Family Time

Morning friends and welcome to the weekend. I had a different post for this morning but I think the Lord had other ideas so I have put it back into drafts for another day. This week for me has been a hard one at work with lots of challenges and I’m sure there are some other readers out there who may be thinking the same. I’m really glad to have this weekend to rest and recharge my batteries. The Lord certainly knows that we need to have time to come away and rest.

The weekend for me is a break from the demands of work, it’s precious family time and I also look forward to fellowshipping with my church family on Sunday.

“I rejoiced with those who said to me,
    “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Psalm 122: 1

These bible verses came to me this morning as I was meditating and spending time with the Lord. I thought yes, that is how I feel when I go to join my church family. I’m joyful. I’m excited and expectant. I’m really happy to be with them for lots of reasons. Not only because they love, encourage, bless me and strengthen me but I am blessed by our times of corporate praise & worship and prayer. I not only receive but I also have the opportunity to serve. Giving and Receiving.

The preaching is also excellent – Our pastor has started a new series on Romans and the teaching is edifying and it is Christ Centred with a focus on Discovery, Discipleship and Declare. We are on a journey together to discover God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our story in His story (the Bible), to be discipled and grow in the Word, firmly rooted in sound Christian doctrine and then to declare – share our testimony and faith with others.

Now you may be reading this and thinking that is not what I feel about Church family. I can understand that because at one stage in my life I felt like that too. I was so badly hurt by “Church” that I vowed that I would never step foot in a church again. I never lost my faith in God but I spent 12 years in a wilderness until the Lord drew me back to a loving church family. I repented and broke that vow off my life because I realised that I had been deceived and robbed of such a beautiful gift of fellowship.

Now I could have justified my behaviour and stayed in that wilderness. No doubt I could also have found people with the same or worst experiences and we would have reinforced in each other that justification for never going to Church again. The Lord knew my experiences and how I had been hurt. However, God also knew the plans He had for me and it wasn’t to leave me in that wilderness. God loved me too much for that and He loves you as well. God healed my hurts and led me to the right fellowship of believers.

The Lord knows today how you have been hurt too. He healed me and He can heal you too. I pray today that the Lord will speak into your heart, bring release and healing to the pain so that you can once again find believers who will help you start on a journey of fellowship again.

If this speaks to you then take it slowly is my advice. One step at a time. It doesn’t have to be anything big or overwhelming to start the journey back. It could be a small step to connect with a fellow believer – the Lord puts us in families for our benefit. I believe the Lord has the right family for you and I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you and bring you into that family. I just really believe it’s time to move from that place of wilderness to a place of family. Making the heart decision to ask the Lord to lead you to the right family for you will be the start that is needed.

Bless you today my friends.

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