Reconciled is the blog of Matt Smith, which is me. I refuse to write in the 3rd person. Reconciled is for Christians. Specifically it’s for those who have been hurt, confused, or both along the way. I’m definitely one of those people; on both accounts.

I was raised in Church. I don’t remember ever not going to church. Well, except for that time we skipped as a family to go to the beach. My dad’s truck broke down and we didn’t do that again. Later in life the things I was taught didn’t seem to fit the world I was seeing. I decided to take matters into my own hands which didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked. Insert, “I started partying” testimony here.

What led me back to God was something that surprises me to this day. It was simply grace. I’m still shocked by that. I was hanging a shirt up in my closet and I felt Jesus speaking to me. All He said was, “Let me forgive you.” I did and He’s done the rest. For the first time in my life I have felt peace and clarity.

Though so many of us have seen and felt otherwise, there is clarity and peace to be found in Christ. As one who has done a lot of searching, both within my soul and without, I can assure you that the answers are to be found in Christ.

I’m afraid that there are a lot of us out there who have been led away from the church by people with good intentions who maybe just didn’t know how to articulate what they knew to be true. Maybe what we were taught our entire life just didn’t line up with the world that we became acquainted with after youth group.

So many of us believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, but we just don’t know what that really looks like in the world we experience. The thing is that it looks like all things to all people. There is no one particular way to serve God, know God, and love God.

We are all created uniquely for God and by God. The way we process the world, a process which seems to drive us away from God, is actually a God-given gift. We’re not supposed to see it all the same. Who we are is a unique expression of who God is. Without you, the world will never see that side of God which He created you to express.

While so much in the world has changed, and how we view the world is different than in generations past, one thing has remained constant; there is a God who desires to know you, and who is seeking you to give the peace and clarity you desire. The truth of God’s Word has not changed, and it may be more loving than you remember.