I’ve always known families come in different shapes and sizes. There’s families you’re born into, and the ones who adopt you. There’s the family of friends you choose, and those relatives that you might not have chosen if there was a choice. But the common theme between all these families is that there’s love.
One of my favorite things I’ve learned this year is about the family in Christ. I didn’t really understand it before the Race. Yes, I’d call my fellow church-goers my brothers and sisters, but it was an arbitrary term that I just thought was the “Christian” thing to do. This year, my iSquad family has shown me what it truly means to be a family in Christ.
Let me tell you about last night. Last night, I walked in the Legends Backpackers Hostel and waited to see all the parents who were in Swaziland for PVT, and to see my squadmates who I hadn’t seen in four days (even though it seemed like it’d been at LEAST a month…) And when they came back from ministry, I was greeted with mom and dad hugs, I was greeted with presents from home, I was greeted with “I’ve been praying for you”s and “I’ve read all your blogs!” I truly felt like my own parents were greeting me for the first time after not having seen me for months. It was so incredibly special.
And then later that night we found out the public busses stopped running before we were going to worship together, and instead of letting us leave, the parents all chipped in without our knowledge and bought us beds for the night so we could fellowship and worship with them. How amazingly generous is that? For people who aren’t actually their own children? And as I was standing in worship, looking around at my squadmates with their parents, seeing arms raised, all worshipping our God together, it hit me. This is family.
This is family. Parents treating us like we were their own. Friends loving on each other and praying for each other. Making sure we were able to eat dinner with the PVT instead of the PB&J’s we packed to eat, and pushing tables together to eat family style. Asking about our hearts and how the past few months have been, and actually listening. Hugs on hugs on hugs. Eating s’mores around a bonfire and talking until midnight. Singing praises to our Father and giving Him praise through testimonies.
This is family. These are the people I know will be praying for me when I’m sick. These are the people I know I can pour my heart out to and they’ll gladly listen and cry with me and pray for me. These are the people I want to do life with. And most of all, these are the people I want to claim as my own and say, “yeah, those people right there are my brothers and sisters. And I’m so insanely proud to call them that.”
Christ calls us to love one another as we love Him, and I’ve never had a more clear example of that than my squad. Not just my squadmates, but their parents as well. I felt whole having all of us in the same room; we thrive when we’re together. As I looked around, I wondered what the other backpackers at the hostel must have thought. They watched us as we loved each other, they watched us as we worshipped as one family, they watched us as we shared food and ate together, and they watched as we were greeted with huge hugs and beautiful smiles. They watched us as we left with tears in our eyes, having to say goodbye to part of our family that we only saw for a night.
What if we treated everyone as family? What would outsiders think of the family of Christ if we truly loved one another as family? What a testimony my squad has to share about Christ’s love through our love for one another, and an example to show people back home that yes, it is possible.
So to my iSquad family, thank you for your love. Thank you for showing me what it means to be a part of the family of God. Thank you for being a group of people I’m so proud to call my own. Thank you for showing me what it means to fight for one another and not take no for an answer. Thank you for letting me be a mess and accepting me in my brokenness. Thank you for challenging me, encouraging me, and pursuing me. Thank you for your generosity, your hearts, and for constantly pursuing the person Christ has created you to be. It’s been more than a privilege to serve alongside you these past 8 months, and I thank God for the blessing of this family every day. Here’s to 3 more months and countless more memories. I love you guys 🙂
God bless,
Jenna
