a lesson from David.

Lately I've been rereading through the Psalms and have been so captured by David's completely sincere and honest heart...  He pretty much lays all of his true feelings out on the table with no holding back or sugar coating as he says "God, this is how I'm REALLY doing and I need your help!"... it's raw, authentic, real, and i love it... David definitely didn't have all his ducks in a row, and was probably thought of as being all over the place and kind of a mess sometimes, a little crazy maybe, possibly even bipolar ... but God doesn't define David by his screw-ups and imperfections, and instead He calls him "A man after His own heart" ... awesome, what hope!...

Lately I've been really focusing on authenticity in my life and am so drawn to that quality in other people... Seriously, how many times a day do we do the "Hi, how are you?" "Good! You?" exchanges with people in passing so that we can quickly get back to our busy schedules or make it sound like we have it all together... Ugh, what an awful habit!... In my opinion, this mentality has really hindered the way we communicate with people and God...Not to say that you have to bear your soul to every person you see or anything, but do you know what I'm saying?...

But anyways, I just LOVE how the Psalms are so stripped of these shallow basic sharings of daily events and facts, cliches, facades, and worn out lines, and just really plunge into the depths of David's heart and soul... We can learn so much from David from his honest, sincere, and deep communication with God... So often he would basically cry out "God, this sucks right now!... I need you to get me out of this ASAP!"... Don't you hear what I'm saying?"...yet through it all he still praised God and knew that he could trust in His faithfulness and unfailing love... God loved David's genuine spirit and that he was willing to do some serious soul searching and drag up the hidden & often painful areas that were buried deep in his heart... Gosh God, you want to me to revisit and share THAT stuff with You? Really?? It's so much easier to put on a smile, gloss things over, and say what I think I SHOULD be feeling or WISH I was thinking right now... But no, He doesn't just want my worship, praise, and Sunday School answers... He wants my mess, my junk, my doubts, my hurt, ALL OF IT... I don't really get it, but what incredible LOVE... I recently read a quote that said "it's only when honest feelings and emotions are shared that people can be known, loved, healed, and helped." So God, help me to have a heart like David's...to be authentic, genuine, and sincere... Because this is what deep and connected relationships are made of...