When someone asks you how you are, do you say, “Fine,” even if you are not fine? People with disabilities or chronic disease might have an especially hard time knowing how to answer. They are never physically fine. We mostly assume those asking do not want a truthful answer. Yet, if a friend looks you in the eye and asks how you are, pausing for your response, they want the truth. God always wants the truth, too. It is healthy to share your truth. How else can your friends know how to pray for you, or how to support you? How else can God shine His light into your dark places?
Matthew West and Carly Pearce wrote a song called “Truth Be Told” with this chorus: “I say I’m fine…but I’m not. I’m broken.” We are all broken by sin, sickness, failure or loss. But, truth be told, God loves us anyway. One of our Scripture readings for this week is from John 5, where Jesus heals a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. One part of the Scripture caught my eye. “Jesus saw him lying there…” That’s how Jesus is with all of us. If we are lying down in pain or running our race with endurance, Jesus sees us. We are forgiven, with freedom in Him forged through fire. God Almighty chose us, broken and healed, bound then free, lost and now found. Rest in the Truth, friends. God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son for you. It is well with my soul. So, how are you? ~Tracy