Don’t be fooled by the “Sunday-morning smile.” Our churches are housing many despairing women like the two below who emailed me recently:
Reader A: I am reading your book on From Faking It to Finding Grace and it’s wonderful and has really helped me understand better where I’m at spiritually. I pray I am led out of the spiritually dry wilderness into the oasis of His grace and soon. I’m beat. Thanks for your candor and outreach to us worn out do-gooders who know how tired they are of faking it.
Reader B: I am going through a very long time of spiritual loss. I am reading your book about saying yes to God (Following God One Yes at a Time). I continue to pray, to read my bible everyday. I am enjoying your book. It is so good to know that someone has gone through this and has found their way out. I will continue to read your book as well as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as you suggested. Please pray for me as He, one day, guides me out of this.
What do we do about it?
- Be transparent so others don’t feel so guilty and weird for their own struggles
- Point fellow strugglers to the Gospels – walking with Jesus is always good.
- Enter into an ongoing authentic relationship with fellow strugglers – a great place to start is a regular (weekly or monthly) book study. You can start with my two books referenced above or with James Bryan Smith’s excellent Good and Beautiful Series
Hope for the Rest of Us 