“Chasing genuine is about chasing holiness. Chasing genuine is about being real, being honest. We are all part of the Great Masquerade, acting as if we have it all together. But let’s be honest: we don’t. And that is okay. It’s no secret that we live in a fallen world where everything is broken. So let’s quit hiding behind our masks and be real with one another. Let us chase genuine, for this is where true living begins.” – Kara Holmes
I grew up the youngest of two other siblings. One brother and one sister. My sister, being six years older, has always had a unique impact on my life. Throughout the years, I have seen her walk with God and benefited from her wisdom and love for the Lord! She has inspired me, encouraged me, and modeled for me what it means to love Jesus with reckless abandon. I am thrilled to share with you that she has started a website called “Chasing Genuine,” and you can also benefit from her heart!

Kara is a trained Christian counselor and sees life through the lens of Scripture. She writes about hard topics of the heart and points you back to Jesus and the power of the gospel. She recently began writing a series on betrayal – a struggle we hide in the depths of our heart. As a counselor and sister in Christ, Kara walks through what the Bible says about betrayal. If you have been affected by this in some way in your life, I urge you to read through this series and follow along as she guides us through the truth to freedom.

We are all chasing genuine – and we will keep chasing and running in circles until we have settled our hearts on loving the Lord and living for Him. Chasing genuine is about being vulnerable, honest, and real. Let’s chase the Lord and find our hope in Him. Below is her heart behind chasing genuine. I pray this blesses you in many ways!

When I was practicing counseling before our daughter was born, most of the clients I saw were actually in varying stages of grief. The reasons for their grief were as diverse as the people who came to see me, but the pursuit of healing and “normalcy” was a common thread uniting almost every case.

The reason for this is telling: we were created for something so much greater than the brokenness and pain that we experience in this world. In other words, it wasn’t supposed to be this way!

It all started in the beginning of time. The Master Craftsman, the Great Artist, the Creator God spoke into existence a creation so wonderful, so beautiful, that it reflected all that is glorious about Him. Functioning with perfect order and displaying His marvelous power, God’s creation was paradise. And it was good.

And the pinnacle of His creation? Us.

God formed humanity in His own image. While many theories exist around what exactly the imago Dei (the Image of God) means, the Genesis account helps us understand some immediate implications of being made in God’s image. One of those is that we were created to work (Gen. 2:15). Another is that we were created to rule over God’s creation (Gen. 1:26). And it was good.

But there is one aspect of the imago Dei that I would like to zero in on now. Genesis 2:18 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ ” In the midst of all the “good” God had created, He notes something that is not good, and this is before sin has entered the picture! Man needed a helper…man needed relationship. In other words, mankind was created for relationship, and even before the Fall, it was not good for man to be alone. So God creates the compliment of male – female – that she may be his partner and helper. And it was good.

We all know what happened next, though. Humanity rebelled, choosing to sin. God’s perfect creation, infected by the sin condition, fell apart. And now, on this side of the fall, our entire lives are spent clawing after and striving for the wholeness and perfection for which we were created. We all desperately want to be whole.

Brokenness. It is the human condition.

Everything that was perfect is now marred. Our relationship with God? Cursed. Our relationship with each other? Cursed. Our knowledge of and comfort with self? Cursed.

Chasing genuine was born out of my personal journey in a broken world. I have watched as sin has taken, taken, taken, breaking apart families, wrecking lives, destroying all that God intended for good. And I have seen that we all strive to be whole, to be known, to be genuine, but we can’t, because we are marred by sin. We can’t. At least not on our own.

But He can. God has made a way, in the great love story that is as old as time, God has been pursuing humanity and seeking to make us whole again, for our good and His glory. And He has made that way. Redemption is here, and it is available to all! We no longer have to be dead in our sins, living empty lives and walking as dead men. We can be restored. We can be made whole! Through Christ alone, who bore our guilt to the point of death, we can find redemption from sin (Romans 5:8).

Chasing genuine is about chasing holiness. Chasing genuine is about being real, being honest. We are all part of the Great Masquerade, acting as if we have it all together. But let’s be honest: we don’t. And that is okay. It’s no secret that we live in a fallen world where everything is broken. So let’s quit hiding behind our masks and be real with one another. Let us chase genuine, for this is where true living begins.

I would love for you to join me on this journey. We will explore life in all its ugliness and brokenness, and we will be honest. It may be painful at times, but it will be worth it. Why? Because we have hope. We will see God’s redemptive work in the midst of all the yuck, so that we are now able to chase genuine lives that lead to freedom in Him.

chasing genuine with you,

Kara