"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

He saved me, remade me, and has given me a hope eternal. Sometimes it's easy to forget that we are blessed beyond reason by a God who loved us so much He died on a cross just to prove it. I owe everything I am to my Savior.

Background Stock Used: [link]
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Well now, this certainly caused more of a commotion than I had ever anticipated. I’m glad this caught so many people’s attention, though, because that means I did something right. And I assure you, the encouragment and support I've received far outweighs the hate.

For a world, however, that seems to be all about wanting tolerance and being accepting of others, I admit I was surprised by the lack thereof that this work received.

Now, I realize that some people are not mature enough to know when to keep their comments to themselves, but I want to thank everyone who had something helpful, or at least reasonable, to say. This includes anyone who extended and asked for tolerance, anyone who gave me pointers on how I could improve my art (without the intention of being hurtful), and of course anyone who was either supportive or encouraging of this piece. Not everyone in those categories agreed with or shared my beliefs, but they were respectful and mature about it, and for that I am grateful.

And I figured I should at least address some of the comments that seemed painfully repetitive:

-Concerning the quality of this work: Yes, this is just white text on a stock background, but please take into consideration that, metaphorically speaking, the content of the letter often matters more to people than the paper it was written on. I don’t have the resources to put together something others might consider front-page-worthy and I never asked for this to even be on the front page, but I'm not about to apologize for it. The purpose of this piece was me speaking honestly from my heart and acknowledging what Jesus has done for me, and I don't feel that that's something I should be sorry for.

-Jesus was-and always will be-the name I intended to be in this piece; not parents, not sex, and not some other god. So in regards to any comment that says otherwise, please stop asking me to correct something that was never a mistake to begin with.

And finally a word to anyone planning on leaving any kind of comment on this piece: Your input (whether it’s constructive, positive, negative, pointless, hateful, etc.) is a reflection on you and this website, not me. So by all means, leave your thoughts in the comments, but don’t expect me to be at all injured by them. (That last sentence was mainly for those whose comments are blatantly unnecessary.)

I am not ashamed, intimidated, or discouraged; I just expected more from the DA community in terms of tolerance. To everyone who was respectful/supportive, Thank You.

I will continue to do my best to be considerate of other's opinions, but I know who I am in Christ, and I'm not at all reluctant to give Him the glory He deserves.