Being Real

Last night I spent the evening with 18 of some of the most awesome women of God I know.....

I have always been a believer that we as woman tend to keep ourselves and each other in bondage. Let me explain it for you....Sometimes I think that we feel like we have to let people think that we have it all together in life and not let them see reality. By allowing others to think we don't have any struggles or issues we give them the false idea that we are perfect....and as women we think like this....if so and so can do all that she does and not have the issues and struggles I have...then there has got to be soemthing wrong with me?!? So I then begin to think that I am alone in my struggles...while sister so and so sits in her house thinking she has to hide her struggles and that she is also alone.

In doing this we keep each other from getting free and living in victory. However, if I am honest about my life...yes........ there are days I don't like the Good Deacon (my hubby) or my kids, there are days when I feel like life is overewhelming me because I have too many things going on, my house is not always clean (hahaha), my budget is challenged, and yes I do struggle with negativity, frustration, bitterness, unforgiveness.....there are days I hate my hair....and calgone can not even begin to fix what ails me. If we are honest we will set each other free.

If you know my life is not perfect and that we all struggle, as a sister you are more likely to come to me when you struggle...because you know I am real...I won't judge you, I won't look down on you...I will open my arms.....hug you, pray with you.....and cry with you.

So this is a notice to all of you in SPITE of the fact that I am a leader, a Woman's Board member, marriage counselor, teacher, and wife of a Senior Chief/Deacon..............I struggle.....but I do not fall and I am not defeated!

Reason number 1......I am a child of the King.....and if you have the mind of Christ...you cannot lose it...because Christ in all His suffering never lost His mind...so He will help you keep yours.

Reason number 2...because I have surrounded myself with women who celebrate me....who hold me up when I too weak to stand on my own....who I can be real with!

So back to those 18 women I spent last night with....we had a time of fellowship that was God ordained. I planned a ladies night...and God had plans for us. We came thinking it would be a time of eating, laughing and games. We did eat and we did laugh...but we also bonded on another level. God had the ladies sit in a circle and had me ask them to answer these questions one by one as we went around the circle.....

1. What do you like about yourself?

2. What do you wish you could change about yourself?

I will tell you I was nervous....I knew God wanted those questions asked...they came to me plain as day...but I wasn't sure how they would be received...but He did. God moved in such a subtle and amazing way...loosening the chains that bound us...showed is that that we all struggle with issues on one level or another....many of them the same...many of them in our past....and many of them that affect our relationships. We laughed and we cried....but most of all we were real.

I thank God for the women He has placed in my life and I am grateful for the work He has begun......