What Do You Believe?

A friend of mine recently wrote a post entitled "Believe" and at the end she wrote,

"Claim it, lay it down now. . . What are one or two truths you believe?"

What a great question to consider? Because all of our life decisions start here. Everything starts with what we believe.

My answer came to me immediately. Galatians 2:20. I memorized the verse when I was a teenager and it has stuck with me ever since. It is the absolute essence of what I believe about God's grace and who I am.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is what I believe.

I believe God loves me.

I believe Christ died for me.

I believe I am made new because of my faith.

I believe I live this life with him now and always.

A few years ago, someone mentioned my relaxed nature, my calm, my confidence in God, as if these were an anomaly and not something available to all believers. It made me sad then and it makes me sad now when people assume that my trust in God is based on easy circumstances or a personality quirk. Because if you knew me as a high strung child with a suicidal mother, or as a perfectionistic college student having to take time off school to deal with depression, or as a young married woman dealing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, you know that my life has not been conventionally easy.

Any yet....

It has been easy. Because through it all, through every dark moment and painful memory, God has been faithful. He has been the cornerstone, the strong rock on which I built my house.

Hard things happen. Stress encroaches at times. But deep down I do believe what Galatians 2:20 says.

"I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live but Christ lives in me."

I do not have to hold onto my past. I do not have to hold onto a sinful nature. I do not have to fear the battles of this world. Christ declared victory on that day so long ago and I hold onto that truth.

I will falter. I will fail. But only temporarily.

When life sends hardships, I know there is a plan. I know Christ is with me. I know that this is just part of the story God is telling with my life.

I know what I believe. For me.

Do you?

Do you know what the foundation of your life is? What you believe?