Leaving the Creek

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Yesterday's post stirred up some memories for me and I thought I'd share one testimony of how *we* were told to leave the dry creekbed...

We were in a very non-charismatic denominational church for almost exactly 20 years. Joined that church the Sunday after our first wedding anniversary, having spent the first year we were married looking for a church home. We dug in and got involved. It was a storefront church when we joined; in the time we were in it we purchased property and built a building, saw growth and collapse, five pastors, three interim pastors, great times and awful times. I can remember laying face down on our living room floor at one point, sobbing into the carpet, begging God to release us to go somewhere else. But His answer was 'No'...and He led me to 1 Kings and the story of Elijah, and showed me what it meant to wait on His word. In times of spiritual drought, we found that God always managed to get something to us to sustain us and keep us going; feeding us by the ravens, as it were (inspirational ministry TV programs were a key part of that...which, given my thoughts on television, I really consider being fed by the ravens!).

At the time of our last change in pastor, it began to be very clear to us that our season in that congregation was to undergo a change...but we really weren't sure what it was. It wasn't that church was discouraging; on the contrary, the pastor was feeding the flock and, by and large, the congregation was encouraged. But somehow we were still dry.

Then, we pulled into church one Sunday in May of 2000 to see that the marquee announcing that night's sermon was 'When the Creek Dries Up'. I laughed to My Sweet Baboo, wondering if our pastor was going to preach my lesson on patience.

But he didn't preach that. He stood in the pulpit and proclaimed change. Time to move on...time to go to new places, minister with new people, move to a new level with God.

I really think he believed he was preaching that word to a handful of folks who had been visiting our little church but hadn't joined in yet, but to me and my hubby, listening with weak knees and spiritual goosebumps, it had a whole 'nuther meaning. After such a long time, we were being released.

And our current church had just celebrated their first anniversary that same weekend.

Now, it took us a year to get completely disengaged from the duties and responsibilities we had, but we both look at that night as our Clear Word that it was time to move on. We were able to leave in the summer of '01 with the understanding of our friends and the leadership there; no one was hurt and there was no misunderstanding. After seeing so many painful departures over the years, it was a real benediction to us to be able to move on without any drama.

And that's the way it should be.