Speed Bumps by Noah Elias

"I had to find God on my own terms. I needed to understand who God was and my relationship with Him apart from my mom. Not through the filter of what my mom thinks, or church thinks. I wondered if it was possible to have a relationship with God without anybody else as the in-between? I wanted to have that intimacy and that relationship with God, but whenever I went to God, I would always feel guilt and shame. If God is love then why did I feel so bad? Again, the measuring stick was out of my hands. I was living how others told me I should. I knew that I needed to stop listening to the other voices and just be in tune with what God was speaking to my heart."