Community: Hands and Feet in the Worst of Times

By Rachel T. and Morgan B.

Rachel:

I never thought it could happen to me…someone breaking into my home and taking so much from me. My sense of security and my peace of mind were stripped as a result of being sexually assaulted in the place I once thought safe. I was powerless, fearful, and living knowing that my attacker was still roaming the streets.

But one thing was certain: I knew God was there. It was as if His presence was surrounding me the entire time. I couldn’t explain it to anyone around me. They all assumed it was shock. Maybe it was, but I believe in something greater. In Philippians 4:7, it says that God will grant peace that passes all understanding. That was my story. In the middle of one of the worst moments of my life, I had unexplainable peace that can’t come from anything less than the supernatural.

Morgan:

As I was driving home from a wedding rehearsal, I received one of the worst phone calls I never wanted to receive. One of my best friends was on the other line telling me she had just been raped. I hung up shortly after and called 9-1-1. It’s a miracle I made it home safely to her.

From the phone call on, that night was completely a blur. However, that night and in the weeks following, I felt the Lord’s presence like I had never felt it before. When we were at the hospital that night with Rachel, women from her community group and some of our friends stayed with us at the hospital the entire night. Rachel’s family lived four hours away, so our community was our family that night. People woke from sleep to come be with us. They prayed with us and reminded us so sweetly of 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 where Paul talks about God, the father of compassion and all comfort, comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble.

Rachel:

I took some time away from Dallas after that night to heal and spend time with my family. It was truly a blessing to get away from it all, but I still had loose ends to tie up in Dallas. I couldn’t go back to my home and really had nowhere to live.

Unknowingly, God was working in the lives of people in Dallas to move in inexplicable ways and tie some of those loose ends for me. One of my roommates was leaving for a mission trip in Nicaragua two days after it happened, so it was really up to our third roommate—quite a task for someone who had also been through so much.

This is where God stepped in. Isn’t it wonderful when He takes control of things that are so uncontrollable! He brought together a group of ordinary twenty-somethings that had been in community since Launch of 2011 and bonded them together with a passion for serving Christ and loving others. This was exactly what my roommates and I needed. I knew God was powerful from the moment I was attacked, but He showed up in mightier ways than I could have ever imagined through the love of this group. They were the reason I returned to this city and have returned in small ways to the woman God created me to be.

Morgan:

The day after the attack, Rachel went to be with her family and I started calling apartment after apartment trying to find a new place for the three of us to live. I was supposed to hop on a plane to Nicaragua the next day, and was asking the Lord for strength that only He could give to do so. After I left, our third roommate, Julie, and a friend went to look at apartments and signed a lease for us.

As I was coming back from Nicaragua later the next week, I was able to get online and discovered that not only had our friends found us a new apartment, but about 20 of them had packed up all of our stuff at our house, cleaned it, and moved us completely into this new apartment. To say that Rachel, Julie, and I were thankful would be a complete understatement. I have never seen the hands and feet of Christ work like I did during this time. One of our friends even took the time to color-coordinate our closets and bookshelves for us.

Morgan and Rachel:

Community is something that the Lord calls us to as believers, but we have never seen it come to life like it did these past few months. It is absolutely true that “where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20).

If anyone going to The Porch has not found this kind of community yet, we would encourage you to jump into the programs that Watermark has created for us. Finding friends through the Porch and community have allowed us the chance to see a piece of God’s glory in the midst of heartache and trials. That’s what God intended for all of us. Do it; you’ll be glad you did!

Photo at top courtesy of Creative Commons: http://morallowground.com/wp-content/uploads/police-line-tony-webster.jpg/