It's a crazy thing to even think that the place people go for healing has become the same place many have experienced being broken. I have heard countless stories of people who have been hurt by a church. This is one reason it's so difficult to even invite people to church. Many churches have given the church experience a bad name. I have discovered that people don't have a problem with God, they have a problem with the people at church. I am the type of person that will not allow myself to taken advantage of a second time. If it happened once I will not allow it to happen again. If one church hurt them then they will not give another church the opportunity to do it again. This is the disposition of most when it comes to going to church.
The silver lining in this subject is that just like every person is different every church is different. Every leader is different. Just because one church hurt you doesn't mean that every other church will hurt you as well. I believe that if you have been church hurt even though it hurt you, it also exposed who and what you were connected to. I must stress that it's not wise to let that experience turn you away from God. Yes devils go to church but there are angels there also. Everything happens for a reason.
For everyone who has been church hurt (like me) I encourage you to do three things:
1. Don't blame God for what happened to you. I want to remind you of one thing that many people seem to forget: God is not to blame for a person's actions, that person is. God doesn't force anyone to do anything, nor does He stop us from doing something that we want to do. Everyone has free choice. The person (or people) that hurt you are responsible for what they did not God. God is the one who exposed them. He doesn't always stop them but He has a way of exposing fake people (I love that about God).
2. You have to learn to Forgive. Forgive the church that hurt you & the people in the church that hurt you. You can't move forward in life without forgiving. After I was church hurt I started to develop an animosity for church. Imagine that! A preacher that didn't like church (lol wow). I had to learn to let it go. Forgiveness doesn't mean you forget about it. Forgiveness means that you won't allow what happened in your past to control your future. Release the people and the place that caused the pain. You're better for it and now you're free from it. The only person that continues hurting is the person who continues to hold on to what was done instead of releasing and moving forward. Realize God has something better for you. That disappointment freed you so you could get to it.
3. Ask God for direction in leading you to the place you should become a member. Many people go to a convenient location close to their home. However sometimes the right place for you isn't right around the corner or in your neighborhood. Allow God to lead you and then ask God to give you the confirmation that it's the place He wants you to join. God disconnects us from the wrong people so that He can lead us to the right people.
Thank you for reading I hope it was helpful. Come back and read more! Share with someone who needs to read this. If there is a topic you want to see blogged about feel free to email it to me.
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