recently i read this post by rachel held evans and it struck a nerve with me, in a good way. the oh-so-we-are-not-alone-in-this-journey way.
we left the church over two years ago.
it was unintentional really. we thought we would simply find another place to belong and possibly begin serving in the church setting again.
we didn't.
we have visited several churches. one church in particular we have been to many times. we love the pastor and his wife and the people are unbelievably welcoming. however, there are few people our age and even fewer children.
having returned to work full-time i became increasingly aware of the time i was missing with my children and decided that sunday was a morning i'd rather spend cherishing my family.
last sunday, i had special time with my girls while jacob and durgin had some guy time. as i walked and at times ran beside eisley riding her bike, giggling so proud of her skills, i worhsipped.
sunday evening when we had friends over for dinner and their children played with my children and laughter filled our home, i worshipped.
sunday night when i read the bible book at bed time and eisley asked the hard questions about heaven, i worshipped.
when my head finally hit the pillow hard next to his and our eyes met, looking deep, knowing one another, i worhsipped.
though i hope to be part of a community, a church one day, i am quite content to simply be the church and worship with my family each day.
Great post. I understand what you are saying! Although my husband and I are involved in our church and we were when the girls were young too my dad used to go hiking EVERY sunday morning and didn't step foot in church, he said, " I can worship up on the side of a mountain" and I believe he did! Last week, our Pastor said, " You are never alone. God is always with you, You take Jesus wherever you go!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, you have no idea how much your post resonates with my heart. Two years ago when I stopped working at McLean Bible Church (Its a mega church in the DC area) I felt very hurt by certain things, and am working through them. We have visited a few churches and we know which church we want to eventually make our home church (I realized I can't attend a mega church where I worked at for 5+ years and be able to worship w my family with out being pulled to volunteer on stuff bc I know how to do things). That being said. We still worship at home. I still teach my son Judah about Jesus and read him the bible. Right now is not the season for me to attend church. I know very soon it will be. But for right now the Lord has me in a season of healing and he doesn't want the people of the church to interfere with that right now by getting me sidetracked on volunteer work (because its hard for me to say no)
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