In early engagement, when I first began thinking about the idea of “two becoming one” I sort of pictured it like the process of combining chocolate chips with cookie dough. In other words, the following equation:
That’s bull.
The oddest thing happened to me at church a few weeks ago. After service, I was standing in a circle talking to my friends when all of the sudden, a complete stranger grabbed my arm and announced, “Hi! I’m Karen!” I turned around to find a petite, smiling redhead, about my age that I had definitely never seen before.
Karen proceeded to tell me how her and her husband were new to the area and were wondering how they could get plugged into a community group. I told them about my group and, what do you know, they ending up coming that week! Now Karen and Kyle are regular members of our group, active participants, and new friends.
I left church that day I met Karen thinking, “Man, why didn’t I just do that in college?” Instead of grabbing a random church member and asking how to get plugged in, I spent year after year visiting churches for a while and waiting for someone to come grab MY hand and say, “Come be a part of our group!”
This is a guest post written by my dear friend, Samantha Crick. We lived in the same town as each other for less than a year, but when I needed someone’s Christ-like love and a place to crash she was the first to come to mind and the first to open her door. Grab a cup of coffee, lean back and take in just a drop of this sweet girl’s wisdom-
One of the most common disordered desires for women is perfectionism, a particular righteousness and perfection we yearn for apart from Christ. It’s not in all women and many men I am sure can relate, but it is overwhelmingly true that as women, we desire to be perfect.
That’s right. I said it.
Why? Because I’m here now. And it’s best place I’ve ever been.
When I was in kindergarten I thought I had to show all of my teeth when I smiled for a photo. It didn’t matter what clever technique my mother tried to use, I wasn’t going to grasp the concept of a natural smile. Needless to say, she didn’t have to worry about spending a ton of money on school pictures that year.
But as I got older, I actually became pretty good at smiling. Scratch that. I became great at smiling.
In fact, I became so great at smiling that I eventually decided it had to go hand-in-hand with my Christianity. I believed in God with every fiber of my being, and I knew He saved me. So how couldn’t I smile?
If I wanted others to know this God, they needed to see how happy He made me…right?
And my world fell in on me.
