Church was weird!

From a person that didn’t really grow up in church and never really felt the guilt about not going, church was kinda blah for me..Church felt weird.  Me being at church was odd at best! It was also awkward and uncomfortable if you asked me.

But then God told me to go so I had to go…My “My Walk” story describes the experience I had with God telling me at 3am to go to church. So I went and it was weird.  But it was weird because I was weird. I made it awkward, uncomfortable, judgemental, and constricting. Looking at it now I realize I decided to feel standoffish. I decided to be guarded and put my skeptic radar on full alert.  I was the weird one.

All those happy people.. what are they so happy about anyway!?!  Why are they grinning and saying Good morning! I tried to blend in as best I could because really, what was I doing there?  Me? I didn’t do church.. this wasn’t part of my Sunday. I was normally in my jammies drinking coffee and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or a cooking show.. not fully dressed and at church.  Certainly not chipper and saying Good Morning! Limit eye contact - that was the answer...limit interaction..keep a SAFE distance was the plan.

But one day that changed when my pastor’s sermon called me out and spoke directly to me -- which freaked me out!  But I decided to really listen and I started to enjoy church. I started to read the Bible on my own. I started to pray to be brave at church.  I prayed to meet people in church. I prayed to be able to hear what God was saying to me.

I stopped worrying about what others thought of me..

I stopped worrying about what others thought after a conversation with my sister in law.  She said, “People don’t go to the hospital when they are well, they go when they are sick.”  The same applies for church! I remind myself of this advice when I doubt why I am at church.  Because I am “sick” and church is my medicine. And the same is true for everyone else there, for that matter. We are all in need a supernatural hand to make it through this life.  Life is hard! We all need to know that someone else cares for us no matter what. We have to know that we don’t have to carry the burden of life alone. We all need to know we have a purpose.  All of life’s burdens can be lifted. The medicine to cure that burden is Jesus.

I used to doubt that I was good enough to go to church.  I would doubt that I was living a good enough life to even enter the door.  Or if I went, I would have to change everything about myself to fit in. Not one of those doubts are true.  I have changed, but it’s not because they made me do it. It’s because it feels better to be different.

I wave at all the people I know now and smile!  I say Good Morning! I stop and talk and now I am one of those happy people.  I am even one of those happy people outside of church. Not always, because I am human, but more often than not.  Church has given me more than I ever thought it would. I am even branching out to make friends there.

If you are concerned that you don’t belong, you do have a church home - you just have to find it.  Keep trying out different churches until you find the one. I personally don’t believe God cares where you go as long as you are learning the Gospel. God loves you and wants to get to know you.  The way you get to know God is by learning about His amazing love for you. The thing you are missing but you can’t put your finger on what it is… it's probably at church. Now I know the peace I craved is only found through God.  I found him by going to church.

If you haven’t found God yet, he is at church - waiting on you to come search for him.

Be Different Folks!