Caleb and I come from very different spiritual backgrounds. He grew up as a Baptist missionary kid and I grew up in the good ‘ol USA, raised by a Christian family and leaning towards non-denominationalism. When we met, became friends, and eventually fell in love – God did a wonderful job of blending our faith and causing our relationships to grow stronger with Him because we were together. We learned the importance of putting God first, even when it was difficult. That is one of the main reasons I knew we were meant to be – our dreams and desires lined up, because we were living for the same reason.
That being said – during the first few years of our marriage we had a difficult time finding a church to call home. We did a lot of searching, some giving up, then more searching – it was a cycle we continued for about three years. My heart was aching to find a home and to start connecting with other children of God. In 2009 a friend of mine told me about a church that was getting started in the Atlanta area. Caleb and I made the decision to give it a try – when I left the service that night I knew we had found the place we were meant to be.
We started attending regularly and soon came to realize we were not able to connect with many people because the church body is pretty large, so we joined a volunteer team. We have been blessed with the people we have gotten to know and the friends we have made – thankful that God has provided exactly what my heart desired. We were also able to serve at Passion 2011, which was an amazing experience in and of itself!
Our church has been on a bit of a journey – travelling around the city meeting in different venues waiting for our future building to be ready. This coming Sunday will be our first Sunday in our new building and we are so excited! It was nice for a while to move around the city, because it instilled the truth in our hearts that church is not a building, it is within each of us. From a logistics perspective though – it will be nice to have a home. So excited about what this weekend holds and the plans that God has for Atlanta and the world!
Praise God that He's led you to a great church family!! I'm excited that you were able to attend Passion -- what an amazing experience. We've found too, the best way to get connected in a larger church is through volunteering.
ReplyDelete