Gò0dNews for Everyone
What’s The Truth?
W
by Susan Lavigne
hile rooming with a friend during my college
As with my situation, sometimes our perceptions of
days, we both went to bed around 10 p.m.
what we believe and what is the truth clash. It’s like waking
because of our early morning schedules. This
up one morning thinking it’s a workday when it’s actually
was before cell phones, so we only had one phone hanging
the weekend. It’s hard to change your belief when you don’t
on the kitchen wall. One night, my roommate came into my
recognize the truth.
room around 11:30 p.m. I was so sound asleep that I didn’t
A biblical example of this problem with perception
hear the phone ring. She said, “Susan, the phone is for you.”
happened to the apostle Paul in his early days (when he was
Now, since I didn’t hear the phone, I proceeded to tell my
known as Saul). He persecuted the new church of Christian
roommate that she was dreaming and to go back to bed. She
believers. You see, he was zealous to do “God’s work” and
was very unhappy with my assessment of the situation and
truly believed he was doing God a favor by ridding the
more forcefully said, “Susan, the phone is for you!”
Jews of this new religious cult. Although he was passionate, his perception was not the truth of what God wanted. When his eyes were literally opened to the truth, he found a new mission, this time in support of the church he had previously persecuted. All of us develop different perceptions from our experiences and emotions. We then develop expectations about life from what we were taught or saw modeled. For example, we may have expectations of what our spouse needs, or more often, what we expect from our spouse. However, sometimes conflicts arise when our expectations differ from another. So, where is the truth in our perceptions? As a Christian, when I am struggling with the truth of my
Showing incredible compassion for this poor friend who
perceptions, the best thing I can do is seek out God’s Word
was obviously having a bad dream, I continued trying to
on the issue and listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance.
convince her that everything was okay and she just needed
Sometimes, guidance comes in the form of wise Christian
to go back to bed. At this point, she totally lost patience with
counsel. Trust me, God wants us to know the truth and will
me and said, “SUSAN, YOU GET OUT OF YOUR BED AND
do whatever it takes to help us know it, even if it has to
PICK UP THE PHONE IN THE KITCHEN!” Shocked by
come from a friend shouting at us to pick up the phone.
more shocked to hear a person’s voice on the other end of the telephone.
40 // April 2022
About The Author
her words, I got out of bed to answer the phone. I was even Susan Lavigne attends Cornerstone Church. She is a Christian speaker and songwriter. Feel free to contact her at susanclavigne@gmail.com.
