We Are Truly Better Together!

I was 7 years old when my family moved from Indiana to South Carolina. My dad’s job was relocating us to a different office in a new state. A new state full of people we didn’t know. A new place to live. A new school.

I remember coming home from my first day of my new school. I was in the second grade. My mom asked me how my day went. I had a good day, the people were nice, but I had a really hard time understanding my teacher. She had a very distinct southern mountain accent. The kind where every word had at least one extra drawn out syllable. This midwestern born girl was definitely out of place in the sweet tea drinking south.

We missed our family. We missed our friends. We missed our church. When we lived in Indiana, we were part of a church that felt like family. My parents desired to find that same sense of community in the new place we now lived. I remember visiting several churches, but none of them felt like home.

There was a man my dad worked with that invited us to his church. It was a little farther from where we lived, but we decided to give it a try. We were welcomed with the same charming southern hospitality as the others, but this one felt like home. We all made friends. Friends that we are still connected to to this day. This is the church I grew up in. This is where I learned about Jesus in Sunday school. It’s the place where my friends and I went to camp together. I learned how to serve in ministry there. Most importantly, I didn’t just learn about Jesus there, I met Jesus there. It’s the place Daniel and I met when he was 10 and I was 7 (interestingly enough, the man that invited my dad to church was Daniel’s father…that’s a whole other story). Daniel and I got married there. It became more than just church, it was family. We were part of each other’s lives in the best of moments and the hardest moments. Those same people blessed Daniel and I as we started our new life in Texas. And it was those same people who were in my parents home praying for my dad when he was battling cancer and celebrated his life when he graduated to heaven. They walked with us then and they are still walking with us now.

The idea of community originated from God himself. From the very beginning of time, there was community; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Three, yet one. So it only makes sense that inside of each one of us is an inherent need and desire for community because we were created in His image. It’s not something we do, it is who we are.

Daniel and I have been blessed to be a part of two healthy expressions of a church family and are now privileged once again to have found a group of people that have welcomed our family. A place we call home and experience community. Friends to do life with and raise our kids with. People to celebrate victories with and shoulders to cry on when life gets tough.

I’d like say that each one has been a perfect scenario where everything has been sunshine and roses, but that hasn’t been the case. Life sometimes gets messy. Whether it be from our own mistakes or from others. Many of us, me included, have allowed hurt or pain from the past to put up walls and keep people at a distance. It’s a natural defense mechanism, self preservation, or so we think. The real tragedy of this story is that we have distanced ourselves from what we were created for, relationship; with God and with others. To those of you who have experienced pain and hurt from friendships, I am deeply sorry. I know what it feels like to be hurt but I also know what it is to surrender that hurt to the Lord and walk in forgiveness. He’s the mender of the broken heart. Allow Jesus to heal those wounded places.

You’ve heard it said often here at Grace that we are better together – and it’s true! My heart for you over these next few weeks is for you to discover and find the people that God has placed in your life. A friend or two that you can have coffee and conversations with. Life is a little sweeter when we find good friends! I love you and I am praying for you!

Much Love,

Jenna

3 Questions:

How often do you trade a genuine face to face connection for a counterfeit connection through social media?
Relationships = time. How much time are you intentionally investing into the friendships you have in your life?
Life in all of its fullness is found first in our relationship with Christ. How do friendships and community contribute to living life to the full?

2 Verses to think on:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Hebrews 10:24-25

1 Challenge:

This week, I want to encourage you to sow friendship into someone’s life. Who is God highlighting to you? Be a friend first. Invite them to have coffee and a conversation ☕️ 😊