When you experience the Body of Christ....

So often, we hear negative things about the Church. Some words I’ve heard are: hypocritical, judgmental, self-righteous , or even self-contained or absorbed. I’m not saying that isn’t true of some people… or all of us at any given moment… Overall… there “should” be something powerful when you encounter the body of Christ at work. I find myself reflecting on the past few weeks and coming up completely overwhelmed… humbled… and in awe of how Great our God’s love is for us.

Since Shane has been in Zambia, I have seen MANY people… all from different places of worship… making up “The Body of Christ.” My burdens have been beared and shared… and WELL CARED FOR. Here’s a list of some of the things that we experienced as a family:

· *Having a friend come and finish laying flooring in our house so our renters/friends could move in to a completed house. He worked several evenings and HOURS of work…. I felt so helpless, but God allowed me to see this isn’t about ME or THEM but about all of our mutual love for HIM.

· Having friends show up to pack our bags and organize our stuff

· Friends being willing to run errands and pick things up for me.

· * Friends who come and say “I have a couple of hours, what can I do?” And they end up vacuuming our van, or CLEANING MY TOILETS!?!?!?! (You know I’m feeling really vulnerable when I let someone do that… lol)

· *Friends that will come and pick up my kids and feed them lunch, let them play, and go swimming while I clean and get things done at home.

· *Friends who check my car to make sure it’s ready for a long journey, or offer to mow my yard, or come and fix the fence and other odds and ends that need to be done.

· *Friends who bring my kids super fun, HUGE bags of individually wrapped treats for the coming airplane ride!

· Friends who just text and say “How can I pray for you today?”

· Friends who let me cry with them… and pray with me on the really hard days.

· *Friends who come and pack my vehicle like it’s a tetris game… in 107 degree heat…

· *Friends who want to know… “What can I do while you are in Zambia? For you? For the children there?” They want us to know we are not alone on this journey.

Seriously? How could you experience this, and NOT know the love that the Father has for you… to see that love for HIM is the common bond… the motivating factor… When the Body of Christ works together to love others as He loves us… it’s a powerful experience. It’s powerful to be a part of… and it’s powerful to be a recipient of it. I LOVE my Texas friends like family… thank you for being Christ to us… Looking forward to working with you in a powerful way to love on my 210 + 3. :)

(on a side note, we did make it to TN! It’s been quite the adjustment, but all is well! I do not have internet besides my phone at the house, so you can envision me sitting outside of the only McDonalds in town mooching off their wifi just to post a blog… )