Hola readers!

I'm not the ideal Christian and I don't believe there is such a thing. I think we got this overall warped idea of what the perfect Christian is; one that does everything right, dresses oh so-called conservatively and raises their families in the perfect bubble. They have schedules and go to church every Sunday and are active in VBS. They're perfect. They're not struggling.
But the ideal Christian doesn't exist. 
Because if he did then we wouldn't need God in the first place.

Last summer I was talking with a friend and I made a joke about having never got in trouble with the law. "Oh, I can believe that," she answered seriously. "You'd never do anything wrong." There was no contempt in her tone - only what she held as complete truth.

I'm the unsuspecting 'ideal' Christian. My shorts rarely reach above my fingertips, I don't have more then one piercing, and I don't cuss. I listen to clean music and rarely watch a movie that's rated R. I don't have tattoos and my dad is a pastor. I was homeschooled and we drove a mini van. I did my quiet time every morning and prayed daily. I memorized almost all of the book of James in Middle School and did VBS up to the age of twelve every summer. I was probably called "goody-two-shoes' behind my back.

I was the typical Christian.
The seemingly ideal.
And I look around me and the people the furthest from God, use to be the ones who once seemed so close.  The ideal Christians are normally so far from ideal, and the true ideal Christian will probably never be labeled as such.
The truth is, the true 'ideal' Christian makes mistakes and isn't afraid to admit it. The true ideal Christian is always learning.
That's truly ideal.

I'm really so far from the 'ideal Christian' label that the world likes to slap on us. You've seen the posts on here, so I won't bore you with the details. Sometimes I'm too depressing on my posts here. Sometimes I sound more depressed than I am. I'm still learning the fine line between transparent and too transparent.
Maybe my blog makes me look like the girl with all the answers, comfortable in my brokenness...maybe, but it's so far from the truth.

And I'm okay with admitting that.

It's okay not being. It's okay to be so far from the world's idea of ideal.

I'm human and Jesus asks nothing less of me.

The true counselors and mentors and teachers are the ones who don't have all the answers, who admit to being human. When they do, that's when Jesus takes over.
When we accept the concept of how human we really are, when we stop fighting for people's acceptance, when we stop looking in the mirror trying to make the perfect image that will never be possible. When we simply come to the table with those closest to us, open about our doubts and fears, with our scars and bruises and brokenness...that's ideal.
And for the so-called ideal Christian, that's usually so far from ideal.
Baring your soul is far from ideal.
But that should truly be ideal.

Because the only way you can take the label of 'Christian' is because of the One who loved us because of our scars and bruises and the stories they tell...not in spite of them.
That's truly ideal.

Being the ideal Christian isn't the perfect picture the world paints. It's the picture Jesus paints. And that's the one we normally struggle to accept - because His picture was never ideal.