"Church Hurt"

I actually felt like I needed to wait before talking about this subject, well that is not the full truth, I was more concerned about how it would be received; but somehow I have been brought back to it. As I have stated before, I am going to start blogging about things that I have experienced as well as single parenthood and just really encouraging others in my writing. The following subject is a sensitive subject but one that we never need to shy away from; I believe healing can come from it. It benefits Christians and those that have not yet come to believe in Jesus; helping some people understand that Christians are human beings that are works in positive progress.

I have been a Christian for 11 years now and before I became a Christian, I was carrying a heavy load, baggage was not the word; it was more like baggage for 10 members of a family. I had no idea what was really wrong with me but I was so heartbroken and when I came to church I was embraced in a way that I had never been before. My life began to heal through the excellent teaching that I received in the house of God.

Unfortunately, as years passed; I began to experience what is known as ‘Church Hurt’ and to be honest, I actually do not like this term because the church is not the one that hurts people. I have heard of so many people leaving churches because they have been hurt in one way or another; it happens in all Churches but this is in no way a representation of who God is. When I became a Christian, I had issues but so did all of us that came into relationship with Christ and for some people they still currently deal with the struggles of their life in such away it still affects how they behave with others; nothing is intentional but more of a battle that stems from a lot of pain and hurt.

I don’t believe it is easy to move from a broken past, it can take a number of years and not every Christian will be willing to dig deep into their emotions to allow God to remove what is hurting them so much, they may cover it and still be so wounded on the inside. I believe this is what you get whenever you get hurt in a church and what I do know is that God works that all out. We just need to hold on, remain in prayer and keep on loving. We need to get to the place where we understand that we are all dealing with things that may cause us to hurt other people; nobody is immune from this. It is more about what we do when we get hurt, I am still learning but I understand that leaving church is not the answer, it doesn’t matter where we go; there will always be something.

I say all this because I have heard many people say Christians are a bunch of hypocrites; it would be more like saying that we are supposed to be perfect; in that case name me one Christian or non-Christian who is? When I became a Christian, I started on a journey to be free from all the things that had hurt me; this journey can be long and it is individual to each person. I can not hold my hands up and say because I am a Christian I do not make any mistakes but I can say that I now have hope of being the best person I could ever be with Jesus.

What I really want to say is that, God is so good and loves like no human being could ever. Do not let the things that you sometimes encounter in your walk allow you to close the door to the places that God has sent you to heal and grow. We do not know God’s plans in the middle of it all, He has already promised to bring you through everything you will ever face in life. Please do not be shocked and discouraged, I have been there and done that and gained nothing out of it. I have experienced so much love in my church home and anytime I did not feel this was because of the things that I had been through in my past. I have had a very strained relationship with my Mother and an absent Dad so how one person may take something would be different in how I would have received it. This has all been part of my healing that continues.

We all walk with a story when we come to Christ, each story is never quite the same but is heavily pressed by perceptions of the life we lived before Christ, Believers and Non-Believers should remember that. God is the only one that could break this old perception, so continuing on in Church and opening up to trusting God to heal us is the best thing that we can do.

Making Sense: Always ask God to help you when you have been hurt in church, do not allow people to move you away, talk to someone you can trust and let’s grow in our understanding that we are all at different levels and all have different life experiences.