Becoming an Authentic Woman of God

Hello there sunshine! So nice of you to stop by. I'd love for you to come on in, pull up a chair, and we can chat for a while. Maybe get to know one another.

You know? I'm realizing that it is a little bit lonely nowadays for us prodigals. Especially if you're like me, and didn't grow up in the church, and don't have any real close Christian women to talk to? I mean, can I be totally honest, I have been to a few churches, and with the exception of one church, I've always felt rather awkward and out of place.

I mean, it's not like the people were rude or anything like that. They've always seemed to be very, very friendly. But a lot of the churches that I've been to, they're small town churches. (spoiler alert, I'm a big time country girl!) They all seem to be very close knit communities, which I love...

However, how do you just insert yourself into an established church community? How do you go about creating those close mentorships with church people, especially if you didn't grow up in that community, or you're new to this particular church? Again, total honesty here, I am not what you would call an outgoing person. I tend to be a kind of…hang back in the shadows type. Ok well at least with new people. So how do you go about creating a lasting friendship?

Am I alone in this? Do you struggle with creating a lasting friendship? Do you struggle with finding your place in a new church, or in a new church community? Or even just a new community in general? I know what you're thinking, Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, sister, dear. I just met you... I don't know anything about you. And here you are asking me all of these questions that, frankly, I'm not even 100% sure I know how to answer. So let me stop and back up a little bit. And do this the right way.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Sharon, and I am a prodigal daughter. I have always believed myself to be a Christian. Since I was like five or six years old. I remember one summer bible camp, learning my first Bible verse.

John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

I thought, Wow, what an awesome thing…everlasting life! I wanted to know more. But unfortunately, my family, while they were Christians we did not attend church. Mom was Baptist. Dad was Catholic. I guess those two don't tend to see eye to eye when it comes to biblical theology. Still not sure exactly why, but we can tackle that another day. So any who, they decided that they wouldn't take us to either church, and that us kids would be able to make our own decisions. Genius, right! Well, I kind of thought so. But that left us kids kind of just swinging in the breeze if you know what I mean.

Out of seven kids, I think the only one that really kind of understood what it really meant to be a Christian was my oldest sister. I remember watching her many times, reading her Bible, and just praying. But I was five. I wasn't like, looking for a major lecture or discipline in Christianity at that point. So I just kind of did my thing. I thought, well, as long as I'm a good kid, and I don't get into trouble. I'm a Christian, right? Well, not necessarily.

Fast forward, oh, about 30 years,. Thirty years that I spent just kind of wandering to and fro. Doing this, doing that. Getting into a little bit of trouble now and again, I just didn't know what it meant. I didn't know how to be an Authentic Christian. In my mind, reading the Bible, and Bible study, they were all one in the same. And praying was, you know what you did at dinner time, before you ate, or at bedtime,. You know...the old bedtime prayer;

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord, my soul to keep.

If I die, before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take

Actually, nowadays, that kind of freaks me out. But then, when I was younger, that's all I knew. I was never taught anything different. Can you relate to any of this? Well, if you can, I would love to invite you to come along with me on my journey to becoming an Authentic Woman of God. We can carve out some time, just you and I. Sit down, pull out a Bible study, and work through it together. We can learn from each other, and with each other, and create our own community of prodigal daughters. We can all become Authentic Women of God together!