WELCOME HOME

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--WHILE

Five minutes to free write about it

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Livestream opened up so many new doors at the beginning of the pandemic that I didn't miss going to church. Being able to attend a service in the comfort of my home was very appealing, and since distance and location were no longer issues, I was also able to visit other churches that I could never have done before the advent of this techology.

Eventually, lockdowns were lifted and people started drifting back, but I wasn't one of them. I had many excuses. Our old pastor had gone off to pastor a different church shortly before Covid, and many of my friends in the congregation had moved on to different churches as well; my home group had disbanded; so much had changed I no longer felt connected. Every now and then I did feel a tiny stirring to go back, but it never lasted long

While I rationalized, the Lord was patient; while I questioned what difference it made if I attended in person or virtually, the Lord was longsuffering; and even though I kept dilly-dallying, the Lord never gave up on me. 

This morning I was awakened by a text from a friend. I tried to go back to sleep, but no sooner had I rolled over when there was another text. This one from a prayer partner who no longer regularly attends our church. He said he was going to visit the prayer room during the first service should I care to join him. 

As I quickly threw on some clothes, I thought of how before Covid and before our old pastor left, there was always a group of prayer team members who would gather in the prayer room to pray during the services. Apparently that is no longer the case.  Still, I decided to go.

When I got there, I was surprised by the new look of the room. Someone did a great job of redecorating. It had a very warm, inviting look. The old furniture was all gone--all of it except for the one chair I used to sit on and that had become known as "Sandy's chair." It looked so out of character now in the midst of the rest of the decor and, given its condition, I wondered what it was still doing there. Did the Lord know I would eventually be back and this was His way of giving me a personal welcome home and letting me know that He was not done with me yet?

You see, that chair had become much more to me than just a chair when I had a near death experience and it was found lying on its side with a broken leg and a crack in its back shortly after I was admitted to the hospital. Someone had put it in a corner to be discarded with the trash. However, before that happened, it was rescued and restored by one of the maintenance guys. My friend told me about it when he came to visit, and said he strongly believed it was symbolic of my total healing as well.

Today felt like old times even though it was just the two of us. After reminiscing about the chair for a while and examining the scars it still bears, we prayed for the pastors and the congregation, for revival, and for the Spirit of the Lord to fill this house. We also prayed for the prayer room to be filled once again with prayer warriors praying, and with people coming in for prayer.