The Scribbled Truth That Changed My Life

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer

rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

(Zephaniah 3:17)

When my baby sister died tragically and unexpectedly, my entire world flipped upside down. That season of my life was very dark. What I knew to be true suddenly became questionable.

Is God good? If so, why this? And if I never find out why, how can I ever trust God again?

Hard questions. Honest questions. Questions that haunted me.

Until.

One day I got a note from a friend. A young woman I not so affectionately called my “Bible friend.” She honestly got on my nerves with all her Bible verse quoting. I wasn’t on good terms with God at that point in my life. I didn’t want to believe God even existed. And I certainly wasn’t reading the Bible.

I made all of this plainly clear to my Bible friend. But in her sweet and kind way, she kept slipping me notes gently woven through with verses of truth. And then one day, one of those verses cracked the dam of my soul:

Truth slipped in and split open my hard-hearted views of life just enough for God to make Himself known to me.

Personally. Intimately. Relentlessly.

I held that simple note with one Bible verse scribbled on the front as tears of honest need streamed down my cheeks. My stiff knees bent. And a whispered “Yes, God,” changed the course of my life.

I will never doubt the power of a simple note again. Especially when it contains God’s Word that will go forth and accomplish things human reasoning can’t. I love that about God’s Word.

If there is a note you need to send to someone today, here are some of my favorite verses of truth from God’s Word you might include (today’s key verse is another):

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. (Hebrews 12:28)

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (Habakkuk 3:19)

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. (Nahum 1:7)

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

That one note from my Bible friend took my unglued heart and put the most important missing piece into place … Jesus. Never underestimate the power of scribbling a few truths to a friend. It just might change her life.