The Joys of Fellowship

Fellowship...What a blessed word for one of the happiest blessings from our Heavenly Father. It's that communion with fellow believers. If you have it you know what I'm talking about, if you don't I pray that God will grant it to you.

We had a ladies' luncheon on Saturday with the ladies of our church. What a blessing. It was in the home of a lady who I watched grow up on the ranch. She married a young man from our congregation (we watched him grow up as well!) and now they have a little one and another on the way. I had a tear or two looking at the beautiful home she has made for her family and seeing her husband out working while she entertained us. I remember holding her when she was a baby and now she is having children of her own! That is one of the blessings of fellowship. God has allowed that with each of us who attend our church. My friends are now holding my grandchild and I get to hold theirs. I have watched our dear friends take custody of their granddaughter after a long court battle and the day the little one was baptized was one of the happiest days our congregation has had. I know that she felt the same way when my precious son-in-law and grandson were baptized and when my son was confirmed. I know that everyone in that body feels those feelings that I feel. They truly share my joy and my sorrow. Just as I share their joys and their sorrows. It's as my friend said, even our earthly families don't share the joy we feel on those occasions the way our brothers and sisters in Christ do. They have a hard time understanding it but my church family knows!

I share fellowship with my coworkers but it is never the same. It is a much shallower fellowship. Sometimes I feel that the only real day of the week is Sunday! I know that that is selfish and that the Lord uses my interactions with others at work to further His kingdom. A couple of weeks ago I had a verbal altercation with another coworker. It was one of those foolish things that should have never escalated to the point it did. That was partly my responsibility. I talked to my principal about it and realized that she is so right, the person I argued with has another issue that she is deeply unhappy about and the issue we argued about had nothing to do with it. Last year during the school year the board decided to do away with an annuity that this person recieved and since that time she is unhappy with nearly every aspect of her job. There are several who are reacting in that manner to that decision and they make themselves miserable at work and I'm sure at home. I was falling into that behavior as well. Another coworker has made some pretty serious allegations about my sister and her custodial coworkers. It really doesn't matter that the allegations are false to him or the group he runs with, he feels like he is justified because the others in his little clique are egging him on. That is the trouble with those types of fellowship. I know that if I shared these situations with my church family they would encourage me to forgive and trust the Lord that He is doing these things for my good and His glory. And I know that He is. For about 2 weeks in there I was angry and bitter and I could feel it coloring the way I interacted with my coworkers. Then my sister reminded me that God is in this situation and therefore it will turn out according to His will and that is never bad for us!

That is true fellowship; one believer reminding another that God is always in control and not a hair can fall from my head without His providential will. If that dear lady at work had someone in her life to remind her of that maybe she wouldn't be so angry. Maybe God will give me the opportunity to be that person for her, and for others at work.

A dear friend told me recently that our submission is never to be blind (this is the reasoning for not submitting to those God has put in positions of authority over us). I guess that is true in a sense but when I have discussed a situation with my husband and he says no, I must submit. When I lose a benefit at work and the school board says it will not come back, I need to submit. When a governing body of a church says no, I must submit. If I don't I am ultimately refusing to submit to God and that is not a light thing. What does that have to do with fellowship? You can't have fellowship without submitting to one another. My heart grieves for those of our body who left the body because of their anger and unwillingness to submit but I must submit to that as well. I know that God has a plan and a purpose for all of that and that He will accomplish His will. He uses all circumstances to soften our hearts and bring us to repentance or to harden our hearts to destruction and His will is good in every case. Amen.

Till next time...