As a woman, community is something that is almost hard wired into my system
as a necessity. I have gone through
various times in my life where I have
had more "community" than others and I can honestly say that the
times when I was the happiest and the most grounded was when I was deeply
rooted in a community of some sort.
When I was younger, my "community" obviously consisted of my
family and my school. But as I grew into
my late teens and early twenties, I definitely had developed a nice community
of friends. Friends that were there
through new boyfriends and breakups, friends that were there through job
hirings and firings, and friends that were there for me while I learned how to
grow up into adulthood.
Once I met my husband, we started a whirlwind of a romance where our
communities became each other. We began
to sacrifice our relationships with our friends for the sake of our relationship
with each other. After our second child
was born I definitely began to feel the longing for some female
relationships. I'm sure that any woman
realizes that no matter how good the relationship is with your husband (and I
can honestly say that my husband is my BEST FRIEND) it still is not the same as
having a good girlfriend.
I began to meet women at church and began to really form some nice acquaintances. I say "acquaintances" because it
seemed to me as if everyone already had their communities set up and were not
accepting new members. It's funny that
no matter how old we get, we still revert back to that young girl who wants to
feel accepted into the "cool crowd".
Now at this part in my story I’m sure you're expecting to hear that I then
met someone who eventually became my best friend and I started having the
community I desired. Easy peasy,
right? Well ...... not exactly! I discovered that this was something that was
going to take work. Time and energy and
WORK! I was going to have to find out
somehow to make sure that I was devoting all the time I usually do to my
husband and children, the time that I spend at home taking care of my home, and
also the time that I spend working full time with my husband at our law office
.. and on top of this I am supposed to have the time to foster
friendships? It seemed hopeless!
So what did I do? I prayed. I asked God to put me in connections with
women who could be the kind of women that I needed. Godly Christian women who could build me up
not only in myself, but in my marriage, in my raising my kids and especially in
my faith! I was incredibly blessed to
meet a dear friend through church who I can honestly say is probably the best
friend I've ever had. And it's a
beautiful comfortable relationship where we can let our hair down, cry, laugh
and share a bed with (HAHA-this is a joke we share, as we always share a
bedroom at our annual church women's retreat).
The strange thing is, my relationship with her made me long for deep
quality relationships with other women. It’s
kind of funny how God actually does hear our prayers and sometimes answers them
with exactly what we ask for.
So fast forward to the year 2012. My
relationship with Christ has become my first and foremost priority, followed by
my husband and my children. I have also
started a prayer group where I have had the privilege to start very deep and
meaningful relationships with some amazing women. You know how they say a family that eats
together stays together? Well I can
honestly say that I am seeing that girlfriends that pray together stay
together, and they also have much more fulfilling relationships with each
other. And the best thing of all? I have this opportunity now to be a part of
an online community called (in)courage!
I have been partnered up with a lovely woman as a partner and we are
Community Leaders in this community as (in)couragers.
I am so excited as to where this journey is leading me! I am nervous and anxious, but most of all I
am totally in awe of God's providence in my life. He has given me a community, and whether it's
at church, at my children's school, or online - it's real and it's mine and can
be YOURS too!
(IN)TRODUCING OUR NEW COMMUNITY!
We are a group of women who are
not afraid of the biblical traditions of being a wife and mother, but also
understand that there is a way for us to be the Proverbs 31 woman in the world
today!
Find us on Facebook - search for Be The
Proverbs 31 Woman (Or click above link)
What is this (in)courage community all about? Watch this short video:
For where two or three are gathered
together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20
No comments:
Post a Comment