Our New Community

I don’t always do community well. Especially Christian community. But in our move I knew we would need relationships. I would need relationships. But those don’t happen quickly for me. And since our move is somewhat temporary (1-3 years), I really didn’t know how I’d go about finding community, or at least finding it before it was time for us to leave! But God is gracious. He knew exactly what I’d need. In fact, He had already put together a group of laid-back, spiritually mature men and women for us to connect with in a home group through our church.

We’ve been in a lot of small groups through the years. Some good. Some . . . not so good. But never–never–in our past have I connected so quickly and so deeply with an entire group of people as I have with these. We all have different stories. Some of us have relocated; some have been here decades. Some are married; some are single–whether widowed, divorced or never married; some have been Christians their whole lives; some came to faith as adults. And yet God has woven us together, men and women, with a couple of overlapping characteristics: we all love to read and we all want to live closer to Jesus. And because we have all been moving toward that walk with Jesus for many years now, an abundance of grace characterizes our interactions with one another. Honestly, this community is a gift I didn’t expect to find, but how grateful I am for the Lord’s provision!