Unbogus

Chapter 5, page 46, "Stop Living the Lie." I learned to practice this bogus behavior, too. I felt that if I looked cool, calm and collected when I am in church, people would think I have it all together. Even when I was depressed, anxious, afraid, angry or burning up with other negative emotions, I never confided in my church family because I would have been labeled a "weak Christian." I was taught strong Christians were never to show that they were depressed, anxious, afraid, angry or harbor negative emotions. What lies! although we are Christians and still have our human nature, we also have the Holy Spirit abiding within. There is a constant struggle between the two. The good thing, however, about having the Holy Spirit abiding within us is that negative feelings cannot stay in us long because the Holy Spirit overpowers these negative feelings with the truth of God's word, and we are always victorious. Thus, it is good to have another trusted Christian friend to come along beside you that you can confide in for this very reason. Now, I understand this!

How could I be helped if no one knew I needed help? again, what I had observed was that if you revealed the real you, the insecure you,the emotionally conflicted you, the you that disagreed with some traditions or rules of the church, you were either a trouble maker or not saved. Heaven forbid! You did not want to be in either of these categories. I have seen certain people reveal some truths about themselves, and were either shunned or beaten up with scripture. Admit it, some of your worst hurts and emotional scares have come from the household of faith. Am I right about this? Therefore, if you were like me, you had put up a wall of protection against being exposed, and made to feel guilty because you had these human emotions Who's fooling who? I now know what the Word says about who am and whose I am. Therefore, I live, I speak and I think to please God, not any other person or group of people. I also had to get over the idea that as a saved person, I would always think holy or always act the way a believer should. I had to understand that I was a work in progress and that God was still doing a work in me. In other words, I stop beating up myself, and I also stop trying to fool people. Now when fall short, I repent and continue to allow God to mature me.