"I'm too broken right now. Once I heal and get my life together, then I can make real friends."
How it sounds in your head: You're a mess. Your mental health is unstable. Your life is chaotic. Who wants to sign up for that? You need to fix yourself first, get stable, THEN you can be the kind of friend someone would actually want.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
-- Matthew 11:28Religious performance lie that you must clean up before you can receive love or community.
You're in therapy. You're on medication. You cancel plans because you can't get out of bed. You don't want to burden anyone with your reality, so you isolate until you're 'better.' But better never comes.
She was ceremonially unclean for 12 YEARS, broke, desperate, and suffering. She didn't wait to be clean to approach Jesus. She came UNCLEAN, touched Him in the crowd, and was INSTANTLY healed—'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.'
I REFUSE the lie that I'm too broken for friendship right now. IT IS WRITTEN: 'Come to Me, all you who are heavy laden'—I don't have to be healed to come. I come AS I AM. My Father doesn't wait for me to be whole to love me. IT IS WRITTEN in Romans 5:8 that while I was STILL a sinner, Christ died for me. I don't earn community through healing. I receive community IN my healing. The BARAK blessing doesn't require me to be stable first. I receive covenant friendships NOW, mess and all.
The Father doesn't wait for you to clean up—He RUNS toward you in the mess with exactly what you need. Like the prodigal covered in pig waste, you don't shower before the embrace; you're embraced INTO wholeness, not after.