If you want to know the truth, just ask a child. If you don’t believe this, come to class one night and listen when we ask our children for prayer requests; the children open their lives up to us and share the good, bad, and ugly. Now, when you ask adults for prayer requests in a room of people we are quick to pray for our friends and family who are sick and mybe having trouble, but how often do you hear someone stand up and say ‘I’m a mess and I need your prayers right now’ or ‘I have been secretly drinking and I need your prayers’? As adults we don’t air our own laundry to the room. Is it because we have to have the appearance of having it all together? Are we embarrassed or ashamed? Who are we hiding our sins and struggles from? God already knows them and His people should be there, not to judge, but to hold us up to the Lord in prayer.

A few years ago I was talking to Christy Pilkinton and she said she just wanted people to be “real”. I didn’t really understand the depth of what she was saying. I thought we were real. But we aren’t really. The problem when we aren’t “real” comes when we encounter people looking for the Lord. If they are seeking the Lord and we are the example they see, are we setting up unreal expectations for them? Are we showing them “unreal” Christians?

I definitely struggle with this. As someone who has grown up in this church I have a hard time sharing the muck and mire of my life. I am in CONSTANT fear of what you will think of me! What would you think of me?

Christ wants us to come to Him as children…unrestricted by fear, open and honest. My Bible doesn’t have scripture where Christ asks us to come to Him perfect and flawless.

– Angela Estes, Children’s Ministry Director –