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YOU'RE LOVED JUST THE WAY YOU ARE |
I grew up in a community with rigid standards for living. People seemed to always point out how this person or that person did not measure up to the standards. This meant that they were placed in a category of ‘sub-par people’ and made to feel inadequate and guilty. The more I observed people treating each other this way, the angrier I became. I felt like an outsider because that community ostracized people like me for being gay. I did not understand how people could ‘write each other off’ for being different. I longed to find a place where people cared about each other and embraced their differences to enrich the whole. While I dreamed of such a place, I was convinced it did not exist. My anger and bitterness continued to fester, throwing a pall over my attitude. Then a friend persuaded me to come to church with him. I was skeptical to say the least. I was a Christian and professed Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord but the church as I had experienced it had never seemed to be fully embracing of the love that Jesus said his people must be about. My friend’s church building was beautiful on the outside, but what would the people be like on the inside? I was shocked to find the sermon positive and uplifting. And the people seemed to take a kind, loving attitude to heart as they warmly welcomed me. When I heard the music and the choir, I thought, ‘Could it be?’ I kept coming back and the people there helped me to see that God loved me just the way I was, no matter what, and they did the same. Week after week, I looked around me and saw the love they had for people of different races, abilities, ages and orientations. And not just in their words but in actions. They were truly interested in taking care of people and truly loving them in the name of Jesus Christ, even those marginalized by society. It was fifteen years ago that I found the acceptance I had always wanted
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