We Don't Need You...GO SIT DOWN.

Hey All,

I'm sitting here in the first week of classes, with admittedly not much to do. I find myself staring at the current balance in my missions account. Humbled, thankful, excited--and frustrated. So incredibly frustrated. At part with myself, but also with a few things I think seem to have...well, rubbed me the wrong way.

I have several women in my mind that I can think of that are incredible, Godly women who live Christ-centered lives. Sure, they are busy.We all have our schedules and the demands of life. But they are never too busy to listen, pray, or stop what they're doing to share what God has put on their hearts or what they're struggling with for the day/week/month. All of them daughters of the King, all of them beautiful. All of them struggle, have been brokenhearted and have found redemption through our Savior.

Some of them were not raised in Christian homes. Some of them aren't comfortable praying out loud. Some of them have regrets that the Lord is working to turn to lessons and healing. Some of them struggle with drinking, sex, negative self-thoughts, don't hang around friends we would "bring to Church", and don't attend Bible study every Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday. But they LOVE our Savior and they are the first to tell you how they've struggled. How they sin. How they've believed the lies of the enemy for too long and had to break free from lifestyles that didn't reflect what they know in their hearts. These women are not afraid to ask for prayer. They will come to you with their failures and heartaches and tears because they have no shame in Christ. They are sinners who struggle; and they are beautiful. They can't quote every verse in the Bible or explain to you the exegesis of the Old Testament. But their lives are real. Full of failures. Imperfect. Made whole through Christ. 

Now. There is another group of women that comes to mind. They might as well have a parking spot and pew reserved at Church for Sundays, Sunday evenings, Wednesday nights, and Saturdays too. They live blessed lives, as far as we know. They never curse, drink, disrespect their parents, have impure thoughts, get angry, or sin in any way. At least that's what they'd let you think. These women are busy with Church, Bible Study, Women's Groups, working in the Nursery, etc etc etc. You get the idea. I love these women just the same, and I love their dedication to serving--really. But their hearts are condemning, to others, and likely to themselves.You can hear it in the way they ask you where you were last Sunday, why they saw you talking to "Sally" who's a non-believer, why you spend time with friends that drink, etc. Every time I see the looks of judgement from them to the girl who's not "dressed appropriately" for Church or the shock in their eyes when they learn someone has struggled with drinking, gambling, or even--had a divorce--I want to tell them to SIT DOWN. WE DON'T NEED YOU. YOU ARE HURTING YOUR SISTERS IN CHRIST.

I know--I'm judging them in even saying that they're too judgmental. But hear me out. I want them to sit still, for even a few minutes, and be honest with themselves. Be humbled before the Lord. Be reminded of how easy it is to fool ourselves into thinking we are "good women". Here's a hint; NONE of us are. I want them to think back to Mary and Martha. I desire for them to have a change of heart and for the Lord to work in their lives! But I also want them to realize the damage they (--we--) do as women when we go to Church acting as if our lives are perfect. YES, we are always blessed to face another day. YES, we can always have joy in Christ even in our sufferings. But NO we cannot be so foolish as to think that anyone will take the charade seriously.

The danger lies in the women (especially young women, us college women) who look to them and think that if we were "Godly enough" (whatever that means) that our lives would look like that. Arguably, the opposite is true. When we are constantly facing difficult trials (real talk: when life seems to fall apart all at once), we can KNOW that God is working in us and is in the business of using our failures to make us better. To make us real. To humble us. To convince us the charade does other women HARM.

We all do it. We all have at some point, do now, or will in the future. I think it's part of our struggle with self-image as women that makes us compare ourselves to every other girl on the face of the planet. But please, hear me out. We are not called to stand up and shout about our perfections. Sit down and search your heart. Are you more concerned with the image you're portraying or Who's Image you're bearing?  

To the women who don't think that they are "that girl" that's sold out for Christ, because they sin too much, make too many mistakes, or don't go to enough Bible studies, please. STAND UP! You are the women we need. You, who have been through the fires and flood and can stand on the other side in awe of the overwhelming love of Christ. You, who finally broke free of that addiction. Who finally left that hurtful relationship. Who finally stopped running from Christ and sprinted to the Cross to be made whole. Who has been broken and made whole more times than you can even count. We need you. We need your story. We need real women who will share what God has done in your life. Your story is one of redemption and you are beautiful because of the God you serve. You probably are "that girl", and you impact more people with your honesty than you'll ever know.

I love women that serve. I love that there are women who enjoy seasons of peace and joy in their lives--that is not my frustration. Please understand that I wish we, as women, would be more honest with each other. It's hard enough to be a woman in this world. It can be exhausting to try to keep up with our emotions and everything that's going on in our lives. We all know how hard it is to stand up for what we believe in. The last thing we need is to make it harder on each other with all the pretending, surface-only, acting-right-but-living-wrong, pretending-we-have-it-all-together "show".


But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9