For the first time in my life I missed in-person church on a regular basis... to the tune of about 4 years!!! I'm astounded & shocked to even say that. COVID kicked off the first year of absences in 2020, and the ongoing caregiving demands, resulting exhaustion, & mere survival continued this dreaded streak throughout all of 2021, 2022, & 2023. The last 5 years (2019, 20, 21, 22, 23) nearly killed me, and this essential piece that was no longer there called church (community worship, fellowship, the inspired teaching of God's Word, volunteering & serving as part of the Body of Christ) was one of the main culprits of this near death experience. Praise God for the ministry I work in (GTD) that enabled me to do regular events with churches so that I could get the taste of church every few weeks during this time as well as the online church services I was able to attend virtually. There is no comparison to or replacement of in-person church participation, but even still the GTD events & online church services were vital parts of surviving this awful churchless phase of my life. I'm currently in the 9th month of my TAKEback ATTACK to take back everything (& more) in Jesus name that the thief came to kill, steal, & destroy in my life (John 10:10) over the past 5 years, and getting back into church is one of several things on the top of my take back list. This may sound a little strange, but I needed to pick a church where I didn't know anyone. I'm still recovering & healing, and my cup was pretty empty so I didn't want to go somewhere that I may be prone to start volunteering right away or "just jump right back in where I left off". The other things I needed from a new church was an emphasis on praise & worship, and if possible, something close to home to remove any excuse for not going. So I picked this thriving church 5 minutes from my house called Generation Church. I've been going off & on since January, and have finally broken through to some regular consistency (PTL!). Aaaaaaaaand oh how wonderful it has been!! Worshipping God with others and hearing regular sermons bathed in prayer & based on God's Word has been refreshing, renewing, & reviving. I don't know if this will become my home church in time, but I do know that it is the church that God is using to bring me back home during this time. I always wondered what life would be like without a healthy Christ-centered church, and now I know... it's a dreadful low, low, low quality of life.
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