Covid was very hard, isolating and lonely for a lot of people. Resuming “normal” life has found some wanting more in friendship and relationships. No longer satisfied with the way things used to be.

A few months ago I began to feel a message forming inside of me and it was about family. What is family? Family you’re born into? Jesus said those who do the will of His Father are His family.

There is something special about being accepted by a person or a group of people despite your flaws. Something incredible about being in such a group where the people or person call out who they see you as or who you’re becoming.

In my past I often showed up as my best self in front of people but there are ones that have seen me at my lowest points or heard about them from me and chose to still stand by me, warts and all. And these people feel like family. They’re safe. You feel at liberty to be you around them. If you’re tired and not wanting to talk or burned out and similar, or if you have some crazy ideas to process and they listen.

The message forming in me months ago has been about family and what it looks like to have that outside of blood family. As happens with me, I often get the message and walk it out. So as I was getting that I was invited to join some people that met weekly and talked about Jesus, life, worshipped and shared a meal. They welcomed me in and I felt in the presence of family and have ever since. As parts of my story have come out I’m met with compassion, love, kindness and encouragement of how they see me. This has emboldened me to take further “risks” in reaching out to people and build connections.

I think about Acts and the church during that time and how they shared things in common and always helped one another as they had need, they encouraged each other and prayed together and shared meals… It’s interesting how it seems there is an unconscious movement (generally speaking) to heal from past wounds and traumas and grow, become healthier mind, body and soul and as that happens I believe families will form all over the earth that will resemble what I’ve found with the people I’ve been meeting.

What if we began to practice this part of the book of Acts? How much better is it to give to someone and see them grow? The people who make up the church on earth (not people who just meet in a building) are forerunners of what is to come…what if we practiced inviting in? And not conforming people to who we want them to be, but loved them as they are? What if we learned to receive God’s love and see ourselves as He does and then give that love to others?

Outcomes would drastically change, crime would go down as would poverty, new ideas would emerge as people grow into who they were always meant to be, forgiveness would flow and new friendships would emerge and old ones rekindle, people would grow in boldness instead of diminishing, there would be more equality, etc etc.

I took a risk. I went on a trip and on a suggestion of a friend and a whim reached out to a woman I had met a year ago, once, at a conference. I was in her city and asked if I could stay with her. In my text to her, I said that I want people to stay with me but no one ever asks and so I thought I would ask. She and her husband said yes and invited me into their lives for a week. They have shown me kindness and love and I feel my heart filled to full due to their love and inviting me into their family. I feel a part of family here (still with them as I type). This has changed my trip completely from anything I had expected and just tore down walls in my heart, walls I didn’t realize were there. It has exposed some places in me that needed tended to by Jesus. I have fallen in love with this city unexpectedly because of the people. They introduced me to their friends who have invited me into their lives too. The blessing I’ve experienced through them saying yes to my risky ask has blessed me more than I can articulate. I feel I’m with family and I barely knew them. What if we who follow Jesus practice what we have learned more? And I say all this for me as much as for anyone who reads this. What if we took risks and did scary things? Like invite in people and love on them? What if that love changed or shifted the trajectory of that person’s life? I mean you don’t have to have someone live with you to love on them, you can just call out the greatness you see in someone.

Family…I’ve been learning that when I see the greatness in someone and see them through that lens a person who could’ve been totally an angry raging person can shift and become kind in a minute. There is something about getting healed and keeping yourself free from darkness and reflecting that light into the world that tends to bring out the best and light in others. I think family does that, a healthy family. The church is becoming a healthy family and as it heals and grows the clique-y status/vibe it gave off before will fall off and it will resemble more and more Jesus. Just by a few words the men he called to follow Him left everything they knew and followed. They were compelled by His love, that He saw them and understood them past their brokenness. The more one heals the more they can do the same.

Walking out this idea of family has led me to family. Family in a totally different state that has me pondering future trips as I want to remain connected to these people and this place that now feels like a home.