Growing Pains

We went to church tonight because we are going to be out of town tomorrow. It was really good. This weekend is our church's 15th anniversary, and tonight our pastor was talking us through the timeline of those 15 years. There are a couple of things that he said that really stood out to me...

One of them was when he was talking about how moving to the metroplex and planting this church did not go anything like he thought it would. It was slower. It was harder. He wanted to quit. He questioned himself and God. Had he done the right thing? Had he really heard God? It made me think of my life. I have those same feelings. A lot. "THIS IS TOO HARD!" "Could this possibly be God's plan for me?!?" Then, Kevin said something that I know to be true, but it was like God got His megaphone out and said it to me tonight.

"I love you too much to make it easy."

He. Loves. Me.

The second thing that stood out to me was when Kevin was talking about when our church grew from a few hundred people to a few thousand. How the church was so comfortable when it was small. Family. Fun. Everyone knew everyone. But with the decision to grow and make a place for others to join us, we had to go through some growing pains. We had to become uncomfortable. The main area that he talked about that resounded with me was in the area of friendships. My theme for the last few days, evidentially. He talked about how, in that transition time, we had to expand our "friendship circles". Had to. In some cases, God had to break our friendship circles, so He could make room for the new relationships that He had for us. {{MEGAPHONE MOMENT}} That is what I love about going to church. You never know what part of your life that He is going to target this week. So, I had this revelation that perhaps my friendship circles had been in need of stretching, bending, breaking so that God could include other people in my life - and perhaps that was necessary so that I could be used by Him in the lives of people that I would not have otherwise been able to be used in. I know this to be true. I am humbled. Beyond humbled. Thankful.