Spiritually Speaking: Get Real

We all do it.

We put up facades of resilience complete with plastered smiles.

We “grin and bear it,” as it is said, to hide broken feelings and personal struggles. We don’t want to complain. We don’t want to look like the problematic church member who just can’t seem to get the hang of this thing called life.

Heaven forbid anyone realize we’re human, right? But who are we kidding?

Regardless how durable some may seem, trials, wounds, and pressures weigh us all down. Nothing abnormal or shameful about it.

Truth: as Christians, we shouldn’t wallow in negativity. We shouldn’t be too quick to let the enemy know he’s standing on our nerves as we whine about the constant attacks he sends each day.

There is a vast difference, however, between having a bitter, defeatist attitude and sincerely expressing our heart’s concerns.

Galatians 6:2 reminds us to help carry each other’s baggage. And yeah, I think that means even with our own busy schedules and mind-draining concerns on our shoulders, too.

“Two are better than one… For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, KJV).

Downtown, Salem, Oregon

@ Trinidad and Tobago

No matter how “together” we may appear, God still knows the real us.

He feels the stress adding up; He hears the slow, painful beats of injured hearts; He sees the knots twisting in our stomachs.

Jesus wants to talk straight-forward, real world with us. Remember, He’s experienced it too, in the worst way.

I have discovered an increase in faith for my own issues when I have pushed aside my own burdens to listen to and pray for the anxieties of others.

Don’t believe me? Try it.

Romans 15:1-2 (KJV): “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.”