An Open Letter to Anyone Struggling Anywhere

I think you should stay.
If you’re teetering on the line of staying or leaving, I think you should stay.
The world needs you in it.
We all need you.
If you’re thinking that we’d be better if you weren’t here, I think you should take one really big deep breath and think about it for just another minute.

I think you should stay.
There is not one other person here like you.
That’s why we need you.
That’s why you should stay.

You have ideas that no one has. You have thoughts that no one thinks.  You have charisma and grace and a smile that no one else possesses. We need all of those things. 

We need them because they’re yours – because they belong to you. 

You are not the sum of your worst mistakes. You are not your worst day.
Your name is not the label others put on you.
Your name is not broken.
Your name is not your illness.
Your name is not hurt.
Your name is not addict.
Your name is not childless.
Your name is not homeless.
Your name is not faker.
Your name is not fatherless.
Your name is not lonely.

You are far more than your very worst day, your very worst season, and there’s more to you than the very worst chaos you may have think you’ve caused. You are more than the sorriest and saddest decision you have ever made. You are more than the darkest season you’ve ever endured. There is more for you.

Whatever war you’re in has already been won by a God who loves you more than anything else in the whole entire world. Whatever pain you’re in has already been experienced by a God who sees and knows it all – and loves you endlessly.  It’s so temporary, this pain. It doesn’t last forever. Whatever emptiness you feel can be filled by a God who wants to do that for you. Whatever darkness you’re in can be trampled out by calling on the name of Jesus, who makes the darkness tremble. Whatever fear you’re experiencing can be put to rest by a God who cancels out all fear.

You matter and your life matters and your thoughts matter.
We’re better with you here. We want you here.
So please stay.
And if you won’t stay for you, please stay for the rest of us.
We love you.

…and to all those who are still here after someone left:
Whatever grief you’re in — I know it’s so unpredictable and it’s not linear. Our brains want us to think that maybe grief is like the flu, that the first days are worse and then steadily over time it gets better, but my experience is so far from that. Grief is a roller coaster, except there’s no line and there’s no guide explaining where everyone gets off – because everyone exits at a different place – and some never get to exit. 

Here’s what I know, the same God who meets the person in their struggle is the same God who will meet us in ours.
He is still good.

I wish you would have stayed.