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Every evening I take my littles outside and watch them play around in the yard. The whole time we are outside I see people coming and going. Yet, after almost 5 years of living at my current address I can only tell your 5 of my neighbors names. To be perfectly honest I only know those 5 names because my son as some point has played with their children. It hit me like a ton of bricks on how closed off I had become to those around me. I have been so busy trying to make a small mark on the world that I had forgotten there is a big community right here that I hadn’t even touched due to fear. After all it is one thing to talk to you ladies on Periscope, FB and twitter. It is a totally different thing to actually reach out to those who live right across the street and could judge me harshly.
As I have said before Acts is where we find the grand movement in the church. The apostles were out reaching those in different areas and forming a sense of community and longed to have all the believers unified. I personally have longed to have all the moms in my neighborhood to do the same. After all our children play together and there is an overwhelming amount of encouragement right outside my front door if I would allow myself to open it. God then laid it on my heart that it was time to do just that. It was time to stop fearing persecution and embrace it.
The first night of the study I was a nervous wreck. I was so overwhelmed by fear that our home wouldn’t be good enough or that the food wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking. However the desire to reach out to other women in this community and form a panel of Titus 2 women in my neck of the woods trumped all my other reservations. Yes - Satan worked overtime trying to convince me that this was a bad idea because in doing so I was leaving myself and my family exposed to those around us. Yet, the book of Acts reminded me that in order to make a difference I needed to be willing to be exposed.
That first night there were 5 ladies that joined us. As we all began digging into God’s Word and sharing life stories I instantly knew why God had sent those 5 ladies. It was a perfect match for what I needed. Though I had never said I wanted a mommy group that is exactly what God gave me. Each of us in different paths of the motherhood journey and in different parts of our marriage journey as well. I mentioned to my husband after they left how this group of women were all so different and yet so much what each of us needed.
As women it is way to much of a common thing to try and carry our burdens alone. It is way to easy to not open up our doors and let others in. Yet, in doing so we are only crippling ourselves. We allow ourselves to be robbed of the simple joys that can come from not only reaching out for encouragement but also giving such encouragement. What I am learning is that God hand picked those ladies to walk into my open door because He knew that we needed each other.
As Christians we need to be made to get a tad uncomfortable to be effective. We need be reminded how much we need fellowship with other believers. We need these things that we can step out in faith and serve those around us better. We also need this so that we ourselves can find our joy from serving others.
Until Next Time Just Keep Soaring 4 Him,
I would like to invite you to my Facebook group Christian Homemakers in Training where we dive into homemaking, motherhood, marriage and group devotions. After all, we all need a safe place to grow together, right?