The Reason: How I Discovered a Life Worth Living (17 page)

T
he reason I know Lacey Sturm is simple. She and her band have been guest artists at Rock the River evangelistic meetings—festivals sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)—where I preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all age groups, but primarily to the youth across America.

The message is powerful. The message is simple. And the message is of vital importance because people everywhere are in desperate need.

God made you, he created you, and he loves you. God wants to heal your heart. He wants you to experience his love and discover his plan and purpose for your life; but the problem Lacey faced, and that we all face, is that we are sinners and sin separates us from God. Yet, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (14:6 KJV).

Are you willing to turn from your sins and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are, God will forgive your sins and, like he did for Lacey, he will turn your life around. He gave her a reason for living.

If you would like to experience what Lacey experienced, pray this prayer:

Dear God,

I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sins. I want to turn from my sins.

I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son, that he died for me upon the cross, that he was buried for my sins, and that he was raised to life.

I want to trust Jesus now as my Savior and follow him as my Lord from this day forward forevermore.

Amen.

If you have prayed this prayer, write to Lacey. I know that she would like to hear from you. You can visit LaceySturm.com/TheReason to find out how you can connect with someone to talk to and pray with about your decision.

Franklin Graham

I
’ve always looked at books with wonder. How do people write so many words, and create worlds with just an alphabet and some paper? It is still very mystical to me. So the first person I have to acknowledge is the God who created humans with language, imagination, and reason. Thank you, God, for our ability to reflect and learn. You wrote the story of life itself and decided to include the tiny thread of my life in the tapestry of your grand masterpiece. Thank you, Jesus, for being the source of life in my heart and turning my worst moments of death into testimonies of life and overcoming.

Thank you to my husband, Joshua, for believing I could write a book before the thought could have ever entered my mind. I would never have attempted this if you hadn’t told me I could do it.

Thank you, Mom, for giving me life. Thank you for all the time you spent sharing stories with me. Thank you for your willingness to let a few of the thousands of miracles God has done in our family be written and shared so that other
people might be inspired to push through and not give up. You are one of the most phenomenal women I’ve ever known or heard of. You are beautiful. I love you.

Thank you, Jack and Arrow, for being patient with your momma and loving me so freely. I’ve never been loved like you boys love me. You are my favorites. I love you forever. I like you for always.

Thank you, Eric, Jazz, Phil, Stevie, and Roman. You are all creative, inspiring, challenging, and brilliant. You have each called passion, freedom, and whimsy out of my heart, making life more beautiful to me, especially during a time when I couldn’t see beauty anywhere else.

Thank you, Granny, for being passionate, generous, prayerful, and persistent. I wouldn’t be alive without you. Thank you, Gramps, for being the steadiest thing I ever saw growing up. Thank you for not giving up on me when I wanted to give up on myself.

Thank you, Sturm family: Mom, Dad, Jason, Joelene, and Ziggy. I have the greatest in-laws I could ask for. I love this family so much; it brings me to tears thinking of all of you. You have taught me so much in the past six years and I’m honored to be a part of your tree. Thank you for giving Jack and Arrow a loving, fun place to play and learn while I wrote much of this book.

Thank you, Erica Haney, for helping me in the most important areas of my life so I could have the freedom to roam around in my memories and write. God bless you for your willingness to love my kids and me.

Thank you, Tim, Chris, and Pixie Willards. Your patience with the endless rewriting and my overexplaining is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen. You are a beautiful, inspiring family, and the Sturms are thankful to feel like you all are family to us. Tim, your words and wisdom are a signature
as unique as your thumbprint. I’m honored to have gotten to work with you on this book. I’m still wondering about how to answer the questions people will have about their favorite quotes “from me,” when all their favorite quotes will be something beautiful you wrote!

Thank you, Papa Robb Kelley, for prophesying about this book’s existence years before the writing began.

Thank you, Eric and Sarah Patrick, for teaching me so much, and praying for me when I was closest to death. When I was sixteen and you didn’t know me, and when I was twenty-six and you knew me better than I knew myself. Both times, your prayers rescued me. Thank you.

Thank you, Flyleaf family, crew, Melanie Savoie, Deb Klein, Octone Records. We did impossible things together. You will always be like my flesh and blood family. Thank you for your years of patience with me. You saw me at my worst and didn’t leave me. You’re profound in so many ways. Because of my memories of you all, I’m still learning so much from you. And thank you, Kristen May, for helping us all by stepping in, letting me go home, and letting the guys keep going. You’re awesome. And your new music is something refreshing and truly a beautiful New Horizon.

Thank you, Matt Yates and Baker Books. You are a team of people who make miraculous things happen. I’m so blessed to know you.

Thank you, J. W., Dina, Jordan, and Walker Clarke. You have been there to help encourage me every step of the way and make sure I know that I’m not crazy. Jordan, your illustrations are beautiful and will speak to millions of people.

Thank you, Franklin Graham and BGEA. You are the biggest encouragement I have to tell my story. You bring so much freedom in my life by letting me know I can be myself. I’m thankful to be one of your millions of spiritual children.

Thank you, Ryan and Crystal Ries, Sonny Sandoval, Brian “Head” Welch, and the Whosoever family. You are doing miraculous things just by being you. You are reaching out to the ones no one else is reaching. You are a glorious, perplexing wonder. Thank you for letting me be a part of what God is doing through you guys.

Thank you to every fan who truly listened and cared enough to want to know what was behind the music. I believe in you all. Thank you to all the ones who heard of us and understood our need for prayers and encouragement. Brittany Wigand, you are so inspiring to me. Thank you to all of you who have written me emails and encouraged me.

L
acey is a mother, a wife, a rock-and-roll princess, a writer, a speaker, and a solo artist. But most of all, she’s a child of God and she desires for others to know and understand how special, how beautiful, how kaleidoscopically wonderful they are made.

Lacey loves Jack and Arrow. Jack is three and Arrow is one, but both boys already have Mommy’s passion. Lacey is Josh’s wife and loves being a wife. Josh is Lacey’s biggest fan, after Jack and Arrow, of course. Their love looks like Play-Doh—it’s colorful, makes beautiful things, and expands the more it’s tinkered with.

Lacey stands at four feet eleven inches. But she possesses a voice five times that size. Its unmistakable passion, power, beauty, and grit make her impossible to ignore on the airwaves. In 2012 Lacey released her final record with Flyleaf,
New Horizons
. Now she is focused on a new chapter of her life: her family and her new career as an author, speaker, and solo artist.

Lacey continues to do work with the BGEA as well as the Whosoever Movement, an organization she helped found with some of her closest friends from the rock music and extreme sports industries. The Whosoever Movement seeks to build and strengthen at-risk youth in local communities by using their collective passion for music, skateboarding, art, and today’s youth culture to creatively inspire people to stand together and work for change.

Connect with Lacey

I’d love to connect with you. Below are several ways we can do that. Check my website for appearances, concerts, book signings, and speaking engagements. Or just drop me a line or shout-out on Twitter.

With love,

Lacey

www.laceysturm.com

Twitter.com/LaceySturm

Facebook.com/LaceySturm81