Growing up, my Mom and Dad instilled in me the importance of being the best I could be, and as a result, it created a familiar confidence in myself. As a kid, teenager, and young bride I had plenty of self-confidence (maybe too much) and I liked who I was.

But pain changed all of that for me. We never ask for pain or discomfort and we certainly never plan to go down a path of destruction. However, that was my story. Eventually, I found myself in a place of complete failure and pain, and I didn’t know how to get back to the confident young girl I once was.

All of this led me to self-hatred. I hated who I was, and I was no longer able to be loving and lovable. We cannot give what we don’t have.

Gradually, I became a stranger to myself as I believed the lies I heard in my pain. As time went on, I began acting out of my pain, and I inflicted emotional pain on my two daughters and husband. I was defeated. In my pain and guilt, I spoke a few words to my husband that were incredibly hard to confess but were the beginning of a new life for me:

“I’m sorry, and I’m a sorry person.”

Jonas shared in a recent blog the two sentences that changed his life, one of them being, “love your wife as Christ loves you.”

After my hard confession, Jonas began to respond to me in love. Because of this, I began to emerge from my life of lies. All I knew how to do was feel bad because I was the guilty party. I desperately wanted to be forgiven but felt like I didn’t deserve it.

Jonas and I were in such a place of hopelessness, yet God came to both of us. God came to me with complete and perfect love, and Jonas fulfilled that in tangible ways. I saw the love of Christ in Jonas.

Behind it all was forgiveness, even though the word was never spoken. I lived with my eyes wide open as Jonas lived this out quietly every day. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and feeling! I didn’t know how to respond to the grace from Jonas even though I needed it desperately. Still, I felt hope.

Slowly new truths began to become part of me, and the lies became obvious. A simple, but hard, confession started a journey in me that has changed my life.

You may find yourself stuck believing the same lies I did:

• I am unlovable
• I am unforgivable
• I am unchangeable

It’s time for you to find freedom from these lies! All I can tell you is to take the most challenging path and confess what you’re feeling and experiencing.

Freedom might not be instant, but it will happen. Your only responsibility is to be courageous enough to say a few words. A few words brought me from death to life. A few words spoken to Jonas changed his response and his entire life.

A few words have more impact than a constant flow of meaningless jabber. Our words truly have the power to create a world of lies and confusion or the power to create life.

It’s within our power to be the conduit of change for someone who has no hope. Sometimes, it only takes a few words.