You will be hurt in church/ 4

There’s a multitude of layers to being hurt.

Hurts in church can range from surface situations to deep, deep wounds.

The wreckage is unbelievably too complicated at times to know what to begin to say, do, or how to handle it. Sometimes it is best left alone but then there are times we are prompted to try and resolve the issue. We owe it to ourselves, other believers, and God’s house. Think about an actual wreck. Some of the scariest times in our lives are when we see vehicles collide or we witness the debris of emotions long after things seem to appear cleaned up.

For whatever reason, an accident happens. Or a purposeful decision is made that makes someone else have pain, regrets, and a bad experience. A few years ago, an accident involving some motorists, took place right ahead of us on the highway! There were people thrown off their bikes and lying on the road in shock. My husband quickly changed lanes, pulled over to them, and blocked other cars from running the motorists over. As people were slamming on breaks, he started directing traffic. I thought someone was about to ram into us from behind because the accident had just happened! Derek kept telling me to be calm and that we had to try to help these people. It was so risky. I didn’t want to run them over or damage them any worse. A pile-up was the last thing we needed. Being a protector, I did not want my family injured either. Thankfully, the traffic flow slowed and we were able to help the motorcyclist the best we could and then went on when professional emergency people arrived at the scene!

There were people stuck in traffic that day who never knew there was a scene like this. They were far from it. They didn’t see it “up close and personal.” Then there were those that saw it and kept going. Maybe it wasn’t that they didn’t feel somewhat compelled to do something in that moment but couldn’t because of all the things going on at once in their life. And maybe they were not the ones who were suppose to. Sometimes people talk about things they don’t know the full details about. It’s a reality. It’s a human thing. People “shouldn’t” do a lot of things we do. People think no one should be hurt in church, or be hurt anywhere. That is unrealistic expectations period. People get hurt in church and everywhere else as well. We are not going to find a place on this earth where hurt doesn’t exist at some level. I think we should guard our hearts and our lives but not so much that we don’t let God in. I think we need to learn how to direct the traffic flow so that we can all get to the places in life we were meant to be. I think we need to stop being fearful about admitting our fears. I also think we need to know when we cannot help.

“It’s absolutely tough. You (we) wanna honor the person and their story but truth has to be spoken! We can’t let people walk around with a false vision of who Jesus is.” – Trenton Morales

“Somebody’s got to bend. Maybe it should be you.” – Pam Sumlin

Sometimes while trying to help people or situations, we injure another. Maybe we started out caring and ended up too involved and wished we never did. Maybe somebody got overlooked because there were so many hurts to manage at one time. Here’s a Courage Question for you and me: Are you being understanding? As you pick up the Bible once again, be ready for a healing word of honesty and guidance.

This is an attempt to better “the church” instead of bashing the church. This is not judgement; this is mentoring. I purposefully did not add scripture in this blog post series. Too many times, scripture is used in jabbing and destructive ways. That is never my intent. God’s love is within this post and I have to believe people can sense that without spilling out all the verses. It’s not about proving anything; it is about letting healing unfold for those that truly need and want it. If you agree, say Amen! We’ll meet you here again next week.