I will never forget that dirty bathroom floor. The bathroom floor where my child’s teacher sat down and took my boy in her arms to comfort him. His heart is broken...a deep kind of brokenness where he feels worthless. It is not his fault. He is living in the aftermath of his birth parent’s brokenness. God is rescuing him from this cycle of generational sin, and He is using our Covenant Christian Academy community to do it.
God has taught me a lot about community since we decided to enroll our daughter in first grade at our school 13 years ago.Community is messy and sometimes it’s painful.
As Bob Dylan would say, "Behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain." Relationships are messy. We are sinners living in a broken world and the reality is sometimes we hurt each other. At the beginning of our adoption journey, I prayed, "Lord I am afraid -this might hurt." I felt a gentle whisper in my spirit from the Lord say, "It hurt when I went to the cross for you." We are called to be like Jesus and lay down our lives for each other no matter the cost. Living in a community of believers doing life together can hurt sometimes, but it is worth the cost.
Community is healing.
When I am hurting, I want to run. I don't want community. I just want to be left alone. God knows isolation is not healing. He used our community to chase me....to pray even when I didn’t want to....to bring meals even when I said I got this...to point me back to God’s truth when the doubts came. I think often about the friends who brought their broken friend to Jesus. They had to rip off the roof to get their friend to Jesus. It was hard. It didn’t seem possible, but because they were willing, Jesus healed. I wonder if the crippled man on the mat was saying, "It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I can find Jesus later." But his friends persisted. They wouldn’t take no for an answer. God is healing my boy in our community. God is healing me and so many others through our community.
Community is beautiful.
In my job, as Community Care Director at Covenant Christian Academy, I get to see beautiful things every day. I get a front row seat to how our community cares for each other. It is one of the greatest blessings of my life.
I watched our community run the race of healing for our sweet Collins who fought cancer not once but twice. There was much prayer and even cutting of hair. It's beautiful.
I watched our community give generously to this family turned upside down by trauma and do what it takes to support them. It's beautiful.
I have watched our community show up time after time to pray, to mourn, and to rejoice. It's beautiful.
I am so thankful for the teacher who was willing to get dirty to fight for my boy’s heart. She was willing to do whatever it takes to reach his heart. This heart of grace and character of Christ is abundant in our community. I am grateful to get a front row seat to watch God's beauty and truth unfold.
