Family.

 Origin

Middle English familie, from Latin familia household (including servants as well as kin of the householder), from famulus servant First Use: 15th century

1: a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head: household

2 a: a group of persons of common ancestry: clan

   b: a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock:  race

3: a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation: fellowship

4: a group of things related by common characteristics: 

What picture comes to mind when I say the word, FAMILY?

Do you see a man, a wife, and 2.5 children living joyfully behind their white picket fence, wearing collared shirts and Birkenstocks?

Or are you on the opposite side of the spectrum? Is your view of Family a little more tainted…

Do you see a drunk father, a cursing mother, and lost and lonely children with no one to love them?

Unfortunately, with either definition, the word “Family” would be appropriate.

Yet as of late, I’ve come to experience a very different definition for FAMILY.

It’s not what you would think a family would ever be.

There is no Father but God, and no children to speak of. We do have white picket fences but not one of us stands flawlessly behind them.

Some of us are blood relatives, but for the most part, we are from different places and are in different stages in our walk with Christ.

This Family I am speaking of, is a Spiritual Family. A Family of the heart.

A Family of the heart is one that shares similar goals, similar hopes and similar desires for their future. A Heart Family serves each other, never asking for anything in return assured of the fact that there is mutual TRUST and satisfaction between them … ALWAYS giving each other the benefit of the doubt.

Yes, sometimes there are disagreements … but offense is never an option. Yes, sometimes there is tension … but sincere love always covers a multitude.

When one of us breaks, we all kneel to pick the pieces … And no one leaves until the job is done.

A cry for help is always met by comfort, prayer, and encouragement.

No one is ever alone.

And No one wants to be.

There is a comradery much like one finds in the military. A connection, a deep friendship, a bond that is not easily broken.

This is what FAMILY is to me. And it is a gift.

Even in the Church of God We see many people hurting and falling back into the desires that brought them pain in the first place because they refuse to step out of themselves and become family with other like-minded believers in Christ.

And when our gifts lay dormant inside of us, with no one to bless, our hearts begin to ache and we begin to lose sight of our hunger for a Godly community, our passion for God and for one another… our purpose in the body of Christ!

This does NOT have to be.

I will tell you now, that no matter who or what you use to fill that whole in your heart, you never will until you find someone to bless!

Be HOME for someone!

Be an answer to another’s prayers and watch God open your eyes to see as He sees. Watch God take your little and make it much! Take your depression and make it wholeness and fulfillment!

There is no better HONOR than to not only be loved, but to GIVE LOVE to those who are serving God right beside you!

We are not in a competition!

WE ARE FAMILY!!

And the moment we all realize that we are truly UNITED in heart and mind … Nothing can stop us from changing the World for Christ!

I am thankful when I go to sleep at night.

I do not count sheep, I count lives that surround me, serve me, and uphold me on a daily basis.

They are my heart friends. My FAMILY.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” ~ John 15:13

And it’s true. The more of your life you can spare to others, the more life they have to share with the world. It’s a Domino Effect of Beauty.

Catch the Wave,

Victoria