When We Fall...

I am writing this blog to hopefully lift a fellow Christian who might feel inferior or lacking in their faith. There is a common misconception that in order to be a Christian you have to live perfectly and make the right decisions. Although we should try to live like Jesus lived-obviously we all know that is impossible. Even the best Christians are faced with sins, mistakes, and bad decisions. As my Pastor says, every time you fall and get back you get a little more qualified to preach the gospel and minister to others. We learn the most when we fall flat on our face. We gather more experience and compassion for others when have to press reverse on a certain part of our life due to a wrong decision. There is nothing wrong with falling....multiple times.
Recently I thought God was telling me to leave my church and go somewhere else. I talked to my Pastor and other people in leadership and regardless of their advice I still decided to leave. Only a few weeks out of my church I realized that was my home. Maybe God wasn't telling me to LEAVE the church, but to do MORE in the church. I was saying over and over again "use me, God. I want to be used!"...but I was missing church services, my Bible was getting dusty, and spent less and less time with Him. How can He use me when I am not available? So, now I believe God was telling me make myself available..change it up a little. So, you see..I did make a wrong decision but the most important thing is I followed what I THOUGHT God was saying. I followed my heart. God quickly corrected me and let me know in His own way that leaving the church is not what He wanted for me at all.
The point of me telling you this story is to let you know that God doesn't expect you to live a cookie cutter life. He loves you the same right now as if you went out tomorrow and won 1,000 souls to Christ. HE loves you...He loves me. Listen to God and follow the life the Bible tells us to live. Throw yourself into church and spend quality time praising and worshiping who He is. Christianity is not about religion. It's a relationship with God. Get to know Him as well as He knows you. It is possible! It just takes a little effort on our part. And when these things don't happen like they should-wake up the next morning as a new beginning and strive to do it right. Even if EVERY morning has to be a new beginning :)