Tim Lapp

✝️Growth Mindset Monday
💡
Redemption

Live from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷

Standing here in Rio, looking up at Christ the Redeemer, (Cristo Redentor) I’m reminded that redemption is not a theory for me.

It was therapy.

In January 2010, I lost two of the most influential men in my life — my Pop Pop and my dad — just 12 days apart.

Twelve days.

While processing that grief five years later, I began writing Shunning to Shining. And in the middle of writing that story… I lost a dear friend who chose to take his own life.

That season tested everything.

My Pop Pop had been shunned.
My dad persevered through leukemia.
And then loss came in waves I didn’t see coming.

If I’m honest, there were moments of deep confusion and heartbreak.

But here’s what I discovered:

Redemption doesn’t mean you avoid pain.
It means pain doesn’t get the final word.

Faith didn’t erase my grief.
It anchored me in it.

Christ didn’t promise an easy life.
He promised His presence.

To anyone reading this who is skeptical of Jesus — I understand questions. I understand doubt. I understand wrestling with why hard things happen.

I’ve wrestled too.

But I’ve also experienced a peace that didn’t make sense in the middle of loss. A steadiness that wasn’t manufactured. A hope that wasn’t circumstantial.

That’s why I believe in redemption.

Because I’ve seen God bring purpose from rejection.
Strength from illness.
And meaning from grief.

If you’re carrying something heavy — loss, regret, depression, unanswered questions — you don’t have to carry it alone.

Those outstretched arms over Rio are not symbolic of religion.

They are symbolic of love.

And love invites us all.

Keep on shining. ✨
keeponshining