That One Time I Did Something I Would Never Do

A year ago, I had just moved and I knew that if I wanted to be a part of the community, I couldn't just sit in my apartment staring at the walls. After praying about it, I followed where God led and ended with an amazing circle of friends. I couldn't have planned this one if I tried because it really started when I did something I would never do: attend a potluck.

When you start grad school, they tell you to pick two: sleep, family/friends, graduate. In this first couple years, I was definitely choosing family/friends and graduating. In the middle I swapped out family/friends for sleep, and by the end I think I just had graduate. When I finally graduated and moved to a new city, I really wanted to find a good group of friends. I wanted people who shared the same core values and similar beliefs. People I didn't have to have my guard up around or worry about them steering me away from God.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.Acts 2:42 KJV

I started praying about this new group of friends I was to meet, but I knew that part of the equation for meeting these friends was being where God wanted me to be. The only place I could think of was church... Despite reading the Bible every day and keeping this very blog, I hadn't been to church in about 5 years. Perhaps now was the time to go back.

After two weeks of online viewing, I got up the nerve to visit a church in person. This was only my second time ever entering a Seventh Day Adventist church, and I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't even hopeful that there would be people my age in attendance, however, the Spirit told me to go so I went. When they dismissed us to Sabbath school, I was shown to the young adult room and pleasantly greeted by several young adults. Not only were the people very nice, but they invited me to a potluck they were having that afternoon.

If you know me well, you know I don't do potlucks. You can't just be eating everybody's food. Plus I didn't know these people at all. What if they were crazy and I ended up in some backwoods cult drinking cyanide laced-koolaid!? (Yes, I'm being over dramatic, but you get the point.) Logic said not to go to the potluck, but I exchanged numbers with someone and said I'd think about it.

Once again, the Spirit told me to go. So I did something I normally wouldn't, and I went. Not only did I have a blast at the potluck, I ended up making plans to see a movie with a group of people for that night. It's been exactly a year since then and I've met so many people through this group. Now I actually have a core group of friends to fellowship with that are also helping me to grow spiritually. God led me to the exact friend group I was looking for! All I had to do was step out of my comfort zone and let Him.

How often do we let fear and doubt hold us back from the things He already promised us? Like the saying says, we have to "let go and let God."

Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Dylan Nolte