Tanya and Carey Promise of Truth, Part 1

Tanya grew up in an atheist country located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. In her early twenties, she and her husband, Carey, came to the United States. She is an engineer in petroleum and her husband is a contractor and they have two sons. Growing up atheist, Tanya gave little thought to God until a neighbor invited her to church in 2004.

“I accepted Christ,” she says, “and attended mainstream churches. I was a children’s Sunday School teacher, which I loved, but I started to feel empty in my heart. I began wondering, Am I really a Christian?”

For a year and a half, Tanya stopped going to church. “One night,” she remembers, “I got on my knees and prayed, ‘God, I need to know the truth. I feel like I’m going nowhere with You. Please show me the truth.’ I cried out in desperation. I can still hear the clear thought in my head. God said, ‘Tanya, there is a whole lot you don’t know. Are you ready? If I reveal the truth to you, you will be accountable. Are you ready for that?’ That scared me out of my socks! I asked, ‘God, can I think about that and get back to you tomorrow?’”

Tanya couldn’t sleep. After much wrestling, she recognized that she needed to know the truth and was ready to hear it. The next day, she returned to her knees. “God,” she resumed, “I do want to know the truth, but I’m afraid. Can you show me under one condition? Can you help me to swallow the truth and be obedient, even though it is hard?” Again, Tanya heard a clear thought in her mind assuring her that if she was willing to follow the truth, God would help her. “I am willing,” she prayed.

From that encounter, Tanya began a two-month journey of searching for God’s truth, seemingly coming to one dead end after another. “I was so disappointed that I finally decided that I must have dreamed the whole thing up.” She told herself that she didn’t care anymore, but deep inside she was still searching. In desperation, Tanya decided to do a Google search, looking one more time for the truth.

She typed in the search box: “What Is Truth?”

Reflect: Have you ever boldly prayed that God would reveal truth to you? What happened? Sometimes the truth we need to face is about ourselves.

Key Bible Texts

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)