A Radical Encounter with Jesus That Rewrote My Story

Welcome to Christianity.com. My name is Tamara Andress. I am a six-time bestselling author, a podcaster, and the owner of Fit in Faith Press, my publishing house. And I am a Christian. And here's why that'll never change. One, because there is nothing more steadfast or eternal that you could hold tight to and you could abide in.

Two, in my darkest hours, I had a husband. I call him Gary Hot Hubby. He was a really good-looking husband. Two kids under the age of two. Two incredible business endeavors that were seemingly flourishing. And yet, inside, I was in a place of darkness, despair, confusion, suicidal ideation, depression, and loss of control. All of these things were honestly enemy tactics to keep me depraved, distracted, deluded, and unvocalized in all of those roles at large. Premised later, I found out about a sexual trauma that I had had that was so suppressed that nearly three decades later, it was still affecting me to this point of death. We know the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

Well, when I had a radical encounter with Jesus in my living room, he came with no shame, with pure love and utter compassion. He picks me up out of fetal position and he put my chin to his face. And I will never forget the three words that he said to me. I love you. I see you, and I know you. It wasn't in that order. It was you are seen, you are known, and I still love you. And I still love you in the middle of my ickiness and worry. And just all the grotesque feelings that you feel when you're not loved or cared for or seen or feeling pure.

He wrote that wrong in my life once and for all. He scripted his name over top of my pen name. My identity shifted, and I got to be secure for the first time in my life, confident for the first time in my life, seen and flourishing for the first real time—not a facade in my life. I understood what joy really meant. So that's a big number two.

Number three would be because I have experienced heaven on earth. I have experienced what it feels like to live a life full of fruit— peace, love, joy, kindness, gentleness, forbearance, and long-suffering (Galatians 5:22). Those are the things that don't really people want. But the beginning of that, the compassion, the goodness, and ultimately the joy I've tasted and seen is that the Lord is good, that his promises do come true, and that it can happen here now. We don't have to wait to get anywhere.

God will meet you right in the middle of your day. And I pray that you ask him to do the thing right now, today. It was a life shift for me, and it has changed generations and broken so many elements of bondage in my life. And I want that freedom ring for you. I want to free the captives alongside you. So be blessed today and regularly visit Christianity.com for more encouragement like this because God is not finished with your story. I know he's not finished with mine, but it's already been pretty miraculous. So here's to more miracles. Be blessed.

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