Healing at Church

I'm thinking back to three years ago. I was really hurting. I felt so unwanted and rejected by the church I had been attending. And it wasn't just a feeling. I WAS unwanted and rejected. There was bullying, slander, all kinds of things. I went through the pain and betrayal of my marriage and divorce and thought I would be free to just heal, only to find myself in another really destructive situation. I was spiritually and emotionally battered. 

Then a switch flipped inside me, and I said "no more." 

Today is the third anniversary of the day my parents and I started attending the church we are a part of now. There has been so much healing. There is so much love. I'm different from most of the people I worship with. It's not them, it's me. I'm odd. But that does not at all diminish the sense of belonging I have with these people that I know love and accept me. There is something so healing about walking through the door and knowing I am wanted. Knowing that the gifts that God wants to develop in me are acceptable. 

Jeremiah 3:15 says, "Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding."  I am so blessed to have the pastor I have now. I can't think of a time in my life I have sat in church and had insight after insight come to me during the preaching like it does now. There are things that I mull over and write about in my journal and pray about, then my pastor either talks about it directly or says a little something that clicks with what I've been thinking about and makes the puzzle pieces come together. And more importantly to me are his love and compassion and patience.

I am blessed. I am in a place of healing and hope. Today I celebrate this progress in my life. It has been so needed.