Lessons Learned in the Light: Fellowship

The first half of the year, I did a blog series on the lessons I have learned in the dark. And while I do feel like I am still somewhat in the dark, the Lord has allowed a few beautiful rays of light to shine. The lessons I am learning are deep and hard, but immensely sweet (especially in hindsight :). For the remaining months of this year, I would like to focus on the lessons the Lord is teaching me in the light.

This lesson is about faithfulness. Not my faithfulness, because my faithfulness, I’m ashamed to say, is not always so steadfast, but the Lord’s faithfulness. He never fails nor does His Word. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). I discussed them some in one of my last posts, but I want to focus on in particular is God’s faithfulness to love and care for me through other people, namely the Body of Christ.

Over the past few weeks I have watched God love me through others in numerous ways. One of my closest friends and her husband took me on a hike to pray over me and encourage me through Scripture. My pastor’s wife and dear friend brought me lunch at work to talk with me about the things I had been struggling with. A prayer warrior from my church said she “felt” my burdens and has led others in my church to pray for me, even though I had not really expressed to her the turmoil I felt. And there have been others who has expressed concern for me and whom the Holy Spirit has led to pray for me.

This is the gift of being part of the body of Christ expressed through a local church. Since I don’t tend to stay in one place for long, I had the mindset of not going deeper with people, not setting down roots, but, oh, how I have missed out because of that! I heard one missionary say that he learned to go deep quickly with people because he knew his time with them was short, which is exactly the opposite of what I was doing. Yes, saying goodbye is hard, but the sweetness of deep, Christ-centered fellowship is worth it. The Lord has allowed me to be part of a small congregation in which I see the Book of Acts come to life. My church family really does care about each other and prays for each other and desires to be together. This is especially expressed through my small group where we gather every other week to study God’s Word, pray for one another, share a meal, and spend hours just hanging out. We confess our sins and share our struggles and testify to the work of God’s grace in our lives. This doesn't come naturally, but we have each been intentional and, through the grace of the Lord, we are going deeper with Christ and one another. It is a beautiful thing.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Making Chinese dumplings with my small group

 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42