Holding On To Truth

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

—John 8:32

Several years ago I was wrapping up at a conference where I’d been speaking. My friend Beth and I were talking about where the team would be meeting for dinner that night when, suddenly, a very frantic arena staff member came over and told us there was an emergency and we were needed right away.

A lady attending the conference had just been told her two grandchildren had been killed in a fire that day.

We rushed over to find a lady surrounded by her friends. She was sobbing to the point she could hardly breathe. She’d just been with her grandbabies, ages eight and four. They’d spent spring break with her the week before. She’d held them, rocked them, stroked their hair, and kissed them all over their faces. How could they be gone?

It was too much for her brain to process.

The EMT stepped aside so we could hold her hands and pray over her. At first I stumbled my way through requests for Jesus to pour His most tender mercies into this situation. I prayed for comfort and the reassurance that these children were being held by Jesus in this moment.

It was so hard. My mommy heart ached so deeply for this woman. My eyes welled up with tears refusing to stay contained.

Our souls were formed to recognize and respond to the calm assurance of Jesus.

As Beth took her turn to pray I noticed something miraculous. Every time we said “Jesus,” her body calmed, her crying slowed, her breathing stopped sounding so panicked.

So, when it was my turn to pray again I just said His name over and over and over. This sweet grandmother joined me, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

As we said “Jesus” over and over, truth flooded my mind.

I remembered what I’d discovered in Scripture about fearing death. Death is only a temporary separation. We will be reunited again.

I remembered truth from 2 Samuel 12. When David’s infant child died, David confidently said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (v. 23). David knew he would see his child again—not just a nameless, faceless soul without an identity, but his very child. He would know him, hold him, kiss him, and the separation death caused would be over.

The only thing that seemed to calm my devastated sister in Christ was the name of Jesus and His truth.

What a powerful reminder to us all.

Hold on to His Word, sweet sister. Speak His truth and the name of Jesus out loud. Our souls were formed to recognize and respond to the calm assurance of Jesus and truth.

Never has this been clearer to me.

Please pray for my friend from the conference and her family.

And remember no matter what circumstances you find yourself in . . .

We can choose to hold on to the truth. Let everything else go. Park our mind with what is true. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

Dear Lord, I lift up my mind to You and ask You to help me remember to speak Your Name and Your truth in any situation I’m in that seems overwhelming—little things and big things. Truly my soul was formed to recognize and respond to the calm assurance of truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.