.png)
Don’t put your faith on me.
My best friend and I were talking the other day about my blog. She expressed how some of her friends who have gone through depression or anxiety, were turned off by my faith. I know there are people who read my blog that don’t share my beliefs, or they may avoid reading it all together. I get it. Sometimes I think my healing has misled people and they believe that I can’t identify, or that I haven’t really been there. While others think I was probably never that depressed to begin with. For me, I realize that where I’m at shows how much I have healed. I pray that while you may disagree with me and you may find my faith annoying, you will still listen to my story, and do your best to keep an open mind.
A picture of my childhood church, unfortunately was burned down by arsonists, but will always hold a special place my heart. Love First Baptist Church Temple.
Remember church is just a hospital full of sinners.
You may see pictures of me and I may look as though I have it “all together,” but we all know that NO ONE has it all together. In high school I still hadn’t even begun to deal with everything that happened to me, I just compartmentalized my grief and did my best to fit in with my piers even though I didn’t relate.
I was on a mission trip with our church and my friend Amy asked how I was doing and what was going on with our family. Just a friend taking the time to check in and see where I was at. Looking back, I realize how detached I was emotionally from what had happened to me. Grief was just a drawer I pulled out and looked through when someone asked about my dad. What I didn’t recognize at the time was everything I was sharing with her affirmed how God had protected and provided for my mom and me. I would’ve never seen it had my friend Amy not pointed it out. I didn’t really think much of it, I heard her, but I just cataloged it for a later date. A date when I actually might deal with my grief.
You may not see the impact the church has now, but you will feel the change later.
Just like people, the church may look good on the outside, but is messy on the inside. We aren’t meant to do life alone and God has called us to community.
Decades later that conversation has left a lasting impression on my heart. She pointed out, how our neighbors gave us a car until we could buy one, with no return date, no questions asked. How people showed up and mowed our yard, not for the first couple of weeks after my dad’s death, but months, maybe longer. My grandparents bought my mom a car, our friend took all my mom’s taxes and did them for her. Even my orthodontist, gave my mom a reduced price for my braces. People brought us meals, and extended an invitation into their home and into their lives. We received support that we desperately needed, but probably would have never asked for. Almost all of these people were from church. They lived out their faith in ways, I will never forget. The church stepped up in a way that will be imprinted on my heart forever.
Sara
Has the church body or someone from the church changed your life in a meaningful way? I’d love to hear! Comment below with something the church has done for you.
Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way, you will follow Christ’s teachings. Galatians 6:2