We Can Be Real

Hi Everyone,

Somehow in those of is that believe, there seems to be a tendency to hide who we really are--I mean that we try desperately hard to give this image that everything is fine when it isn't--or we become afraid that if people were to k now who we really are, they wouldn't love us, or maybe somehow we think the command to "rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4) doesn't leave room for us admitting how things really are.

Before I came to Christ, the whole "I am fine image" that I saw around me drove me crazy---of course the truth is that I, myself, was trying to fit in the mold and do the same thing. Trying to present an image that isn't who we really are takes way too much work. The funny thing is we can fool other people--maybe they believe we are who we pretend to be, but we can't fool God.

We all long for a place where we can be real---and as we learn to walk in His grace we find that we can be ourselves, just as we are, with nothing to be afraid of and nothing to hide. We are;able to trust God to work in and through us what we can not do for ourselves. As we learn to walk in grace, we are able to extend that same grace to others around us, realizing that it is not our responsibility to change them, but rather to trust God for His work in them, just as we are trusting God for the same thing in ourselves.

As we walk in grace as we really are, we are able to receive the perfect love that God has for us-- both the love that comes from Him and the love of other people around us.

God saw our reality as it really was---and is---and loved us in that reality. That is why He sent Jesus to die for us.

Walk in grace--and live in reality as you truly are, trusting God for all the rest.