Life in Liberty: How We're Adjusting Part 2
#5. Friends/People
Our friends are not here. We have never valued relationships more in our lives. The saying that goes "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" has never been more true for us... or me, especially. When we moved to WV in 2009 our entire church completely embraced us with open arms. We had better friends in the first month of living there than I had in the 20+ years I lived in Arkansas. During the three years we lived there our relationships blossomed into something absolutely beautiful. We miss our adopt-a-parents, we miss our pastor & his lovely bride, we miss all of our other friends (that are too numerous to name), and most of all, our BFF's and their 3 little divas! We miss being able to go over to their house on the fly just to watch some AFV. We miss impromptu sleepovers and pajama parties. We miss sharing our lives with all of you.
We did get connected to a community group with our new church and are slowly developing friendships with the 4 couples that attend the group. Our group is growing (in heart, not in number) and I think that relationships within the group are fixing to take a nice turn. I think everyone is realizing the value in doing life together... and God has placed us all together for a reason... so pray for us as we continue to develop these relationships! As it stands, they are the only ones we have here.
Our neighbors, much like us, spend a lot of time indoors so we haven't had a ton of opportunity with them. I have met four of them - one of which is a lot like me in that she stays home while her boyfriend works. She's hungry for friendship so I'm going to start pouring more time into her.
#6. Church
While there is a Crossroads Church 10 minutes from us, it is not our Crossroads. And don't get me wrong, we were not obsessed with the church per say... but with the people and all that the body of Christ was at that place! We miss serving with them, loving with them, and sharing life with them. We miss the passion of that church and the heart they had for people... lost and found alike. And most of all, we miss our community group. On a good note: We have found a church that we are slowly starting to fall in love with - Desperation Church. The pastor is phenomenal and brings the truth every week! It's a joy to walk out of there feeling challenged by the word of God! We love that he preaches straight through books of the Bible and that he teaches it as it is. We loved this about Crossroads, so we have a deep appreciation for this at our new church. We still feel very new here and are still working in getting plugged in... but it's a process that takes time. The only downer with this church is that the people are different. Granted the church is much larger than the one we are used to, but the only people that talk to us are those in our small group. It's something that is really weird and is challenging to overcome/deal with. We are thankful for the relationships that we are building within our group, but it's still so weird. We've been attending this church for 3 months and seriously the only people that say hi to us are those in our CG. SO WEIRD.
Steven and I had the opportunity to attend a "base class" this past week (its a class for those interested in membership - the pastors share their stories, a little info on the church, beliefs, etc, etc...) and we learned a lot about our super cool pastor and his wife and where they come from. We have a little bit more understanding of their hearts and the people they feel called to reach out to... hence the name Desperation Church. Their hearts beat for those who have been burned and broken.. those who are at the end of their ropes and are desperate. Unfortunately this leaves us in a weird place. Granted we are all broken to an extent... but we are in a place where we don't need counseling/healing/etc... so where do we stand in the midst of all of this? I've found myself asking over and over again, "God, why the heck did you bring us to this place?! What are we doing here?" And I think this information helped shine a little bit of light into this question.
Steven and I have been burned in church before. We've been bruised, we've been broken... but we're out of that season in our lives. God has restored and healed us... we don't need crutches anymore. And maybe that's what God is telling us. That time is over.. so pull up your bootstraps and get to it! Perhaps this is a season for us to minister to others. To grow in knowledge and truth so that we can disciple those around us. So that we can reach out to those (whom we have yet to meet) in our church who are bruised and broken. It's so cool that several people in our CG feel this way too.. so it'll definitely be interesting to see where the next few months lead... especially after we welcome our baby girl! And who knows.. maybe God is just providing us with a season of rest as we venture into parenthood!
So, while we still aren't sure how this all works out... we're starting to get a glimpse into the heart of Jesus as to why He has put us here.
Conclusion:
Liberty is no Morgantown. If I had the option, Mtown would win everytime. We miss that place more than words can describe. BUT God has put us here in this season of our lives. We are still new to the area so there is still so much to learn. We still don't know many people, but we are hoping in the coming months that will change. We are hoping that as the heart of our community group changes that we will develop real, genuine relationships and grow amazing friendships with those God has placed in our lives.
But truth be told... I miss WV... a lot.
Our friends are not here. We have never valued relationships more in our lives. The saying that goes "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" has never been more true for us... or me, especially. When we moved to WV in 2009 our entire church completely embraced us with open arms. We had better friends in the first month of living there than I had in the 20+ years I lived in Arkansas. During the three years we lived there our relationships blossomed into something absolutely beautiful. We miss our adopt-a-parents, we miss our pastor & his lovely bride, we miss all of our other friends (that are too numerous to name), and most of all, our BFF's and their 3 little divas! We miss being able to go over to their house on the fly just to watch some AFV. We miss impromptu sleepovers and pajama parties. We miss sharing our lives with all of you.
We did get connected to a community group with our new church and are slowly developing friendships with the 4 couples that attend the group. Our group is growing (in heart, not in number) and I think that relationships within the group are fixing to take a nice turn. I think everyone is realizing the value in doing life together... and God has placed us all together for a reason... so pray for us as we continue to develop these relationships! As it stands, they are the only ones we have here.
Our neighbors, much like us, spend a lot of time indoors so we haven't had a ton of opportunity with them. I have met four of them - one of which is a lot like me in that she stays home while her boyfriend works. She's hungry for friendship so I'm going to start pouring more time into her.
#6. Church
While there is a Crossroads Church 10 minutes from us, it is not our Crossroads. And don't get me wrong, we were not obsessed with the church per say... but with the people and all that the body of Christ was at that place! We miss serving with them, loving with them, and sharing life with them. We miss the passion of that church and the heart they had for people... lost and found alike. And most of all, we miss our community group. On a good note: We have found a church that we are slowly starting to fall in love with - Desperation Church. The pastor is phenomenal and brings the truth every week! It's a joy to walk out of there feeling challenged by the word of God! We love that he preaches straight through books of the Bible and that he teaches it as it is. We loved this about Crossroads, so we have a deep appreciation for this at our new church. We still feel very new here and are still working in getting plugged in... but it's a process that takes time. The only downer with this church is that the people are different. Granted the church is much larger than the one we are used to, but the only people that talk to us are those in our small group. It's something that is really weird and is challenging to overcome/deal with. We are thankful for the relationships that we are building within our group, but it's still so weird. We've been attending this church for 3 months and seriously the only people that say hi to us are those in our CG. SO WEIRD.
Steven and I had the opportunity to attend a "base class" this past week (its a class for those interested in membership - the pastors share their stories, a little info on the church, beliefs, etc, etc...) and we learned a lot about our super cool pastor and his wife and where they come from. We have a little bit more understanding of their hearts and the people they feel called to reach out to... hence the name Desperation Church. Their hearts beat for those who have been burned and broken.. those who are at the end of their ropes and are desperate. Unfortunately this leaves us in a weird place. Granted we are all broken to an extent... but we are in a place where we don't need counseling/healing/etc... so where do we stand in the midst of all of this? I've found myself asking over and over again, "God, why the heck did you bring us to this place?! What are we doing here?" And I think this information helped shine a little bit of light into this question.
Steven and I have been burned in church before. We've been bruised, we've been broken... but we're out of that season in our lives. God has restored and healed us... we don't need crutches anymore. And maybe that's what God is telling us. That time is over.. so pull up your bootstraps and get to it! Perhaps this is a season for us to minister to others. To grow in knowledge and truth so that we can disciple those around us. So that we can reach out to those (whom we have yet to meet) in our church who are bruised and broken. It's so cool that several people in our CG feel this way too.. so it'll definitely be interesting to see where the next few months lead... especially after we welcome our baby girl! And who knows.. maybe God is just providing us with a season of rest as we venture into parenthood!
So, while we still aren't sure how this all works out... we're starting to get a glimpse into the heart of Jesus as to why He has put us here.
Conclusion:
Liberty is no Morgantown. If I had the option, Mtown would win everytime. We miss that place more than words can describe. BUT God has put us here in this season of our lives. We are still new to the area so there is still so much to learn. We still don't know many people, but we are hoping in the coming months that will change. We are hoping that as the heart of our community group changes that we will develop real, genuine relationships and grow amazing friendships with those God has placed in our lives.
But truth be told... I miss WV... a lot.
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