Loving our church, Ryan, and growing up in Jesus

It was a long-time coming. Tatum approached me a few weeks ago, and she told me she was struggling with her faith. Now, she made it clear that it was not a lack of faith, but that she didn’t feel like she had a relationship with God at that moment. (She didn’t “feel” his presence). AH! I know that I cannot be the end all be all of her discussions and heart needs. SO, I asked her if she’d like to meet with someone at SBC. She immediately told me she’d meet with our dear friend, Ryan Goble. He’s a young pastor at SBC who is just beginning to preach! AND, we just adore him; (Tatum thinks he’s the Bomb ditty bomb bomb)

She made a list of discussion points, and we met for lunch. Now the beauty of this time was that she was extremely articulate in her wants/needs/heart. She shared that she loves Jesus, she knows her Bible, but she yearns for more. He immediately smiled and said how WONDERFUL it is to be thirsty!

He asked how does she know what a relationship looks like? She mentioned you can see fruit on one’s tree. She mentioned me (smiley face) and she’s sees my fruit. He said that sometimes she just need to lean back and look at her tree from afar. This means asking others or asking GOD…what do they see in her!? HA! This is great advice because we get myopic in our view of ourselves (critical spirit we have of our lives).

Ah…the fruit on our tree. We long to have more juicy fruit (John 15), but when we bear fruit, HE PRUNES us why? In order to bear MORE fruit.

So, in the meantime I have been reading this book:

Tatum has been dying to read this too, because it seems to be a help to some of her questions/longings. It sure has comforted me.

Some practices were suggested “to embrace the promise that God will not always seem gone, that pain will not always persist, and that the lies that it will is just that…a lie!”! We need a few practices:

In order for you to process your feelings about God, you must do so with God. And in order for you to do this with God, you will need time…yes, time, Tatum. You are not alone, and YOU are normal! We all are on a path to grow. Shoot, this pastor wrote a book all about it, so it must be a commonality!

So, let’s dive deep together. We will pray, study, and seek ….together. I LOVE YOU.