I’ve been homesick lately.
The irony of being homesick for me is that I actually live an hour from “home”! I’m not homesick for the place I grew
up. I’m homesick for Greenville. Andy and I spent a fair amount of time in
Greenville over the holidays, and driving around the familiar streets always
makes my heart ache. I miss my little
house on Cherrytree and my job at Farmville Central. I miss walks with Marianne and Bible Study
with Rebecca and Monday night TV with Jenn.
Today, the weather was absolutely awesome, and as I was walking outside,
I thought about how much I missed Greenville, but I couldn’t help but also
think about the ways God has blessed me in Charlotte.
The biggest way God has blessed me has been my Wednesday
night Bible Study. Andy and I initially
wanted to do a couple’s Bible Study so that we could meet friends. After trying a couple of those groups, I
quickly realized that a couple’s study wasn’t for me. I needed women. I needed giggling and chocolate and Beth
Moore. I went back to the drawing board,
and I was able to connect with a Wednesday night group that contains women ages
19-55. I know it sounds funny, but I
could not have asked for a better fit.
Some of these women are good friends with one another, but overall, no
one knows each other very well and no one is in exactly the same stage of
life. Some people have kids but those
kids range in age from 16 months-early 20s.
Some kids are biological and some are adopted. Some people are married, some have been
divorced, some are remarried, some are single. Some people come from the “grew up in church,
known Jesus all my life background,” and some have much more colorful stories
of salvation. We are not all Southern, and between us, we have lived all over the United States.
But when we are in the same room, I feel like I am home. This group reminds me of the scripture in
Matthew that says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
I am in the midst of them.”
You know, I think that verse gives an absolute promise that I
have felt in every group I’ve been part of that puts Jesus as the center of the
gathering. I had a group that met
together in my home before I left Greenville that had the same feel as the
Bible Study I’m in now. None of us knew
each other well, but when we sat around my living room, we were able to talk
and laugh and cry together and share personal requests in a way that I would
normally never do with people I don’t know well. There is
a power in gathering together in Jesus’s name.
His presence is there and real and clearly felt in a way that brings
hope and power.
There is also something really special about being in a
group that all know the same person intimately.
I have a friend in Charlotte named Jenny. She and I don’t know each other all that
well, but we have several connections back in Greenville. I used to teach with her mom; she is really
close to one my best friends, Sara; she graduated from high school with Andy’s
brother; we babysat for the same family in college; and we even dated the same
guy! The fact that we share common
experiences and friends makes me feel closer to her and has given us lots of
fuel for conversation. Similarly, when I
go to Bible Study, I join together with several other ladies who know Jesus
well and claim him as their best friend – just as I do. We may not all have known the Lord in the
exact same way or for the exact same length of time, but we do have similar
experiences of him, and sharing our experiences helps us know and understand
Jesus better and grow closer to one another.
Praise God that he can be found in any city and that, no
matter where we go, he has the power to bring us together with other believers.
And this power that shows up in the midst of believers who have gathered in his
name also has the power to cure home sicknesses. Or maybe at least make it disappear for a
night!
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