Power in COMMUNITY

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today. It is 2018, a new year, a new vibe. With the new year came a change to the design of my blog. I decided to change the title of my blog from "My journey, My walk" to Dear Little Children. I am reminded every time that I open the book of 1st John of how much John actually refers to us as children. Now, people have asked me what is my focus when it comes to me blogging. I didn't really have an answer until yesterday when the new title grabbed my heart. I will always be sharing personal experiences - of which I am a master of and so is everyone of their own stories. However, just view it as a letter to you every time you read my blog posts.

I am super grateful for where Dad has me in this season of my life. I am surrounded by the beauty of family. Having people around has always been a pleasure to me, however being part of a community is an experience that cannot be put into words. 

I have been spending a lot of time with my friend and sister, Nina Hearne, lately. She has taught me many things about Dad in these moments I get to spend with her. Hence this experience about encountering God as Dad, which speaks about intimacy, she has always taught me to value community and to cultivate it. Before I continue I would like to bring the beautiful scripture founded in Romans 8:15-16 into this part of my letter to you. It says, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." I have heard people preach and speak about this scripture, but never before has this scripture become so real to me. We all know that the "dad" aspect in life is a sensitive topic to tread on - and especially when referring to God as Dad, but it is so needed because our identity is founded in God as Dad.

Children is who we are, it is our identity no matter what our age. We are His children. Deep down our spirits leap when we cry out Abba Father. It is in our DNA. We were never meant to be or stay orphans for that matter because we were created for love and for family. The scripture in Romans does not say that His Spirit bears with our spirit when we cry out Healer, Redeemer, Lover etc.. All these are legitimate parts of His character but when we cry out Abba Father it does something to our spirits because this is what our hearts crave for. 

As we get to encounter God as Dad, our eyes are then opened to the community Dad is excitingly waiting for us to encounter as well - and this is His family. And boy oh boy, His family is huge and beautiful. We cannot separate the two aspects. No wonder Jesus taught us that we should love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Everything is community to God. Jesus understood this very well. We also see that even as Jesus taught His disciples to pray He taught them that - it is our Father. What amazes me about the opening of Jesus' prayer here is the fact that He says our Father. I mean Jesus was the only One who was worthy to be called a Son of God, and He could have been selfish and kept the truth away from us - that the Father beckons are hearts to become His own. Instead, Jesus revealed the truth of the Father to us without limitation and He painted the picture of who we truly are. We were not worthy to be called children of God, but because Jesus loves the Father and because of what He felt Dad's heart was for family, He willingly gave Himself in sacrifice so that we could have access whether or not we are murderers, adulterers or fornicators, there is grace so that we can become who were truly were meant to be.  

I believe that there is power in community, like Nina teaches me. We can certainly run solo, but at some point you are going to need someone to cry with or sometime to laugh and eat with. In the last few weeks I have laughed till my chest pulled tight and my voice was thick and if you were to look into my soul, you would have seen that I was at peace. There was no heavy intercession, nor was there heavy spiritual exhortation to get me to a place of peace. Do you know what the secret was? The secret is to be consciously aware of Dad in the midst of community. We cannot have community without Dad, because He is the author of what community looks like, and it looks like family. 

The beautiful thing about community is that there is an important place for everyone. I have met a whole bunch of new people through Nina in this season, and what I have noticed was that there is practically every type of person in community. You have the really gentle types of people sitting and laughing with the strongest personalities in the room. And I swear if you looked across the room you would see someone munching on something out of the fridge just after he had some chips from the kitchen cupboard a minute ago. 

Many people have been lied to. We have had voices in our ears whisper to us that it would be better isolated. These voices that lied to us surely know the power of community. In community the voices still speak, but their voices drown in the presence of love. 

Little children, some of us have built walls because we have been hurt in community and we might fear to become vulnerable again. But community hurts us when we do not have a revelation about God as Dad. Without Dad the community will always be broken and always find the need to fill the void. Remember this as I bring this letter to an end, that Community cannot replace Dad and Dad cannot replace Community. 

Some of us are surrounded by community already, we just have not opened our eyes to see the beauty thereof. If you have not partaken of the beauty of community yet, the good news is that they are available. Maybe Dad has you in a season of molding you as His child and He separates you from community for a small bit, but there is a community waiting for you to just be. We never ever have to impress or perform in community. We just have to be...

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Shalom!