Time does not heal all wounds.

Sometimes it rips them open.

If I had blogged on a reliable basis (ha, like I do now – not) 6 years ago, I might have blogged all that went on with this situation. That would not necessarily have been a good thing.

To give you the basics:

• Duck and I were saved in this church
• We served in this church
• We taught Sunday School and Children’s Church
• We dedicated Doodle in this church
• We had really good friends in this church

But then, through a series of unfortunate events, I knew I could no longer place myself under the authority figure there. The series of unfortunate events consisted of many arguments, struggles and tears. I was constantly praying asking God if I were right or the other person — not that it truly mattered, but if I was wrong, I wanted God to correct me — I truly wanted to know His will.

God revealed to me that I was understanding scripture correctly, but he also revealed that it was not me who was going to help the other person see the truth. That was a hard pill to swallow. I was calm about it all. Forgiving. Peaceful. That was all from God. We left that church and went on a search to find another where we felt God wanted us to serve.

I thought I was over it all. I’ve even seen the other person occasionally and we’re cordial. Then last week I hooked up with some of our old friends from that church on Facebook. I started looking at various pictures — pictures of kids we taught in Sunday School that are now juniors and seniors in high school. They look so different that some of them I wouldn’t recognize if they walked up to me.

The pain came rushing back. My heart was broken. I was angry again. Angry at the other person. Angry at God. Why did we have to leave the church? Why did we have to miss out on so much of their lives?

Last week was VBS week at the church we’ve been visiting now. I didn’t feel like it, but I went to the adult class. I was sad when I went there to see all the people who have these close relationships (well, most of them are family). I have been missing that sorely and I know it’s going to take a lot of time to develop new relationships with these people. But you know what? I’m working on it. I got to know a few people a little better through VBS, and I hope they got to know a little more about me without thinking I’m totally nuts.

Even though the old wounds were opened up, I still know that God’s will for us was for us to leave that church. I’ve got to believe there’s a reason God brought us to this church to develop new relationships here. I hope and pray that this is where we can stay for awhile. Because picking up and moving your family around to different churches or falling into the routine of not going at all — well, that all sucks. Time doesn’t heal all wounds, but God does. And He may not heal them completely, but He uses everything for His purpose.

Bloggy break

So I know I said I was going on a bloggy break, and I did really well last week — working on piles on my desk and even cleaning the den (or at least cleaning stuff and moving it so Duck could clean the carpet). I got a little sidetracked with the whole Facebook and lamenting on lost relationships, but I hope to get back on track this week with cleaning, purging and organizing. I pray that God gives you a wink this week. Something special, encouraging and uplifting. If you’re feeling in a funk like I have, then get off your computer and do just one thing. Pick one thing that you’ve been putting off for awhile. You might just find that it doesn’t take near as long as you’d feared