genuine community isn’t for the faint of heart. it isn’t for the person who wants to skate by in life. it isn’t the easy track. it isn’t always happy.
but i never asked for easy. i have always just craved real. genuine. authentic.
i have had some amazing friends over my lifetime. a couple of really great relationships in every state i have lived. and though they were amazing, i feel like there is this sweet place the Lord has brought me. i am surrounded by community. it isn’t these one off friendships that i have and love, it is a place of living in community.
i am surrounded by amazing community. we do life with each other. we are sad with each other. we are happy with each other. sometimes i am excited for others when they aren’t excited. there is repentance and open hearts. the Lord is working and moving and stirring. He is so involved in all of it you can’t help but praise Him.
i love it cause it is more than just one friend that life is solid with. i could easily name off more than a handful that i trust completely. that i am doing daily life with. that i call and say, hey i don’t want to be home alone tonight, let’s do something. and there is friction. there is frustration but it is glorious. it’s real. real stories. real hearts. real hurts. and they have the greatest capacity to hurt, and i’m so thankful that God is there even in that.
genuine community leads you to praise God more than anything else. that is the point of all His gifts though. i think sometimes we forget it. i know i have and He so gently reminds me. the gift, be it spiritual gift or a job or a spouse or a house or a raise, should all lead back to praising Him. genuine community in the midst of the friction is so good, it makes my heart sing. the good is so worth all of it.
in the end i am so thankful for how He is showing me to praise Him for everything. to go to Him for everything. for Him to be my all. no job, no husband, no child will ever be able to fill the place He is filling. and every time i try, i end up in even more pain. i am so thankful that i get to learn this while i am single no matter much i wish i weren’t single, i am so thankful that He hasn’t wasted a single moment in preparing me for the man He has for me just like He hasn’t wasted a moment preparing my husband for me.
