"Real" people

I love Joyce Meyer. Not only does she deliver some wonderful sermons and teachings, she is "real". She has no problem telling you what a mess she was in the past, and how she still struggles with things today. To me, those people are much more credible than those who pretend to have it all together and to be walking a holy walk in a perfect way.

I enjoy pastors whom, while in the middle of thier sermon, will tell you how they struggle with that particular topic. It makes the whole walk with God seem a little more simple. I think people get turned off by Christians who hide behind fake smiles and try to make you believe that they have no problems.

I am certainly one of those people who laugh when people try to be "fake" and pretend that they have the perfect life, the perfect amount of money, the perfect kids, the perfect political views, the right attitudes, the perfect marriage, the perfect house (one that they remodled themselves none the less) and so forth. PLEASE...nothing turns me off more than people hiding who they really are.

While as your sister in Chirst, I will rejoice when you rejoice and cry when you cry, I want you to also share with me your struggle and how God helped you get through it. I don't want to hear how great things in your life are all the time. When a person is sharing thier real life, I feel that God reveals our divine connection to one another.

I have learned that people don't really care about what car you drive, how great your kids are, how your husband or wife is so loving, or how you are such a great Mom/wife/sister/aunt.......what they do care about is if you will share life with them. Can you really listen and relate to thier struggles and thier hurts? Can you show them that you too, struggle and have hurts? Can you show them how God has healed your hurts and how God loves you even when you fall?

See, when we share our love of God and God's love for us, we have a more effective witness if we are truthful with people and not saying what we think the proper "religious" thing would be. That does not mean I think we should run off at the mouth, but we need to pray and ask for His guidance when sharing ourselves with other.

. God has blessed me with the opportunity over the last few years to share my story with people, many of whom are not believers or have little knowledge of Christ and who He really is. I praise God that He has used my story and my hurt to bring others to Him. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these people identified with my pain, with my struggles, and with my desire to love Him more, and my desire to really KNOW God. I know that by loving people where they are, my lifesong sings to God, and He draws those people to Him through me and my story and my life.


After making the above statement, let me take a moment to share something...last week I heard from a person that I know. She felt the need to share her opinon with me about something on which we do not agree. Not that we completely disagree, but we have different views on what God actually wants from us, so I feel that this must be said:I have very strong views and beliefs about certain things in the Bible. I know with all of my heart that we are to gently share the truth with people , with love. If a person is walking in sin, deliberatley or even out of ignorance, then as a child of God, we ARE to love those people and show God's forgiveness, but we ARE NOT to look the other way. There is a difference in sharing religion and sharing God's love and forgiveness..and truthfully I am not one for religion. I am however in love with God and Christ and am thankful that He is Holy and righteous and only through the blood of Jesus, I am also righteous. We are all sinners, and we all fall short of God's glory...every day. We need Him, and he commissioned us to go into the world and share the Good News. What we are to share with people is His truth and His word, and we are to point them to Christ. I believe that loving someone does not mean we let people remain in ignorance.

My prayer lately is that God allow me to be real, and to also allow more people who are willing to be "real" to rise up and share His love.