You Can Stop Hiding Now
April 22, 2004
By Rev.
Todd Crofford
Sr. Pastor
Laurel Wesleyan Church
This last weekend my wife and our children had the privilege (and challenge) of
hosting twenty five family members in our home as we celebrated my
mother-in-law’s 70th birthday. Since we wanted it to be a surprise we kept it
hidden from her as long as possible.
As the weekend unfolded we found ourselves in need of telling bigger and bigger
“whoppers” to keep her from knowing what surprises lay ahead. Having been a
family that teaches and models truthfulness to our kids, we called these little
indiscretions “party lies.”
I wonder how many little “party lies” we tell in life to cover up our true
selves.
One of the most powerful tools the enemy of our soul uses to keep us from
success and freedom is secrecy. We are very afraid to really be honest about who
we are and what we struggle with.
Jesus was the master of giving people the freedom to be honest about their
personal defeats and then loving them into a better place. His followers were a
divergent group who found their only mutual quality as being sinful and needy.
His well-deserved reputation was of being “a friend of sinners.”
Though not all churches succeed at this, when a church is attempting to minister
as Jesus would, they become a safe place to admit our struggles. Children,
teenagers, and adults all need to know there is someone safe with whom they can
share their struggles.
The longer we keep sin hidden and the deeper we drive the pain and insecurities
of our lives; the more difficult we make it for a person to be used by God for
our healing. The secrecy has to end.
A few years ago I went through a very high stress time in my life where the
pressures of building a new church, a new home, and illness in my family all
culminated in severe anxiety. As I began to deal with this most treacherous
culprit, I learned much about my own sickness.
I soon discovered that many feel a stigma from “mental illness” and suffer
alone. On the Sunday that I revealed to my people that “good medication, good
counsel, and good theology” had carried me through the sickest time of my life,
you could have heard a pin drop. And then a wonderful freedom broke loose.
People from all over who heard me tell my story without shame began to come
forward and celebrate that they weren’t alone with the struggles in their mind.
Many became unafraid to go seek medical help for the organ of their body called
the brain. Others finally felt free to share their story.
In the same way, whatever your difficulty, finding a safe place to share it is a
major step toward beating it.
Do you really believe you have the only struggling marriage on your block? Are
you alone in your fears and challenges in raising your teenager? Do you daily
live with the guilt of a secret and binding addiction? Its time to speak up.
Coming to God for help so often involves coming to a person who loves God and
will love you. Ask God for help today, and go find someone who will be the ears,
mouth, and hands of God leading you to that brand new and wonderful place in
your life.
You can stop hiding now.
The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of Site One
Networks, Inc, the congregation of
the Laurel Wesleyan Church or the Wesleyan Church International. You may respond
to the author directly by E-mailing laurelwesleyan@siteone.net
Previous Articles:
Apr. 15, 2004,
Apr. 8, 2004,
Apr. 1, 2004,
Mar. 11, 2004,
Mar. 4, 2004,
Feb. 26, 2004,
Feb. 19, 2004,
Feb. 12, 2004,
Feb. 5, 2004,
Jan. 29, 2004,
Jan. 22, 2004,
Jan. 15, 2004,
Jan. 8, 2004,
Jan. 1, 2004,
Dec. 25, 2003,
Dec. 18, 2003,
Dec. 11, 2003,
Dec. 4, 2003,
Nov. 26, 2003,
Nov. 20, 2003,
Nov. 13, 2003,
Nov. 6, 2003
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