Here We Go

(To all my "Valleybrook" followers: You may want to know that this blog is no longer attached to the VB website; instead it has been linked to my new family church, Gracepoint, in Adrian, MI. I still invite you to read and share your thoughts but I just wanted you to know why things may look different from what you are used to seeing. Love to you all! Sheila)


Here’s the truth—I am severely flawed.

At first glance, things may look “normal,” but trust me when I say that things are not what they appear to be.

Here’s another truth—you are severely flawed as well.

And that’s why we need each other.

I have absolutely nothing to offer another person other than that which is given to me as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Yet, there is one thing that I am certain of; that I was born to write. I do not get to pick and choose which parts of my heart I get to share and which parts are off-limits; instead, I get to be obedient to the One who knew me before there was time.

All that to say, I do not know what lies ahead for each one of us or what the journey we are embarking upon will reveal to our hearts. However, I can look back at history and see that the things we wish to be revealed to us from God’s heart oftentimes do not resemble what we “pictured,” but are always exactly what is needed to bring our character a smidgen closer to matching that of our precious Lord and Savior.

As journeys tend to go; I anticipate there will be some high points where God’s Word jumps out at us in a new way and we feel as strong as the eagle that soars high above the mountains. Other times, God will need to perform some intense open heart surgery as we make ourselves vulnerable to the changes we long for in our hearts--changes that can only come from the hands of the Chief Physician. Will we trust Him with those things in our hearts that force us to face areas of pain and heartbreak? Can we be messy together?

One thing I do know; the picture of the church as portrayed in God’s Word is one of interdependence—trusting in a new way those whom God has brought together in a building with four walls that we acknowledge as the church. We are the church. We need each other. Deal with that truth for a minute. Needing requires trust and vulnerability and authenticity.

Can we grow together and learn to trust one another with the vulnerability and authenticity needed to be messy and flawed; and yet be altogether accepted as we learn to live fully in our God-created identity?

I pray that God’s love and humility will cloak each one of us as we learn how to more completely become the church—the world is counting on us!!!

Let’s stay the course together…

Sheila Cote