The refrain offers us these powerful words: Please take a moment to watch and listen to this music video. My friend said, вЂњBrian, either this singer has been attending your retreats, or you wrote the song for him.вЂќ Of course, neither of those things happened, but the Holy Spirit did give us both the same message to share. You can click the link to find it on Apple music. The name of that song is TRUTH BE TOLD by Christian singer Matthew West. When we share our trials with others, the focus turns to our dependence on God and in doing so, we bring glory to Him, and encouragement to others.ДЇollowing last weekвЂ™s message, a good friend of mine shared a song with me. When we are isolated by pain and suffering, we turn inward on ourselves. As I pointed out last week in my article, Are You Hurting In Silence, our pains and struggles can isolate us from one another. Trials and sufferings highlight our utter dependence on God and sometimes on other members of the body of Christ. When we share our struggles, we are bearing our soul, and when we do, the words of comfort that others share with us can sooth our soul and in turn theirs too.

It has been said that when we open our mouth, we are also opening our heart. In the end, it is easier to pretend as if nothing is wrong. We fear being judged, or weвЂ™re afraid that the other person wonвЂ™t care. Finally, there are times when we say, вЂњIвЂ™m fine,вЂќ because we are too afraid to tell someone how we are really feeling. This stems from the second lie, which told us we were the only ones with problems. Yet another reason to say, вЂњIвЂ™m fine,вЂќ is because we fear being vulnerable. Other times we say вЂњIвЂ™m fine,вЂќ because we donвЂ™t want to bother the other person with our problems. The reality is that clinical studies show that talking about our problems helps to relieve the stress of pretending they donвЂ™t exist. Sometimes we respond with the words вЂњIвЂ™m fine,вЂќ simply because our real answer is too complex, and we prefer to avoid a conversation about it. We need to stop saying вЂњIвЂ™m fineвЂќ when weвЂ™re not. How often do you say the words, вЂњIвЂ™m fineвЂќ? I suspect nearly every day. It has been said that it is better to be honest and authentic, even if we disappoint others, than to exhaust ourselves trying to keep up a facade of perfection. вЂњBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.вЂќ

Take a look at what Paul says about this in 2 Corinthians 1: 3-8. When the truth is told and we let others know when we are facing difficult times, not only does our sharing help us, but it helps them too. Please read moreвЂ¦Д«y GodвЂ™s design, we are called to be a communal people. In many respects, todayвЂ™s message is a sequel to last weekвЂ™s but with a twist. Our response to this lie is to keep our messes behind closed doors. The second lie tells us everybodyвЂ™s life is perfect except mine. In response to this lie, anytime someone asks us how we are doing we often say, вЂњIвЂ™m fineвЂќ. The first lie tells us that we are supposed to have our act altogether.

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