So why "Faith Undressed"? Because for so long, my walk with Christ felt suffocating. At times, it felt like it confined me; I was always trying to be or do better, sometimes wishing that I didn't "know better" so I wouldn't have to struggle with following all of the "rules". I dealt with feelings of guilt over things I had said, done, or thought and fear was always around. I would dress up Sunday after Sunday and go to church, only to feel frustrated with my faith or lack of it. And sometimes, I just didn't feel anything. Until one day, I felt in my soul that God was saying, "Crying out to Me is not lack of faith, but a cry for more of it". That was the beginning of me taking all that I was and was not to God.
I can honestly remember early in my walk with Christ, one particular person that stood out to me as to what I thought I should look like as a Christian. She was beautiful, well dressed, and talented. I am not sure why that image grabbed me, but it did. She didn't come across as someone who dealt with envy or who had become so frustrated that she would launch a shoe across the room. She didn't seem like the kind of person who had let hurtful words roll across her lips to the ones she loved the most or the kind of person that would question her God, sitting in the closet, crying and wondering why if Jesus was the Prince of Peace, then why in the world didn't she have any? No, that would be describing me and it made me feel like my own faith was frail and my own life was ugly. But I want to share with you what faith really is...beyond any image or rule or anything else that keeps you from the freedom found in His love for us.
Faith is rarely dressed in Sunday best. It is usually found in our day to day; it is found in our sweatpants, crying after a long day of diapers and toddlers. It is found in our pajamas, loosing sleep over broken relationships and heartaches. It is found in a hospital gown, believing for healing. Faith is found in our everyday; crying out for hope, answers, change. Faith crying out for the Jesus we read about to become real to us... that is Faith Undressed, giving God our raw emotions, believing His word even in the dark, and not just hearing His word, but doing it in spite of everything. Faith undressed is walking with Christ through the good, bad, and the ugly, believing that He and His word will never fail you.
So how do we begin to undress our faith? How do we being to take off religion and all its assumptions and rules and begin to walk this thing called faith out? For me, it began with a grateful heart. As I began to daily record things that I was grateful for, I began to see the goodness of God more and more. And as I saw more and more of His goodness, my heart began to let its guard down and I started to trust that He is truly good. Knowing that He is good, I began to believe like never before in this love He has for me-for you, for all of us. We are His creation, His big idea, full of potential and destiny. And when you know in your soul that He is good and that His love is beyond any human attempt to love, we can slowly let our guard down, become who we are, and being to TRUST in a GOOD and LOVING God...and so our faith begins and beautifully unfolds in our lives. And for every "What if...?", we will hear the sweet words: "I will be there, too"; a beautiful, unfailing love.
Wonderful and amazing things are in store for all.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful words from a beautiful soul! ❤️
ReplyDeleteLove you bunches!