Our community just had a potluck to reconnect from the summer and send off a couple to Colorado for seminary. One of the reasons she told us that they were able to take this step was because we were willing to take a step of obedience. We are thankful that our process helped someone else in their process.
The husband knew Brian from way back in high school and we connected a few years back at church-just a God thing. We got to hear their story and have some fellowship and prayer times with them during our old Tuesday night prayer group. But it’s been awhile. Obviously we were gone a year, and in the 9 months or so that we have been back, we’ve really only visited at church a couple of times. Yet as we got together to pray and send them off, he made mentioned of those times in prayer. He appreciated the prayer time and the family that we were. I was just struck by how awesome God is-how cool the family of God can be. Such a few times together-yet the bond of prayer and sharing life in that short, HONEST time with each other-we’re family still, months and years later, with even such a small amount of contact. There is sooo much power in prayer, in community, in fellowship with the body of believers when we are free to be who we are. No trying to be perfect, no trying to put on a happy face. REAL people living their REAL lives, together, as fellow believers in Christ. I believe it is what God intended church to be (it was what it was originally). We are the ones who created the traditions to isolate and divide us. Can you imagine what church would be like if prayer was the tradition? One thing is it would probably be a lot less people, but a lot more people focused on being obedient to Christ.