The Reason: How I Discovered a Life Worth Living

by Lacey Sturm

What’s more, we are all a mysterious kind of spiritual royalty, for you and I are created by the King of everything.

there exists an infinitely good God who created the universe, and he also created me. I am a wonder made by God.

We can blaspheme that image of perfect love and holiness by being our hateful, perverted, sinful selves—like I did—but God keeps his eyes fixed on us. I tremble at this thought: he does not turn away from us. He sees us inside and our every sin in all its horror, and he forgives us. He took our sins upon himself when he became a man called Jesus, and he was crucified once and for all, for the sins of the whole world. We are forever forgiven. Because I stand forever forgiven I am always beautiful to God. I could finally see myself through his love.

God sees us all as beautiful and lovely enough to forgive, even though it meant he had to be crucified. The only way to blot out sins in eternity was for God to do that himself, and the only way he could be merciful and just at the same time was to suffer the just consequence of our sin himself. God looks at you and me and finds us worth dying for. Forgiveness was a gift bought for me by the blood of Jesus.

God made us all, and his love leads us toward truth—the truth of ourselves, the truth of others, and the truth about him. When we grasp that truth, we do not grasp a vision of prettiness, but a vision of worth.

The mystery and beauty and wonder of an ancient, intricate, creative, thoughtful, mathematical, brilliant, artistic, playful God.

Joy is not mere happiness. It’s as if happiness comes from our souls, but joy comes from the spirit within our souls.

As I looked at the lunchroom full of people, I had a revelation of God saying something very simple about all of them: This is my artwork. These are my masterpieces.

To suddenly see people as God’s art overwhelmed me with humility. I had hated people so much. I had oversimplified them; I had judged, condemned, ridiculed, perverted, abused, and used them. It was like I’d spent so much time spitting on God’s art and calling it worthless. It broke my heart to understand this.

God loves everyone. He made everyone.

There is something about music that opens up your soul to understand, to meditate on something, to taste the spiritual significance of the world around you.

The Bible says in Psalm 100:4 that we can enter into God’s gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. The more I entered in this way, the more intimate my relationship with God became. The more you hang out with someone you love, the more you learn about them, the deeper you know them.

He is bigger than all my problems. He is good even though so much in the world feels evil. He protects me with love and wisdom.

And yet he gives you and me the freedom to make bad choices, and even allows us to be affected by the bad choices of others. He can do this because no matter what, he keeps us safe. He works out something glorious even though the bad of it all seems so big and dark. But I have come to understand that the bad has nothing on my God.

“Yes, God, you are good and you are real, and you care about every square inch of our lives.”

“God, have your way in my singing. You made it, you healed it, and you gave it back to me, so now I give it back to you. It’s yours forever. Amen.”

Our mission statement said, “We are just a Passerby with a story like anyone else. We want to inspire people to stand up in their purposes and be moved to change the world the way God made each person to change it, in their own unique and very important way.”

Oh, God bless them, Lord, I prayed. Especially the ones who struggle with wanting to be alive and not knowing who they are or why they are here. Pour out your love and grace and peace over them, Lord, and let them know that you are close and here and that you care. Tell the devil to shut up, God.

“I don’t like to say I am religious because it lumps me in with a bunch of people that I don’t understand,” I’d said. “Instead I just really love Jesus.”

I wanted with all my heart to go to those places that are an eerie foreshadow of hell—and pull people out.

‘It is not your job to convince them; it is only your job to tell them.’”

To love others doesn’t mean we should try to be God for people. If we try to be God for others, we will always let them down and we will always be crushed under the weight of trying to be more than it is possible for us to be. To love others means to point to the God who is our only Savior. It means to look to God to find out where he wants us to go and how he wants us to live and to love.

What matters is knowing what season it is for you and knowing what you are meant to be doing today. That is where you will be the most fulfilled and where you will be the most effective at changing the world.

My encounters with God have taught me how extravagant and high his love soars above earthly love. His love is infinitely greater in capacity, patience, and perfection.

The Bible says that to God a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. I believe even after we spend a lifetime sinning and being deceived, confused, angry, heartbroken, and hateful, and after we have made a reckless mess of our lives, God looks at us with love. He has an even deeper love, patience, and hope for us, his creation, than any mom could ever have for her child. His love is so much better than ours. His love for us is perfect. There is no one outside of that love. There is no one God would reject, only those who might reject him.

There is a daily purpose for your life that is so important. Some days it is just to learn about God. Sometimes it is to pray for someone and move mountains with your faith. Some days it is to say “Hi” to someone who needs to know they aren’t invisible. Your very breath moves the air and as long as it does that, you are changing the world.

want you to know you are beautiful. I want you to see the beauty of life around you. I want you to fulfill the highest heights for which you were created.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life—life to the full. Christ died so you could live, because he loves you. You are The Reason.

Dear God, I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son, that he died for me upon the cross, that he was buried for my sins, and that he was raised to life. I want to trust Jesus now as my Savior and follow him as my Lord from this day forward forevermore. Amen.