“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” – Matthew 22:37
As I sit quietly today after the whirlwind month of May, I am once again reflecting on my journey here at Central Christian Church. There have been several times over the past few months that I have said to someone, “who knew?” as in who knew that a random high school girl brought to church by a youth group boy would be here today. Who knew? I certainly did not but clearly God did and strangely as I look back, I recognize God’s hand in all that has led me to today.
CCC has been foundational in my faith journey and for that I am ever so thankful. CCC has entrusted so much to my care; from teaching children in Sunday School as a 20-something year old college kid, to guiding little ones during VBS because I was young and as someone told me recently, “you were the only one who had enough energy to keep up with those little ones – the mommas and daddies were tired!”, to spearheading countless social and fellowship activities and supporting my outrageous and often ridiculous themes, to entrusting your teens and young adults on 10+ mission trips (some near and some far), to serving as both a Deacon and an Elder, to coming on staff parttime as a temporary fill in while the church searched for a new children’s director, to supporting me as I became a commissioned minister and last but certainly not least, supporting me and encouraging me as I embarked on my seminary journey and pursuit of ordination.
Who knew? God knew. God knew that I needed to be part of a faith community who would support me, encourage, and love me into my calling. I recall several years back while doing a home visit to one of our home bound members that she shared some thoughts that others had about me when I began attending CCC as a high school student. The thoughts weren’t kind or supportive and she wondered why I had stayed. I told her that I honestly didn’t know about any of that and that even if I had that the good outweighed the bad and that CCC was my church. And that church was just like any other place, there would often be naysayers but that we are each called to live out our callings and to do as Jesus would do. She reassured me that the naysayers had turned around their thoughts on me and honestly, I’m not sure that made a difference for me as it didn’t change the way I live in the world. My Grandmommy always said that there will be people who love you and people that don’t, so just surround yourself with those that do! I share this story to highlight that church is not full of perfect people but people who are working to love God and love people!
Some have asked, what’s next? As I quietly sit here, I too wonder what lies ahead. What I do know is that I have been blessed to be a part of a community of faith that despite whatever is going on will continue to support and encouragement to live out the call that God has on my life and my ministry in this world.
So, who knows? God knows. God knows what each of us are called to do. I pray that you will sit quietly on occasion and listen. Listen for God to speak. And meanwhile, may you love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Blessings,
Pastor Heidi