He's relationship...Not Religion.
From what I can recall, I grew up going to church. My father was a Jehovah Witness and Mother was Baptist. When my father was alive my brother and I use to go to church with him and back then I didn't know that Jehovah witnesses had different spiritual beliefs about God than Christians. I just knew that if you were a Jehovah witness you couldn't celebrate birthdays or holidays (Which in my opinion I think is pretty wack). After my father passed away, my brother and I started going to church with my mother who attended a Haitian Baptist Church. Inarguably I can say that I've grown up around the concept of God my entire life.
When I was in my twenties, I stopped going to church with my mother. I was over attending her church (really Haitian churches in general). I hated going because I despised how judgmental and nasty church folks were (to be clear this doesn't just happen in Haitian churches alone). I was over feeling like I didn't belong but simultaneously I still wanted God so I began attending an American non denominational church and ended up getting baptized while I was there. I remember going and loving that we worshipped and loving what was preached but still feeling like I wasn't spiritually full so I left that church. fast forward to now I currently do not physically attend church but I have a church that I stream online every Sunday and now I find myself always feeling full from the word that was preached, but that's not the point.
I said all of that to say that even when I went to church and grew up around the fact that God existed, I still never grasped that the whole point was to have a relationship with him. It never really clicked in my heart and head that I was suppose to engage God on a personal level. I just always knew that I was suppose to be in a church building attending service and praying (which I did sometimes) and that was the extent of my engagement with God. To be honest it wasn't until the last couple of years that it really began to hit me that I need to get to know God on a more personal level and that hasn't been something that I've been doing long.
If there's anything that I've learned thus far is that relationship with God is a journey. It's not going to look like everyone else's. I'm still learning that relationship with God requires a work that I didn't have an example of but am learning day by day if I allow myself to be open to it. One thing I can truly say is that relationship with God is so much better than religion. When I think about my life and what I've been through I can see God's grace. I can see his protection over my life. I can see his mercy. I know for a fact that I would never see any of that if religion was all I had. I would have been screwed over a long time ago. I'm so grateful that I have a father in heaven who lavishes new mercies upon me every morning.
To conclude, my intent is to encourage those of you who will read this in your walk with Jesus or at least invite you to try Jesus. I can't promise that it's all sunshine and candy but I can promise that He'll never leave you nor forsake you.
Grace and Peace.
When I was in my twenties, I stopped going to church with my mother. I was over attending her church (really Haitian churches in general). I hated going because I despised how judgmental and nasty church folks were (to be clear this doesn't just happen in Haitian churches alone). I was over feeling like I didn't belong but simultaneously I still wanted God so I began attending an American non denominational church and ended up getting baptized while I was there. I remember going and loving that we worshipped and loving what was preached but still feeling like I wasn't spiritually full so I left that church. fast forward to now I currently do not physically attend church but I have a church that I stream online every Sunday and now I find myself always feeling full from the word that was preached, but that's not the point.
I said all of that to say that even when I went to church and grew up around the fact that God existed, I still never grasped that the whole point was to have a relationship with him. It never really clicked in my heart and head that I was suppose to engage God on a personal level. I just always knew that I was suppose to be in a church building attending service and praying (which I did sometimes) and that was the extent of my engagement with God. To be honest it wasn't until the last couple of years that it really began to hit me that I need to get to know God on a more personal level and that hasn't been something that I've been doing long.
If there's anything that I've learned thus far is that relationship with God is a journey. It's not going to look like everyone else's. I'm still learning that relationship with God requires a work that I didn't have an example of but am learning day by day if I allow myself to be open to it. One thing I can truly say is that relationship with God is so much better than religion. When I think about my life and what I've been through I can see God's grace. I can see his protection over my life. I can see his mercy. I know for a fact that I would never see any of that if religion was all I had. I would have been screwed over a long time ago. I'm so grateful that I have a father in heaven who lavishes new mercies upon me every morning.
To conclude, my intent is to encourage those of you who will read this in your walk with Jesus or at least invite you to try Jesus. I can't promise that it's all sunshine and candy but I can promise that He'll never leave you nor forsake you.
Grace and Peace.
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