New Beginnings

Through a series of unrequested events our family changed houses of worship recently.
*long pause*
**deep breath**
For many reasons, I cannot go into details regarding our departure. However, I DO want to share with you some of the unexpected blessings of our new beginning.

Our new pastor has been ministering in the same church for *wait for it* 38...yes, I typed that correctly...thirty-eight years! That is just unheard of these days! The true blessing of this is there are so many people in this church who have known him so deeply for so long, we have no doubt that he truly is a man who loves God with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength!

What's more is he also truly loves people. All people. With a "1st Corinthians" type love. He gives of himself constantly. I've never seen a congregation have more respect for a leader than this church has for our pastor.

We've been in so many churches in so many different places that we can truly appreciate how rare a find this is! I keep thinking I need to pinch myself so I'll wake up from this great dream I'm in!

For the first time in so many years, when I was at church Wednesday night, I exhaled and felt the tension release from my shoulders. I was at church...and I was relaxed! Is this a possible combination?

In addition to actually feeling like we have a pastor with genuine integrity, we have a good thing going with the choir, the musicians and our sound guys! It just seems like there was an instant connection with everybody.

I am not naive enough to think they all voted for us and everything will always be this happy-go-lucky, BUT I will say, it sure is nice to be embraced by a body of believers. It sure is nice to feel instantly comfortable with people you've just met. It sure is nice to feel like we're home.

Even our children have weathered the transition easily. We are suffering withdrawals from Nana and Papa because we got used to seeing them 5 or 6 times a week at church. And we also miss the friends we made in our last Sunday School class. They were a true blessing to us. But overall, the change to our new church has been for the best.

Maybe it can best be summarized by the statement of promise our pastor pronounced over us during our first night there. He told Steven he wanted to "interview" us. Being new, we didn't realize that we would be interviewed in front of the whole group of Wednesday night church-goers! We were the latest in the line-up of church members to be interviewed...evidently a new person was questioned every week as a way for the body to truly get to know about one another. The following is a copy of the e-mail I sent to the pastor the morning after our interview:

"Our lives have been relatively insane since about 2007, but this past year has been one of the hardest for our family. I'm sure you are unaware of this, but this past Sunday, March 7th, was not only Steven's last Sunday at Eastern Hills, it was also the one year anniversary of his best friend's death. Sam was 29 and died very unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. He and Steven had been more like brothers than friends since they met in junior high school.

Another thing you are unaware of is that my parents divorced in 2007 after almost 35 years of marriage. When that happened, I was so angry and so deeply hurt I let myself become unsure of almost everything about God. Healing has been a slower process than I would like, and has been far more intense than I would have ever bargained for.

I tell you these two things for a reason, and I preface the purpose of this letter by telling you a few other seemingly mismatched details as well...

Last March, for the first time in 2 years (since the divorce), I was able to tell God, "I love You." I was finally able to pray out loud again. This came about three weeks after Sam's death. I believe God used something Rev. Neal Hughes said at Sam's graveside service as a catalyst for this "chunk" of healing...

Neal's words were not overly profound in and of themselves, but they fell on fertile ground in my heart. He read Isaiah 40:31...a verse I'd heard hundreds of times before. His words were so simple. They went something like this:

'There are times in our lives when we are soaring with God and it's wonderful! But then something changes and you're not quite soaring, but you can still run with Him and things are good. And sometimes you're tired and weak. But He gives you the strength to walk...to walk and not faint.'

Those words have stuck with me throughout everything that's happened in the last year. And I truly believe that small bit of truth Neal shared that day ministered more healing and hope to my soul than anything else had in years.

Last night Steven and I were having a heart to heart. He was sharing how difficult this past week has been for him...so MANY changes have taken place in such a short amount of time- not just with churches, but personally and at his school. We were talking about how easy it is to lose faith in Him when you face such hardships in life...especially when you keep getting slammed with things you have absolutely no control over.

I shared Neal's message with him. I told him it was what Neal preached at Sam's funeral. And I told him that even though we have been beaten down, we are still walking. I told him one day we would soar with God again, but for now, He is giving us the strength to just keep on walking...and I believe God understands where we are, and He knew way back when He had this verse written that sometimes walking IS our absolute best that we have to give. But one day, we WILL soar again!

Tonight, after our interviews, I almost lost it right there in front of everybody!! I was almost a sobbing, bawling heap, because you said, '...we know you have roots...we want to give you wings...we want you to soar!'

In my phraseology, is that a God-thing or what?!!"