There’s a lot that goes into our relationship with God—there’s prayer, Bible study, church, fellowship, serving. The final step though, ironically, is more important than all of these steps. It is in fact the most important step. The final step in our walk with Christ is coming to terms with the fact that no matter how many steps we take, we will never be enough without Jesus.

I hate waking up earlier than I have to, and often times I’m too exhausted to spend time with God at night. Many mornings, I choose to fight for just a few more minutes of sleep instead of fighting for more time with my Savior. I’ll go through periods where I’m really good with it, but I struggle with consistency. I’ve never been able to fast longer than a few hours for God, but I had no problems fasting to be thin when I used to starve myself. I don’t give enough of my money or time to those that need it. I’m too often irritable, and I’m addicted to caffeine, which is the least of addictions I’ve struggled with in my lifetime. I’m flawed; I fall short daily. But you know what? God still wants to use me, and God wants to use you too. The truth is, God wanted to use me even when I was 50 times more flawed than I am today.

I never want to seem like I’m portraying myself to be someone I’m not. Just because I talk about God a lot doesn’t mean I’m a saint (or believe myself to be); I’m far from it. I strive daily to be faithful, but what I’ve found is that I’m nothing more than faithfully flawed.

God uses our mistakes. So often it’s our mistakes that lay the foundation for our testimonies. Without our imperfections we would have no need for a perfect Savior. Without a troubled past there would be no way for me to stand up in the present and say look how far God brought me!

It’s not easy to talk about my flaws, but that’s what God put on my heart to do. I can’t be perfect, but I can at least be obedient. The truth is, the flaws I listed don’t even scratch the surface, but rather, they cover the ones I’m comfortable sharing. My hope is that you don’t let your imperfections deter you from talking about God and more importantly, talking to Him. There have been times in my life I didn’t even want to look at God. I know what it’s like to be so ashamed of yourself you don’t think you’re worthy of being near Him. The truth is, we aren’t worthy; we will never be worthy, but God wants nothing more than to be close to us, flaws and all.

I hope you are inspired to take that final step in your walk if you haven’t already. I hope you refuse to let your flaws keep you from walking in your purpose or dwelling in the presence of God. I hope you choose to be open about your shortcomings—not necessarily on social media—but to other people in addition to God. When we stop trying to hide our flaws, we come to see that we are all way more alike than we ever will be different. We come to see that we all have struggles; we all fall short, and every step we take will lead us to the same destination—a desperate need for the love and mercy of Christ.