*Seriously, we spent a day stuffing envelopes for Show Hope and it was one of my favorite days of work! Not only did we get to serve Show Hope and the staff, but we got to connect with some rock-star volunteers and see how God connected the dots in all of our lives to bring us to the same dot that is Show Hope! He's SO COOL!
I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. But let's be honest, I've struggled. We all do. We all have our bad days. So this is about one of those bad days and what God is teaching me through it all.
Truth is harder than a lie
The dark seems safer than the light
And everyone has a heart that loves to hide
I'm a mess and so are you
We've built walls nobody can get through
Yeah, it may be hard, but the best thing we could ever do, ever do
Bring your brokenness, and I'll bring mine
'Cause love and heal what hurt divides
And mercy's waiting on the other side
If we're honest
(If We're Honest by Francesca Battistelli)
Let's admit it, we all have those moments.
Moments where we feel like everything's falling apart. Moments that we don't want to share with others.
We're bruised.
We're broken.
We're messed up.
For some reason, in today's world, we feel like we have to put a mask on the minute we walk into a room and PRETEND everything's okay, when really, it's not. At all.
Maybe the kids are running all over the place, maybe you got laid off from your job of x number of years, maybe you ran out of gas during rush hour traffic earlier that day, maybe you were extremely lonely/homesick the night before and spent hours crying. And yet, the minute you walk into a room and the famous question "Hey! How are you?" is asked, you put on your happy face and say "Great!" "Fine!" "Things are going well!"
Why?
Why do we try and act like we've got our lives together and that everything is perfect? We shouldn't. I shouldn't, but I do. I believe most think that if they don't pretend like they've got everything together, they look bad. It makes us look like we're weak. We build up walls that we don't want anyone to get through, and when people get closer to climbing over that wall, we build it up even more.
As a Christian, this is something I've struggled with for a long time. Until recently, I firmly believed I had to have my life together every time I walked into my church or into a community of my brothers and sisters or into a group of nonbelievers. If not, it made my witness that much weaker. I mean, how could I tell someone the good news of the Gospel if I couldn't even keep my stuff together?
Did you know there's some Bible verses about how in our weakness, Christ's power is made perfect? In US?
'But he said to me, "My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you." So I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ's power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.' -2 Corinthians 2:9-10 NCV
This week has taught me so much about being honest and vulnerable. Out of all the people in the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are the ones we should be able to go to immediately and be COMPLETELY honest with them. We shouldn't hide anything from them. We can stop pretending and going after our next Oscar for "Best Actor/Actress".
A couple of nights ago, when I was super lonely, I had to call one of my best friends and my parents. I tried to keep it all together and act like it was all good, but let's be honest, it didn't happen. God broke me down and showed me that He has placed people in my life that I can go to and be completely vulnerable with them, who can pray for me, and who can encourage me. When we try and keep it all together when we're not, we're hindering God from working in our lives and we're putting our pride before Him. (Pride before the fall...Adam and Eve...yeah, that one didn't end so well.)
To make things even better, people I met a month ago when I moved to good ole Franklin were able to break through my walls and see what was going on. I thought I had my own version of the Great Wall of China built around my heart, but turns out, it was just the little pig's straw house that can be blown down with a simple sneeze (or a question of what's really going on, in my case).
I say all of that to say, the lesson of this week: be honest. Quit letting yourself believe that you have everything together and that no one cares to hear about your life when things aren't going the way you want. People do. Your brothers and your sisters in Christ genuinely care about you and want to know how they can be praying for or encouraging you. They're not asking or offering to come hang out out of obligation, but out of love.
Jesus didn't go to the cross because He felt it was an obligation. (He even prayed for God to "take this cup from me"!) No, Jesus died for us out of love. Our job is to reflect that love and share His truth with others.
So be real.
Be honest.
Be vulnerable.
Is it uncomfortable? Absolutely. But the end results of feeling loved and encouraged far outweigh the initial awkwardness.
Jefferson Bethke said it best (in my opinion), when he said, "The church is not a museum for good people, it's a hospital for the broken." Be broken and go to God and others looking for encouragement and to be fixed. God is the ultimate healer of our brokenness, but He has some great nurses that He places in our lives along the way who can apply ice or a Band-Aid when needed.
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| Monday we took a trip to CPA in Nashville to be a part of their first Movement Club meeting of the year! We love the Movement Club and seeing high school students get involved in orphan care! |
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| Team trip to Kyros Entertainment for training! |
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| Just some late night baking adventures with Austin to close out the week! |
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