Being apart of City Central’s young adult community has transformed my life in so many ways. I’ve learned through my friendships that life is only as rich as you let it be.
Although Jesus places inherent value on our lives and prepares good things for us in advance, it is up to us to partner with him to partake in the beauty that is Gods goodness which is in essence, Gods community.
And as someone who feels and loves deeply, I was ready to jump into the depths of fellowship until I realized that life in community was so much harder than I thought. Everyone desires to be raw and authentic until it cost them their “perfect” reputation. Until it calls them into accountability. Until someone gets a bit too close to THAT thing.
And this is what community did to me. It exposed me.
It left me bare but not unclothed. It left me aching but not without remedy. It called me out of passivity and into action. When God exposed me he essentially asked me if I was willing to let healing sweep in, not knowing that my yes and Gods “so be it” would come in the form of community.
I’m reminded of the question God asked Adam when He sought him out in the garden, “where are you?”
Adam responds, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
God says, “Who told you that you were naked?
At heart, Gods question was one of sheer heartbreak “who told you that you weren’t good enough?” “Who told you that you had to hid?”
But God being rich in mercy and compassion made a way that day forever reconciling us to right relationship. To right community.
I am forever changed.