Finally Here

Beef and I joined our church this past Sunday. We have been attending there with Scamp for over a year and a half. It's one of the largest churches in our town, but we have found a small group to help us feel at home, our Sunday School class. Our last church split, and boy, was that devastating. This was a first for me. I knew God had brought me to that church to grow spiritually. I really didn't know about loving God for who He truly is until I started attending the College and Career Thursday night Bible study. Yes, I had been saved, but my view of God was so wrong. I thought of Him more as a distant father who punished my every mistake than as a Dad who cares for me unconditionally while disciplining me with love. I found a Friend in Him and in those in my bible study.

God has slowly allowed us to heal, and we are gradually letting others from our church into our lives. We still meet almost every Thursday with our old group, but just more for hanging out and supporting each other than study. I wouldn't have been able to bear the changes without them. Most of them attend a different church than we do, but we sometimes socialize with their Sunday School class.

It's still hard because I don't want to replace our Thursday night fellowship with new friends. I think somehow God will alllow us to continue to do both. We have been able to so far with joy, and I feel as though our Thursday group will be bound for life.

I am so ready to begin serving again. I was deeply hurt through the split and felt guilt over it myself. I was committted to a group of people, I thought, for the long haul, but through imperfections and selfishness, was quite disappointed. God can heal in ways that I will never be able to imagine, and my husband and I along with our dear friends will find hope in serving Him again. Many have already.

I have a passion for God's work more than any other type of career even though I have a degree in something else. I know the greatest blessings come from God and the most important things in life belong to Him. I pray that God will open doors for my husband and I to serve in our new church home. We have already been greatly blessed by several in our church and hope that we could do the same. God will open doors, and we will see Him work like we've never seen Him before. That is my hope.