A Story of Community

Written by Martha Davis

"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

“Ultimately your story is part of God’s story. For his story is what we call history, and all of it is about him. And our calling, yours and mine individually, come together corporately as a body, as a family, as a congregation, what we call a church. Where all of our stories come together as one as part of his story. The greatest story ever written, one that has no ending for God’s story will continue for all eternity with all who have responded to his call.”

This is a piece of our story:

After leading a few life groups over a 12 year span, my husband and I realized we needed to take a break to rest and recharge. What a wonderful gift that was! We were able to dig into his word without having to plan or be in charge. I am finding the importance of that. 

After taking two years off, we were asked once again if we would be interested in leading a brand new group. We talked it over, prayed about it, and said yes. We were given the names of a wonderful couple who were interested in leading and asked if we would co-lead with them. 
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God was working behind the scenes without us knowing. 

A few weeks later, we were given the names of a few couples to contact to see if they would be interested in joining the group. Some said yes and some said no. Again, another example of God working behind the scenes to put people together for a time such as this. 

On Friday, September 23, God was working behind the scenes placing our community of believers in the right place at the right time for us. As a parent of a child, you find joy watching your child do something that they love, something that they pour themselves into. Toward the end of the first quarter of the football game and after a nice carry, our son planted his foot and was tackled. This caused a fractured fibula above the ankle joint. The moment when I saw Terry Jolliff, an elder in our church, who happens to work on the sports medicine team, scoop up our son and carry him to the bench because he could not walk, will forever be ingrained in my mind. The pain was written all over his body and it was hard not to rush onto the field at that moment. If you ask me what happened in the game during the second quarter, I couldn’t tell you. My eyes never left my son. However, I did see the coaching staff talking with him, as well as his teammates. In particular, Gavin Gillig who was also out of the game due to an injury. Gavin sat on the bench next to our son and began praying with him. It was at that moment that a sense of peace came over me, knowing that God was in the midst of this struggle. 

After being taken off the field by the gator at halftime, we were informed by Dr. Steiner, who also attends Gateway, that we needed to take him to the emergency room to get x-rays.
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Again, God working behind the scenes.

Upon checking in at the emergency room and going back to the room, we overheard Pastor Josh who was there with one of his children. Not 2 minutes later, the couple that we have just begun co-leading our life-group with walked in with their children. Knowing that people who support you and pray for you were in the same place at the same time as you, somehow gave us comfort. 

We eventually received the diagnosis of a fibula fracture based on the x-ray and passed that on to Dr. Steiner, who proceeded to schedule an appointment with us for the upcoming Monday. From 11:00pm - 11:30pm, Dr. Steiner took the time to let us know that he was looking at the x-ray and wanted to make sure that if we needed anything over the weekend to let him know. 

Fast forward to Monday, we met with Dr. Steiner for more x-rays and found out that there had been ligament damage as well. Instead of 6-8 weeks, we were looking at 3 months, along with physical therapy. With the help of Dr. Steiner, the surgery was scheduled for the end of the week. 

Through it all, God was placing our community of believers in the right place at the right time. He knew what we needed when we needed it. Though our story continues to be written, I am so very thankful that God is the author of our story. He gives us eyes to see him, even in the midst of struggle. He goes ahead of us, is with us, and goes behind us. 

May we continue to trust God with our story and have confidence that he is writing a masterpiece, as he brings together a community of believers to fulfill his story; the greatest story ever told.