Two Saturdays ago, I drove up to Paradise Bakery to meet a new friend.

I had agreed to host an (in)RL meet up through (in)courage, a website for women.

Last year, I hosted a meet up and no one came. (It’s a little hard to write that – even still – it makes me feel a little small for some reason). I volunteered to have one again. I know  – what was I thinking?

This time I thought I would play it safe and not put a location up online. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I would wait for someone else to suggest where to meet. About one week before the meeting, I received a sweet message with a couple of meet up place suggestions.

My first thought was – “ok, well, I guess I am meeting this year. No hiding now.”

We decided on Paradise Bakery about 1/2 way between us and added the location in case anyone else wanted to join us.

I showed up and met my new friend.

We connected with the same speakers, we related to the same quotes, and the same scriptures jumped off the page at us. I’m so thankful I met her.

We are meeting again in a few weeks!

I’m so glad that I believe in the power of story. I’m glad I believe in the power and gift of community.

As we were talking after watching the videos, we were talking about one speaker who was hurt by the church community. I think many of us can relate to that. Why is it when a follower of Christ hurts us, it can hurt worse than a non Christian. Did we forget that we are all human? Did we forget that we all sin?

I made the comment, “I wish I could love without getting so hurt.” My new friend answered, “You can’t.”

…

In that one moment, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I’m still thinking about those words. I’m so glad I made a new friend who is already teaching me to be a better and stronger part of my community.

Have a great week!

Kate