My heart is so incredibly tender this morning.

I don’t watch much of the news anymore because there’s too much on it that makes me cry and lately is seems that social media seems to bring me down. There’s so much hurt. Everywhere.

So often I hear people telling others that if they’re hurting that they need to go to church because that’s the only thing that will help. That’s so silly. That’s not true at all. People will hurt you anywhere you go, inside the church or out, and I’m willing to risk saying that you’ll be hurt more inside the church if that’s where you’re putting your faith. My pastor often makes a comment to the effect that you’ll always be let down if you put your faith in people instead of Jesus because people will always disappoint you or fail you but Jesus never will. Now those aren’t my pastors exact words but it’s something along those lines…and he’s right. I hear a lot of people saying, ” I just need to go to church.” I don’t disagree, you definitely should. But too many people look at the church building as a place to go to get fixed up, the same way they look at the hospital as a place to get healed. The church isn’t a place, it’s a body of people, the body of believers; collectively. We are His bride.

Listen. Too many people are going to church looking for some answer, looking for some magic fix in their lives, looking for something to make them feel better – they either get it or they don’t. If they do get it then they leave, or they eventually look for something else when that fleeting feeling dissipates. I know because I know that feeling. Stay with me here, we’re going somewhere.

Church for me was a place my family went on Sunday’s and for Christmas and Easter and other special events when I was a little girl. As we got older and mama began to work on the weekends my step-dad quit taking us. Eventually we all split up and went our own way. My sisters went to church with their friends and I did the same. Some kids experimented with drugs in school – I experimented with church. . . . with religion. By my freshman year of high school I’d been to the Pentecostal Church, the Nazarene Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Federated Church, the Methodist Church and God’s Covenant Church. I was considering going to the Catholic Church with a friend from school when one of our substitute teachers mentioned his church. Pastor Jeff Hurlbut. Bless him. I began attending his southern Baptist church that Wednesday and am a Southern Baptist now, all these years later.

The day I was saved and came to a relationship with the Father was a complete awakening.

I grew up calling myself a Christian because I believed there was a god. You know, the one in the sky, the one we get to see when we die – the one who makes all the hurting stop and ensures we get to see each other again in the afterlife – the same one we treat as a magic genie when we want something or we try to test or bargain with when things aren’t going our way. I called myself a Christian because I  believed, since my family called and considered themselves Christians, that must make me one as well, and since I didn’t believe in Buddha, Allah, Hercules, or Superman as my heroes, well I must be a Christian. Right?

Except, no.

There is a difference between faith and religion.

There is a difference between being a fan and being a follower.

Come to church. Yes. Please. Come to my church, even, we would LOVE to have you be a part of our family. If you are in Oklahoma, please come! I’ll save a seat for you! Corporate worship is so important. But still …. church folks can hurt you, just like your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers – because they are human beings. They are sinners. So don’t put your faith in people, put your faith in Jesus, He’s the only way.

Read the Bible. If you need one, let me know and I’ll help you get one. If you don’t think you can handle it, you can. The Bible was written for you! You don’t have to be a theology major or some scholar, this is His breathing, living word!

If you are in a relationship with the Father and you are frustrated because you feel you aren’t getting the answers you are wanting or feel like you can’t “feel” Him or aren’t “hearing” Him or something to that effect then I challenge you to wait and pray.

Maybe the Lord is working behind the scenes and He’s strategically and intricately weaving things into place that you couldn’t possibly imagine or handle at the moment. Wait. Wait and pray.

Maybe you are frustrated because you’ve got your own time table in your head and God isn’t working fast enough. You have to eliminate that because the Lord works in His own time and He’s never early or late, He’s always right on time.Wait. Wait and pray.

Maybe you need to repent. Uh-oh. There’s that ugly word that nobody likes to hear and we all get offended about. Consider it though. I know I have the need to repent about something at this moment. We all have sin. Whether it’s something done intentionally or unintentionally, something you know that’s not aligned up with where the Father would have you be, anything that’s not pleasing or honorable to Him. True repentance isn’t just saying the words though, it’s seeking forgiveness and making the decision to turn from our ways. Sometimes there’s bondage and strongholds and we keep coming back asking for forgiveness and for help. If you are stuck there and think, “Well I’ve already asked for forgiveness for this sin,” consider where your heart is and ask Him to help you. Ask Him to show you any hidden sins that you may need repentance of. Ask Him to help you break those strongholds.

You have to start somewhere.

If you don’t have a relationship with the Lord, if you don’t have a Bible or aren’t reading it, if you don’t know where to start ……. Just go to church. Get plugged in. You have to start somewhere.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

~Hebrews 11:1~