There seems to be a difference of opinion between the he and she above.  Maybe they disagree over the choice of color to paint a wall or which restaurant to go to.  I would venture to say the little pic expresses an awful lot of what takes place between God's children far too often.

A friend once said "They loved us as long as we agreed with them"...  

So true, so true.  Our friend had once attended a church, and after seeing many things in the Scripture which did not agree with what was taught and practiced in that assembly, he was led to separate.  A short time later he returned for a visit, and sensed an invisible wall had been placed between he and his former brethren.  They were simply unable to reciprocate the love he tried to show them and he was saddened for them.  He was now an "outsider".

In our 24 years of church-life, we saw and experienced this phenomanom countless times as folks from our church group either left us for another or simply quit.  Although we knew it was wrong to hold even a little grudge or ill-will over our corporate rejection, we became pretty adept at masking our true feelings.   

Smiling and a friendly "how are ya?" (keep it shallow and simple now), make an effective outward show that can get you out of an awkward encounter.  After all those years of watching others come and go from our church, The Day of Reckoning had arrived for my wife and I.  We were now the "outsiders", "traitors", troublemakers, and whatever other labels came to mind. 

Although we had desired to leave quietly and peacefully, it was not to be so. 

Our situation was made more complicated by our daughter being in a relationship with one of the young men at our former assembly,  We were still OK with that untill some promises were broken and some rules violated.  This escalated into an emotional, family conflict -of-interest that we could not resolve, and so communcation between us and our former leadership was broken. Untill that happened, we had thought to stay in loose fellowship with them and to even visit church services on occasion.

Later we realized it was indeed Gods' Will for us to completely separate, as confirmed in many dreams and scripture itself, and He even exposed some more of our own hidden sin.  However it was painful and grievous to us to lose the personal relationships we once had with many.  God wanted us out of there. This was similar to the Biblical account of Joseph separating from his brethren, God having used the circumstances that outwardly were hurtful to bring about His Will for everyone involved.

As the Lord had given us the assignment of writing "The Tithe That Binds", and later this website, we found ourselves becoming something like "a voice in the wilderness" as we could not help but speak against the numerous unscriptural practices in Christendom, and call for repentence and a return to "the Faith once delivered".  When God shows you TRUTH, you want to shout it from the rooftops.  Of course, we quickly became "persona non-grata' in the local church scene as we began to write about the differences between the institutional Christianity around us versus what the Bible says.

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We now experienced the "blessing" (Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose) of being treated rudely, having a back or two turned on us by Christians, and catching sour-looking side glances.   

And as we have heard from numerous others, pastors who once stated love and care for congregants, to never be heard from again. 

The truth is that most of you who have either left church or are wrestling with the idea of doing so, will experience the contractions and pains of spiritual childbirth.  A baby being expelled from the mother's womb is a good analogy. 

We are blessed and amazed at the emails we get from folks like you who are leaving or have left "the system" and are finding Jesus in the wilderness.  God will heal the sorrows and the wounds.  -And how wonderful it is to have the Lord become your Shepherd, teacher, revelator, healer, and so much more as you learn to walk with HIM outside the manmade kingdoms within Christianity.

What about those we left behind?

Those who may have in turn hurt or spoken against us, pretended not to see us, given us the dirty looks?  I hope you are praying God opens their eyes also, and are praying BLESSING upon them as we are for those in our past. It is a vital part of walking in Christ's footsteps to bear no grudge, ill-will, or malice no matter what.  Jesus said we are to "bless and not to curse".

Forgiveness, mercy, and compassion are always to be sought after and practiced in the life of EVERY Christian, churched or not.  I might add that it is a spiritual lesson that EVERY Christian must go through and learn. 

Rejection may be an open door to malice and a root of bitterness if allowed,  (Heb. 12:14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest there be any man that falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;),

but "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;".

That is our Holy calling to follow. May God grant us His grace and power to do so.