I Heard You, God

I've really been struggling lately with Sunday worship. My struggles revolve around trying to figure out whether that weekly community worship time is given to us for the purpose of rejuvenating fellow Christians or if it is to be a place for us to bring in those who are seeking or a combination of both. This is a struggle that has been going on for more than a year now without any real conclusions.

The source of all of this can be traced to an in-depth, 3 year journey that our church has been going through in order to figure out how to be a missional church and how to find out where God is working so that we may join Him there. It's been an amazing journey.

One thing I've gained from all of it is the desire to be an active participant, a recognizable presence in my own community. We need to be the face of God where we live. How can we expect our neighbors to have a relationship with God if we, as His people, aren't accessible enough to have a relationship with? And in today's society, how many of those neighbors would be willing to drive 30-45 minutes to attend a church that they haven't even gotten to know yet?

It's an issue that has weighed on Hubby and I for a long time. Last summer we started looking around at other churches, hoping to find what we had in Federal Way but closer. Of course, things never work out the way we want them to. But we have found a church that is active in a neighboring community and shares our outlook in being missional. We haven't necessarily embraced the worship service, however, and so we've been struggling once again. I can talk myself into circles over how to define worship, what that service means to me, how much of it is about me and thousands of other questions. I believe I may have dumped on Hubby for close to an hour Saturday night about these very same things and ended up just as confused as ever.

But then God spoke to me on Sunday. For once, I didn't feel like I was just an observer at our worship service. I felt His presence; I felt His peace. I still have questions, I still am up in the air on many issues, but I heard Him. He told me to just have patience. Have patience and He will reveal what He wants me to do and where He wants me to go so that I may be effective for Him. He is doing great things and I need to trust that He will guide me in the path that He is preparing, so don't fret, don't worry, don't overanalyze.

God, I heard you. Thank you.