Thanksgiving on Thursday...

Today, I continue my thoughts

 about community.

 I've been pondering community alot the 

past few years, and recently as a brother at our church cautioned us against excessive and frivolous use of social networking, I paused and pondered deeply why I use this blog, Facebook, email, texting, Google plus, the postal system, and the telephone (all forms of technology beyond face-to-face communication). 

As I sat resting this afternoon,

 I was privileged to read this blog post, and I "know" now what I want to say in my own post.

Community is a gift. One that I have had to lay down over and over again as community around me failed: church, home, friendships, school, and sometimes several of these at the same time. I regret the failure I have been in communities I've been part of over the years, and recognize that in a sin-cursed world, community can break down at any time, no matter how 'perfect' it seems today, which is why we do well to heed the middle verses of the Bible: Psalm 118:8,9. I recognize that we each are journeying through life, and that the ultimate focus of our days must be Jesus, and not that we MUST HAVE community, no matter the cost. When Jesus is our focus, then we will be consistently dependable community members, who love deeply, live passionately for the Kingdom and tend others who come to us from God, and let God supply whatever need for community He sees we have.

I value community alot. I think maybe I value it as much as I do because for much of my life, the communities I have been part of have been full of splinters, chaos, confusion and sorrow. I saw many young people hurt because of hypocrisy in churches. I saw the light go out of the eyes of parents whose youth chose rebellion and selfishness, breaking up their families and bringing much sorrow to their homes. I have witnessed marriages crumble, and wives struggle to tend little ones without the God-ordained covering of their husband. I have seen husbands treated vilely by the wife of their youth, creating tension in their home. I have seen so much that is not of God and it has caused me, I think to value true community whenever it is had.

As I sat there, listening to that sermon (with a thankful heart that we have people among us who care about such things), I realized in a new way that all these years as I have struggled through splintered communities, and have wept at the feet of Jesus through loneliness, and broken hearted sorrow over my loved ones in various places who do not fully embrace the simplicity that is in Jesus, and over friends who choose to believe a false gospel...God has faithfully been meeting my needs for community among the believers in millions of ways, some of them rather 'unorthodox' by traditional methods of community! As I sat there, pondering my life thru the lens of that sermon, I realized that you just cannot put God into a box. We miss out on so much when we do that!

Indeed, I very whole heartedly agree with the brother who preached the sermon that the internet is not to be used lightly and not to be used frivolously (we are to do EVERYTHING we do to the glory of God). It is not something to be used to replace the flesh and blood people God places in my life (home, church, broader community, extended family) but today I want to go on record for saying that God has used the internet/social networking to encourage me many, many days when the flesh and blood communities around me were in a sad state of disrepair!

Thank you to each of my friends who has texted me Scripture or assurances of prayer, or even a request for prayer. Most of you who do that are busy moms or else know that I am a mom who is not on the phone very much, and this is how we stay connected as sisters in Christ in various geographical locations.

Thank you to each of my friends on Facebook and Google plus who post Scripture and thought provoking comments almost daily. I have often been inspired, sometimes convicted and called to come Higher with God through your example and your appeals for us to KNOW HIM.

Thank you to my Facebook friends who openly tell us how things are going

as you walk through life, whether it is adoption or fostering, or 

mission posts in other areas far away, or simply life in general
as you journey with Him.

It helps me to see parts of the Body living zealously for Him,

and often I have been encouraged to keep holding out the

Word of life to those in my world.

Thank you to each of my friends who have sent me cards and care packages in the mail. I smile when I see the cards set up in different places of my house, because it reminds me of God's people in varied places throughout the world who are faithfully and earnestly contending for the faith.

Thank you to the friend from Facebook who lives hundreds of miles away, who sent me a devotional book with a beautiful note thanking me for representing Jesus on Facebook. I was completely blown away by your generosity, and appreciated your blessing.

Thank you to my friends all the way in China who have made use of the internet to encourage the believers who are not with you face-to-face. I am one of them.

And to all my face-to-face friends, I appreciate you. You are not to be discounted because you are not on Facebook. I am getting to you in continued posts about community.

Today, I bless the Lord for the many means He uses to encourage His children. He might have us go through wilderness experiences, but I am well aware that daily He loads us with benefits, some of them where we least expect them. My experiences have taught me that He takes care of His own,

but not always in the way we think that He will or should. I am blessed to be His daughter,

and to have Him truly take care of me wherever He has planted me to do His work.

God Can Do Anything