Always Standing

 When I was young I had dreams of standing for God through being a missionary. The idea of standing strong was so important to me that I lived my life by the verses in Ephesians 6 as my motto: "And after everything...to stand." 

As I grew older and broke away from the church I followed my entire life, I was afraid of falling since that is what I was told would happen. 

To my amazement, I am still standing. Just standing for different reasons. 

Now I choose to stand for: 

-Myself. I am not a broken person who needs to be saved and is going to Hell for just living life. And neither are you. 

-Those hurt by the church: I will say this with my whole self: You were never the problem, your environment was. 

-Women. Women are strong and incredible. Our purpose is not found in anyone or anything but living in the freedom of being ourselves. 

-LGBTQIA: Echoing my above statement. There was never anything wrong with you except the environment that told you that you weren't enough. 

-Those who have not been heard and who cannot stand for themselves. Enough said. 

I now stand as I always did, just not for you any longer, oh church.