…While we were still sinners…

When I look over my life, I realize that God has been delicately crafting my experiences in order for me to develop a heart for those who have been hurt by the church. One of my first experiences that I can remember is when one of my friends told me that he had been asked not to come back to our youth group.  He told me everything that happened and what was said to him. Our church leaders told me a different version of events that seemed more politically correct and seemed to skirt around the hurt that was caused. That experience, although it wasn’t inherently mine, really had an impact on me. 

As the years went on, I witnessed and heard so many stories of how churches “disowned”, “kicked out” and “traumatized” their members who didn’t fit into a specific mold. I always felt as if I had to  live up to a certain standard in order to be accepted into the churches that I belonged to. I would open up, just enough to seem vulnerable but not enough to be fully seen. I realized that I did the same in my relationship with God. I was scared to show Him who I fully was because I wanted Him to accept me. But God knew me and saw me fully all along.  

He took me on a journey to be fully myself, to show Him the good, bad and ugly. I had to accept my bad and ugly in order for me to have an authentic relationship with Him. I’m still on that journey. This journey is the inspiration behind Love.Always. God has always loved me. He’s always loved you. We don’t have to hide from Him or from those around us, even if they are church members. The only person who can judge us is God and He loves us while we were still sinners. Jesus died for us knowing that we would continue to sin. God’s love knows no bounds so stop trying to create them.