The Struggle With Doubt
By Lauren
Doubt used to suppress my objections and control my responses—I began to question: “How can God be love?” I no longer felt or believed God loved me. If He did, why would the Bible give others the right to oppress and hurt me so deeply?
Wrestling With God’s Love
As I desperately wrestled with finding Him—knowing from previous experience that He was my only source of healing—His love met me. I learned I was equating the actions of those who abused me with who God was. Friend, He is not like those who abused you.
Renewal Through Scripture
My mind was renewed in His love as I read the Gospels and I John, looking specifically at the heart of our Father. I learned that true Christianity makes us more loving as we come to know His heart.
The Darkness of Religion
If someone’s faith makes them more controlling and abusive, then the Bible is clear: they are walking in darkness and are far from God because of a lack of repentance (I John). They only have religion, rules void of a relationship with God. Religion always leads to death, just as religion put Jesus on the cross (the Pharisees crucified Jesus).
Finding Jesus Amid the Pain
God met me, and took me in, when people who professed to know God failed me. Jesus stood with me, directing me which way to go, and speaking the truth of my worth.
The Kindness of His Heart
Friend, His heart is so kind. As we press into Him, cling to Him, He will reveal Himself to us. He will heal and redeem the pain they caused you. My heart desperately wishes I could reveal even deeper the heart of God’s love to each and every one of you who have been betrayed by religious leaders, and had the Bible used to oppress and abuse you.
