Authenticity

God is Good!!! All the time is a phrase my husband uses every Sunday at church. I love it and I love to hear people respond. God is good and this book that He has placed in my life is scary on track with my life right now. Just last night I was telling my husband how tiring it is to feel like you have to be this certain person when you carry the title of Pastor or Pastors Wife. Its not right that when you say those words people automatically make a judgement about you. You feel that you can't be you. The real you. The one who has an argument with your spouse at church before church. The one that doesn't always agree on what people say but you feel like you can't say anything of fear that they might walk out.

Today's chapter is about that: Be Authentic. Being You. Will the real Clarinda stand up and be herself. Not worrying about everyone else but just be who God created you to be and love yourself. 

Christ talked about be a pharisaical hypocrite which means being different in secret than you are in public. Integrity means being whole or undivided...the same all the way through. Now I would never have a public argument with my husband in front of everyone but I do know that when I'm upset I get very quite and people who do know me (especially those I work with) know that I'm upset. 

I think as humans most of us will play to the crowd because of our fear. We say what people want us to say. Saying all the right things but still not being authentic. I don't think this is the life that Christ wanted us to have. He was the same all the time. He was who He was and if people didn't like it I'm sure He didn't worry over it like I would do. 

Here are some points from the book: 

A Jesus -Hearted Woman tells the truth about the messy parts of her life. Of course, you don't tell everyone your entire life story but you do share it when it applies to someone else's situation that they are going through. Your just real about yourself. Now being in Student Ministry for 8 years it was easy to share your life experience with students because if you could help then not make a mistake you made growing up then that was beneficial. I've made plenty of bad choices in my former years but I wouldn't change that because I wouldn't be who I am today. 

A Jesus- Hearted Woman is approachable and relatable. I want people to be able to approach me and to talk to me. I know I don't like the feeling when I go to a conference or another church and long to talk to the Pastor's wife or other leaders but you get the feeling that they wouldn't make time for you because your out of their league. Now my husband doesn't have that fear but I do. That is just my insecurity that I've allowed to paralyze me. 

My point is we just need to be who we are and who God created us to be. Anything more or less is saying God didn't create us perfectly. When in fact we are prefect in His eyes and that is all that matters. So be YOU and not who you think the other person wants you to be. Live a life free from conforming to other peoples thoughts and just be YOU.

Be confident and authentic.