respect amazing literary works by gifted authors, I also acknowledge and appreciate that my writing translates as “simple” to the reader. I gratefully take the characterization, as I feel in good company. After all, the message of Jesus Christ is simple at its core. (Remember, Jesus said that He made His message easy enough for even children to understand...my paraphrase, of course.)

Yes, the message of Behind Those Eyes is simple, though that has not meant easy. For many of us, we never thought "simple" could be so hard! :) But perhaps the most significant thing we have taken from these past 9 weeks is the realization that growing deeper with God and thriving in life simply cannot happen if we miss the "simple" in search of what seems better. We can’t attend enough conferences to make us well. We can’t marry a good enough person or have enough children. We can’t find a job fulfilling enough. We can’t pretend our way into it.

Truth is simple, friends. But simple doesn’t mean trite. In this case, simple means rich…trouble-free…uncomplicated…and oh-so-fulfilling. It means forming relationships with people that are healthy, maybe for the first time in our life. It means laying our head on the pillow at night and knowing that our life is transparent enough that Satan cannot hold something over us to torture us with. It means having who we are in a heavenly perspective so that we will no longer be defined by any other terms. It means a life of wellness. It means a life of joy. It means a life of contentment. It means a life of purpose.

As you leave this study, my prayer is that the message of Psalm 26:3 will be forever etched on your heart…”for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth." Truth is a daily choice, my friends, hence the word "continually" in this verse. It is something we have to quite literally walk in everyday or we can easily fall into what we’ve fallen into before and walk away from it. And who wants to walk backwards? :)

So, yes to God girlfriends, always think "truth." Always remember "The Real Deal" about who you are. Always run toward health and healing. And know that I will cheer you on, every step of the glorious way!

You have touched my heart in ways you will never understand. Finally getting to hear from you -- the women I sat for hours and wrote this book for – getting to "meet" you, whether living in my backyard or corresponding from across the pond – getting to hear how this book has ministered to your heart…well, you will never know what that has meant. The comments and posts you have written have gone deep. The emails you sent have been read, valued, and prayed over. They have made me remember why God had me write this book in the first place. They have reminded me of how alike we all truly are, in this great big world we temporarily reside in. You have become my girlfriends. And please know that when I make friends, I make them for life.

The fact that you are here, reading this today confirms that God answered my prayer that you would become "convincable" on week one. Thank you for sticking in there and choosing truth. You will never be sorry you journeyed down this path. And remember that the TRUTH is always with you, whether you have His picture hanging in your living room to remind you of that, or not. Walk in it, dear friends. Never stop.

I love you...and I mean it!