From my heart: When the Church is What the Church was Called to be…

A few seasons ago while we lived in Honduras I went through a season as a disciple maker/church planter where I had a distorted view of the Bride of Christ.  I started focusing on what the bride of Christ should look like and then I would look at myself and those around me and be woefully disappointed.  I spent a lot of hours crying out to the Lord over his ugly bride, apologizing for her faults and despairing in the fact that she was no way close to ready for His return.  One day in my lament the Lord spoke to me and said, “don’t mess with my bride,” and then the Lord spent the next few seasons teaching me about my identity in Christ.

“Don’t mess with my bride”… If you think about it when you go to a wedding no one ever criticizes the bride – instead people in good form always point out something stunning and wonderful about the bride.  It may be her beautiful dress, her glowing smile, the twinkle in her eye, her cute shoes! No matter what, there is always something good to say about the beautiful bride.

Understanding who we are in Christ and our true identity in Him is the key to living and becoming what Christ has called us His church and His bride to be.  

I share this story because on this cancer journey I have had the wonderful opportunity and vantage point to see and experience first hand the beautiful bride of Christ.  My journey which has now been intertwined with the whole covid crisis has, in my opinion, brought out the beauty of the bride – the church. 

During my journey, I have had people:

Bring me meals; send me handmade notes; share their stories; call me; send me Bible verses and words of encouragement; have breakfast with my and Patrick’s picture and then pray for us;  assure me of their daily or frequent prayers for me; offer to come and clean my house; make me smile or laugh; cry with me, hug me, show me they are walking alongside me; assure me of their love for me; offer to go grocery shopping for me; tell me that they could do any tasks I was unable to do; tell me I could call them any time of the day or night for help; walk with me around the block…  beautiful!

It is sweet that when the church does what the church is called to do it is a very powerful thing.  When the people of God – – – filled with the Spirit of God – – – serve from who they are in Christ there is a spiritual explosion that happens that goes far beyond words.  To experience this is life changing.

In all this I want to applaud the church and others who have shown kindness and love and have made and are making a difference in this world.  Your gestures and expressions of love have greatly impacted my life and my prayer is that you and I in turn would look at those around us who do not know Christ and that we would be the beautiful bride that He created for us to be.  The bride for whom He is coming possibly sooner than we think! 

Filled with a humble appreciation,

Debbie (and Patrick too:-)