Healing Together with One Voice

“For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrow when suffering unjustly.  For what credit is there if, when you sin you are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.  For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…” 1 Peter 2:19-21

We have borne up under sorrow and suffered for the right reasons. And we would do it again a hundred billion times!

It has been a miraculous, wonderful, joyous, painful, uncomfortable 10 months.  All of that, in waves, all together. Easy and hard at the same time.  We have held each other, leaned on each other, and loved our neighbor through it all.  I would not have known many of you if not for our coming together this way, and it pains and amazes me to realize what I had been missing all of that time.  I bet you have felt that way, too.

Be sure, we have found favor with God through this.  We have seen it, and we are humbled and grateful for His tender mercies, unwavering faithfulness, indescribable power and eternal lovingkindness towards those who love Him. He keeps His word, doesn’t He?

This Sunday, we are going to honor the pain and grief of having our world turned upside down; and indeed our world is our church, praise Jesus.  I challenge us all to lay those uncomfortable thorns at the altar together and walk away covered in favor with hope and rejoicing for the future.  Together.

I am looking forward to starting this new church with you.  It reminds me of when Will and I first got married.  We bought a home and filled it with hand-me-downs and consignment furniture.  None of our furniture was new.  It did not match; it was not my ‘style.’  We didn’t have four matching plates or silverware to eat on when company came over.  Our cups were all from Newk’s and Bulldog Deli.  If you know, you know.  

I would not trade that time of building our nest for anything, even if, at the time, we would have loved to have been able to impress our neighbors.  We worked and saved to have those things we wanted and appreciate them more for having made-do.  Looking back at our humble beginnings, I am so grateful God did not give us everything we wanted for reasons outside of our own home.  We raised two beautiful children during that time who are out there doing good in the world today who understand they have to work for what they have.  There is no telling how many disciples of Christ will be raised in our new humble church, who understand that church is not about having everything we want, but about the humble hard work of serving Christ.  He will give us what we need; He has been doing it since day 1, hasn’t He?

We will be praying at 4:40 before the service on Sunday, in the room where we have been storing all of our belongings at Holy Trinity.   Please join us if you feel led to do so.  Special thank you to  John Phelps, Susan DiFatta, Suzanne Hart, Becky Tilton, Peggy Grissett, Jon Palmer, Karen Delatte, Scott Waller, Larry Davis, Cindy Davis, and others for standing in the gap.

For His Great Name, and because I love you,

Stacy Johnson