statement of faith

This morning was our church's first two services Sunday, and by this afternoon (two services and a cookie dough food truck in the middle) all my people are comatose :). What a joy this morning to have so many new unchurched young people (and a few older people like us!) gather together and worship and talk about the problem of a good God in an evil and suffering world. So thankful for a church full of hungry and hurting people (like us!) and for the ways the Lord led us to a place we would have never picked for ourselves. There are SO many places where Christ in you is needed and rare...make sure you're IN THEM!

Friday was board meetings at WBS and I took all the kiddos different places and joined them for lunch. I was sitting across from a woman whose daughter, son in law and three grandchildren live in Japan. He is a Japanese pastor in a country where less than 1% of the population are Christians, and she serves faithfully at the church alongside of him. Their children speak both languages, and Wesley's board president and his wife made sure to see them 2-3 times a year despite the major costs and inconveniences...until Covid.

Traveling back and forth from Atlanta to Japan or Japan to Atlanta has been entirely impossible since Covid began, and though their grandchildren are now 8, 6, and 3, they haven't seen them in over a year and a half...and were just told that it could be several more years.

My eyes immediately welled up, imagining an ounce of how painful that must be. But Christie responded thoughtfully and honestly with a testimony that I can only imagine has come at great cost.

I have come to realize that eternity is long. I will be with them--and the people they are ushering to the Lord--for all of eternity, and I am learning to find great joy in that confidence.

I was so touched by that simple, dry-eyed statement of faith. 

Faith: believing what He says to be true...even when it doesn't look like it. 

How would our lives and priorities and attitudes and testimonies be different today if we truly BELIEVED that what God says about our worries, suffering and battles is TRUE?