If I’m being honest, the last several months have held some of the hardest days for myself and my little family. Days filled with grief and loss and sickness and parenting and ministry and work and the world around us and all the things. There have been days where I’ve said out loud or sent a quick text to a friend stating “its just too much.” Many days I’ve felt the weight of that. It’s just too much.

I know I’m not the only one feeling it. I know I’m not alone in my grief or challenges. I know everyone is walking their own hard and feeling the weight of it being too much. But I’ve also experienced community and the body of Christ in such rich and meaningful and tangible ways in the last several months.

I’ve experienced my church coming alongside me and surrounding my family with prayer and phone calls and visits and meals and coffee and cards and “thinking of you” texts reminding me that I’m not alone. That in the midst of heartache and grief that I am seen and not forgotten. Community who have carried the weight alongside me and sometimes for me when it’s felt like too much.

God is using His people to encourage us and lift our spirits. To remind us that He sees and knows and cares and loves. What a gift this body of believers is to me and to my family. I’m grateful to God that He allows us to live life in the context of Christian community. We need each other; God has given us the gift of community to walk alongside and care for each other’s needs, to love and encourage and spur one another on. Giving thanks to God for this good gift of love and care and community found in this body of believers.

I’m grateful for First Baptist Arlington, especially when it’s just too much.