Why I Write

“Jesus loves you.”

It’s a simple, much-used statement—easily dismissed, watered down, underestimated. It takes about three seconds to say, and less to forget.

Yet, the older I get, the more I find myself coming back to it.

This one little phrase is the heart of the Christian gospel. It’s why Jesus saved me, a sinner, the moment I committed my heart and life to Him. It’s why I can trust Him with that commitment instead of surrendering to sin, shame, and fear. It’s why, even as I follow Him imperfectly, He continues to save me—why He holds on to me and never lets go.

Yet, every time I think I’ve grasped this truth, something happens to confront me with my small view of Jesus’s love. After some new hardship or failure, I catch myself thinking (though maybe not in so many words), Surely He couldn’t, wouldn’t, doesn’t love me enough to see me through this and redeem this for good?

And every time, a new mercy follows. It answers: Yes, He could. He would. He does.

The more I lean into that knowledge, the more life flows out of it.

Because Jesus loves me…

• I can come to Him with everything I am and everything I have. He welcomes me.
• I can give Him everything I am and everything I have. He gave everything for me.
• I can face hardship, pain, loss, uncertainty, and change. He can and will redeem it for good.
• I don’t have to fear the future. He’ll work everything together for good.
• I don’t have to fear scarcity. He’ll provide what I need to do HIs will.
• I don’t have to live in sin. He offers me transformation.
• I don’t have to live in shame. He forgives and cleanses me when I confess my sins.
• I don’t have to live by others’ or my own expectations. His thoughts and ways are best.
• I can love and forgive others, even when it’s hard. He loves and forgives me.
• I can live meaningfully under any circumstances. He’s with me and working in and through me.
• I can fulfill His purpose for my life. He won’t give up on me.
• I can persevere in my walk with Him. He’s worth persevering for.

That pretty much sums up all I’ve been trying to get across through my blog posts, devotions, and essays. It’s pretty much the story my poetry and memoir live in.

Jesus loves me. And…

He loves you.

I want my readers to know and internalize this truth. I want them to absorb it, really grasp it, more and more. I want them to respond to it, to let it change them, to live it out.

This is my mission as a writer: to illuminate the ever-presence of God in dark places and to plumb the implications of life lived in light of Jesus’s love, in hopes that others might seek His presence and live in His love.

Whether you’ve walked with Jesus for decades or have never met Him before, I want you to glimpse His love in what I write. To realize this love is something you can experience as well—right in the midst of your own tedium, uncertainty, darkness, hardship, and pain.

Because He’s there, much closer and more present than we think.

Because He loves us. And He always will.