Just over a month ago I met with a dear friend of mine whom I do not get to see enough of. She is a wonderful woman who fears God and longs to serve him in Pakistan. We have very deep discussions most of the time when we got together. She mentioned something that she was missing out on and it was at that time that I knew for sure that I was missing the same thing. You see when you live in a settling like I did when I lived on campus at Heritage you build awesome community. In fact it becomes such a part of you that you do not think that you will miss out on it until you actually move away from it. There was always someone around that I could go to when I needed someone to talk to or to hang out with. This is what community is great for, then there are times when you just want some quiet and you cannot get it because there are too many people around.
Now that I live off campus I miss that and know how blessed I was to have it. Once I left the campus I did not have much of a community. I was missing out on a key element of the Christian faith. Community within the Christian community is what holds one accountable. How often do we just hang out with our Christian friends and not even pray together? I share meals every so often with my friends we pray over our food which is great, but do we take the time to talk about some of the things we are working through and then pray together. The typical answer to this is no. Why do we think that this is ok? I do not actually think that we think this is okay, but we forget how important it is for us to do this together. Not only will our relationship with God be strengthened through this exercise, but so will our relationships with the ones that we are praying for.
I started doing this with one of my friends here in Cambridge. We have only met twice, but already I feel so blessed and encourged by it. I plan to talk with my other friends and try to express how I feel about this and tell them that I want this to be happening in our relationships. Not only will it challenge my heart in the times that we are together, but it will challenge me in my time with God outside of those times with my friends.
I am drawing nearer to God today in this month than I have in almost a year because I am seeing the importance of what my faith stands for and this here is just a piece of it.
My challenge for you my dear reader is to take this and use it. Where are you at in your relationship with God and with your family or friends? Are you content there or is God asking you for more?
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