RAW!!!

Dear Reader,

Let me take some time out to say thank you for reading this blog. I started writing this blog with one yes to God and with no idea how it would all work out or who would be reading this. I still don’t really know yet how far reaching this is, but here is the feedback I typically get. “It’s so RAW!” My first reaction was laughter, but when I heard it for about the third time I got a little nervous. How is a blog about a faith journey raw? Because it is supposed to be. This blog is supposed to be open and honest, and at times that will come across as raw. Raw and real. I knew I was on the right track when I was listening to an altar call, and the pastor told the musicians to stop playing that “churchy” music. I’m paraphrasing, but she intimated that they were a real church with real people with real issues. I’ve posted before about being raised in church and being a “church girl” with real issues. I’ve seen people dance and shout all over the church but be stuck in the same pit for years. I’ve been stuck in the pit for years. Writing this blog has forced me to face myself, my issues, and my real relationship with God. How many times have I picked up my laptop to write without consulting God first? Isn’t this supposed to be a blog about Him? Yeah, that. That’s real. We can talk to people who will tell us they pray every single day and that they pray about everything, and maybe they do. I fall asleep at night in the middle of prayers that I said last minute. I don’t have it right. I don’t have it all together. Let me leave you with this. Many of the messages I’ve been listening to have been about who God is calling in this season. He is calling the open, the honest, the real, and the raw. We have played church for too long while people sit outside bleeding. People on the inside of the church are also bleeding, and we paint on a fake smile and say everything is alright. It’s not alright. It’s time to get real and at times just be raw.