Our women’s group at church is starting to function again after shutting down for safety reasons in 2020, and I am excited.
I had barely retired when these groups stopped meeting. I couldn’t attend daytime Bible studies or groups while I was working and then they were suddenly gone. Every reason to chat, hug, and catch up with one another seemed to have vaporized as our nation shut down. It got very lonely, didn’t it?
Now, we’re back! I hope that includes all of you. I do pray that each of us is moving forward in faith and not in fear to rejoin society in our churches and home fellowships.
I am thankful that I was asked to meet with others to start up the women’s group because I have felt the distance the pandemic caused, and I am certainly ready to put it behind me and get together with other ladies and fellowship again.
Strangely, after having the first meeting with two godly women, I noticed a few days later that I started feeling a sense of loneliness hovering over me.
Now, a few weeks later, I understand that little taste of lovely Christian fellowship made me hungry for even more. It was like having the appetizer before the main meal, but I didn’t get the meal. I had been starving and didn’t even realize it. I was struck with the reality of how much I missed that fellowship for the last two years and how much I need other Christians close.
Later, when my husband and I stopped by a friend’s house to get some assistance on Neil’s newest woodworking project, my thinking that I was hungry for fellowship was solidified.
While the men were working, I was chatting with the wife and enjoying myself immensely. It was such a joy to learn about her life and her grown children and all that had been going on recently. That encounter uplifted my entire attitude for the week. I was so grateful for the time we spent together sharing life that I thanked her again when I saw her in church.
What a joy it is to share our lives with one another. I feel like a starved person now wanting to gorge on fellowship! I am so very hungry.
All of us were forced into isolation that confined us for an awfully long time. We were restricted involuntarily for our nation’s good. From this personal experience, I now know we need to get back to nurturing each other instead of finding ways to avoid each other.
Recently, while I was out walking on a beautiful spring-like day, I noticed that people either smiled widely and greeted me as I passed them, or they walked by with their heads down to avoid contact. Please, let those of us in the church get our heads back up, stand tall in faith, smile, and let us begin fellowshipping together again.
I am ever grateful that God created us to be a people together – the family of God. How wonderful it is to have a family by choice that believes in the Savior Jesus Christ and loves the Lord with all their heart. It is a precious joy to attend get-togethers with fellow Christians.
Romans 12 tells us, “Let love be without hypocrisy… In love of the brethren be tenderly affectionate one to another; in honor preferring one another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality.”
Paul wrote this for the church. We need to love and care for each other – our sisters and brothers in Christ. We need each other right now as we get back into God’s plan for the life of the church.
God tells us many times in the Bible to have fellowship with one another along with our fellowship with Him. We desperately need each other because God created us that way. God seeks fellowship with us, and we are to seek fellowship with Him, as well as with other believers.
I cannot express the delight I have felt since I have been meeting with these sisters of the faith. This fellowship, enjoyment, and love that are shared by the people of God are so extraordinary that, of course, we missed it when it was gone. I just had no idea how much.
The writer of Hebrews knew all about the need for fellowship as he wrote, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb. 10:24-25).
Let us step out of this isolation, this protective cocoon that we have so innocently let make us into lonely souls.
We have the hope of Jesus. We are not alone. Let us get back in the race and start fellowshipping together again. I can’t wait to see you in church!
ED. NOTE: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
