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Speak the Truth, Even if Your Voice Shakes

Speak the Truth, Even if Your Voice Shakes

Last updated on: November 11, 2013 at 10:00 am by Susan Cottrell

Speak the Truth, Even if Your Voice Shakes 2013-11-11T10:00:52-05:00 Susan Cottrell

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I know you have been rejected and condemned and judged by people you used to call friends, and maybe your church, and maybe even family members. Me too.

If you are a Christian parent or family of an LGBTQ child, I understand. If you are a Christian LGBTQ, I can only image your pain and struggle.

But let me encourage you as I encourage myself… we need to speak the truth, even if our voice shakes.

You have a deep conviction that you are on the right side of this issue, the right side of history, and the right side of God’s heart. So do I.

I understand the conflict you feel between your faith and your desire to love and be loved exactly as you are, or to love and defend your child. But the truth is that the conflict is NOT between your heart and God’s heart – the conflict is between your heart and the teaching embedded in the culture that you have internalized.

Listen, if God has something to say to you about this, then hear that. Ask Him to tell you specifically and trust Him to answer you. He knows how to speak. If He convicts your heart, then go with what He’s telling you. If He does not, then be at peace. Do not try to please the naysayers because you’ll never be able to, and you will only hurt yourself trying.

Being true to yourself is not a new phenomenon. Shakespeare said it 400 years ago. “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Or as God said to Paul in Acts: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you.”

Even if your voice shakes.

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