We are often perfectly willing to privately confess our sins to God because we know He already sees everything, and, frankly, because He is invisible. It feels safe. But confessing our faults, our ugly thoughts, and our failures to another human being? That terrifies us. We fear judgment. We fear rejection. We fear that if people know the truth, they will look at us differently. Yet, James tells us that while forgiveness comes vertically from God, healing comes horizontally through community. When we take the terrifying leap of speaking our struggles out loud to a trusted friend or sponsor, the shame instantly loses its grip on our throats. We discover the incredibly freeing truth that we are not uniquely broken; we are just human. When someone looks at us after we have shared our darkest secrets and says, “Me too. I understand, and I still love you,” the deep healing begins. Community is God’s hospital, and confession connects us to the grace that flows through the people He has placed in our lives. | 
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