hiding our struggles....

Everyone struggles with things in life....When you come to know Jesus, those struggles don't go away... so why do we feel like they should?

I was pondering on this the other day. Why is it, generally speaking, that Christians are expected to have it all together all of the time?. Why do we put this pressure on ourselves?. Why do we go through things all on our own because we don't want anyone else (particularly our Christian friends) to know that things are eating us on the inside?. We don't confide in people because we're afraid of being seen as 'weak' or 'not holy enough'?. We don't want to be looked down upon..
So you go through your struggles on your own. You pray about it, but wish you'd have someone to confide in. You have God, You know that, but sometimes it'd just be nice to have someone else to talk to (please note: I'm not saying that God alone isn't enough- He sure is!, but I think You get what I mean). God made us as relational beings, but when it comes to Christians who struggle, those relationships don't seem to be able to handle it (or we don't want to test the relationship to see if it can!)

We think we're the only one struggling. But we're not. Not at all. There's probably a lot of other brothers and sisters in Christ struggling with the same thing, also on their own. They're ashamed and disgusted in themselves. They have a reputation to uphold. They're leaders in our churches, people you go to bible study with, the girl you catch up with to read the bible and pray.

They're struggling, on their own... because they're afraid that if they tell anyone what's really going on in their lives that people would look at them differently. The church can focus so much on holiness that they forget to remind people about Gods amazing grace... suddenly they don't feel worthy enough.... Even more, sometimes not only do we hide our struggles from our Christian peers, but we hide them from God, for many of the same reasons. We push Him away.....

I'm so thankful that we have a God who knows us SOOOOOO intimately and personally. I was at the Aggressive Christianity Conference last night, and the TC spoke on 'going personal', looking within and bringing all that we are before the feet of Jesus. Nothing is impossible for Him. No burden is too big for Him.

I want to be real. I want to be authentic. I don't want to be fake in a world that demands perfection and excellence. I want to be REAL..... and a real person doesn't have it together all of the time. A real person who knows she can bring all of her struggles and worries to the foot of the cross. A real person who knows her sins are forgiven, and experiences the marvellous, amazing grace of a loving God.