Amazed

Wow, my family is loved and blessed in so many ways. I sometimes wish that I would just let everyone walk in my shoes during my good and bad times so you could really understand how I am feeling because there are times that I have no words to explain my innermost feelings. Yesterday, our family got to go to our home church twice. We were welcomed and hugged and it felt so good to be home. Bryan and I had the opportunity to share our joys, sorrows, blessings and challenges at the evening service.

I am normally extremely nervous when public speaking, but God gave me a real sense of peace as we answered these questions. I looked out over the congregation and I saw looks of love, looks of encouragement, looks of understanding and eyes of concern and eyes welling up with tears as we shared our hearts. God was there last night and I felt His presence there. It is so hard to describe, but I have not felt so loved and supported in a very long time. I have missed my church family much more than I even realized.


Our friends Terp and Chris came up with the perfect songs for the service (and even learned to sing my favorite song from Kutless, "I'm Still Yours") and after Bryan and I shared, Terp had us walk into the center aisle and had the congregation surround us and put their hands on us in prayer.

After Terp prayed, Steve shared a plan that he and his wife Julie had in order to help people remember to keep us in their prayers. The congregation committed to remembering us in prayer and signed 2 picture frames with pictures of Beautiful Gate in them. One to keep at church as a reminder and one for us to take with us so that when we feel far away or are struggling, we will be reminded that there are always friends praying for us. Wow, what a gift. We are so blessed by our church family and yesterday was a night I will not forget. God is faithful. We have been gone for a long time, but we were not forgotten. God is amazing and He has renewed our strength and filled us with hope for our future at Beautiful Gate and with our amazing family from Haven CRC.