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Down In My Heart Joy!: For Which I Am Grateful and other Answered Prayers: Part 1 Our Church
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I haven’t been doing much lately in the way of recording happy things and answered prayers, as is the purpose of this blog. I am trying to change that, especially since so many wonderful things have occurred in the last few months that I have yet to document.
We have own building now, and are gradually remodeling it into a beautiful place to gather and worship. We spent the last three years leasing rooms, sections of rooms, and sharing spaces with other churches. Without a place to call our own, our children were confined to a dingy brown multi-purpose room, our band had to share expensive sound equipment with messy teenagers who beat on them too hard, and our people had to muscle the strength to move all our stuff to six locations in three years.
But that is the negative. The wonderful is that it has all changed! We now have a five-year lease in a great location, with a perfect-size building. We are painting, putting up walls, and shaping it into a wonderful place. Our children have a brand new classroom with big windows, bright green walls, new flooring, shelving, and plenty of space to run, play, and learn. Our band has a large stage with space for musicians, teaching, and drama. Our people are still providing labor to paint, scrub, and build, but it will soon be over and we will sit back and enjoy what God has done.
Four years ago, when we had to leave our wonderful building of 10 years, were $24K in debt, sent our senior pastor find another full-time job, suffered through a semi-church-split, moved into the youth room of another church, changed meeting Sunday mornings to nights, and sold a large portion of our equipment in exchange for rent, we were in tears. Our family never thought THIS is where we would be after ten years of love, sweat, and tears.
And yet, here we are again, three years later, this time in awe. We have an affordable lease on a location that is just ours, we are debt-free, our senior pastors are working part-time with the church and full-time with even better paying jobs, our church members are connected and dedicated, we have a new logo and a fresh look, and all the equipment we sold was given back to us.
Three years ago, we were still telling ourselves that God is good, and faithful, and can be trusted, because it IS TRUE not because we felt like it! And now, here we are, more grateful and overwhelmed by his goodness, faithfulness, and trustworthiness, than we could have imagined.