Some of my earliest memories of church are infused with deep pain and confusion. A pastoral affair had ripped our congregation in two, and while, as a seven-year-old, I didn’t know why the church was in such turmoil, the reverberations of broken trust and grief trickled down to even the youngest members. I remember my parents crying about church, and I remember realizing that families I knew had left the church, because I didn’t see some of my friends anymore. A new pastor arrived and I didn’t really understand why. I couldn’t articulate it then, but I internalized something that had the potential to create a wall around my young heart—that church is inevitably a place of pain and brokenness.
But due to the grace of the Lord and intentionality of my parents, I also internalized something else: church is still worth it.
I learned this because in the middle of the pain and the heartache, the fractured friendships and the broken trust, my parents didn’t leave the church.
Instead, they kept showing up. They kept going to church, beleaguered and broken as it was. My parents kept talking about Jesus and singing about Jesus and loving his people and being a part of the Body of Christ in their daily and weekly lives.
It was a testament to me, even as a young girl, that church was worth a great deal. Their actions and their lives pointed to the truth that while pain in the church might be inevitable, leaving does not have to be. They showed me that there are some things worth risking on and worth fighting for, and church was at the top of that list.
Why? Because Jesus showed us that the Church was worth risking on to the highest degree: it was worth his life.
Read the rest of the article here, at Deeply Rooted Magazine!
hi ann did you receeve your healing that you were praying for or do you want me to pray for you for that