Ask Me Why I Love My Church...

I recently bought a t shirt that says "Ask Me Why I Love My Church" on it, with the words Alvaton Church of Christ printed underneath it. I'm so excited to get this shirt in the mail and to wear it, and hopefully someone will ask me, so that I can tell them all about the church family God has blessed me with, and the reasons that I love them all so dearly. So, since I've been all about making lists and talking about things I love on my blog, I think I'd like to try and do it differently this time…but hey, it may still turn out the same…we'll see.

Let me start off by saying that I'm so proud to call myself a part of the Alvaton family. Especially being far away form them, and seeing what they do from the outside, and looking at other churches. I'm so proud of the way they're constantly reaching out to the Alvaton community. I'm proud of the way they accept visitors, and the way they just love people.

I haven't had a life that's been super easy for me. I don't want to give a whole sob story, but I do struggle with depression and other things, and also circumstantial things that have happened that have been really hard on me. And I've struggled with feeling like neither of my parents loved me or were really there for me…and it caused me to end up replacing that position in my life. (Now, my relationships with both of them are much better, and I don't feel that way anymore…I'm not trying to embarrass them by saying all that, just trying to be honest.) There are so many people at Alvaton who I feel like have had an equal part in raising me that my parents did, even though some of them didn't even come into my life until I was older.

When my life was in shambles, or I felt like the world was falling down around me, it was scary. Nothing felt consistent, it didn't feel like I could really count on anything…but I look back and realize how tightly I was clinging to my family at Alvaton. Even when it didn't seem like it, because I was always angry, or didn't really want to talk to people, I was holding on with all my might. Alvaton is the place, and the people, who have always been consistenly there for me.

I'm grateful to have been blessed with a youth group full of people who became my best friends, and ultimately, the only friends I knew I could count on all throughout high school. I was blessed to be part of a group that never shied away from topics that would generally make you a little (or a lot) uncomfortable. I'm someone who doesn't find much of anything an awkward topic. Things just don't make me feel weird, or uncomfortable. And I never felt like, when we were at youth group stuff, people judged me for that, as I feel they do now sometimes. I guess going through Dateable with your youth minister makes everything seem less awkward by comparison. I love it, though! (Funny story about Dateable-- it's a book about dating, and so of course it's going to cover sexual sin…so from the beginning Ryan warned us that we were going to have a "sex talk" at some point. So, I had some friends in marching band with me that I'd been trying to work on, and get to come to church with me. And then finally, one Thursday night, I convinced them to come to TNT with me. Well, we get there, and Ryan announces that it's the night we're going to have our talk. I was really afraid that they were gonna think it was super uncomfortable and never come back again. But they didn't. They ended up loving it, and coming back to TNT with me every Thursday night. My youth minister is cool enough to not make people feel awkward about sex…)

I'm so thankful for the supporters I have at Alvaton. When I started trying to raise support, I was shocked by how generous people were. It was like, anything someone could do, they wanted to do it. People gave me money, they gave me TONS of stuff to sell in a yard sale, I was surprised by how much people just gave to me. And even when people can't support me through money, they still gave whatever they could to me. I received so much love from people, and people were praying for me all the time, because they keep telling me that they are and giving me encouragement. I appreciated it so much, the things that they did for me. It's humbling. Because, as hard as I try, it's hard not for me to think of myself as a "missionary" with a little tinge of pride. But to have so many people supporting me, praying for me, loving me…it makes me feel so humble, and gives me even more of a drive to succeed.

Over all, I’m so proud to be a member of the body of God loving Christians at Alvaton, and I don't think I'll ever stop being proud of them, or claiming them as my own. No matte where else I go in life.

I think that's what I'm most grateful for…knowing that I'll always have a place to go back to where I'll be welcome, no matter how far away I move, or whatever I end up deciding to go with my life  after AIM…they'll always accept me and love me just as much as they do now, and I'll always feel the same about them.

If you're from Alvaton, and you're reading this…I love you!