When you need it
Water Your truths
Read them out loud · every morning · Ps 1:2–3If it doesn't feel true yet, use the bridge: "God says ___. I'm choosing to believe Him before I feel it." Saying something that feels false can make a lie louder. The bridge keeps you honest while the truth takes root.
Today's journal
Look back on the day with God: "Search me, O God, and know my heart." Three questions that do the work, about 3 minutes. Extras are optional, and one Save saves everything.
The numbers
Only what you control. What other people did is never on the scorecard.
What hit the tree today.
What happened, where you were, who you were with, how you slept, what set things off. Over time this is where the connections show up: what tends to come before a hard day, and what comes before a good one.
Three questions
Optional extras
Past entries
Progress
Your trend
1–10 by day90 squares
one per dayWeekly grade
0–100How the grade works: journal days 40 pts · check-in days 20 · days without an escape 30 · protocol used on days you escaped 10 (full 10 if you didn't escape). Counted only over the days so far in that week.
Weekly averages
▲▼ compare with the previous week. Green means the right direction (pressure should go down).
Lie strength over time
1–10Dots are the nightly journal's "How strong?" for the day's loudest lie; squares are your bad-day ratings from the Evidence page.
Loudest lie, by count
all journal daysNotice. Name. Turn. Truth. Replace.
For when you feel unwanted, pressure hits 7 or more, your mind won't stop at night, or you feel the pull to escape. It's an if-then plan: when the feeling hits, these steps run instead of the escape. If-then plans are one of the best-supported habit tools there is (94 studies, d = .65).
Talk me through it
When you can't read a screen. A calm voice walks you through all six steps, then stays quiet for your 20-minute replace.
The loop this breaks
Not in the moment
No big talk about your needs that day. Don't reach for your escape. No rehearsing your case in your head.
Night version (when your mind won't shut off)
When it isn't a 20-minute moment
The Protocol is for heat: a sudden spike. A long dry season and a sudden storm need their own plans.
Weeks of feeling dry, numb or stuck. Nothing seems to be working.
- Name it. "This is a drought, not a verdict." Dry seasons come to every tree.
- Lower the bar. Just water: read one truth out loud morning and night. Skip the extras without guilt.
- Pray honestly. Tell God it's dry. The Psalms do this (Ps 13, Ps 63). Honest prayer is still watering.
- Don't go quiet. Tell your circle this week: "I'm in a dry stretch."
- Care for the body. Sleep, sunlight, a walk, real food. Dry ground cracks faster without them.
- Keep the roots by the stream. Keep showing up to church or your group, even when you feel nothing.
If dry turns hopeless, or you think about not wanting to be here, tell a trusted person today. In the US, call or text 988. That isn't failing the program; it's what the program is for.
A sudden crisis: a job loss, a fight, bad news, an emergency.
- Get safe first. If anyone is in danger, call for help before anything else.
- No big decisions for 24 hours. Storms make everything feel urgent. Most of it can wait a day.
- Call someone in your circle today. Two are better than one in a storm (Eccl 4:9–10).
- Run the Protocol. If the pull to escape hits, use it right away.
- One next step. Write the single next thing, do only that, then the next.
- Tell God the truth. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps 46:1).
- Trace it after. When it passes, trace what the lie said during the storm.
Evidence Prune
A lie has power to the degree your gut believes it. For each one: trace where it started, rate how true it feels, collect facts that contradict it, then write the truth in your own words. Your ratings should drop over the 90 days.
How it works
"He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Jer 17:8
A 90-day, Christ-centered program for going from a tree ravaged by drought and pests to one that stays green and bears good fruit in every season. You don't fight the bad fruit. You find the lie at the root, pull it out, plant the truth in its place, and tend it every day with God, the Gardener. Over time, the bad fruit gives way to good fruit.
Planted by the water
A tree planted by the river doesn't fear the heat, and it keeps bearing good fruit (Jer 17:8). Anyone who leans on their own strength is a shrub in the desert (Jer 17:5–6). Every tree grows from its roots. A lie root grows in barren ground, where a need went unmet. A truth root grows in fertile ground, where that need is met in God. Pull the lie, plant the truth, and you're free (John 8:32).
The verdict is already in
You can look at the worst part of your tree without fear, because the verdict is already in. Jesus took the condemnation (2 Cor 5:21), so none is left for you (Rom 8:1). You don't dig to earn His love; you dig because you already have it.
And the truth isn't a slogan. It's a Person: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). Every truth you speak in this program is His word, said back to Him, by the help of His Spirit (John 14:26).
What God gives the tree
Every tree needs five things, and God gives all five: sunlight, water, nutrients, air and shade. Each one meets a need. When one runs short, the tree feeds on a counterfeit instead (malnourishment), and that's where a lie takes hold. Each one has a daily practice in Grow.
How a tree grows
Paul put it simply: one plants, another waters, but God gives the growth (1 Cor 3:6–7). These 14 principles show God's part, your part, and what to expect along the way. Each comes from Scripture, and most are backed by research.
Two house rules
Every lie at the root
When a need goes unmet, the ground goes barren and a lie takes root. Each lie has a truth to replace it. Every card shows the lie and the truth side by side, two moves you can make, and a full page with the rest. Your top 5 from the assessment are marked.
Built on Young's 18 schemas (schema therapy). Research grades: A strong · B good but limited · C mostly theory. Most schema research is on adolescents or clinical groups and is correlational, so treat links as patterns, not proof.
One root: a lie. Two ways it gets in.
Every sin starts with believing a lie. Sin is the bad fruit: what we reach for instead of trusting God. The lie is the root.
Someone or something taught you the lie, usually young. You didn't choose that. The first sin started with a lie someone else told (Gen 3:4–5).
"The heart is deceitful above all things" (Jer 17:9). You keep agreeing with the lie and feed on counterfeits instead of what God gives (Jer 2:13).
Repentance (metanoia) means a change of mind. You stop agreeing with the lie and agree with God. Grace covers both the wound and the agreeing (Rom 8:1).
The good fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh
Galatians 5 names both. When a need is met in God, the good fruit of the Spirit grows. When a lie fills the gap, the works of the flesh grow. Paul doesn't tie them to specific needs; this map is our framework, built on Scripture. Direct rows come straight from the text. Applied rows are sound applications.
What grows from the lie
The root is the lie. The trunk is years of reinforcement: every escape that brought relief and every reaction you read as proof added a ring. The branches carry the bad fruit, and each symptom feeds the next. Cutting off bad fruit never kills the tree. That's why you work the root.
Your map
The loops that keep it growing
Each symptom feeds the next one, and the last one makes the lie feel more true. Dark steps are the lie talking. White steps are symptoms.
Every symptom
Each card shows which lies it grows from. Tap + Mine on the ones you recognize. Details shows its payoff, its cost, what it leads to next, and what to do instead.
What makes the lie easier to believe
The lie is the root. These conditions don't make it true, but they make it easier to agree with.
Pull the lie, and tend the conditions too. A tired, hungry, isolated tree is easier to fool.
Your tree, as it grows
Your roots are your loudest lies, and how much you still believe them. The leaves show how you're doing inside, and the good fruit comes from your weekly check. Slide back to Day 1 to see how far it's come.
When this isn't enough on its own
TrueRoot90 is a discipleship program. It isn't therapy, medical care or a crisis service. It works well alongside a counselor, a doctor and your church. Asking for help isn't failing the program; it's part of it.
Right now
Thinking about ending your life, or in danger? Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US), or call 911.
Use it with professional help if any of these are true
Stop safely
Stopping alcohol, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety pills (benzodiazepines) or opioids suddenly can be dangerous, even cause seizures. If you use any of these daily, talk to a doctor before you stop.
Going gently
The 90-day map
Three seasons, 30 lessons: one every 3 days. The plan is the same for everyone; the "For you" parts and the ★ lessons come from your assessment, your root stories and your escapes. Tap a lesson to read it.
Three garden seasons, one lesson a week. Uproot the lie finds your lies and pulls them out at the root. Plant the truth grafts the truth onto your top lies, one root a week. Bear good fruit inspects what's growing, retests, and gives the good fruit away.
Keep bearing good fruit
Daily: water and guard. Weekly: good fruit check and your circle. Monthly: turn the compost. Day 180: wellbeing check and retake the assessment. Then start your next season with the next loudest lie.
All the lessons
Start with Lesson 0, the whole program on one page. Then a new lesson opens every 3 days, and the ★ lessons are built from your assessment. Tap any lesson to read it, even ahead or behind.
What the evidence says
Scripture is the foundation. Research is a second witness: where it agrees, it helps you trust the method; where it's weak, we say so. Each card leads with what to do, then shows the study, both sides, and a grade.
What's proven and what isn't
If-then plans · pushing thoughts away backfires · testing thoughts (CBT) · shame vs. guilt · self-compassion · forgiveness (REACH) · hard exercise · CBT-I for sleep · strong relationships · childhood adversity shapes adult health
Changing core beliefs (a small effect, so it takes repetition) · rewriting a painful memory · expressive writing · how long habits take · self-control works mostly by avoiding temptation
Growth after hard seasons (self-reported) · the Heal-the-root prayer (the studies tested guided imagery, not prayer)
TrueRoot90 as a whole · the 18-lie assessment · the root-to-fruit map. That's why the program tracks your wellbeing with WHO-5 instead of asking you to trust it.
Why lies stick
Why lies stick
A child doesn't make up a lie at random. They're trying to make sense of something painful with a brain that can't yet see the whole picture. The explanation they land on gets built into how they see everything after that.
Why it starts in childhood
Why the lies feel so true
An illustration, not measured data: each chapter was read through the one before it, so the lie felt more proven at every step.
Why it's so hard to break
Why so many people never get free
What breaks it
Honest note: the brain science on "memory reconsolidation" (reliving a memory with new information rewrites it) is mixed in human studies (B–C). What's better supported is that the methods built on it, like rewriting a memory, do help.
Every study, graded
Tap a card for the numbers, the best case, the limits and the sources.
How big are the effects?
standardized effect sizeA rough comparison only: these studies measured different outcomes. Rule of thumb: 0.2 is small, 0.5 is medium, 0.8 is large.
Ask about anything here
It answers honestly, from a Christ-centered view, and shows research with grades. Your question and your data go to Claude only when you press Ask, and your answers are saved privately to your account.