Yet walking into the sanctuary, I was overcome by the beauty of that place. The beauty of His holiness. The warm color of the tall walls and arched ceilings, along with the 'stained-glass of old' beckoned me forth. Sitting in the wooden pew that day, I found rest. God enveloped my spirit, soothing and consoling the deep recesses of my soul. I will never forget the worship, sunshine spilling through the stained glass and shining down on the pews, like God's hands reaching into that place saying, 'I am here, child.' I will never forget how God ministered to me in that very moment, in all His kindness letting me know that He was with us in our rocky, tipsy-topsy upside-down chaos.
I will never forget the people. Their genuine love for us even though they didn't really even know us. Their welcoming smiles and hugs. Their ability to make us feel as if we belonged. Their help in directing us and our children to the right Sunday School class.
I will never forget standing and talking with others afterwards for what seemed like hours while our youngers ran around and played with the other kids and our olders hung out with the teenagers. They all seemed so happy, so at home. It was as if we had been there all along.
There was such a sweet, genuine Spirit residing in that place, pouring forth from the people. His Spirit.
In the months that followed we did the church circuit, visiting almost every church in the city. Yet, every so often we would take a break from the search and circle back around to that church on Broadway. Each time I walked back into that place, I would feel the comfort one feel's when returning to his bed after a long trip. As my head hit the soft, warm pillow, I knew.
We were home.
And while Eric and I may have felt confirmation, there were five little extensions of us whose opinions mattered too. This would be the church that would shape them and mold them in the most important years. We didn't want to make a rash decision. We needed to move slow and make sure.
We needed to pray it through.
So we kept circling, kept visiting, kept praying. And we kept voting. Many Sunday dinners involved Eric pulling out a napkin and writing down each of our names and each of our top three churches. We would not settle until everyone's top choice was unanimous.
And finally one Spring day everyone's top choice was the other's top choice. After months of Upward basketball, Wednesday night Awana and youth group, prayer-times with precious ladies, sitting under a husband/wife team that made the Bible come alive, children who could not wait to go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, our family had settled. We had settled.
Finally, we were headed home.
But when you are a family of seven--well, you don't do anything particularly fast. And about such things, we tend to procrastinate. So finally, yesterday, we did it. We walked the aisle to an official membership.
Sometimes, God will show up in the smallest of details, surprising in the sweetest of ways. Oh, how He did so yesterday, using our procrastination to set the stage for His perfect timing.
One of the first songs our worship team led us in was 'Not To Us' (but to your name be the glory...). Now, not once have we ever heard this song played at First Baptist. Not one time. Until yesterday. The day we happened to be making our membership official. What's such a big deal about that song, you ask? Many years ago, we declared this as our Family Song. It's OUR song. It means something dear to us. Only God knew that. Only God could orchestrate something so personal, so sweet, so special.
One of my dearest friends happened to be singing with the worship team yesterday. She is not always up there. Having her leading on the day that we walked the aisle was another God-surprise, ordered up by God himself. A God gift.
The passage preached through was Acts 4. The sermon's message was about God sending out his untrained and uneducated men. Yet God used them because they went forth in obedience anyway. He used them because they relied on His power, not anything of their own.
For me, personally, the book of Acts has been 'the book' that God has led me to over and over this past year. It was the book we studied in CBS. It was the book our Vacation Bible School studied this summer. God has used this book over and over and over to remind me why He brought us to Paducah. Us--the untrained and uneducated, yet He--the powerful, almighty God.
How like him to circle us back around to this book, to this particular chapter on this particular Sunday. Showing us He is walking ahead of us, guiding us in His plan and in His purpose.
Another God gift.
And then. On the song of invitation, the song that we would walk forward to and commit, they played the song that gets me every time--Amazing Grace.
'Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved,
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.'
I hate to kill the mood right about now, but well, this is when things got kind of weird. This is fitting because I often have two left feet at the most inopportune times. First, Eric stood singing forever--so long I wondered if he was going to miss the invitation. He had his eyes closed and there were like three kids in between us so I could not get his attention. Jason, our youth minister kept looking at me like, 'well, are you guys coming down or not?' I looked back like, 'Ummm, I'm not sure???'
Finally, Eric opened his eyes and gave me the nod. Except I thought our whole family was walking down, not just he and I. Yet, none of our kids between us were budging. They were just standing there. Maybe they didn't realize we were walking forward? This didn't surprise me, this was just par for the course, as things are often miscommunicated when you live in a home of seven. Anyway, we kept having this conversation without words, just eyes, while everyone around us sang Amazing Grace. Finally I realized Eric just wanted me to get out of the pew without our non-budging kids, so I stepped all over their feet, almost tripping. When we finally walked forward, my first Spirit-filled words to our youth pastor were, 'that was so awkward!'
Ah, such a moment.
Thankfully, pastors are good at smoothing over the uncouth. He motioned for our children to join us and we all stood on the front pew, the stumbling-awkwardness soon forgotten. After the offering and announcements, the pastor introduced us to the congregation.
When the service was over, people stood in line to shake our hand and introduce themselves. To welcome us and let us know they were so happy we were there.
Kind of like a wedding. Walking the aisle. Being greeted in a receiving line. It was a great feeling.
And finally, almost one year from the day that we moved, coming full-circle,
WE ARE OFFICIAL.
OFFICIALLY HOME.
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