Jason has been preaching through the Fruit of Spirit, and quite frankly I'm a little ready to move past the Fruit (developed or not). It's starting to get a little painful, and why should I be surprised. Pruning and growing is not easy. This week is gentleness. Ha! Just because my husband needs to refine gentleness, doesn't mean I need to also. Does it? You can imagine a few of the curve balls that have come our way this week. Next week is self-control. I'll choose not to worry about what might come next week.
However, last week was faithfulness. And, it was a Sunday of WOW, which is not meant to stand for World of Warcraft or any other texting abbreviation I may not be aware of. It really does mean "wow". God is beginning to display His faithfulness to us in tangible ways. To enumerate those here would take more words than I can attempt to craft on a Sunday afternoon. God is not just now becoming faithful, but we are getting a better glimpse of what He promised in the Word when we followed the call six years ago.
Six years ago this month, we became residents of Spring Hill. Idealistic, but trusting. Knowing not a soul, clinging to 1 Thessalonians 5:24, we began to make Spring Hill our home. The simple fact that we are still here is a testimony of His faithfulness (and due some to my fear of God), but there's more! It's like having a present that you have to wait 20, 40, 50 years to fully open, and we're only in year six! Some days we get to pull back a little bit of the wrapping, but we can only dream of what is inside. In the past month, it's like God has let us take a doctor's scope and look inside the wrapped gift. It's like we now have but a small glimpse of the package that one day, due to His faithfulness, will be opened.
For now, though, we'll keep clinging to His promise and remembering how He is proving Himself faithful. Here's some of what we have seen the past few weeks:
- Van became acquainted with Grace Park (GP) after his girlfriend encountered us as at egg hunt 3 years ago. It's been a long journey from atheism to belief in Christ, but Jason had the privilege of baptising Van a few Sunday's ago. (It's was our first baptism service in our own baptistry!) And, this past Sunday (during the Faithfulness sermon), Van took communion with his new brothers and sisters!
- Five years ago Jason began coaching t-ball due to a need in our community. About a month ago, he ran into his assistant coach from that first year and his 10 year old son on a Sunday morning while playing Ultimate in the park. J and his boys have begun playing Ultimate with GP on Sunday mornings and attending our weekly worship gatherings.
- This week a couple sat in our living room, attending Exploring Grace Park (a new membership class). We knew of at least 7 touches, over 5 years, that we had had with this family before they began visiting with us this spring. In the membership class, when Jason asked for examples of how those in attendance had seen our core value of service played out in the community, this couple began naming multiple encounters with GP over the years! We had no idea! And, they told the story of our first block party in their neighborhood when rain was falling ALL around and the block party was dry! (An unchurched family testifying to God's faithfulness right in our living room! By the way, Jason has screen shots from weather.com of that night.)
- And the stories continue....There's D, who is beginning her faith journey; our new neighbors; and G, who has had a series of random GP touches in many different areas of his life.
