Birthing

Having a baby is painful.

Having a baby is hard.

Having a baby is joyful.

I was driving yesterday on the windy roads near my home and it occurred to me--we've been here nine months. It's been a very difficult church-planting pregnancy! We've encountered trials on nearly every level: economic, relational, mental, physical. There have been times I didn't think we could continue on. In the midst of that, I remembered something I learned a long time ago: "When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible person, and breaks her." So, we've been broken. And tired. And needy.

But nine months have passed and there is a true, genuine sense that the church is starting, that a baby has been birthed. The pangs of the nine months are slowly fading, replaced by hope and joy. We just had our first event as a church--a marriage conference in Italy, where Steve and Marsha Stroope from our home church, spoke about strengthening marriages. It blessed the couples that came, and it gave strength to us as a church.

I'm glad we went through the pregnancy, albeit a difficult one. Because now something new is happening. We are seeing changed lives. We are privileged to be a part of God's great plan in Europe. And He is able to plant this church on the soil of our humility.

Planting a church is painful.

Planting a church is hard.

Planting a church is joyful.

Blessed be the name of the Lord through it all.