Thrive \’thriv\, intransitive verb 1. to grow or develop vigorously; flourish 2. to gain in wealth; to prosper to progress toward or realize a goal, despite or because of circumstances

ARE YOU ALONE?

Are you taking this spiritual journey alone? Certainly not totally alone, because we know that God walks with us. I am thinking of another kind of alone – in isolation, apart from other believers, away from community. Our grandson was just baptized, and as part of the blessing, the pastor charged his parents and family AND the congregation to come alongside this little boy as he grows up physically and spiritually. He charged us to teach him, guide him and support him as he learns to know and love the Lord. I propose that we all need this same kind of support; we need people to come alongside us as we seek to know God better and to trust Him more.

We should seek to be in the midst of not only a body of believers, the church, but also in the midst of a small community of believers. This small community of people are those who know us and can encourage us by helping us study, interpret, and apply scripture in our lives, pray with us, and help us discover our God-given gifts and talents. I recently filled out a Spiritual Gift Survey and I was surprised with the large number of questions like this: “Have other people told me that I am good at ___(a particular gift)__ ?”. This indicates to me that affirmation from other people is one of the ways we discover how God has created and gifted us so we can serve God in our world. Being part of a small community of believers is not just doing Bible study, prayer, fellowship and drinking coffee together, it can include all parts of our life – having fun together, eating a meal together, discussing hard questions together, and serving others in our midst. Our small group can become the way we see God in our midst and reflect that to others in our world.

Living the Christian life every day is not only hard, but impossible – impossible without the Holy Spirit and impossible without the support of a small group of friends. As the bumps and wrong turns come around, it is important to have others close by to hold us up and to shed light on the situation. The 'world' can be a place of rejection and discouragement, but God is present and we often need people around us to remind us that we are God's divine choice. God takes great pleasure in our relationship with Him; I think he takes great pleasure in our meaningful relationships we have with other believers.

Consider joining a small group community called a THRIVE group. New THRIVE groups will begin again in September. A THRIVE group studies and discusses scripture together, prays together, laughs and cries together, serves God together, sees God in each other, and walks (and runs) along together. As we learn to live out our faith every day, we are on our way to becoming more like Jesus and on our way to spending eternity in the presence of God. Don't go it alone.

Pamela Brown,
Coordinator, Small Group Community
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