Family, they drive you crazy, they love you like crazy, they see you at your worst and your best, they make you cry, they make you laugh, they challenge you, they comfort you and they encourage you!
But Family is more than just blood relationship. With Thanksgiving come and gone and Christmas quickly approaching, family has been on my mind quite a bit. But its not just my amazing family home in California, it is the multitude of families that I have been blessed with over the years. My Wheaton family, my Forest Home family, my Shelter Amsterdam family, my U squad family and my team family! Its amazing how many different families I have been blessed with and how important family or community has been in my walk with Christ. When I think of the multitude of families I have, I think of how God ordained these people to be apart of my life at that certain point and how crucial they were for my growth both socially and mentally as well as spiritually. God puts people in our lives to challenge us, encourage us, and love us.
But I think that family is more than just the intimate people that we have around us at a certain stage of life. As Christians, we are apart of the kingdom, the body of Christ which automatically makes us family with all Christians around the world. Every month, I do not only enter a new country or a new ministry, I enter a new family that God has placed in my life to love me, support me, and grow me. Its an amazing part of the race that I had never thought of before. As apart of God’s big family, He has orchestrated encounters with people from around the world to help us grow and bring change in communities. Though we grew up in different cultures, speak different languages, we are bounded by one common purpose, to further the kingdom and spread the name of Jesus. Its so amazing, it blows my mind.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 5:4-7
This is why we are here, this is why we can easily create community all over the world. The Lord has united us under one common call, “to make disciples of all nations” and “to love one another as ourselves”. That’s the amazing thing about our God. He created us with a desire for community, with a desire to be with other people and serve together. This month, community has been a huge point of focus for me. My team and I are living in very tight quarters and are in a very spiritually dark place. I have to depend on them to keep me positive or speak into my life when I am feeling dry or disconnected from God. It has become so important for us to lean on each other, building each other up and looking for ways to encourage one another. God is using Malaysia to teach us how to love each other well and how to pour into one another when we are not being poured into by other people in this community.
