“What do you have to lose?”

I had grown up in a Christian family. We were always going to church and doing other church related activities, but I will be honest in the fact that there was a time, briefly (when I was much younger, in my teens and early twenties), where I would go and do all the extras but I had removed my self from really feeling the love of God and His Son, Jesus. I wasn’t feeling the true connection, then, that I feel today.

For context, you need to know that there had been things that I had gone through when I was a very young child like being sexually abused by a neighbor’s son and then later on in college, by choosing to date a person who was very controlling and who also had sexually abused me, as well. I say this because I know that we all have things in our past that we want to wish away. I found though that while (for that little while) I had abandoned God, He HAD NEVER abandoned me. I took me a long time to see how I was reacting was based on the trauma that I had been through. There was a shame that I felt because I had felt as though I was somehow to blame for what another person had done to me and that I was less.

So, how did that change?

The underlying message of the statement, “What do you have to lose?” is that the potential reward that you could gain is greater than any potential setback that could occur. I encourage everyone to see this statement as a chance to see and know and believe that we have a God who cares nothing about our past but who looks at the potential of what we could be. What happened to me did change things for me. Those times and incidents didn’t make me less. Oh no…. not at all! Instead, those incidents helped me to see others in a different way and with loving compassion, just like our Father in Heaven saw me all those years ago. Those incidents helped me to see that we have nothing to lose when we ask God to walk with us in this journey we call life, after all….. what do you have to lose, when you have everything that you could gain, instead?

What did I gain from this? Evil exist in the world. There is no denying that but we don’t have to live that way when there is a better way and that’s with God. Does having God in our lives keep bad things from happening? Unfortunately, no. For me, I’ve learned that love is so much greater than hate. I’ve forgiven those who did that to me all those years ago. It’s for God to decide their fate, now. I’ll trust Him to do that. In fact, I know that in going through my own trauma, I am now able to help others to process theirs. Isn’t that a wonder? (Related post: Called to Serve)

What can you gain from this? I don’t know your story, but we have a loving Father who does. He will NEVER let you go, when you invite Him in. So, what do you have to lose in asking Him to heal your heart? What do you have to lose in asking Him to help you through the pain and sorrows that you feel? I’m here to tell you…. that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I pray that you see that. (Related post: “My peace I give you”)