My step-brother was in Desert Storm. He was my hero, I was so happy when he came home so I could hear all about what he did during his tour there. I was shocked to find him tell of so many similarities, but one thing that stood out above all else was the false fronts. Literally, he spoke of the huge, beautiful buildings with gold columns and elaborate carvings and all the time and detail that went into drawing you in. But if you took the time to turn and walk down the alley, you would soon discover that the building was really just clay walls, crumbling in the desert sun.
That picture has never left me. Tonight I was reminded once again of those buildings, and I was shown that we as Christians are just like them. We spend so much time on the outside, making sure we appear, well, impressive, that we neglect the inner structure, our walls. I have spent so much of my life concerned with how I look, both physically and figuratively. But what God sees, is my heart, the walls that support the rest of me.
I have tip-toed around an abusive father, trying to be the perfect child in his eyes in order to avoid the abuse. I have let a man control me as an adult and dictate how I look and act in order to avoid his anger. I have kept my mouth shut when a man has laid his hands on me in order to avoid the gossip. I have put on a false front in order to not deal with the people and things in my life.
God has showed me over and over that I don't have to be perfect. I know this, however He has reminded me of this once again. I don't have to be perfect, because my ideal perfect is not yours, and it certainly is not God's. I just have to be me.
April is Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Awareness month. The more I share my story of child abuse, dating domestic violence and rape, the more I come to know that there is a huge problem being played out in our homes every day. People putting on a false front to hide some very ugly things. And too many people, and sadly, Christians, either turn their heads and do nothing, or are the very abusers themselves. It is time for the false fronts to crumble like the walls of Jericho.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. That verse is so true. Not all of us have the faith needed to make a change on our own, whether to escape an abusive relationship, to help someone out of one, or to get help to stop being the abuser. But God can change anything.
Please pray. For the victims. For the survivors. For the ones abusing. God gives the strength, all we need is the faith.
That picture has never left me. Tonight I was reminded once again of those buildings, and I was shown that we as Christians are just like them. We spend so much time on the outside, making sure we appear, well, impressive, that we neglect the inner structure, our walls. I have spent so much of my life concerned with how I look, both physically and figuratively. But what God sees, is my heart, the walls that support the rest of me.
I have tip-toed around an abusive father, trying to be the perfect child in his eyes in order to avoid the abuse. I have let a man control me as an adult and dictate how I look and act in order to avoid his anger. I have kept my mouth shut when a man has laid his hands on me in order to avoid the gossip. I have put on a false front in order to not deal with the people and things in my life.
God has showed me over and over that I don't have to be perfect. I know this, however He has reminded me of this once again. I don't have to be perfect, because my ideal perfect is not yours, and it certainly is not God's. I just have to be me.
April is Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Awareness month. The more I share my story of child abuse, dating domestic violence and rape, the more I come to know that there is a huge problem being played out in our homes every day. People putting on a false front to hide some very ugly things. And too many people, and sadly, Christians, either turn their heads and do nothing, or are the very abusers themselves. It is time for the false fronts to crumble like the walls of Jericho.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. That verse is so true. Not all of us have the faith needed to make a change on our own, whether to escape an abusive relationship, to help someone out of one, or to get help to stop being the abuser. But God can change anything.
Please pray. For the victims. For the survivors. For the ones abusing. God gives the strength, all we need is the faith.
