Along for the Ride
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If I stop to think about the past year, about all the changes and transitions that we have gone through as a family I am a little overwhelmed to say the least. If I stop to think about all of the faith, all of the hope and all of the expectations we have had so far in this Church planting journey I am completely blown away by God’s faithfulness. In fact the past few days I realized that I feel more like a passenger, one with a front row seat, but a passenger none the less to the amazing journey that God has taken us on. Time and time again God is answering prayers, fulfilling expectations and doing over and above everything He said he would do. The best part about that is, the church hasn’t even started yet!
We answered God’s call to plant a church in Lincoln a year ago this month, in doing so I felt God speak a word to me, Expect good things. In all of the time we have been doing this I have felt the grace of God on us for this season. As we had to believe God for finances, He came through in miraculous ways. Not only has God provided over $60,000 for Mercy City’s launch budget, but personally we have been able to live, tight but comfortably through the process. Each time we need something whether that is groceries or money for the kids to do something, God has provided it. When we felt like we would never find a house to live in, God exceeded our expectation and provided us not just with a house, but a home. The home had everything the kids had asked for including 5 bedrooms, space to ride bike, a neighborhood with kids that is close to school and a park.
The grace of God has been at work in our lives as we began to meet people, slowly at first. So. So. Slowly. We were honestly starting to freak out just a little bit. Our first interest social that we held had our team of 12 and one guy that showed up. We were still pumped, until after that night he suddenly disappeared. I mean could not be reached. It was a dark day. We went to prayer and asked God to help us connect with people. All of the sudden God came through. In a big way. Connection after connection was being made in crazy ways! People answering Craig’s List adds, seeing yard signs, looking at hashtags on Instagram and even chance meetings at the park. We were building a team, but not only building a team, building a community.
As we began to meet bi-weekly, then weekly I started to feel a little bit like a bride planning a wedding. My prayers changed a little bit and I asked God to not only help us with the launch but prepare us to pastor this great Church that He is building here in Lincoln. I don’t want to just prepare for the wedding, I want to be prepared for the marriage. I feel like grace has blinded me to the negatives, to the hard stuff, to the people who have not been interested. There have been invites that have gone unanswered, there have been many days of eating hot dogs and ramen noodles and there have been stressful days that could have defined this time. Somehow we have remained focused on the good, expecting good things to continue to happen and over all we have been amazed at God’s faithfulness.
This morning as I turned my Bible to my favorite book, Colossians 2:7 stuck out to me,
7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness”
We are not just here planting a church, we are putting down roots and building a life. I am overflowing with thankfulness. Last night we were asked to preform a wedding for a couple we have grown to love here in Lincoln and I realized we are building a family, and we get to be a part of the lives of this amazing group of people. We get to be there for the weddings and the new babies, the hardtimes and the struggles. God is in the process of building a community of believers, and we get a front row seat to all the action.
My encouragement remains the same, expect good things from God. This weekend will be our first in our new facility surrounded by the community God is building and I CAN. NOT. WAIT. to see how Mercy City continues to impact this great city!
