Unity

I am so blessed by my ecclesia. I have always seen the value of my fellow Kingdomers, but I have recently been blessed by so many of them, that I am overflowing with the joy that comes from the unity in Christ.

It helps that it is summer, and I have been able to spend time with many people with whom I do not often have time to interact outside of our weekly gatherings. Whether we have been to lunch together or spent time working out or if we've just sat around their houses and talked, I have been truly been blessed by the conversation and by the facet of Christ that is in each and every one of them.

I have also recently been blessed by some wonderful people in my ecclesia who have joined me on some assignments I am stepping into. In case I haven't publicized it enough, I am publishing a book in August. This would never have been possible without the faith and courage of a family in our ecclesia who decided to start a business that includes publishing. I have had many meetings with my publisher that have not only furthered my book's publication, but inspired me to start a business myself and further my purpose as a writer--a poet and a teller of parables. I have so many more books to write now, and none of this would have been possible without this woman, her family, and their faith.

In conjunction with publishing the book is my first book release party! I have little experience planning parties, but I set up the venue and asked a few people to bring food to the party. I figured food, friends, and books would be a nice little shindig. So I asked one of my dear friends from ecclesia to bring food, and she readily agreed, then said that she would love to help me plan the party so we could "do it right." Now she's looking at Pinterest boards and planning book-related decorations and rattling off a million amazing ideas and plans. I am so beyond excited for this event!

I have also recently changed jobs, which, for a teacher, means changing classrooms. This also means the dreaded time spent decorating bulletin boards. It's actually not so bad, but the giant reams of butcher paper tend to fall in your face when you're trying to staple them to the board and I can't ever seem to cut in straight lines. Fortunately, a young lady in our ecclesia was willing to help me put together my ideas for some wonderful bulletin boards for my classroom. She is pretty much the only reason I have borders on the bulletin boards right now, and she learned how to work the die-cut machine before I did! I really feel like she did most of the work in this, and she did it all happily and with no benefit to herself.

After seeing all this amazingness, I realized again the blessing that my ecclesia is to me and the importance of unity in the body of Christ. Unity is so much more than just getting along with everyone. Unity allows us to fulfill our purposes and accomplish the very things Yahweh sent us to the Earth to do. We join together in the assignments He has given us, and each of us brings a unique facet of Christ to the situation.

My publisher is good with numbers, business, and organization in ways that I am not. She had knowledge about the publishing world and its requirements that I do not know. She has fortitude to press on and discover the best ways of doing things, and she has a personality that makes it seem like we aren't working at all, even while we are accomplishing so much.

My friend who is planning my book release party has great ideas and knowledge of how to find more great ideas. She has knowledge of business and enthusiasm for everything she does. She has many other resources and facets of Christ that I have been blessed by in the past.

My friend who helped me with my bulletin boards has a practical side to her creativity that I found very helpful in putting my classroom together today. It is also way more fun to put up bulletin boards when you have a friend like her around. One thing I think it is important to point out is that she was simply willing to help out a friend.

There is much value in being willing.

I would not be succeeding in these assignments nearly so well as I am without these people. I would not be who I am today without them and many other people in my ecclesia who have stood with me in faith and helped me see the love of Yahweh.

This is what it means to be a part of an ecclesia--a body of Kingdom believers with whom Yahweh sent you to the place where you are to fulfill your purpose. This is what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.

To my ecclesia: thank you! I hope you know how special you are to me.