Rooted: Biblical Community
It is the month of March and I can hardly believe we will soon wrap up the 1st quarter of the New Year. Last month was a tough one for me to say the least. My 1st full month back in the metro-Atlanta area, temporarily living back at home with my parents, pursuing a full-time career in Holisitic Health & Wellness and boy have I been tested, challenged and tried in every way. So many things make so much more sense to me now than they did in times past regarding moving back home to the Atlanta area. I remember a time when I was running from Valdosta and just wanted to be back home so bad. Discontent was an understatement and I was fed up. When I finished throwing my silent temper tantrum and raising my mini rebellion I fell at the feet of the Lord and cried asking Him to help me please Him and yield my will to Him. Many things were ministered to me in that moment but one that I remember to this day was, “Bloom where you are planted daughter. Dig deep roots and bloom.”
It took some time for me to really grasp what that meant but in a matter of months the Lord really began to teach me that the Promise Land is wherever He sends me in His perfect timing not wherever I set my desires to just up and go. In those seasons of my life I NEEDED to be in Valdosta serving, learning, growing, maturing and being rooted in the Biblical Community I was blessed to be a part of, Xchange Ministries. Now, If I am entirely honest, I experience moments where I wish I could just run back, then I remember the wisdom of the Lord. “Bloom where you are planted daughter. Dig deep roots and bloom.”
Before I moved back to the Atlanta area the Lord gave me clear specific instructions about getting plugged into a local body that would afford me the opportunity to again be rooted in a healthy Biblical Community. What I did not foresee were the real life practical challenges to community in such a different context. Last Friday night I went to my weekly small group for the 1st time (FINALLY) and was asked what was the difference between being in Valdosta and now here in the metro- Atlanta area. I know I gave some sort of an answer at the time, but I was still in the thick of processing it all and really understanding what really was different for me.
Giving it some thought I realized that proximity and access were two things that were challenging in a bigger city. In Valdosta, linking up with a fellow brother or sister or engaging in community was easy access. It took more effort to avoid community than to be in community. Here in the metro Atlanta area it’s the opposite. The intentionality that one must go through to be rooted and plugged into healthy Biblical community is real. It takes work and it is different. Isolation and doing life alone is a lot easier and that is not the design of the Lord. Even friends who live “close” can be a 30-minute drive with regular day to day traffic. Sometimes text messages and phone calls just don’t cut it when you’re going through things, but I have quickly learned that sometimes they just have to do when commutes are easily an hour, schedules conflict and driving on 285 is not the business, LOL. Don’t get me wrong community is possible and beautiful in its own way out here it’s just different and a little bit more challenging. I see why so many fall away from the faith in larger more populated cities or when the Lord shifts them into a transition that challenges the foundation of their faith, their ROOTS.
When the Lord ministered to me that Valdosta was the city of hidden treasures I understood it to one degree then and even more now. There is a truth that I deeply miss being rooted in Xchange Ministries but there is also a HOPE that I have in intentionally rooting myself at Victory World Church (Norcross Campus) and their young adult’s ministry Fusion that challenges me to grow and mature past what is comfortable and what WAS my norm. Key things that I am learning in this chapter of my life:
- Seek the Lord even in the transition. Sometimes we get instructions and we just go for it with zeal and excitement sometimes leaving the Lord behind.
- Accountability is a must. It is so easy to become complacent and compromise and begin to allow sin to creep into your life without accountability.
- Transparency and Vulnerability. They are NOT the same and work best coupled together. Yes, they involve risk, but the even greater risk is falling into sin and feeling like you have no one to go to and to gently lift you back up.
- Humility. Only pride, in its many forms, keeps us from seeking out all the above.
- It’s OK if you’re not as ” put together” as you thought you were. Sometimes we get so discouraged or disappointed with ourselves when we fail or fall short or mess up not knowing that the experience was an opportunity to see and seek truth and just grow.
If you’re not changing you’re stagnate and if you’re not growing you’re dying. One of the key components to our transformation and growth as Disciples of Jesus Christ is Biblical Community and I now see to a greater degree the importance of that. We are the Body of Christ for a reason. I am learning that excuses truly are a dime a dozen, but we make time for what we want to make time for and when our priorities change our lives begin to change. I will never stop pursuing Christ no matter what challenges come my way or stumbling blocks that are unaware they will soon become stepping stones. Biblical community and Biblically sound teaching is PARAMOUNT for the Disciple of Jesus Christ. Without it. we will surely be led astray. I will stay rooted in Biblical Community because I know that is part of His divine design for discipleship and it starts with me pursuing Christ whole heartedly and intentionally every day.
With Love,
Faith-Tomi Oluwakoya, Daughter 1st
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