But I still remember that Saturday. I remember the lady standing up there and talking with us. I don't remember exactly what she said, but it was at that exact moment God placed a seed in my heart. I needed sisters (not just my incredible biological one) to love and support my faith walk. I needed to, in turn, encourage and love them in theirs.
It took a fun week at a local VBS at my teacher bestie's church to nudge us to finding our own church. Our church made it easy to get involved and I quickly was able to volunteer in the preschool ministry that my girls were a part of. I joined a ladies small group and we had fun together. Yes, we prayed and studied the Bible, but we did a Color Run, an escape room, picnic, it made learning together fun. When we moved, we moved within an easy drive of our church, but during the week small group was a little bit too far. I joined an online small group in the fall of 2019. I went to one Zoom meeting. I didn't like it. It felt weird and impersonal. Well, God had plans to teach me all about that too..ha!
Last summer, I had the opportunity to lead a teacher Bible study online (yay, Covid!), and that seed God planted in my heart to cultivate real friendships with other believers began to bloom. I'll probably never stand on a stage and speak to a group like the lady did at that ministry event. I'm an okay public speaker thanks to countless Gold Card award evenings (North Moore High School did a great job producing well-rounded graduates), but I get splotchy and nervous in my old age. I wish I was great at sitting down and reading my Bible every day, but I'm not. I wish my faith was always strong, but it isn't. I have learned that having this sisterhood isn't a requirement for salvation, but it makes my journey way more sweet. Iron sharpens iron. I hope that as much as a I get from our weekly readings and meetings, the sweet women I meet with do too.
In the winter when I was choosing a book, I prayed that God would lead and guide our group. I came across a book that we could read together, and that the author was in the process of publishing a kid version of the book. I knew that many in our group had little girls and these books were written especially for women/girls. We read through our grown up book by March and I went ahead and bought the girl version. This summer has allowed my girls and some of their closest buddies to read and learn together too.
Y'all when I was their age, I saw faith and loving Jesus as something very formal. Dresses, lacy socks, church, organs, pews, hymnals. While these were wonderful and meaningful parts of my testimony, I do not want my girls to have a formal relationship with their savior. I want it to be a personal relationship. I talk to God in my car, I read my Bible from an app, I listen to worship music on my morning runs. I get it wrong a lot, but because my relationship is personal and not formal, I can acknowledge my failures. I know Jesus already paid my price. His mercies are new every morning.
At the end of the day, my testimony isn't glamorous and I fall short so many times. I hope that my children see that and know it's okay. That God doesn't expect perfect, just good and faithful servants. If you don't have a church or a friend that supports you in your faith walk, my prayer is that you find those and know you have a friend in me. If you need some recommendations on studies or books, I have a small little shelf I can share with you. I'm grateful God plants seeds in us and I'm so thankful for that personal relationship with Christ.
