Returning to Church... A Year in Review.

Photo credit: Eastlake Church Imperial Beach

A year ago today, on the first Sunday after New Years Day, I stepped foot in church again, after being hurt from my own church almost 20 years ago.

I was working with my mentor, who had been talking to me about restoring my faith. About giving church another chance, and not judging all churches by the actions and behaviors of my previous one. I remember her saying “You need to get out and meet people, and church can do that for you”.

She asked me to research churches and that she would attend “online” with me. In that same week, I saw an ad on Facebook for a church here in Imperial Beach, and they were starting a new series called “Alt, Control, Delete”, basically doing a hard reset. This caught my eye, because it was what I was working on with my mentor. On that weeks call, we were having difficulty connecting. We ended the call, and what I didn’t know, was she had to reset her phone before Able to call me back. We got through the call, and I told her about the church. That’s when she told me about the phone reset. She said that’s it, there’s your sign, go to that service!

That week, one year ago, I sat in the back row, crying to myself, as I listened to the pastor speak directly to Me. “God loves you. No matter what you think of yourself. No matter what others say about you. God created you just the way you are on purpose, and he loves you”. Words I so desperately needed to hear... that I was loved.

The last year has been surreal. I’ve connected with a church, gone on a mission trip, helped my local community, traveled out of the country to serve, walked into confidence in my passion, and signed up to be involved in the prison ministry.

I owe my mentor a lot. I know that it was God working through her, but without her patience, her authenticity, her showing up and loving me, believing in me, and walking WITH me on my faith journey, this last year would look much different.