A young wife and mom wrote to me recently and made this statement.

Here's what she said.

I feel like I was told before marriage growing up in my teens and as a young adult

that living the Christian life is wonderful and a bed of roses.

Now the key phrase in her statement is this, I feel like.

Feelings are not the same as facts, and there are times when

what we hear and how we perceive it are not the same. I am grateful that this writer did not say

someone told me the Christian life would be a bed of roses. She didn't say that. Still, somehow this young woman got a faulty impression.

This episode is dedicated to the young woman who sent the email and to anyone else who has

discovered that the Christian life is not what you thought it would be.

Welcome to Keep the Heart podcast with Francie Taylor. Francy is an author, teacher, and conference speaker known for sharing biblical insights that are practical and inspiring. Now back to

today's valuable study. The email started like this. Dear Mrs. Taylor,

I don't think you would know me or be able to pick me out of a crowd, but I've heard you speak at

probably six to eight different conferences in the past 12 years or so.

But I need counsel, and I want someone far enough away but that still loves Jesus.

You seem to have the life that I want. You were a wife and a mama. You were in ministry.

You have the joy of the Lord, but I want to know, is it true?

Now, before I get into more of this email from the letter writer, I want to answer that last

question where she said, is it true? I'm assuming what she meant by that is, when I heard you

speaking up there on those platforms, all those different times,

was that real? Or do you just make that up? And I bet they wonder that. I bet people wonder that

about a lot of speakers. You've been to conferences, sister friends, and you've seen speakers

...