Alena Pitts Franklin on Finding God Through Grief and Her Book 'God Is'

Discovering God Amidst Grief

• 💔 Alena Pitts Franklin shares how the unexpected loss of her mother during her freshman year of high school led her to a deeper understanding of God.
• ✝️ Instead of rejecting faith, she actively searched for God's true nature, beginning with a comprehensive reading of the Bible.
• 💡 This journey revealed a God who was different from her upbringing's perception, especially when confronting trauma and hardship.

The Character of God Revealed

• ✅ A primary takeaway was the realization that God is good, even amidst profound pain and suffering.
• 💖 Alena experienced God's goodness and kindness in tangible ways, even when it seemed counterintuitive during difficult times.
• 📖 Her book, 'God Is,' offers 60 devotions exploring foundational beliefs about God's character, such as His sovereignty and omnipotence.

God's Love for Young Women

• 🌟 The central message for young women is that they are unconditionally loved by God.
• ❓ Alena emphasizes the importance of understanding God's love amidst conflicting societal messages about love and relationships.
• 🚀 Knowing God's true love is presented as transformative, changing how one lives and approaches challenges.

Reconciling Loss and Faith

• 🕊️ Alena addresses the difficult question of how God can be good when experiencing immense loss, like the death of a parent.
• ⛓️ She clarifies that while God is sovereign, the brokenness of the world, including death, is not His intention but a consequence of a fallen world.
• 💔 She believes God's heart breaks with ours, offering a lens through which His goodness can be seen even in tragedy.