Living under Communist rule in Romania was difficult for many people, including Adela Waldie. Adela always wondered if she was good enough, if she could ever work hard enough. She thought that if only she was perfect, God would love her.

This all changed after she attended a Palau festival days after the fall of Communism in Romania. Before, speech had been restricted; now people could speak freely. They could believe in a God who loved them regardless of how imperfect they were. At the festival, Adela learned that God loved her as she was. Her constant striving for perfection didn’t have to continue. Salvation was a gift. She didn't have to earn it. She was free through Jesus Christ.

Adela moved to the United States to go to university and met her husband. They both went into ministry, and twenty years after attending that festival in Romania, Adela attended another Palau festival. This time, at Yakima CityFest in Washington, she was a counselor, praying with young people to accept Jesus. She told them her story about meeting a loving God at a Palau event years earlier back in Europe.

So many people, here and all over the world, think they need to be perfect to be loved by God. God knows that we have “sinned and fall short of” His glory — that is why He wants us to come as we are. Everyone should have the freedom to know a loving God who wants to change their lives.

This is Luis Palau