How Real is Real?

It has been a while since my last post and that has been because I haven't had anything to say. More to the point, I didn't have anything to say that I felt you wanted to hear. God has allowed me to be broken over the past several months. Everything that displayed my talentedness, my skill has been shown as hollow and imperfect and for someone who has built their sense of worth on their success, that is devastating. It has left me feeling lost, empty and worthless.

God is allowing this to happen in my life to heal me, but at this point, the thoughts I have aren't bubbling with hope, don't have Christian platitudes, and can't be wrapped up in thirty minutes. Which brings me to my question: How real are we allowed to be as Christians? I know that God wants us to be 100% real with Him, but what about with each other? At what point do you shy away from the emotional turmoil of someone else? How accepting are we of each other in all of our shining imperfect glory? Or do we only accept each other as long as they fit into our mold of Christianity and don't require too much emotionally?

If I were to write the words in my journal - thoughts without hope, hurts without answers, no-holds-barred questions about God and His working in my life, would they be embraced or held at arms length because they mirror too closely your own feelings of failure? Why are we ashamed of our imperfection? Is it because we feel God doesn't accept us as we are? Maybe, but could it be that we know that other Christians will not accept us the way we are?

I long for a time when we as Christians can embrace each other, fully knowing each other and being fully known. When we stand beside each other instead of denouncing the failure in one another. When there is no fear of being totally real and there is no doubt that our friends are being totally real with us. And as this becomes the norm in Christianity, it will call non-Christians to Christ.