Who God Is—and Who God Says We Are—in the Midst of SufferingSample

A Consistent Christian

In my eleventh foster home, my foster parents proclaimed the name of Jesus, took me to church every Sunday and did devotions at the dinner table every evening. It was during this time I began to pay attention to who God might actually be, although I told people I was an atheist.

I began to understand that God was loving, and He cared specifically for people like me—the people who no one wanted to welcome into their home and adopt. Those were the kind of people God set a table for and adopted as His children.

However, I was confused when the people who proclaimed His name abused their children behind closed doors, which led me to my twelfth foster home and further from God than I’d ever been.

To me, Christianity appeared to be a mask people put on to hide who they truly were. I wanted no part in a God who asked such a thing. I wanted to be known and loved.

In my next foster home, my single foster mom also proclaimed the name of Jesus and took me to church every Sunday. And I still had so many questions about religion and God.

Week after week, God answered those questions and spoke to me through sermons. My foster mom sacrificed so much for me and was a living example of what it looked like to be a disciple of Jesus, or in other words, a professional lover of people.

I did not feel like there was a lot of love in my life, but I knew I wanted to give the love many Jesus-loving people gave to me throughout my years of growing up. This Love was not within me. I had to accept This Love.

God gave me a gift through what I call a vision. In my mind’s eye, I saw two Christian families back to back. I learned that there are people who will proclaim His name and not live it out, and there are people who proclaim His name by living it out.

The number one reason people walk away from the church is because of people in the church who fail to look like Jesus. I wanted people to know The Love I'd come to know, so I understood that this would require me to be a consistent Christian, one who represents His name well by living His name out.

Is there anything in your life that if people found out about, they would question who God is?

What in your character does not match what you preach?

How could you change that?