Fellowship

How often do we take fellowship for granted??? While I was in Thailand I CRAVED fellowship. I can count on two hands the number of times I gathered with believers to worship and fellowship over the two years I was in Thailand. One of the things I most looked forward to about coming home was being with other believers (aka fellowship).

I remember the first Sunday being home, I went to church with my family and tears flowed the whole service because it was so good to be in my Father's presence with my church family. While I no longer cry through service I try to not take time with others for granted. I have been able to go back to His House and see my friends and make new ones. I have been able to talk to the Best Years at church and share my journey thus far. I have had numerous one on one conversations with people that were planned and unplanned. I can truly say I have been blessed by each and every one of them.

I have craved this time for two years and I don't want to take it for granted. Today I had a wonderful day full of fellowship. This morning I went to church, and they started a new class for second hour called fellowship. What a blessing for me. They had a quick devotion, and then there were questions on the table if we chose to use them, or we could just have the hour to sit and chat with each other. It was wonderful. Being given time to just sit and catch up with people. What an amazing gift.

After church I came home and we finished getting everything ready for Casey's open house. For over 3 hours some of our family and her closest friends came and helped celebrate her accomplishments in graduating from High School. I was able to catch most people for a few minutes just to chat. I wish I could have had more time to catch up and chat with each and every person who came. However, I'll just be appreciative of the time I did get to spend with them.

After the open house I went to Youth Group. There we sat around a fire pit and chatted, catching up on each other's lives, encouraging each other, and making plans. What a wonderful combination, a nice warm fire, friends and fellowship. You can't spend your Sunday evenings any better way as far as I'm concerned.

I hope that as the summer goes on I can continue to be blessed with fellowship. I hope to be able to continue spending time with people, encouraging and being encouraged. Some of the saddest things I've heard since I got home were people complaining about having to go to church or some other group where they had the opportunity to spend time with other believers. In moments like those I want to interrupt them and show them how lucky and truly fortunate they are to have the opportunity to do these things on a weekly or even better daily basis.

So, my plea for you today is to purposely seek fellowship. Spend time with other believers encouraging each other and just enjoying their company. You won't realize how important  and special it is until you go without it for a time. However, maybe if you sit back and imagine what your life would be like without it for two years you'll realize how special and important it is. I know because I lived without it for two years and it is something I'll never take for granted again...

WILL YOU???