so this blog post is going to be a little different. seeing as my post "a letter to my 13 year old self " went crazy. this is a letter to someone who is in there first day of being a christian
hi !
so , you just became a christian , awesome ! welcome to the family. now when i became a christian i did not have a clue what that meant with regards to what my life was going to look like from that point on. don't get me wrong i had such amazing support but there are a few things that i know almost 5 years down the line that i wish i had been told in advance. so i am writing this blog post with the hope that i will give you a few pointers.
1, not everyone is going to get it when you "come out" as christian
there will be some amazing responses to your news. a few members of the church i go to even cried when i told them because they had been praying so hard for me. but there will be a few people outside the church that will simply think your clinically insane, how you react to that will most probably be your first ever ministry opportunity as a christian , kid. you got this. love them anyway.
2, the hardships in your life will not necessarily vanish
please , please , please don't buy into the lie that so many new Christians do , that as soon as you get up from praying your salvation prayer your going to live in a magical land of puppy-dogs and rainbows .. trust me , you wont. the world will seam different. some things will just change instantly but more often than not you will have to work through your past hurts and struggles with god , its an ongoing process. and even the most longstanding Christians are still growing
3, there will be days where you doubt
this is something i think all Christians go through. even the ones that have had huge miraculous healing and salvation have days where they wonder whether they just made the whole thing up. my advice for those days is this.... these are the days when your faith means the most to god. where you bless the heart of god just by carrying on.secondly, find someone you trust , and get them to pray for you , be honest. it will help.(side note this is part of your youth pastor / vickers job if they are not willing to help you .. tell them to read there bible / job description again)
4, God wont say yes all the time.
that dose not mean he has up and gone it just means that he happens to know what you need , what you want and the difference between those two things. trust me when i say this , he knows what he is doing and its way more spectacular than you can ever comprehend. as you grow as a christian you will start to notice how subtle god can be at times. you often wont notice where gods hand is in a situation until after the event.
5,you have a new family
this is one thing new Christians tend to forget. the. dysfunctional bunch of rag tag people sitting in your church learning about god just like you are ... are now your family, even the old lady on the second pew from the left that scares you a little bit. like all good family , you wont always agree , you wont always want to hare what they have to say. but they will be on this journey with you.
good luck !
love , your new sister in Christ
Lauren
good luck !
love , your new sister in Christ
Lauren
I've read your post and I've felt like I needed to write a "rebuttal" of sorts.
ReplyDelete"1, not everyone is going to get it when you "come out" as christian"
Sorry, but last time they checked, Christians are majority at least in Europe and all America (North, Central and South), so, just, no, there is no such thing as "come out as Christian" in this culture; it's assumed everyone is a Christian. Not to mention that "coming out" refers most of the time to experiences of non-heterossexual or non gender conforming people telling their loved ones about their sexuality, and it couldn't have been more offensive to those groups - Christians are most certainly not discriminated against (except, maybe, in Muslim cultures); what non-Christians do is put into question what is wrong and poorly explained about it.
"2, the hardships in your life will not necessarily vanish"
So, what's the point in following a God that won't exactly help you when you need it then? There are too many people sufffering more than anyone should, including Christians, which is enough for anyone with half a brain to question what this God is doing anyway - if anything at all.
"3, there will be days where you doubt"
Because, well... Questioning basically everything is healthy? Because there is a lot to question about Christianism? Because there is so much that is wrong about Christianism that a person must keep telling himself or herself the reasons why he or she still follows it anyway, even if those reasons can easily be undone? This one isn't bad, but not because of the reasons you're saying.
"4, God wont say yes all the time."
It's a poor excuse for when things are bad, and when things turns out okay in the end the explanation doesn't include God.
"5,you have a new family"
No one needs a churh to get in touch with a "dysfunctional bunch of rag tag people" - every group of people is just that. Family, the people we call friends, classmates, work colleagues, you name it.
Just, no, thanks.
Don't take it personally, it's not about you, it's what about you said.