Discovering God’s Unconditional Love

Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

We are in a series called Weeds in My Garden and we are talking

about mental health in the series Our Mental Health.

And personally, I am so excited and so thankful that this topic

is being addressed in church. I don't know about you, but the

reason is the church is the only place that people will hear the

truth of God. The truth is Jesus is the

answer. Jesus said these words and think

about how these words apply to our mental health.

He said He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim

liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.

The truth is Jesus is the way to be truly free and to break the

chains of bondage in our lives. And the world points to

everything else except Him. The truth is He is the answer to

our health and healing. And I am not saying, please hear

me correctly. I am not saying go, don't go to

doctors, don't use hospitals, don't use medicine.

That's not what I'm saying. There are times that those

things are needed and they may be helpful to our lives.

So I don't want anyone to feel guilt or shame if you are taking

medicines. And I say Jesus is the healer

because God is not a God of shame or guilt.

But I am saying that many times if you understand medicine,

medicines are designed to treat the symptom and not the root.

And also I am saying that Jesus still heals and he heals not

just our physical health. He also cares about and heals

our mental health. And I'll be honest about this

topic. This is a topic I did 6-7 years

ago I didn't know much about. I knew very little about mental

health. But over the last seven years

that has become one of my favorite topics because of what

I've learned and what I've experienced in the last five or

six years, this topic has become very passionate to me and very

important to me because of how much my life has changed.

So today's message is a combination message and

testimony. I used to think just 6-7 years

ago that some people need freedom or mental health help,

but most people are fine. Some people battle things like

depression or schizophrenia. That's a fun word.

It's a fun word to say 5 syllables, bipolar issues,

anxiety attacks, things like that.

But most people don't. I used to think people who

struggle with addictions, bad addictions, those people need

help. But the lie I believed was that

me, I'm good. I, I, I'm not addicted to

anything bad. I mean, maybe coffee.

You could make an argument, but I think coffee is a good thing.

Amen. So I, I know Pastor, I didn't

hear you say Amen. Never had a cup of coffee in his

life. But I thought, I don't have a

problem. And what I didn't understand yet

back 6-7 years ago, back when I was just a young pup in my young

50s, like Pastor Tim, what I didn't understand is that

addictions to some people, that some people have are many times

just their coping mechanisms for their life and their mind.

I meant me. The only issue I had was stress,

and we have a message coming up later on this series on trust

stress specifically. But I had stress all the time.

I thought and I believed It was my personality.

It was the way I was, It was the way God made me.

I believed I couldn't change it. I couldn't do anything about it

because I had felt stress back to childhood.

As long as I can remember, I kind of was.

I don't know if you'd call it nervous or just kind of on edge,

but I felt stressed. And a few years ago I discovered

in my mid 50s that that wasn't correct.

That wasn't true. Stressed was not how God made

me. Stress was not part of God's

original design and original plan for me in my life.

But sometimes you can believe something for so long that you

are convinced it's true. But here's a fact, you could

100% believe something to be true about yourself yourself and

still be wrong. And I am so glad I was wrong as

long as I can remember. From childhood to about a year

and a half ago, I lived with constant stress that wouldn't or

I felt couldn't go away and I couldn't figure out why.

When life was good, I felt stressed at night.

When I tried to sleep, or if I woke up in the middle of the

night, I felt stress. It was very hard to rest.

It was very hard to sleep. I slept very poorly.

Even on a Saturday, it would drive me crazy.

It's my I was trying to Sabbath and I just felt this edge, this

stress, and I couldn't figure out why.

It was frustrating, but I thought there's nothing I can do

about it. I just need to deal with it.

I need to make the best of it. I need to live with it and then

live life and enjoy life as best I can with this issue of stress

that I've always had and likely would have for the rest of my

life. But what I learned was there was

a reason for the stress. It was because my mind had

become wired or hard wired with what they call neural pathways

in my brain at a very young age that caused me from then on to

be what's called hyper vigilant, always on guard.

I felt it was irresponsible, if not dangerous to ever put my

guard down to rest or relax, to turn the on switch in my mind to

off. And I learned that when you feel

stressed all the time, not just when there's a reason for stress

like a test or a deadline, but all the time, even when there is

no stressor or urgent reason, that's called anxiety.

And I didn't mind the word stress so much.

I mean, I've got a lot of responsibilities.

I work hard, I've got to do things right.

But I didn't, I, I did not like the word anxiety.

But the truth is, I had what they call high functioning

anxiety, which means I didn't have outward anxiety attacks

that everyone could see what was going on in me.

I had high functioning anxiety works.

What someone sees on the outside doesn't match what's going on

the on the inside of a person. And what I didn't understand

then is that I had learned a survival technique at a very

young age in grade school, 3rd or 4th grade, to hide my stress

so well that everyone else thought I was fine, I'm good.

I had it all under control. And I'll be honest with you,

that's what I wanted everyone to think.

That was my goal. I didn't even want anyone to

know what was going on on the inside of me, not even my best

friends, because there was nothing they could do about it

and there was nothing they could do about it.

Only I knew how I felt on the inside all the time.

Not able to relax or I felt guilty or in danger if I chose

to rest or try to rest. And even though I battled those

issues my whole life, for years and years and years, it didn't

have a big effect on my physical life until I turned 50, yay.

And I started to have digestive issues, yay, gut issues.

And the doctors would say, I went to medical doctors and they

would say things, brilliant things.

They had certificates on the wall which proved they were

qualified to say, you have stress, you have too much

stress. And I said, you know, I'm not a

doctor. I don't play 1 on TV, but I

could figure that out. I mean I did.

I pay for this appointment. My mind was always on guard,

vigilant, I knew that ready for anything 24/7 for no current

reason other than that's how my mind was wired.

But here's the good news. You want to hear some good news

today? I say this as an encouragement

to everyone. I do not boast, it's not me.

I do not boast except to say look what the Lord has done.

In the spring of 2024, I had a breakthrough about a year, not

even 2, not even a year and a half ago, April or May.

I wish I could tell you the date.

It was right before sabbatical, weeks before Pastor Tim and

Christine sabbatical. I had a breakthrough at age 50,

like 58, and my life dramatically changed and I don't

live that way anymore. Period.

Exclamation point. I don't feel anxiety anymore.

I rarely feel stressed anymore, even when there is a reason to

be stressed. I'm like, I sleep better than I

ever have in my life. I am.

I love sleep. I went from 4 hours of sleep,

that sleep that was a struggle, to seven or eight, sometimes 9.

I had never done that. I rest, I relax, I don't

overthink anymore. And now I am living in freedom

from stress and anxiety and it is honestly better than I ever

thought my life could be. And I confess to you publicly, I

wasn't sure it was possible for me.

I didn't know if it was ever going to happen.

So what changed? How did it happen?

You might be wondering that. I hope you are, and the reason I

share my story is to give everyone hope.

If it can happen for me, it can happen for anyone.

I honestly believe that. I'll explain to you today as

best I can and as honestly and transparently as I can.

I've never shared the I'm just going to put it out there

because I hope it helps you. The title of today's message is

Am I loved? Am I loved?

Isn't that a great question? But isn't that an important

question? About a year and a half ago,

Mother's Day, 2024, April, May ish, I gave a message on the top

five biblical parenting roles for a mother and for a father.

And when I gave that message message, I thought that was the

most important message I've ever given in my life.

What a child needs to receive from their mother and from their

father separately. And the reason I knew that was

so important is because I know, and the enemy knows that if a

child is wounded emotionally or mentally, especially by someone

they love and rely on like a parent, or by someone they like

and trust, like a friend or someone they are in a deep

relationship with. If that person causes pain for

them emotionally, either intentionally or

unintentionally, it many times leads to wounds or false

beliefs, real deep pain that gets stored away in our

subconscious, sometimes for the rest of a person's life.

And it affects our life. And the enemy knows this.

It's why he hates marriage and tries everything he can to break

it up. He hates healthy families.

He hates healthy parenting. He hates healthy relationships.

Satan hates God's design for us, and Satan knows his best

opportunity is to attack people when they're weakest, so he

attacks. This tells you something about

his character, Children. There is a war on children in

our culture and on their minds, and it is evil.

Satan attacks youth, students and young adults.

He attacks people like us when we're hurting, when we're

grieving, when we're emotional, when we're alone, when we're

broken hearted. That's when we're most

vulnerable to his tricks and his deception.

Did you know or did you ever realize that Satan's first

temptation in the garden to Adam and Eve wasn't to steal?

It wasn't to murder. His first temptation was to get

Adam and Eve to question what God said, to doubt what God

said, to question if God really had their best interest at

heart. To question God's love, his

nature and character. This is what it says in Genesis

Genesis 2:16

chapter 2 verse 16. If you have your Bibles open to

Genesis, it's first chapter, first book of the Bible.

Just start turning get past the indexes and glossary and things

like that. Chapter 2.

If you need a Bible, you can raise your hand and usher.

We'll bring one to you and you can keep it or leave it after

service. It'll be on the screen behind

me. But this is what it says in

Genesis chapter 2. And the Lord commanded the man,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must

not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for

when you eat from it, you will certainly die.

That was a very clear instruction.

That was a warning. Do not eat from the one tree.

But Satan comes along and says in Genesis chapter 3 verse one,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

it says he said to the woman, did God really say you must not

eat from any tree in the garden? Did God really say did he really

mean it? And do you know that's still the

same trick Satan use on uses on people today.

He uses on us today. The Bible tells us what God says

the word of God, it's his word and it's his instructions to us

because he loves us. And the enemy comes along and

says to to us, did God really say, did you really mean it?

Do you really believe that? Is he telling you the whole

truth or is he holding something back from you because there's

something else that's better? For example, God's word says to

bring your tithe to the temple. Bring your tithe and God will

pour out a blessing upon you. Malachi chapter 3, Read it for

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

yourselves. God wants you, wants us to live

a blessed life. But Satan says, is that really

true? That doesn't make any logical

sense. You need your money, you earned

it, it's yours. And if you give, you won't have

enough. And we question what God said.

The Bible tells us if you are in Christ, you are the light of the

world, light of the world. And Satan comes along and says,

not you, though there's no way you qualify.

Satan is still tricking people today to doubt the word of God.

It's his best and it's a Ridge, his original strategy.

And here's how he attacks us regarding love.

The question, am I loved? Here are some biblical truths #1

truth number one. God is love and God loves you.

The Bible says God is love. It's not just something he does,

it's who he is first. John 48 says whoever does not

love does not know God, because God is love.

The Satan, the deceiver comes to us and whispers, but God doesn't

love you. You are not good enough, you are

broken, you have too much sin. You are not worthy of his love.

You don't deserve His love. In fact, you are unlovable.

If you ever hear or think those words.

You can know right away that's not true.

That is not what God says. The truth is God loves you and

all He does is love. He is love.

Truth number 2 is God's word is the truth.

What God says is true. It's a fact.

It's a promise from someone who cannot break a promise.

In fact, there are a few things God can't do.

Did you know that one of them is God can't lie.

He can't lie. Titus 1-2 says which God who

never lies promised before the ages began.

Another translation, ESV says God who cannot lie.

If he said it, it's truth. If he speaks it, it happens.

There was no light. God said let there be light and

immediately there was light because he said it.

What he says is true. Satan on the other hand, exact

opposite. He can't tell the truth.

He lies and all he does is lie. It's his weapon and his nature.

Jesus called him the father of lies.

Pastor Tim. Tim read this verse last week.

John 844. Jesus said this about Satan.

This is not a compliment, for there is no truth in him.

When he lies, He speaks his native language, for he is a

liar and the Father of lies. Jesus said that all Satan does

is lie and deceive us in ways that can affect our mental

health, and he wants that to happen.

He wants us to live wounded and broken lives, lives that do not

glorify our Creator. I will say this, though, if

someone ever said to me, can you say something nice about Satan,

I would say he's consistent. All he does is, I mean, have you

ever met someone who like, they sometimes lie and they tell you

something and you're like, how do I know if you're telling me

the truth or if you're telling me lie?

At least with Satan, you know, if you know his voice, you can

right away say that's a lie. And if you hear from God, you

can immediately say that's the truth.

And God said he loves you. So it's no surprise that Satan

would tell you the exact opposite.

If you're wondering where does God say he loves me, the answer

is many places in the Bible over and over again.

It's the number one message of the entire Bible, His love for

us. The most known verse you're

probably familiar with is John 316.

We can start there. For God so loved the world that

he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not

die, will not perish, but have eternal life.

Why did God do that? Why did God send his Son for for

us? Because He loves us.

Thank you very much. It tells us the answer in that

one sentence. And the world doesn't mean the

planet, it means the people and that includes you.

Romans 58 says, But God clearly shows and proves his own love

for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died

for us. So there is no question that if

you look at God, you look at his word, you look at Jesus, he

loves you. But Satan comes and says, but

the God really mean that about you.

Does God even know who you are? You are so insignificant.

Does God really even care at all about you?

And the easy, short, simple answer is yes, He absolutely

does. Let's look more, learn more

about what's God's word says, who God is, what he does about

love. Let's start with the most famous

chapter about love, First Corinthians 13.

Some people call it the love chapter.

Have you ever been to a wedding? Have you ever been to a wedding

that didn't read First Corinthians 13?

I don't think that I, I don't ever remember being to a wedding

that didn't read at least part of First Corinthians 13.

My own wedding, my kids weddings, I've been to many

weddings. Pastor Tim has done First

Corinthians 13 right because it talks about love and a wedding

is the perfect time. Love is in the air.

It's a day of love, so a wedding is the perfect time.

But listen, Paul didn't write that chapter of his letter to

the church in Corinth just so we could read it at weddings.

He wrote it to describe God to us and to tell us who God is.

So you've most likely heard this chapter before.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast.

It is not proud. Y'all y'all have heard at least

parts of that before right? But we can replace the word love

with God because Paul was describing who God is.

God is love and that's the point Paul was making when he wrote

the letter. So listen to it this way and

learn about God, his nature and character and his heart towards

you. Because if you don't believe

this, nothing in your life will change.

It starts the foundation is God loves me.

Tell me if you've ever heard Satan speak these lies to you

before. Here's some examples.

Satan says the liar says things like God is tired of you

frustrated with you. You keep not changing, you keep

sinning, you keep failing. But God says, which means the

truth is God is patient. Satan says the deceiver says you

messed up, so God is punishing you.

He's angry with you and you deserve anger.

I'm sure you've never felt that way, that God is angry with me.

But the truth is, God says God is kind.

Satan says you deserve what you get.

It's your own fault. You deserve to be miserable, sad

and depressed. But God says God does not

dishonor others. Satan says too much of your life

is bad, Too much of your past is full of sin.

Forgiveness is for people much better than you are.

But God says God keeps no record of wrongs.

Satan says there's no hope for you.

God hasn't done it yet, He never will.

You can't change, you never will.

It's too late. You've been this way for too

long. It's the way you are and always

will be. But God says the truth, says God

always hopes, always means always.

Satan says God has given up on you.

But God says God always perseveres.

He never gives up. He never quits on you.

And the last one, Satan says the liar says maybe God does it for

other people, but not for you. God has failed you.

But God says God never fails. That's who God is.

That's the truth, and don't allow anyone, including the

devil, to deceive you or convince you otherwise.

Here's a video. We're going to show a clip of a

video of a person's story who believed the lies of the enemy

for so long and so strongly that she was tempted to end her own

life. But God and godly people showed

her the truth. Here's her story.

We all have our brokenness and our issues and our things, and

the more we can be open and honest and real with people, the

more they can feel like they can be open and real and honest.

The biggest lie for me was that that I wouldn't be missed, that

I wasn't important anymore, that it didn't I didn't matter.

At the same time, I just, I had a serious boyfriend and he broke

up with me for another girl at the time and so that kind of

spun my world out. I had a really, really close

best friend at the time. She started dating a guy who was

they were really serious, so she kind of dropped out of my life.

So I felt really alone. No one would miss me, but they

would be able to be fine without me.

I just didn't want to live anymore then I I just didn't

want to go on anymore. I chose to take my life when I

was in high school. When I was going through those

hard times, I was really struggling the most just because

I wasn't being real with myself and with others.

I was trying to hide I had a pretty shallow relationship with

with Jesus. It wasn't till much later that I

grew my relationship with Jesus that I started to kind of figure

out how the church's role helped me in my life.

The church's role is to create an environment where people can

build relationships. And through your relationships

is when you can be real and open and honest with people so that

you can bring the heavy, hard things out when things come.

Lies don't go away. Satan attacks you with your

weaknesses. He tries to come after me all

the time with that same lie. And now I know where it comes

from. And I can battle it through

prayer and talking about it with other people.

And they can battle it with me through prayer.

Write out your lies and work through it with someone, whether

it be a counselor or a friend or a pastor.

People don't judge you like I thought they would.

I might think about me being able to have a family, my kids,

my grandkids, being in ministry, and God using my story.

But it's been the hardest thing about talking about this moving

forward is I am valuable and I am important and my life

matters. God gave me a second chance and

so I'm thankful for second chances and everybody gets to

have that I. Want to go back to my story, my

journey to healing and how it happened?

Just so you know, about six years ago, I started to see a

Christian biblical mental health counselor.

Now, some people would be ashamed to say that I'm not

because it's true. I wanted to see that person

about my stress. Pastor Tim was the one who

recommended it to me, so I did it #1 he's my boss #2 is my

friend. I know he cares about me.

And I thought maybe they can teach me some stress techniques

to help me cope. But what I didn't know then is

they weren't interested in giving me techniques to help me

cope. They wanted to get to the root

issue and heal the root, the cause, but I didn't know what

the cause was. I didn't know.

I didn't know what the route was.

And over the next few months and even years, the sessions took me

back to a place when I was very young, 910, eleven years old.

And I remember thinking what is wrong with me back then?

At that age, not so much anymore, but at that age I used

to think, what is it that is wrong with me?

Trying to figure it out because I thought something is wrong

with me, but I didn't know what it was.

And maybe if I knew what it was I could fix it or change it.

But I couldn't put my finger on it.

I couldn't figure out out. I did, but I didn't feel normal

like the other kids in my class. The other kids in my school,

they seemed so normal. They seemed so confident.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.

So I finally concluded that it was me.

I concluded that the thing that was wrong with me at age 9 or 10

was me. I was what was wrong.

So I somehow created a coping technique, a survival strategy

at that age, 10 years old, so I could hopefully have a good life

and possibly have a good future. It was.

I just won't let anyone else know about it.

What I feel and believe about myself on the inside is my

secret. I'll act confident.

I'll pretend to be normal and confident just like everyone

else. Only I will know.

It was my plan, it was my strategy, and I made that

decision in 3rd or 4th grade and over the next years.

I did well at school, I did well at sports.

I started dating my wife when we were in high school, when I was

16. She's a year younger than me,

much too young, if anyone's. We got married after my

sophomore year of college, 39 years.

A week ago we celebrated our anniversary.

I got a college degree, we had children, I started a family, I

got a job at ACPA from in Minneapolis, MN.

I started in financial sales and did really well.

At age 32 I accepted Jesus and it was amazing.

Life was so good, better than I ever could have imagined, but I

still felt stressed. Our kids grew up and they were

beautiful, smart and healthy. I took the position at this

church that I love. My kids graduated from colleges,

they got married and started having babies, grandchildren.

I love them like crazy. Life was so good, amazing, so

blessed, and I knew that and I was grateful.

But despite all the good, wonderful, incredible things God

had done, I still felt stress. It wasn't until I chose to go

through biblical mental health counseling that I needed and

going back through the painful memories of my past, things I

didn't want to think about, of what caused me to believe

something was wrong with me, that I had a breakthrough.

Last year, spring 2024 was when I finally realized what was

wrong with me as a child. I finally discovered what I

could never figure out, what was wrong with me.

And this happened after years of counseling.

We got to this point, and I know this might sound strange to you,

this is hard. This part is hard for me to talk

about because it's so personal and I know it's it would have

sounded strange to me 5 or 6 years ago.

But one day this is what happened.

One day my counselor said in a session, she said, I want you to

close your eyes and visualize and I want you now, a 58 year

old adult to go back to your childhood home and see you then

a 10 year old boy and visit him yourself.

Now visualize going back inside your home 50 years ago.

I can still see it and visit yourself.

Then see him myself, sit by him. It's just the two of you there.

Give him a hug. And what do you want to say to

him? And all I'll say is this, it was

extremely emotional. That's all I'll say about it now

or I won't get through this. But the things I said from

myself now to myself then changed my core beliefs, my deep

down beliefs of who I was and who I am.

And I discovered the answer to what was wrong with me as a

child was nothing. Nothing was what was wrong with

me then or now. My belief changed from

embarrassed of that kid to proud of that kid.

I changed from hiding that kid, not wanting anyone to see the

real me, to loving that kid. And I know that sounds weird if

it's down, if it sounds strange hearing it, it sounds strange

saying it. But I realized and finally truly

believed that what I believed about myself, something was

wrong with me, was not true. The truth is that nothing was

wrong with me all along. And when I realized that, when

my belief changed, when I truly believe that to be true, my life

changed. The stress was gone immediately.

The anxiety was gone. The peace came like a flood

immediately, like a dam broke. DAM didn't swear what I had

prayed for and waited for and hoped for for years.

Praise God finally came at age 58 and I'm 59 now and I can

honestly tell you I have never felt this good.

I have never felt like this. I have never felt this much

peace. Living with anxiety and stress

is amazing. My life was great before and I'm

so thankful, but it is better now.

And yes, I want to thank my counselor personally.

I needed that help to get through the process To the deep,

painful, buried feelings and emotions I didn't want to think

about. But I give all the glory and

praise to God because He is the healer and He wanted me to be

healed and I know He loves me and He loves you the same.

That's the good news. So as we close, what about you?

This message is not about me. I don't want anyone to leave

here saying, oh that's so great for you.

I want you to leave here saying that's so encouraging for me.

This message is about hope for you.

Here are some hopes and truths for you personally #1 as we

close. God's love for you is personal.

God loves you, not just humanity, not just the world,

not just other people. You are His child.

He adopted you into his family through Jesus.

He doesn't love some people and not you.

He is a good father and he loves his children.

That includes you #2 God loves you just as you are.

That's true just as you are. You don't have to change first

or be better first and then He'll love you.

The enemy tells us we have to change first and then we deserve

God's love. The truth is, even though we

don't deserve it, God loves us anyway.

It's unconditional #3 God loves you too much to keep you the way

you are. God loves us so much that He's

unwilling to settle for good enough.

He doesn't want us to just survive this life till the next

one. He doesn't want us living from

woundedness. He wants to heal all our wounds.

Jesus said it. Abundant life in Jesus doesn't

mean pretty good. It means better than we ever

thought it could be. And one of the things I love

about being a Christian, I love, I truly believe this and I truly

love it is our future is always better than our past.

And yes, primarily that means eternity, but also in this life,

our physical lives may hit a peak and then go downhill.

Can I get an Amen? But our spirit, our spirit can

go up and better and greater as long as we live.

My life now is closer to God, hears God more clearly, has more

joy, more peace than I did 1020 years ago.

I have more freedom in my life now than I did five years ago,

and as a disciple of Jesus, I know I'll be closer to God, have

more joy, fearless love and presence even greater, more

peace, more freedom 10 years from now than I do today.

I can't wait. Our lives get better and better

and better, and that is called abundant life because we keep

meeting with God, we keep discovering the truth, our

identity in Christ. We keep becoming more like Jesus

and we keep leading others to do the same.

And I pray to God I never stop doing that and neither do we.

I don't know about you. Have you ever been to a class

reunion? I feel sorry for people whose

best days are behind them. They talk about the good old

days, the glory days, and they wish they were there.

I'm like, I don't. My life's better now than it was

then. It's going to be better in the

future than it is now. Disciples of Jesus, our best

days is always ahead, not just in eternity, but in this life.

To somebody, say Amen #4 last point.

God's love can get you through and eventually heal your pain.

Pain is real. Wounds are not made-up or

imagined. They are real things that really

happened to us. And God created us to store pain

in our brain, in a part of our brain called the amygdala.

Amygdala, it's where we subconsciously automatically

store pain memories, all pain memories, so that the next time

we don't have to think, we react.

If you touch a hot stove, you don't have to leave your hand on

the stove and think, stove hot, I should move my hand.

You touch it and you know, you react, you don't think.

But because we live in a broken, fallen world with other broken

people, we experience pain that was never intended for people to

experience in the garden. In the garden, God never

intended people to experience rejection, abandonment,

betrayal, grief or loneliness, cruel or mean words spoken to

you or about you, shame, humiliation, or trauma.

But we do experience some, if not all of those things in this

world because of sin. And when we experience those

things, it's painful. It hurts, and we store those

painful memories away in our subconscious mind.

But God can not only help us get us through that pain, He can

also heal our pain. Is it easy?

No. Is it usually fast?

Usually not. But with Jesus, is it possible?

Absolutely. And does that give you hope?

It should, because He is the one who said, not me.

Who the sun sets free is free indeed.

And when we stop believing the lies, even if we believe them

for a long time, and replace the lies with the truth of God and

truly believe them, you will not only know, but you will

experience what Jesus meant when He said, and you shall know the

truth, and the truth shall what? Set you free.

Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your

heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with

us, you can text connect the 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate

dot church. Have a great week.