As a kid, I had a lot of questions.

Both my mom and my dad abandoned me. My dad left first and my mom followed several years later.

Psalm 139: 14 says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.”

I had to memorize this verse for Sunday School.

I won some candy, but the verse never made any sense to me.

I remember praying and asking God, “If I’m so fearfully and wonderfully made, how can you explain why my parents left? Did they not think so?”

Many of us come from a dark past. Things happened that shouldn’t have and people abused our trust.

And we had questions that no one could answer.

Me?

I didn’t trust God for a long time. I thought He was just like everyone else.

Sure, I gave him lip service, but inside I was hurting and angry at Him and everyone else.

The day I surrendered my life to Christ, do you know what He whispered in my ear?

You can trust me. I approve of you, Audra. I always have. All I have for you is love. 

When I opened up my heart to receive Christ’s love, everything changed. He was right. His love and acceptance was all I ever wanted.

And suddenly, verses like Psalm 139: 14 started to make sense.

The pain I experienced happened because of the poor choices of my parents–not because God’s Word and God’s purposes for my life weren’t true.

Don’t let past hurts hold you back from receiving Christ’s love.

No pain is so deep that Christ can’t heal your heart.

Take it from someone who ran away for far too long.

True freedom, true healing can only be found through the grace and love of Jesus Christ.