“Listen to this cool A.I. song.”

“Isn’t this A.I. video so funny?”

A.I. is everywhere. Practically unavoidable. I am stunned, sometimes, at how quick we have been to adapt to using it in everyday life. And while companies and creators are quick to assure us all that A.I. is just a tool, and that it enhances our work, and that we can use it to become more productive and optimize our time, there is an obvious con.

It is stealing our creativity.

And I am terrified to think of the day that authors are no longer relying on their own minds and the stories they have built there, but rather they use this supposedly all-knowing crutch called Artificial Intelligence. Because why use your own mind when you could simply ask something else to do it for you?

But the more we use A.I., the more we are taking away from the real, human artists who use their own faculties and talents.

I myself have had multiple discussions lately about writers and making a living off of writing. So many people’s immediate reaction is, “But isn’t A.I. taking control of that market? That doesn’t seem like a very secure career.”

And it isn’t. Nothing artistic is. Because that’s what A.I. does. It “creates,” but it is such a cruel replica of actual creation – the reason we as humans even have the desire to create is because we are created, and we are infused with the creative essence of our Creator. That is the spirit given to us. Through music, writing, and even our own biological ability to reproduce, we have the ability to imitate the One who made us.

Doesn’t it make perfect sense when people say that a society is defined by the art it creates? And how sad would it be then, if the art was no longer even human? If we surrendered our ability to create to a mere machine?

Even the internet defines art as a human application of emotional expression.1

Because A.I. will never know what it is like to wake up thirty minutes early to get in a writing session. A.I. will never know what it is like to stare at a blank screen, with worlds and stories and characters moving and evolving behind your eyes and struggling to know how to get it all down just right. A.I. will never see the words The End on its finished manuscript and hold back tears. A.I. will never stay up late into the wee hours of the morning as words flow down onto the paper, even as its eyes sting and beg for sleep. A.I. will never have to push through a writing slump. A.I. will never look back at the writing it did two years ago and think to itself, “I’ve grown so much since then.”

A.I. will never be able to capture the human experience.

Even a five-year-old’s indecipherable scribbles are more precious than the most educated, well-worded essay A.I. has ever written. Because it came from the will of that little person. It came from the heart, the desire to create.

Just yesterday, Paris Paloma released a song in retaliation of A.I. and its threat to human artists. It is named Miyazaki, after the co-founder of Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki, who has boldly declared that A.I. is the greatest offense to humanity, and that he will never use it any capacity for his animations – his work will only ever be his.

Throughout the Miyazaki music video, Paris is chased by this shadowed, flailing Being that is almost human, but not quite – a representation of A.I. And just when it thinks it has her cornered, she uses her power to start a fire, and then faces the Thing with a smile. As she sweats and pants, her face streaked with dirt, she smiles and sings in its face, saying that it will never take away her creativity. She shows her humanity in all its imperfection.

But that creature wouldn’t dare.

It could never make something so beautiful as she does. It didn’t see the hours of practice and concentration, the way this gift is woven inside of her, deeper than it will ever know.

This gift, this drive, this power that comes from the core of the human spirit, is something that no machine, no matter how intelligent, will ever have or achieve.

So no, I won’t step back and let A.I. “take” my job, my art. Because it can’t.

Art belongs to humans and humans alone.

It belongs to the created, because of He who created first.

Of course, God is the God of the Incredible. He has worked countless wonders, and is present in all of them, from the supernatural healings to the natural phenomena.

But sometimes we tend to get so caught up in these stories of wonder and power that we forget the miracles in everyday life, right in front of us.

The way sunlight shines through flower petals. The artistic palette of a sunset. The vibrant green of a field in spring. The sound of birds chirping back and forth. The way the air smells after a long rain. A patch of tiny wildflowers.

All of these little glimpses of the divine are right in front of us, and in some ways, say more about God than even the biggest miracles ever could. Those little things, the things we bypass because they’re so ordinary, are ways that God speaks to us. Small bursts of joy in a world so full of heaviness and artificial happiness.

1 Kings 19:11-12 is a perfect example of this that brings tears to my eyes every time.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

So in a world of technology and fake remedies for the ache we feel inside, fill that ache with what it is actually aching for — the divine. The beautiful. Take life slow and begin to appreciate the things that bring you peace and clarity.

The small things.

But here’s the thing that I refused to acknowledge - God gave us negative emotions, and He gave them to us for a reason. Every emotion is there to serve a purpose, to tell us something. We shouldn’t let ourselves be controlled by our emotions, of course, but that doesn’t make them meaningless or bad. Quite the opposite, actually. Because emotions are part of what make us human.

An easy example of this is that for the longest time, I didn’t want to listen to Christian music - because it would speak to the hurt I was feeling (or that I had suppressed for ages) and I would want to cry. But I wanted to continue to keep the hurt suppressed, so I chose to listen to rap or hard rock that would drown all of that out. It made me feel powerful, instead of crippled like the negative emotions did.

It took many church sermons, theology classes, and breakthroughs to realize that feeling isn’t bad…at all. But this isn’t what we’ve been taught. So much of the time we spend looking at screens is because we don’t want to deal with a certain thing or feel a certain emotion. We do it to escape. We run from our emotions because they make us feel out of control.

But God made us to be able to feel. That’s what separates us humans from the rest of creation - we can think, feel, deliberate. Yet I stayed away from Christian music because I would relate, and the tears would rise, and I would feel weak and just gross inside because society had told me that crying is lame and won’t fix anything - just drown it out with a YouTube video, or an empowering song, or texting your friends.

We’re scared to death of being alone with our thoughts, our emotions.

We’re scared to death of being human.

Because of this, I’ve challenged myself to listen to the Christian music that makes me feel. To allow myself a few moments when I feel overwhelmed to work through everything instead of running to a device or book. If I need to cry, I’m going to let myself cry, instead of alienating myself from my human nature. It’s a blessing to be able to feel, to process the negative emotions, so why should I run from it? Because that - the running - is what’s going to have a negative effect on me. Suppressing the emotions and drowning myself in something else is the most detrimental thing I could do. So, if I’m going to work toward being able to master my emotions, the only way through is to first, well, go through. The only way you can learn to master something is by first knowing it and experiencing it.

All of that being said, I invite you, friend, to allow yourself to feel. To allow yourself to work through the stress, the anger, the sadness, the grief, because God made you to feel. He knows that this world is contorting those feelings into things that it shouldn’t be. But if you allow yourself to just be human, He will walk with you through that. Through every bit of brokenness and sorrow. It can feel nasty sometimes - I get it. It isn’t exactly fun to get into the nitty gritty of life, who we are, and what’s going on inside of us.

Yet I speak from experience when I say that not allowing yourself to work through things and feel all the feels associated with a certain experience is not the way to cope. It may seem like the right way to make it through at the time, but don’t turn yourself into a numb machine - you’re made for so much more. As humans, made in the image and likeness of God, we’re made to ride the waves of emotions. It’s natural, after all. And isn’t that life? The ups and downs and in-betweens? It isn’t linear by any means, but neither are we.

And that’s okay.

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If there’s anything that Let’s Be Honest is going to be, it’s gut honest. Hence the name 😉

Let’s be honest - being a Christian in our day and age is hard, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But I don’t want to shy away from it anymore. I’m ready to start working through what’s holding me back and reaching for the light again. And I’ve realized that that requires openness. Honesty.

I’ve never been good about being honest, and telling the truth about my relationship with God is no exception - it’s hard to be honest. Especially when you’ve realized that your relationship with God is about as stable as Jell-O.

But you know what?

I’ve realized that this doesn’t have to be my future. God’s grace can be made perfect in my weakness! He has already made a way, so there is hope. So instead of running away, instead of acting like nothing is wrong, I’ve decided to work through it and learn how to live joyfully in Christ again.

It’s going to be a long road full of twists and turns. That much I know.

But I also know that I’m made for so much more than doubt, fear, anxiety, and all the other demons I’ve faced.

I’m made for God. Made for His peace and love. And so are you.

That’s why Let’s Be Honest exists. To be a judgement-free, honest place for the Christians seeking honesty and revival in their lives. To be a community for those who feel stuck and don’t know where to begin, who want to seek Him first, who have been living in the darkness and lies but want to break free - and start living in the truth. That’s why every post on this blog is going to be honest, but also uplifting and full of hope.

So, long story short, I’m a Christian fighting to break out of the cycle of mediocrity and distrust by discovering God all over again. And I want to bring you along with me ❤️I can’t promise that I have all the answers. I can’t promise that I even remotely know what I’m doing on this journey. But I do know that I want to have a relationship with God again - I want to trust Him and learn to accept His love again. And I want that for you, too.

So let’s be honest.