{Be Real} A Glimpse of Heaven

When you find your people, you just know it.

People that just “get” you. People that inspire you. People who are real, who are a refuge. You know, people who make you feel good about being human. Who fill your heart with hopes and dreams and encouragement.

This fall, I went to a conference in Georgia with a whole bunch of creative Christian women, and I felt it like the wind brushing my skin – these are my people. I felt something about heaven coming down to earth every time we gathered. The Lord’s presence just rested there when we worshipped. Is this what I’ve been missing all these years?! It made me believe again – community CAN be this real and this good.

It was like a community mountaintop. I felt so close to heaven. In the months that followed, I ached for that feeling to come back.

And I didn’t have that feeling again – but God gave me community. It looked different – it wasn’t this WOW- incredible thing that came in big. It was a daily community, simmered into lots of small moments, moments where the Lord taught me about how He shows up and His heart is always to provide for us.

In every season, we need to see the providing, loving hand of God and know that He always gives us enough.

That season, God gave me people who showed up and asked me how I was doing. People to be real with. People I could send text messages at night before my head hit the pillow and admit I’ve been struggling all day. And get messages back saying, Me, too.

As much as I loved the community mountaintop, I don’t think we are meant to live there. We’re meant to go through the thick of life together – boots on, as a good friend of mine says. God will give us people to walk through our trenches and He’ll give us boots so we can walk in theirs. To vulnerably walk right into their messy beautiful as they walk into ours.

God gives us to people and gives people to us, to meet right where we are and remind each other to press on toward Him.

And right in our daily life, we have to fight for this community, the kind that the Lord longs to give us. If I can challenge you, sisters, to strive for the BEST kind of community in your life this year, I’d love to leave you with these 3 words:

 

1. Choose

The people you choose to be close to and spend your time with, will inevitably affect who you become. My pastor used to say, show me who your 5 closest friends are, and I’ll show you where you’ll be in 5 years. And it’s true!

Not everyone is meant to be in the inner circle of your life. Choose wisely whose council you listen to, and where you spend your time.

And when you have chosen people to hug tight and close, keep choosing them. Choose each other over and over – and make a commitment to stay in their lives. We all go through seasons and rough patches, and the Lord by His grace has chosen us and keeps choosing us, every day.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16)

Staying in community and choosing others really just comes down to a decision, one we have to make.

 

2. Run

Community is not just about merely surviving this life together, it’s about running. It’s meant to pull us closer to the heart of God.

I listened to a talk by Jennie Allen this fall, who gave an illustration about “the race of faith.” She acknowledged that there are seasons we get hurt and we stop running towards God, and we may forget what we were even running for. We stay by the side of the road, and then someone comes to us, to help us bandage our wounds and remind us that we are in a race. And we begin running alongside them.

That’s the kind of community I want – the kind that says, This is what I see in you – I see what the Lord’s doing – keep giving this race EVERYTHING YOU HAVE. Let’s run this together.

When we are surrounded by other runners, we can keep the stamina to run, in times when we feel weak or fainthearted. And we can invite others to run with us simply by giving them our hand.

 

3. Work

A friend recently said to me, “The best dreams are born in community.” And that’s so true. Community that points us toward God, naturally will be people we can dream God-sized dreams with about the future.

We need each other – not just to run next to and say, “you keep going” – but we need to work together for God’s kingdom. God has missions for us here on earth, and we need other people to accomplish what He has set out for us.

And that dream you have?  It’s not a coincidence.  You’re not alone. God has given other people similar visions or dreams that fit with yours.

I think we all need to keep our eyes open and ASK God why He puts certain people in our life. I believe there is so much more divine strategy in our relationships than we can even see. It’s exciting just thinking about it!!

This year, sisters, I pray you choose community wisely. I pray you run with everything you have toward the Lord. And I pray you dream together, God-sized dreams and just watch as He works in us, bigger than we can ever imagine.

And as we live this messy beautiful together, with grace, vulnerability, and intentionality, we will know more of God’s heart and see glimpses of heaven here on earth.

Already, seeing what God is doing in this Delight community has been astounding.  He is using this ministry and this community all for His glory.

The Lord has such great things in store for us, girls!  Keep pressing on and let’s run together!

 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”

-Hebrews 12:1-2

“Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, Amen.”

-Ephesians 3:20