Join the Family

     Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of the church I have called home for the last 2 years.  I was reading all the stories on Facebook of how people found that church and what they love about it.  I tried to write a Facebook status about the story of how I found Faith Church, but it turned in to a blog (sorry, not sorry).  This church, these people--they're a huge, irreplaceable part of my story, and I'd like to tell you about them.

     March 2013 I was in my last semester of college.  I went to school full time during the week and worked 30-36 hour weekends all through college.  That didn't leave a lot of time for church, which I didn't really mind because I wasn't feeling the church scene.  I had gone through some things that rocked my world, and I knew I couldn't shake this faith I grew up in-because it's in my bones and I believe it-but I just didn't like going to church.  Nursing school also didn't leave a lot of time for community, so I felt like I was grinding gears and running on empty towards the end of my college days.  March 2013, I was starting to peak over the edge of the cliff (impending graduation), my parents were divorcing after 30 years of marriage, my Dad was moving to Nebraska, I was going to move back to OKC and live on my own, start my career as a nurse, try to figure out what adulting looked like.  I was over the college scene but not ready for real life.  I was stuck in this whirlwind of drastic changes, big changes, and I was full of anxiety about what would happen after I graduated in May.  I knew...KNEW...I needed to find community, one that loved Jesus, or I knew the first year of real life was going to be really, really hard.  I could feel Jesus telling me, "Find community, Kenz, and you'll find life."  So I listened.  

      I met my friend, Sharon, for coffee one afternoon in late February.  I remember telling her that I knew I needed to find a church, find the community that I was starving for.  She had mentioned her church to me a few times, but with school and work I hadn't been able to go (and I was also avoiding church, remember?).  She invited me to their "Circle" which met on Thursday nights, which was coincidentally the day I was in OKC for clinicals at Mercy hospital each week.  So I went, the first week of March, and I walked into Jacob and Brittany's living room and met the group of people that have since become my family.  

     These people, they're so close to my heart it makes me teary-eyed.  I walked into their lives at such a crucial time in mine, and they have shown up for me in every way.  I cannot explain how thankful I am for all the ways they've loved me and all the ways they've helped shape me into the woman I am two years later.   

     We celebrate birthdays and job promotions, new homes and babies growing in bellies.  Cook dinner in each others' kitchens.  Steal clothes from each others' closets.  Spend holidays together.  Sit in waiting rooms for each other at doctors appointments that terrify us.  Mourn losses and broken hearts together.  Pray over each other.  Help each other move into new apartments and homes on either the hottest day of the year or the two days out of the year it snows.  Spill our hearts out and talk about our dreams on each others' couches.  We have craft nights and drink too much wine.  We fight for each other (and with each other).  Have annoying, never-ending (but completely hilarious) group texts.  Some of us have moved across the country and we still find time for quick visits whenever we can.   

     They've changed my life and made me better in so many ways.  They've each been a safe place for me in one way or another.  

     I know Jesus better, because I've met different parts of Him in each one of them.  They're His hands and feet that have put my pieces back together and walked beside me through 2 years of life that have been so crucial to the woman I will always be.  

     I've sat in those chairs on Sunday and been broken to pieces and put back together again.  I've sang the songs and had some real nitty-gritty moments with Jesus.  I've dreamed dreams I never thought I had the courage to dream, and been encouraged to chase them with every ounce of faith that I have...and I am.  I've met Jesus in ways I never knew I needed him,  and I know Him more because of that church and those people.  I found community and I found life, and I'm so thankful for a God that provides exactly what I need in the ways that I need it.  

     This family keeps growing, and with each new member it comes more alive.  If you don't want to do life alone and you're willing to step foot in a church to see what happens, you're welcome to join the family.