Thank you, God. You take such good care of us!
The
Lord led us to several churches before taking us back to and settling us
in one of them. Like so many others who felt led or forced out of Grace
Brethren Church over the past 22 years, I couldn't help weeping through the first
sermons we heard, realizing how parched we had become.
We have been
nursing greedily at a truly Biblical view of Jesus Christ--Almighty,
Sovereign, transcendent yet God-with-us, exalted and lifted up, name
above all names, worthy of worship by all His creation, King of Kings
and Lord of Lords, compassionate Savior, willingly giving His life in
place of ours, the only necessary and sufficient sacrifice for our
autonomy and rebellion, the One who not only hears us but can answer our
deepest cries for help and heal the brokenness in the innermost places
of our spirit.
The church God led us back to already contains so many wounded
refugees from GBC the sanctuary is being expanded to accomodate 125 more
worshipers. It is comforting to go to an unfamiliar church and be
embraced by dozens of familiar people. Some we barely knew at Grace
welcome us as long-lost friends.
We now understand why those who left GBC before us left quietly and
still do not want to talk about it. We never want to step on that
property again. Its air is thick with the poisonous fog of deception. In
my mind's eye I see there a circle of friends with their backs to us.
Why would we want to relive reminders that they chose to believe lies
about us and, under orders by the perpetrators, refused to read this
blog, blocked our emails, and would not let us speak to them--much less
seek us out to ask why we were taking a stand against the leadership?
Like so many other outcasts, we are skittish about committing to
another institution. I have trouble trusting what any church claims from
the pulpit on on their website. We have alighted and are willing to
stay but I feel my wings are still partially open to lift off at any
moment if we sense heresy or just-plain-meanness under color of
authority.
