This is something I wrote for my friends and Beth asked me to post it as this week’s devotion.
-Amanda

We Are Family
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

Today’s Treasure: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14-15).

I have two songs playing in my head right now - “We are Family” and that old song we sing at Sunday night church that says “I’m so glad to be a part of the family of God.” Nice mix. I’m a minister’s wife, which means a lot of my life has to do with church. Hopefully, my whole life is devoted to a relationship with Jesus, but a large part of it is lived out through being a part of a local church. Curt and I have no blood relatives in the city we live in. But we do have family here. A big, sometimes dysfunctional like any other, wonderful church family. Here’s a slice of church life, family life, from the last week.

Friday – We had an event called Friday Night Thrift for our college students. They were to wear something from a thrift store and bring warm clothes to donate. We had a weird feeling at the last minute that no one was coming, so we moved the location to our rather small house. I told Curt that we could probably fit up to 15 people. We cleaned faster than we ever knew possible. Los Lupes Mexican Restaurant delivered the fajitas for 25 that we had paid for in advance. The Lord graciously brought 14 people and we feasted on fajitas and leftover candy from our church’s Fall Festival. We played Trivial Pursuit and silent football (my husband’s specialty). Here’s the family element…my dear friend Jennifer, our children’s minister, and her fiancé came over to help make the event not seem like a complete failure. Two other couples our age were waiting in the wings if we needed them. Your family does what they can to protect each other’s dignity. They grieve with you over your failures and rejoice with you over your victories.

Saturday – We had our Saturday night service that Curt preaches at. Amber, a good friend of ours from when Curt and I were both interns at HFBC, and her family joined our church this year. Amber has an amazing singing voice. Think Jami Smith. My first memory of her is hearing someone behind me singing and thinking wow. It’s been years since I’ve heard her sing, but this week she joined the praise band on stage. She did a spectacular job and it gave me tremendous, unspeakable joy to see her up there. Amber and her husband are there every week helping set up and take down everything for the service, welcoming people, making sure Curt meets new guests, and speaking an encouraging word. Their support has been priceless. Family rejoices when they see each other using their spiritual gifts and talents to glorify the Lord.

Sunday – It was my last night of Bible study with my college girls. While studying the Word, the girls and I had dinner together every week. Soup to be exact, because I love to both cook and eat soup and my husband likes neither. So I needed an outlet. I confess, I didn’t cook every week. We all took turns. Family breaks bread together. Family spurs one another on into deeper relationships with Christ.

Tuesday – We had the privilege of taking dinner to a couple from church who just had a baby. This was us less than 9 short months ago. Young couples signed up to bring us food every other day it went on for a month. We were so spoiled. So it was our turn to bring dinner and that was so fun. Family provides for each other’s needs. They celebrate life’s most sacred moments together.

Wednesday – After fellowship dinner and youth Bible study, Curt and I went to visit our precious high school pastor’s wife in the hospital. (She’s going home today.) Like us, this couple has no family in town. We’re family to each other. Jackson will grow up calling them Aunt Amy and Uncle Daniel. They’ve loved our kid from the first minute they knew of his existence. They came to the hospital (even though we were asleep, it still counted) to see him when he was born. We joke about the back room in our house being theirs. We go through the ups and downs of youth ministry together and try to keep each other from pulling our hair out over the crazy things that go along with it. Most importantly, family loves.

All this is to say that I’m thankful that God can raise up family for you out of a group of strangers with only one thing in common – Him. I love my family. Dad is good.

Lord, I praise You for Your ways.  Thank You for giving me the opportunity, through serving and being served, to see the body of Christ operate as a family.  Please supply me with the willingness and energy to invest in the lives of other believers.  Sometimes it’s hard work, but it makes life so much richer.  Use these relationships to bring glory to Yourself.  In the name of Jesus, Amen. 

Amanda Jones © 2006