Be real

Being real is important to me. I want to know people and I want to be known by them. This morning at church, I was talking with the senior pastor as he described a mutual friend. The pastor said, “He is just so real. You don’t have to guess what you’re getting with him. What you see is what you get. And I love that about him. He’s just so real!”

 

Being real like that does not come naturally for everyone. I would like to think that most of time I am a pretty genuine person. But that requires effort and vulnerability. The smile, the bright eyes, the laughter - it's nearly always genuine because the Lord has given me joy that doesn't depend on my circumstances. There are those days however, when I use those some things (the smile & laughter) to mask an inner pain or a hurt or confusion and just a deep tiredness that I need to figure out how to process. These emotions, these kinds of days happen to everyone. It might be a result of something someone did or said. It could be the aftermath from a bad night of sleep. Whatever the cause, there is generally a similar root cause. Those are the days when I take my focus off of Jesus, when I stop walking by faith and instead start focusing on the stormy waters.

Perhaps you’ve been in that place. Maybe you did run to Jesus and you prayed fervently about it. But then when you least expect you, you get hit again with the negative experience or negative emotions, maybe when your defenses are down.  Whatever the case, you forget to run to Jesus or you might get caught up in soothing your hurt through other avenues. How often do we seek our own methods of calming our hearts? How often do we look inside ourselves instead of looking to Jesus? But this truth you must know….true healing will come only when we fully submit to Jesus and allow Him absolute control over our lives. You can’t fix you. I can't fix me. Too often we try to fill the void with everything but God but it will never work. We have to submit, to give up control.

Reign in me, Sovereign God, heal my heart. You are drawing me to Yourself. You are drawing me to a place of joy & peace. I will trust You fully.

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil 1:6)

 

Rest in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. More often than I like to admit, I stink at both. I see the work that He has begun in me, I just long to see more of it. He has been so faithful to me. Every day I see more of Him - He grows me, teaching me more about Himself. I long for more of Him.

(501 words)