There Was That One Weekend….

 

I don’t even know how to express the importance of Women’s Christian Community .

I don’t know how to paint a picture of it either.

Then there was that one weekend….

My heart was pounding with excitement, fear and anticipation. I thought I was going to throw up before I could get off that little plane. I do not get airsick, or altitude sickness. I was just—well—nervous.

Austin Texas was hot- about 95* with a million percent humidity. I waited for my bag to come off the plane, and headed down the concourse to meet some of the 250 friends I have never seen before. Yes, I said 250 friends I have never met. It is true, and for those of you who do not know this story, I will recap:

On March 11, I was sent an email confirming I was one of 500 who applied to be on a launch team for a favorite Christian author- Jen Hatmaker. I am not an optimist- I never win anything. Needless to say I did a happy dance complete with the Carlton when I recieved that email. Finally something good, and all mine. I relished in the thought of being “first’ to read a new book, get to be part of a “closed” facebook page, and maybe even a shot at learning from and meeting some other authors. I was in pure heaven. I had no idea how much my life was about to change. The book is For The Love.

When the facebook page launched, we slowly accepted the terms and joined in, introducing ourselves and talking about the excitement of the book. I got my pdf copy and joined in with the group, reading, sharing, laughing, crying—my dogs looked at me like I was a nutjob. Then the actual pre-copies went out- the unedited copy that every one of us stalked our UPS drivers over, until they were delivered. I highlighted, made notes and folded pages. It is a well read book, in the sense that I have read it more than any other book except my Bible.

One day, something happened. One of the women posted a very personal, serious prayer request on the page. It was vulnerable, it was serious and I was crying. I commented right away, wrote down her request and prayed over her and her situation. It was so hard and real. Then it happened again. Another woman. Then again, and again, until our facebook community turned into a real life community. A community that lives and breathes and thrives on the love for one another that you only get from Jesus.  One day I was having a particularly rough go of a few personal things- and I turned to a facebook community of 496 women and 4 men for a prayer request.   I was so worried I had done the wrong thing, then I got a friend request from one of the 500. She sent me a fantastic message about peace and allowing myself some grace and mercy. She prayed for me, and she checked in on me for several weeks after that.  I sent a friend request of my own, and as soon as it was accepted I sent my own personal message to a woman I had never met, encouraging her as I had been encouraged. This went on for months.

One day I looked on my facebook page and the only thing I saw were my FTL friends, loving, encouraging, debating and praying for one another. We are not all from the same church, denomination or background. We are not from the same country, we are not from the same race, social status or career. We are as different as they come. We are literally in different countries, raised differenty, in different marital situations .  One thing we all have in common? Jesus, grace, mercy and For The Love.

Back to Austin…

I walk onto the escalator, riding down with my backpack and my carry-on bag. Then I see her. Sheila. One giant hug and a few tears later, I am glad I made this trip. Traveling alone is a big deal for me. I am 41, and I do not go anywhere without hubs. I turned around, and there was Harmony, with her big smile and another hug. The absolute strangest thing happened. I felt like I was home.

All of these months talking, praying, reading and writing. We have spent countless hours together- all of them virtually. Finally I was getting to hug some people whom I cherish and are so dear to me. We had dinner at Salt Lick BBQ- if you ever go to Austin you must go eat there. There were supposed to be 35 of us- we ended the night at 72 FTL-ers. 72 women whooping ,laughing, hollering and hugging and crying- all at once.  And so unnerving- they all knew my name.  I have never ever in my life had people yell my name like I was a celebrity and then want to hug me because we had something so awesome in common- Jesus. I was overwhelmed. It was so awesome.  I have never felt so loved, so much part of a community, so much like I belonged somewhere. The only thing missing was my husband, and he has been hearing all about this since I came back

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We spent time getting to know each other, shopping, eating and just having some good, old fashioned girl time. For some it was like moving mountains to get to come there at all. For some we raised money for scholarships and amazingly enough- brought 24 to Austin!  For some it was a much needed jolt to their next step in life. For others it was eye opening and refreshing to spend moments on their own, a perfect time for some reflection.  I am feeling like a spoiled girl- my husband wouldn’t hear of me staying home, missing this opportunity. He said I would regret it if I didn’t go- and he was right.

The pinnacle of the weekend was a super amazing party at Jen and Brandon Hatmakers farmhouse. First off, the house is super cool. The food was spicy, the drinks cold and we had a nice breeze. Jen made an incredible tear jerker of a speech- like me she is a real live person with kids and dogs and parents and in-laws. I hear she even puts her boots on one at a time, but I doubt that is true. She was amazing, so excited to meet each and every one of us. So gracious. So hungry, and oh-so appreciative.  For her the book was just a book that we launched- a baby she birthed, that we delivered into the hands of moms, daughters and friends right when we were supposed to. Its all good- because it lives up to the hype we created over it.  The real outcome of this launch group was our community.

We are still a community of mostly women who stick together, pray for each other, have meet ups and coffee. We are still working together to promote each others businesses, blogs, websites and books. We have had literal babies in this group.  We hold each other up. Our standard is Jesus.  Jen’s challenge to us was to take that community and build on it at home. It is a huge challenge. The women in my circle are wanting this so badly, but how do we accomplish such a task? How do we convince the women we know this is important? How do we trust, encourage, circle up and create this kind of bond? How do we take what I learned and what I have in FTL, and apply it to the countless women I see every day who are hurting, loving hard, raising their babies, loving their husbands, serving their churches and  praying over it all? Just How?

 

Community doesn’t just happen- it takes work, trust, commitment and unconditional love. It takes broken people coming together to provide for one another what we cannot provide for ourselves. It takes forgiveness, mercy, grace and putting away the past and looking to the future. It takes a true love of Christ, in any stage. Mostly it takes some seriously messed up humans to put it together.

When I look back, now I know what a Christian Community of Women is supposed to look like and it is beautiful. Its all women coming together from all circumstances and all places, loving each other regardless of everything. Its being the kind of friend Jesus expects us to be- the kind we want in our friends.  My community here- it is broken into a million pieces.

Original question- how do I express the importance of Women’s Christian Community  in my community?

I think I will pray over it, and God will continue to be provisional, as He always has.

 

 

**I have had quite a few people “warn”me of social media, facebook, blogging and similar things. I’m tired of the nay sayers. Not all of us are crazy. There is a ministry opportunity in everything in the world- there just has to be someone willing to minister. I am grateful for Jen Hatmaker and her team for taking this risk. It has been life changing and I will never forget it.

 

To order the For The Love Book, go here you won’t regret it.

To see my endorsement of the book, go to endorsements and scroll down. 🙂