As You Are

I tend to fictionalization myself into a character who prays as she should, who behaves as she should, and who conforms her desires and thoughts as she should. 

After all these years of Christian living, I realize I still create a false self at times because I have a picture in my mind of the woman I want to be. So I live there in my mind--with that untruth--instead of with the real, raw me.

Years ago, my counselor told me that one of the reasons folks don't feel close to God is because God can't connect with a false self. He wants the real, honest us, not the character we invent. 

My greatest times of prayer and connection with God and others were always when I stepped into the light and showed myself for who I really am. 

God accepts me and loves me unconditionally anyway, so why not be my true self? That's the recipe for great community, too.