The Gift of "Me Too"

I was reading in my devotional this afternoon about getting past your past. I've heard messages like this one many times as I had to get past a lot of my past. Here is what she said...

I was given the gift of “Me too.” The gift of knowing that I am not alone.
You are not alone. I encourage you to break the silence. To be a voice for the child you once were. Be bold enough to share what you have been hiding with a safe person. When you do, I believe that you will invite a new level of healing to invade your life!

When you are going through something, you think you are the only one, at least that's how I thought...that no one has ever experienced what I am going through, that no one could possibly relate to what I am going through. The enemy wants us to think that. Why? Because, according to scripture, if we do talk about it to others, we will get our healing...and thats the last thing the enemy wants. But it is what GOD wants...He wants to heal you. And the first step toward your healing is confessing it. 

James 5:16 (NET)

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.

Yes, it can be scary. Yes, people may talk. But if you want to be healed, if you want to be rid of the pain and suffering, you must confess, because...and believe it or not...there ARE others who are going or who have gone through what you are experiencing. And through this God heals! 

I encourage you that if you have kept hidden something that is causing you pain and suffering, and you have been afraid to speak to someone about it...take the first step toward healing and confess it to someone...someone you trust, someone close to you. You may hear the words "me too!"

Rag Dolls

Over the years "the church" has painted a picture of God and of the church that is really not what God and the church is suppose to be like. The church is not a prim and proper place only welcoming perfect, upright, upstanding people. Unfortunately that is what the church has become. If we look back to the first century when Jesus was walking on the earth and when Paul was preaching, they always preached to the imperfect, the lepers, the prostitutes, the whatevers, the castaways of society, etc. The following is from the book Love Beyond Reason by John Ortberg...

This is the church the way it’s supposed to be. A group of rag dolls who have received love even though they know they didn’t deserve it, who then extend it to others because they refuse to allow raggedness to keep them from loving. Because love is God’s signature. And grace makes love strong.

The reality is everyone of us is a rag doll, a person with imperfections, a person who needs God's love. And what is awesome is that God is giving us His love...freely. We don't have to perform for it, we don't have to do everything right, we don't have to behave right, we don't have to speak right. In fact if you never ever changed, His love is still His gift to you and always will be! He already loved you SO much that before you were even a thought, God had already sent his Son to die for you! That's how much God loves you...

John 3:16 (NET Bible)
For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.