I have battled with the idea that the people in church are considered "your family" for a while. Today marks a turn in that thought process.
In my life I have had many different experiences in a church setting and many were not so great. This is why my above comment holds or held so true for so long for me. I have always found it interesting how people of the church can look at you and judge you for where you sit, what you wear and for how often you come to church. Baffling to say the least...
Today however, I understood a different feeling about this so called family. A dear women who I love tremendously, and who has brought me so much closer to God, gave praise to God for Bert and I and my great friends Deann and Josh. We all are expecting children within 6 weeks of each other, which is a great joy for each of us. After she gave the praise you could hear a pin drop in the church as each person was taking in the great news.
After the service so many wonderful people came up to Bert and I and gave their congratulations and said, "I have been praying for you all for some time. I am so glad God answered all of our prayers!" It was a truly touching feeling to know that so many people, who were not asked to pray were actually praying for us.
You don't stop and think very often that people are thinking about you or even praying for you. In my experience most times if people are thinking about you it is to judge or talking about you, not to send up a prayer to God on your behalf.
I felt closer to my church family today than I ever have in the past. There must be something to this church family!
So happy to hear about the baby! I love this blog because it is so true. I have come to realize how important my church family is to me. When you are going through a tough time it is so nice to hear someone say, I was thinking about you last night and I prayed for..... That is more comfort to me than anything that someone would take their time with God to mention my name. Love you!!!
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