Community

     It has been a while since I have written, I think that is for many reasons, the most important being that I did not feel as though I had a peace from the Lord about what to share.  This week has been pretty tough, I have been sick (walking pneumonia, but I am on the upswing) and Lynnlee Jade has officially gone mobile so she stops for no one! With my down time I have had wonderful opportunities to share in some meaningful conversations with some wonderful friends.  The topic of conversation has consistently been the need for one another and the community we desire.  This past week at church the sermon was on Philippians and Paul's letter to the church.  Paul expresses his deep affection for the people of the church and even goes as far as to say he longs for them with the affection of Jesus.  I was profoundly impacted by the intensity of those words.  I remember when Travis and I were dating, I was in college in Jackson and he was working in Hohenwald.  We would write letters, e-mails, and call often telling the each other how we longed for one another.  I missed him with a physical ache on more than one occasion.  That is what those words conjured up in my heart, Paul yearned for the church of Phillipi.  He missed them dearly.  What bond tethered him to that particular body of believers above all others?  According to the rest of the scripture it was a mutual love and longing for the furtherance of the Gospel and the love of Jesus.  They were putting "first things first".  According to Jesus the greatest command is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, and then to love one another.  That sounds so simple, yet it's impact is profound!  I pray that I would be involved in a community of believers that is living out that principle.  I pray that I could link arms, and hearts, with other brothers and sisters in Christ and love each other and others in that way.  Ministering to the needs of unbelievers and loving them to Jesus must be the outcry of our churches today!  So what does that practically look like in my life?  It means not hiding in the congregation on Sunday mornings and slipping in and out unchanged and unnoticed.  It means bringing the messiness that is my life and getting messy with others.  It means looking for opportunities to give to a community of believers and not simply to take from them what I feel I need.  It means bringing my authentic self, the woman God created me to be, with all of my flaws, imperfections, gifts, and skills and saying "Show me where you need me".  Jesus' love is irresistible, it is fulfilling, it is worth sharing and living this life out of the overflow of that love.... with courage, conviction, and passion for the sharing in this journey with others.

Sequoia trees

     In the past few weeks I have gotten the opportunity to visit with several friends that were/are going through some very difficult trials in their lives.  Some losing a child/children, some marital discord, some financial worries, and many other situations.  I am certainly no stranger to trials in my own life and I feel so honored to be able to share the burden with some wonderful women.  During these times I continue to hear a common theme throughout the conversation; that it is so powerful to have believers to walk alongside you during your hard, dark, lonely times.  Through these relationships I have experienced the love of God through His daughters in a powerful way.  In the midst of pain and suffering He created us to lean on one another, to strengthen, to hold each other up.  The Lord intended us to walk with each other through these hardships, to hold hands and hearts, to encourage one another in His hope and mercy. 
     While I was spending time with the Lord this morning I was reading in "The Love Dare" and the author used the illustration of sequoia trees.  He said that the sequoia tree can withstand strong winds, floods, and even fires because they are one of the only species of tree that interlocks roots with one another.  This illustration made my heart swell with joy and love for the women in my life who have allowed me to "interlock roots" with them, it is by this sharing of life with each other that the Lord has ministered in abundance to me.  "Where two or more are gathered..." this is the way God intended us to love each other.

this is an image of the sequoia trees, may we be willing to interlock roots with one another with the Word of the Lord as our common bond.