atislem's Video Channel

For many, many years I had no idea who I was. Of course, at first glance, I'm a wife and mom of three grown-ups (still hard to believe, since I don't always feel grown up myself. BTW, do we ever??) One night after sinking deeper into darkness than I ever thought possible, God met me right there...in the middle of what I thought a hopeless mess. Though I'd done nothing to deserve it, in one moment, there was full awareness that I was loved and perhaps had been loved all along. That night changed everything, yet in the years that followed, the initial excitement was swallowed up by that awful cycle of "feeling" loved and accepted when everything was good and self-loathing when I failed or life seemed to be falling apart. What a miserable, self-consuming prison! Truth is; God's love is not human, it's not conditional. How freeing to realize that His love never hinges on our behavior nor does it depend on how we feel. We are loved and accepted simply and only because of His faithfulness! "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free..." (John 8:32) This is the Good News...it's the Best News ever! Does it bring health, wealth and happiness??? Not to say those things couldn't happen, but you know what? We need more than that. John 10:10 "I have come that you may have life...life lived to the fullest." What is that? It's the beginning of a healthy mind and healed emotions and an awareness that we're loved, we belong...we're accepted and included in something far bigger than ourselves. That is "Home" and there really is no place like it!