I have a confession to make. I am not a perfect Christian. I am not perfect, nor will I ever be. There have been days when I did not feel like waking up to go to church. There have been times when I said that I was going to pray for someone, and I forgot about doing so a few hours later. I have cussed or said the Lord's name in vein, and there have been nights when I probably could have made better choices. Finally, there have been days and weeks when my emotions, my strength, and my character were tested and I doubted and questioned my faith. I did not understand how something that I relied on and trusted so much could let me down so badly. I am not a perfect Christian, but I will strive my whole life to be the best me that I can be and follow in Jesus' footsteps in every way I know how.

I am not a perfect Christian, but the second that I realized that is when I felt the closest to my faith. I am perfect in God's eyes and that is all that matters. I am perfect because I know that God's view of me does not depend on how often I go to church, how many times a day I pray, or how often I open my Bible. It depends on how present I am when I worship when I pray and when I am studying my faith. I give my best effort to satisfy Jesus in all that I do for myself and for others. I am perfect because I know that the thought and feeling behind me wanting to pray for someone are what really matter. It is not so much about the action, but the love behind it. I am perfect because I know that every time I make a mistake or cuss, God forgives me. I believe that Jesus died for all of our sins, big and small. I am a perfect Christian because every time I have doubted or questioned Him, he has chosen to reward me by guiding me to the reason behind the obstacle. I know that whenever we question or doubt or faith, it leads to our beliefs growing stronger. We see that God is never seizing and that even in the rough times He is there.

I am not a perfect Christian, but I know that I am perfect in the eyes and the heart of God. Ephesians 4:2 says, "always be humble and gentle. be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love." Christians need to spend less time trying to impress others and aiming to be perfect. If we are spending our time focusing on the opinion of others, we are losing sight of the opinion that really should matter most. We need to start embracing our imperfections like the Japanese do with kintsukori pottery. Kintsukori means, "to repair with gold". Let your imperfections be filled with God's golden love and see yourself the way he does.

Perfect.