Authenticity

Get Real! The Authentic Christian (Music - Mandisa; The Truth About Me)


Over the last several years, my husband's band, Longing For Eden, has been on a life journey.  They approached the man who is now the producer of their first and soon to be released CD, and asked him to provide spiritual oversight for the band.  (He has also become a spiritual father to my husband and me since then.)  They gave him songs that they had written, and he handed them back, stating that they were "nice" songs, and if they just wanted to write nice Christian platitudes, that he wasn't interested, but if they were willing to write songs that were "real", then he would consider working with them.  He saw the potential that was within the band to truly make an impact on people's lives, however, without the willingness to become vulnerable and to put their own struggles and triumphs into musical form, he felt that they would just be another "nice" Christian band in the crowd.  That conversation began the journey where "Out of the Ashes" was transformed into "Longing For Eden".  I have been privileged to watch the growing pains and the victories as they have been stretched far out of their comfort zones, both as individuals and as a band, and I am so excited to see the fruit of the journey so far, and anticipating the fruit to come.



This journey of authenticity has also become my own.  I spent far too many years of my Christian walk wearing masks and trying desperately to measure up to what I thought a "good Christian" should be like.  I was terrified that if people truly knew the real me with my real struggles, that they would want nothing to do with me.  (This is coming from someone who was raised in the church!)  My husband and I watched the above video last night and I told him that I sometimes feel that I have more of a struggle with being totally honest with myself, because if and when I do confront my own weaknesses, I must change.  If not, I will live out the definition of insanity, which is continually doing the same thing in the same way and expecting different results.  This is not a comfortable journey, and stretches me out of my own comfort zones, but I am learning to rest in it and to take it one day at a time.  I know that God loves me, and that his grace is there for me constantly, and I am more deeply aware of it every day.  He brings people into my life who have been burnt badly by well-meaning Christians, and they are looking for something authentic, and someone who will be real with them.  I am learning as I go.  I have to remind myself that this is a journey, and that I will be traveling as long as I live.