Our Story
When we are lied to, we experience one of the deepest betrayals any relationship can endure.
Early in life, we must grapple with the sting of falsehood; like the fine print on a sign that says “FREE”.
A friend that says, “I won’t tell” while blasting it out on Instagram. A spouse who vows “til death do us part” while indulging in the company of another. Lies can have catastrophic psychological, spiritual and even physiological implications - some lies even define who we are.
I’ve been on the receiving end of many lies in my own life. But in 2011, while working in Africa, I stood face-to-face with, what threatened to be, the most terrifying doubt for any Christian. I wondered:
is the Bible true?
Perhaps you can fathom my fear and shame when confronted with the possibility that my entire world view - all I had come to accept as true - had actually been a lie.
Is the Bible true? In the comfort of my Midwest childhood, in the “land of the free, home of the brave”, I rarely wrestled with such a question. No one inquired of my faith for two reasons:
It’s a free country, I am entitled to be a Christian
I didn’t often share my faith so my beliefs went largely unchallenged
But as an adult, in the scary parts of east Africa, I was seen as a Christian because of the color of my skin, and therefore, my words and my behaviors were filtered through that lens.
Being a “good person” this wasn’t a problem as long as my relationships stayed outside everyone’s front door.
But in the span of a few months, my faith shook as I was invited across the threshold, where I witnessed the most intimate and horrifying crimes against women; women I called my friends. I stared in the eyes of those who had been beaten, gang raped, burned, excommunicated, circumcised, and exploited. And as horrifying as those circumstances were, I learned the deepest wounds were inflicted by simply being ignored all together.
My heart longed to tell these women they were seen, heard, loved, worthy and known. But I could not bring myself to offer any Sunday School answers for one very important reason: I couldn’t bet my life that it was true. You see, I had known Jesus my whole life…but I had never been rescued - I had never been healed from the traumas in my own identity.
So I embarked on a personal study of Scripture unlike anything I had done before. With my faith and worldview hanging in the balance Jesus proved Himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” on every page. But it wasn’t until I invited my whole heart to know The God Who is With Me, that what IS True finally began to FEEL True.
I have been on the healing journey ever since; replacing lies with Truth in my past and my present. And in the middle of a global mental health epidemic - a crisis destroying our marriages, our children, and our community - I am ready to give my life for others to know the healing power of Immanuel.
At The Truth Collective we are calling all women to Know what is True, Believe what is True so that we can Share what is True with every woman around the world! But we call ourselves a First Me, Then Her ministry because if we’re not courageous enough to travel to the broken places of our own identity, we have no business inviting someone else to do the same.
It means going deep. It means surrender. It means being vulnerable. It means being a warrior. But the Peace is worth it all.
You ready?
Jami Staples
Founder and CEO
The Truth Collective