Healing Begins Here

I have a bone to pick and it’s with the church. The church...not the building where people come to worship, but the people within that building and every building across the nation. What is wrong with us? Where is the disconnect between Christ, who is the SON, loving us while we were YET in our sin and us tearing each other down and turning each other away because we don’t agree with our neighbors appetite for sin. Yes, we all have our own appetites. That’s for another blog.

Saved or not, almost every person living can quote John 3:16 without hesitation. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It breaks my heart that we speak these words so freely and “with conviction” yet there's no conviction in sight when we blatantly stare at someone who enters the building but does not look the same. As if your long skirt, turtle neck(in the summer -time), and black flats hides what God sees in you Monday-Saturday. As if her skin tight skinny jeans, 6 inch heels and low cut blouse hide the fact that she grew up abandoned by parents and never felt worth a dime so she sold herself for free. How can we love God and reject those who want to know more about him? How can we reject those he loves so dearly?

When I was rejected, all I wanted was to be loved by those I wanted to worship with. So reinvented myself. I bought longer skirts, I wore less makeup and I only spoke when spoken too. And somehow, I was no longer the rejected. I was the rejector. WOW. It’s as if church became a country club. I had to lose everything unacceptable about me to be accepted. When did I stop trying to change because of the God in me and begin to change for the approval of those around me?

I think this is the first blog where I have formulated some type of resolve. It  is that, open brokenness is only a reminder of hidden brokenness. So you see, the woman that walks in wearing skin tight skinny jeans, 6 inch heels, and a low cut blouse is only a reflection of what I never healed from. Shes a reflection of what I’d buried.

Question, what do you do when someone finds what you have buried?

I challenge you today. Uncover ONE thing that you have swept under the rug. Shine a light on ONE thing you have hidden in the darkness. Dig up ONE thing you buried beneath the surface. Expose it. Be vulnerable. And when you do, share your relief with someone else. We will heal one wound at a time. By exposing our imperfection we will give one more person a license to share their wounds and heal their hurt. There will be NO stopping us.

Here’s my first one:

I had three parents dessert me at some point in my life. I thought, “if they can’t love me, no one will.” I grew up thinking love came with a dollar sign attached. *healing begins here*