Brokenness>Perfection

You know…I look around me and I see so many things about myself. A lot of times, depending on the day I’ve had, I view more negatives than positives. I am broken in many ways. I’m a Christian. I truly love God with my whole heart. I believe the Bible and what God tells me. I’ll pray for you. I’ll pray with you. I hear from Heaven. I feel God’s presence. I’ll sing a praise and worship song to the Lord in my car, at my desk at work, or on a stage when the spirit moves me to. Sometimes I look like I have my life together from the outside. I am broken. I lack perfection but often strive for it. I lack the grace to receive the same things I boldly declare over others. I sometimes get inside my own head and fight against what God is trying to do in my life. I say all of this because I believe there is a stigma tied around Christian people (that we’ve placed there ourselves). When you’re a Christian, you can’t fail. Your life can’t be messy. You have to hide all of the junk you carry. People can’t know you’re struggling…you have Jesus, that means you’re perfect now. You know what? That’s a lie. 100%. Becoming a Christian changes you, yes. Your focuses change, you are a new creation, you should strive to live in such a way that the Lord is at the center of your thoughts and your actions. Does that person at work suddenly stop driving you crazy? No. Do your thoughts immediately line up with the word of God and only consist of puppies and rainbows? No. Do you immediately have self-control and will never again struggle with anything, ever? No. Becoming a follower of Christ means that you now have access to the tools to handle those situations and so much more. It means that you’re connected with a Heavenly Father who loves you and wants you to succeed. A Father who sees your junk and waits for you to realize you shouldn’t be carrying that mess because as soon as you relinquish it to him, he trades praise for your heaviness, despair for peace, mourness for gladness, beauty for ashes, strength for fear. We simply have to acknowledge that we don’t have it all together. Let me tell you, if you’ve ever seen me/read my posts/heard me speak and thought “man…she’s got it together” let me tell you brothers/sisters be ye not deceived! I’m a hot mess more than I’m not. That’s okay. I’m learning every day. Learning more about God’s love and plan for my life, learning more about the freedom of surrender, learning more about the strength in bearing one another’s burdens, learning more about not standing in isolation because the enemy wants it that way (and will use the guise of you not burdening someone else with your problems to keep you there). The church was never meant to be a museum where we bring our friends and family to display ourselves in a pretty glass box. The church should be a place of brokenness together when the Lord is able to actively minister to hearts and minds without pride or fear interfering. God doesn’t desire for you to hide away your hurts and broken pieces for the cleaned up folks on Sundays. God designed us to each be pieces of the church, holding one another in place while the Holy Spirit applies the spiritual  glue to hold us all together. If you’re carrying something today and the weight of it is beginning to overload you, find a prayer partner. Ask the Lord to reveal someone to you who is trustworthy and you can bear your brokenness to. We were never meant to walk alone. If you’re guilty of tidying up the edges and corners to be certain only your best features are on display for everyone to see but inside you’re a wreck, step out of that comfort zone and allow yourself the freedom of coming clean. You’d be so surprised by the freedom that comes when we stop worrying about what so-and-so might think and start focusing on allowing God to heal our situations. If you can’t find a prayer partner or a listening ear of anonymity, give me a yell. I’ll keep your secrets (as long as they aren’t harmful to you or others—in those cases, I’m going to help you enlist the help you need).