Dear fellow readers and writers,
When I first began to add quotes under the title “Wake Us Up, Wake Us Up, Lord” in our weekly bulletin at my church I had absolutely no idea where God would lead me. At first, I didn’t quite expect what I was going to do. I blindly started adding quotes without really having a real reason to put the things that I’ve written about or quoted from various sources. I mean never in my lifetime that the topic of spiritual abuse was ever discussed so openly. But we’ve all been there, whether we realized it or not; we’ve all been a victim of church hurt. However, it was never the church that has hurt me, it was the people in the church. The ones that were supposed to be influencers and not abusers. God has guided me to bring these toxic behaviors to light to hopefully heal us as we grow forward with Him as our Guide.
One year later has past since starting the series “Wake Us Up, Wake Us Up, Lord” I have never felt as inspired as I do to release quotes or original writings that will hopefully arouse spiritual growth in our church. As a church body, we are failing God. We have been sleeping on Him. We come to church just to judge each other and to gossip. We put on a show that we call “church.” But in reality we are just playing church and not actually doing church or being a church. We’ve been going through the motions for quite some time now, like a hamster on a never ending wheel. Do you think that Jesus started His mission by thinking of the theatrics first? He profoundly thought of the people first, not as a group or religious sect but as individuals. He met them where they were at on their spiritual journeys. And this is where I’m at in mine. My hope is that this letter is received as kindly as possible. Instead of stirring up more division, I pray that it unites us as one in completing our mission.
I’ve been silently struggling with even releasing these words but until I heard a sermon recently I finally feel like this is the right time to do it. The sermon I heard was about “keep shining your light no matter where you are.” I’ve been struggling with this and sometimes coming to church dims my light. I see all the gossip and hear all the empty words of disruption to God’s House being stirred up. I know this is the devil’s work but I get so discouraged by it. On a positive note, I have chosen to keep shining my light. I will keep going on this mission that God is leading me on. No matter what is happening in our own little church, I will keep showing up and being a light. A light that will outshine the devil’s darkness. I pray these words will inspire each of you that chooses to read them to do so also. No matter the potential consequences of this letter, I hope that we will choose to be more than pew warmers and more soldiers of action for Christ. No matter what the circumstances that come my way, I will keep pressing towards the goal of shining my light for Christ. If it is not well received here then I know that this is not where I am supposed to be in this season and God will move me to a different place where I will be more well received or needed. In conclusion, my prayer is that you will be encouraged to keep reading my “Wake Us Up, Wake Us Up, Lord” releases. Please stay tuned for future writings!
Signed with love and light
Wake Us Up, Lord 