​Sip the Tea and Find the Truth

​Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. You’re in a moment of true, gut-wrenching agony, the kind that makes your flesh scream, and you cry out to God. Maybe you use foul language. Maybe you lash out in desperation. And then, the fear settles in: Did I just block my own prayer? Did I just block my blessings? Will other believers judge me for not being reserved enough?

​The tea we’re spilling today is simple, but powerful: The Christian community must stop confusing a rule of etiquette with the reality of human suffering.

​The Flesh Does Not Keep Silent

​We are not disembodied spirits; we are a holistic creation of God. Our emotions and senses are inseparable. When the soul is in agony, the flesh testifies, it cries, it shakes, and yes, sometimes it curses.

​To expect perfect composure in the face of profound pain is to deny the very human reality Jesus shared. Jesus knew agony. His prayer in Gethsemane wasn’t a reserved, polite request; it was an authentic, desperate plea that recognized the crushing weight of His human experience. If we want to be “edified by our suffering” (to find meaning and purpose in it), we must first be allowed to express the full, raw reality of that pain.

​The Scarred Flesh: Why Healing Isn’t Forgetting

​For those who started life from a broken place and saw darkness, suffering is not a pain that is easily erased. When a broken person heals, their flesh (the body’s physical and emotional memory) can’t and doesn’t want to forget what it has been through.

​Healing is not amnesia. It is the integration of the memory of suffering into our identity. The scar remains, but the wound is closed.

​As followers of Christ, our job in this walk is to learn how to let Jesus heal us. We seek refuge and guidance from the people who have experienced this or are caring for this kind of pain, just as Jesus did.

​He didn’t grow up in suffering. He had loving parents and a structured childhood, filled with agape love. The Bible tells us that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Yet, He came to heal those who did suffer, not with judgment or condemnation, but with profound empathy.

​Sanctuary Beyond the Walls: Home, Heart, and Life

​When a Christian or a community leader looks at a suffering person’s raw reaction and sees only a violation of a code of conduct, they are shutting the door to the sanctuary. They are prioritizing a man-made rule over God-given empathy.

​But the sanctuary is bigger than the building. The call to compassion must permeate:

• ​The Home: Providing safety and patience where raw emotional reality is met with unconditional love.
• ​The Heart: Opening our personal lives to be a safe, non-judgmental space, honoring the wisdom of the scarred flesh.
• ​The Life: Extending grace into friendships, workplaces, and all social interactions, mirroring Christ’s radical compassion.

​The true tea is this: The Lord meets us in our messy reality. The Christian community is meant to be a hospital for the broken, where the raw expression of our agony is not met with judgment, but with the comfort and quiet love of God.

​Allow your home, your heart, and your life to be their sanctuary. That’s the truth we need to sip today.