Saturday, October 15, 2011

day 15 {church}

Ephesians 4: 16
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts to grow, so that the whole body is health and growing and full of love.


church is a touchy subject for me.

I can say that one of the worst times in my life had to do with a church.


so as I state again, church is a touchy subject for me.

before sonny and I got married we went to three different churches. we went with our parents to one, I was a leader at one, and then we went on sunday mornings to one.
it was exhausting.

after we got married we decided that since I wasn’t a leader at one, the drive to the other was a bit ridiculous, and the other one was our parents church and not ours, that we needed to find a church of our own. one to call home.


it scared the crap out of me.


the last time I had become a ‘member’ of a church I got kicked out (to make a really long story short). the last time I had become a member of a church, and got involved, it ended up turning on me and broke my heart.

we found our selves at a little church right down the street from our house, beachside.

for those of you who don’t live near me and understand, beach side has always been spoken like “beachside” (like a surfer dude), things tend to go a big slower over here near the beach, maybe a little bit more laid back.


so when we showed up sunday morning in their small sanctuary (compared to the movie theater we were in, and the giant sanctuary at another), we were overwhelmed.

it was simple.

people wanted to know our names and what our story was. the pastor gave an incredible sermon about loving others, and for the first time a huge weight lifted off our shoulders.

after a couple of months we started to call it our church.

and then one sunday morning the youth pastor got up and started to talk how we as a church needed to get involved.

my heart was pounding.

God was screaming at me to get involved.

screaming.

of course I waited as long as I could because that’s what we do. God calls, and we wait to do it when we want to.

within two weeks of sending my first email I found myself there one wednesday night for youth group. I had no idea who anyone was. I walked in praying that the next two hours would fly bye. I prayed that it wouldn’t be as totally awkward as I imagined. because, like I said before, I had always been the leader or the one at the top of the group. this whole being the ‘new girl’ was totally foreign to me.

was that night awkward? yep. but did I meet some really amazing people? absolutely.

it’s been a couple weeks now and I can’t even begin to try and tell you how happy I am. I’m still the new girl, and learning the ropes, but I’m greeted by hugs when I walk in and starting to get most of the kids names down.

and in the last three days I’ve helped lead 4 girls to Christ.

(a post about my last three days coming soon)

this is a church. we fit together perfectly, as one body working together. there isn’t separation with the youth and the adults. sometimes it’s hard to pick out which ones are kids and which ones are adults ;)
there are parts that are growing. there are parts that are helping that growth. it’s a family. it’s a real church.

and it’s so full of love, it’s flowing out of the doors.

finding a new church is tough. especially when you’ve gone through some terrible times at a different one.

but this is my new church and it’s amazing.

DSC_4565

3 comments:

Suze said...

I'm so glad you found somewhere you feel you fit spiritually.

I totally feel ya- it's difficult. It's amazing that you're getting involved too! What a great and inspiring story.

Annie said...

that's awesome, Meg. i'm so glad you've found a church that truly embodies community!

Steph said...

I have a feeling that if we lived in the same city we'd have to go to coffee because we have too much we could discuss!

I'm so excited for you. I just recently started going somewhere new even though it bucks where I was for 26 years. And it IS scary, but it's good, oh-so-good to finally reach that point. Keep us up to date!

 
site design by designer blogs