WBC, Frustration and Grace.

I was reading through some Huffington Post articles today and I came across 'Westboro Baptists Will Picket Paul Walker's Funeral' and my heart instantly broke into a million pieces.. And then I got frustrated. Yes, yes, I know, I shouldn't lost my temper with these articles and headlines but it just gets to me. It gets to me because I have this amazing God who has revealed Himself to me over the past 4 years and I have fallen more and more in love with Him. It's been a crazy ride - and I haven't always stuck to his path - but it's been worth it. I've grown into a girl who understands where my beauty comes from: Him. I am accepted and loved by Him, and it's all that matters. I have relationships with true friends who walk with Christ and strive to be like Christ with me, making the journey that much easier.
This God that I've come to know, doesn't seem to be the same one that they've begun to follow.
A few minutes before that I had read an article (and shared it on my Facebook page) called 'What People Are Really Thinking When They Invite You To Church' and this article struck me with a quote that embodied my walk with Christ completely.  

The people that invite you to church are just like that friend that insists that you try the new Puerto Rican restaurant downtown, they have experienced something amazing and they want it for you too. It's like that, but on almighty steroids. When a friend or a kindly stranger, a relative or a playgroup parent, says "Hey, why don't you come to church with me on Sunday?" what they mean is "I love you so much, I cannot describe what I know you can get from this because I can't even put into words what it has done for me." We understand that when you live in a world of sneaky advertising and suspicious sales scams, this sounds like just another one. But, it isn't.

The fall semester of my 8th grade year, an amazing Wyldlife leader, Aarika Stanton, invited me to go to 608 at Southland. Although I don't call Southland my home church anymore, I encountered a young, Christian community that was running towards the cross with me. A first in my life. 
I think that's why I am so frustrated with WBC and the image they have. They condemn the world. They push their views on the world in pickets and protests of funerals. I've learned that my Father pushes me and asks me to just love them. Relentlessly; just like He's loved me. I've battled against a Satan who knows my name but calls me by my sin. A Satan who condemns and hates and attempts to keep me surrounded in my sin. The God I know, the all-knowing, all-powerful God I've decided to follow, knows my sin but chooses to call me BY NAME. I have walked away from Him, turned against His path laid out for me and chosen to try life on my own, and all of them left me empty. Yet, when I realize I need Him and His help, He welcomes me back into His arms openly. Again and again. No questions asked. 
He's got abundant grace just waiting for us. How amazing is that?
Xoxo, Ash