< Back to Issue 13

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus by Veronica McDonald, oil pastel on paper.

---

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26 (ESV)

Have you ever asked yourself this question: Do I believe? Whenever I read these verses, I picture Jesus’ face, his piercing eyes boring into the depths of my soul as He asks me the most crucial question, the one that will decide whether I will live or die.

Do I believe this? Do I believe that Jesus is life? Do I believe that believing in Him will save my soul from the sting of death, from the horrors of Hell? Yes. Emphatically, yes. I feel the weight of this question down in the marrow of my bones. I have experienced the world without believing in Christ, and when all was said and done, everything was tainted with the stain of death. I lived my life gripping every little thing in my path that made me feel good and left me empty, like hands groping slimy walls in the darkness, looking for stability and hope as I slid down deeper and deeper into the looming reality of death’s finality. It’s a world I need reminding of from time to time, so that I remember that the God I serve and the God I love is life itself. Without Him, there is only death.

In our 13^th issue, you will encounter an eclectic mix of poetry, stories, and art that all intertwine with the reality of the life-giving God. You’ll find moments of humor, longing, shame, and the mundane mixed with the divine. Many of our contributors believe, and they will take you on a journey of spiritual connection. Many will demonstrate the tension between God’s will and their own will. Others will be in awe of His character, His revelations, and His tendency to pull us out of the sin that grips us like a vice in order to mold us like clay. Some of our writers will relay troubling doubt and fear, while death lingers in the background like an unbeaten adversary, a lion ready to pounce. Others still are searching … following the breadcrumbs of belief, stumbling along the way, hoping to find God in the end.

I hope you find God in the end. My prayer is that this issue sparks an insatiable desire to know the God who created your soul. I hope that, if nothing else, the crucial question burns inside of you like a hot coal: Do you believe this?

Thank you to all the amazing writers, poets, artists, and photographers who made this issue come together. Thank you to Katie Yee, for all her support and hard work. Thank you to my family, for their continued encouragement and patience. And thank you, for reading.

May God bless you and keep you,

Veronica McDonald
Editor/Founder

---

Next (Justin Lacour) >

---

Image: Martha, Mary, and Lazarus by Veronica McDonald (2021), oil pastel on paper. All rights reserved.