Invitation: Calling All Imperfect Women

Bringing my perfection to the world does absolutely nothing for anyone. Bringing my imperfection, that’s redeemed by loving a God, gives incredible hope.

– Michele Cushatt

Wow. It just hit me. I almost couldn’t focus on my driving. I had my five-year-old in the back of the van, and we were on our way to buy her some new ballet shoes. I just happened to have the radio on, which was playing a broadcast from Focus on the Family.

This lady who spoke of her unexpected suffering – being “undone” as she called it – described, with uttermost accuracy, the very lesson God has been pounding on my heart for the last two years. 

Stop trying to bring your perfection, or even your “goodness,” to the world.

Embrace the imperfection, and seek ME in midst of every imperfection. Experience the truth of “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” In the process, you will bring real hope – the hope that’s only found in Me – to the world.

This is it. This is what I’m called to do: to share this truth to the world, using my own personal experiences. I have this inner longing, this “I can’t hold it back at all” feeling that I’ve not known before. This moment I encountered in the van was what brought me back to yet another attempt at blogging (grin).

This was a life lesson God has been whispering to my heart long before my own “undone” moment came. I mean, just look at what I decided to name this blog when I first began in 2012. Smashing Sandcastle: Imperfect Life of a Perfectionist. Yet, it wasn’t until my “undone” moment happened that I was forced to experience this truth. What I, and I believe Michele, mean by “undone” is this: when your perfect (or seemingly perfect) world is shattered unexpectedly and you are stripped of any false security or your own efforts that you were hanging onto, perhaps even unknowingly. The moment when there’s nothing left in yourself, and the only choice before you is either to be engulfed by utter despair…OR to seek God, more desperately than ever before, and reach out just to touch the edge of His garment for healing. Some of you may know what I’m talking about, and some of you may not. Either way, I hope you will join me on this journey!

Ladies, we are bombarded by the appearances of “happy” and “perfect.”

My friend’s family pictures on Facebook…they look like they came out of a magazine. Wow, look at what their kids can do. My kids have never said anything that sweet to me. Oh look, another display of what her perfect husband did for her…for no reason at all. And what…they are having another baby?

Oh, and let’s not even mention Pinterest.

She made WHAT for her son’s birthday party? How in the world does she have time to be a wife and a mom, make healthy meals from scratch, sew a costume, and still look that good?

I know I’m not the only one who’s had these thoughts!

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to share happy posts…I share them all the time. It’s in our nature that we desire to share our happiness, express ourselves, and be recognized. We want to share about our adventures, our talents, our families, and our accomplishments with the world. Many of us even desire to share God’s goodness through our happy posts.

I come back to the point, though, that we are bombarded by happy posts in the world of social media. More often than not, despite the good intentions of those posting, these happy posts leave some people feeling like they’re lacking. They often feel that their life should be just as happy and perfect, but they are hit with the reality that it’s not. In midst of all the “perfection” displayed in social media, they don’t feel they have anything to share, because their life is the opposite of perfect. I know of a few friends who have gotten off Facebook, because it was too difficult for them to see all the happy family posts, when their own family life was in such turmoil. 

Again, I don’t believe happy posts are wrong. My point is, this blog will not be a place that is filled with “look how happy my life is” kind of posts.  This will be a place that shares the messiness, the imperfection, and even the unhappiness of life. But it will NOT be a place to just rant and soak in self-pity.

This will be a place…where, in midst of our struggles and mess, we find meaning, courage, peace, hope, and even joy, by seeking God’s presence. I am confident that Michele’s book Undone will help us to do so on this journey. This will be a place where we share how this truth looks like in day-to-day life. 

Just look at the Bible. God’s glory, goodness, and grace revealed through imperfect people making mistakes…big mistakes. God always met them in their mess. If the Bible had its own Facebook account, it will be filled with posts of messiness, imperfection, and weakness that are redeemed by encountering the presence of God.

So if you’re in the wilderness, if you have been thrown a curveball, if you unexpectedly found yourself being “undone,” if your life is so imperfect it’s not even funny – you have come to the right place. You will feel right at home.

Here is my plan. We will go through the book Undone by Michele Cushatt, one to two chapters a week (they are short chapters; it should only take a few minutes a week to read). I will share more details on the next post. For now, I want to give you a heads up that I will be starting this soon. Also, I want to give you a head start in purchasing her book, which you can do here. Buying the book is not required to participate in the online discussions; you can follow along and participate as I write about each chapter in this blog. However, I do highly recommended that you read the book with us.

I hope that you will share with other women in your life and bring more people to share in this messy yet transforming adventure!

Let’s bring God’s lasting hope to the world by sharing not our own perfections, but our imperfections that are redeemed by loving God and seeking His presence. I’m so excited! 

*If you would like to listen to the Focus on the Family broadcast, you can get to it here. Michele gives a preview of what her book is about.

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