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Friendship

Why We Need Community

by Kristen Welch  •   Sep 7, 2011  •   52 Comments  •  
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I don’t have a lot of friends.

I don’t say this to make you get that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach, the one that tastes like pity. It’s just a fact. And it’s been my choice.

I’m an introvert, so it comes naturally.

When I joined the online blogging world four years ago, it was exactly what I needed. I found community. I filled that space in me that craved to be understood and accepted.

But it also gave me more reason to have less friends in real life.

I think my handful of friends worried about me and my hubby encouraged me to get away from the computer and connect in real life more.

And then God sent me to Africa.

The journey changed my life and left me feeling even more isolated. The friends who really understood me, encouraged me were hundreds, thousands of miles away, even different countries. And I’d never met any of them in real life.

While my online world flourished, my real life friendships dwindled.

It was then that I realized I needed local support. People who would dream with me. Women who would help pack boxes, load suitcases, be the wheels of Mercy House, the maternity home we started in Kenya last year.

I needed friends. I wanted them.

So, my hubby and I put ourselves out there and found a group of people who have become more than friends in the past year, they are like family, supporting, encouraging, loving mercy with us.

What community does:

  • It reminds you you’re not alone
  • It reaffirms God’s deep and abiding love for you
  • It restores the secret place in you that says you’re not enough
  • It requires you to lean on others and not try and do it all by yourself

Finding community (online and off) isn’t easy. But it’s necessary.

It isn’t an either or. We need both—

My real life friends have become my support. And my online support have become real life friends.

What about you? Are you seeking community or thanking God for the community you have?

by Kristen Welch, We are THAT family

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