An Interview with Some Sisters from Lacey

What appears below is an interview with some sisters from a church community in Lacey, Washington. I asked them several questions about life in the church in which they live. Their responses are published here in hopes that someone out there might receive encouragement by them.

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1. Why do you live In the church in Lacey?

Anna: The reason I'm a part of the church is because I experience my Lord there in my brothers and sisters.

Julie: There is one reason I live in the church and that is Jesus Christ. Everyday I either see, hear, feel, experience and always love the Lord. Whether it is a song, a touch from a sister, or my brother's face. The Lord is showing Himself to me in so many ways. I was not satisfied with Sunday and Wednesday Christianity. We gather when ever we want, in ways I would have never found anywhere else. The awesomeness of being quiet before the Lord with my sisters, or being reminded of who I am in Christ, or just being reminded that its all about Christ is tremendous. Christ everyday-spontaneously, organically, richly, thick drippy, drenched, overflowing with Christ everyday.

Life as a sister is all Christ, too. When your down and a sister picks you up and holds you its Christ in them. Our bond is Christ. Our common denominator is Christ. Some of us have absolutely nothing in common, but when we come together-even if only for coffee-we have Christ in common. What else do we need; what else could we want. O.K. let's face it. In "the world" nothing is peachy all the time. Yes people get on peoples nerves, sometimes a sister just wants to be left alone, and we even have heated disagreements, but in the end Jesus is there and He always brings us together. He is our togetherness . . . period!

Marietta: We live in church life because it is the only way I know that causes us to be real because you can't pretend forever. It is kind of like a marriage; you have to learn to give and take and Christ has to do the work. It is a matter of becoming one. This state can't become reality by seeing the back of someone's head once a week.

Maggie: First off, I'm here because I believe this is where the Lord has placed me. Also I think living in the church "neighborhood" being able to see my brothers and sisters on a daily basis to see Christ in them is awesome. I want to know my Lord and have an intimate relationship with Him and I believe this is a great place to experience Him.

Aimee: I 'm hungry for Christ and in Church life I get fed.

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2. What brought you to where you are?

Anna: The Lord!

Marietta: My journey to where I am now has taken 63 years. I can't remember a time when I didn't know my Lord personally-I've always know my salvation was by grace. It was not earned, but I was never certain that I pleased the Lord. The church I was in was very shallow and I wanted more intimacy with other Christians. I'm learning that I please the Lord because I'm in Christ-period! Getting to see Christ in surprising little ways in my brothers and sisters is so amazing and feeling a depth of love for them that is from Him transcends anything I've ever know before.

Maggie: I was not brought up in an organized church, I had not experienced the Lord really. I was into drugs and so on. I had a baby when I was 15. When I met my husband we moved to Washington and he found a job, and the owners were Christians-we listened to what everyone had to say-but that was about it. We had many problems and could not ever fix them. We decided that this "God" thing sounded ok and so here we are five years later. We still have our problems, of course, but how much easier daily life is when you are walking with the Lord.

Aimee: I came to Church life when I was very young. My family was stepping out of the organized church and into something new and wonderful, although "I" didn't see it yet. I was just glad I didn't have to get up early on Sunday mornings. My family was at the beginning of the home church in Lacey, WA. Even though I wasn't involved in the meeting I saw the excitement in my mom and dad. But little did I know that some years later the Lord would SLAM into me. I was 13. I'm 15 now. The Lord was not the most important thing in my life at the time. But one night without notice, the Lord…(how do I put it?)… hit me with q wonderful force. I can not put it into words what happened to me. I talked to the Lord for only about 25 minutes…(but that's all it took) with tears of joy pouring down my face. That night I fell madly in love with Christ! He showed me that the home church is where He wanted me. And I am so thankful to be living in Church Life! To feast on Christ with all my brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ is a beautiful, awesome thing. I wouldn't leave Church Life for the world!

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3. Describe what life as a sister in the church is like.

Anna: Life as a sister is loving one another and seeing Christ in each other. Some of us are so different but our differences don't matter because we have our Lord in common. I would like to share a story with you. There is a sister in our church who I have known for 16 years. We were friends before we were sisters. For a short period of time I was feeling distance from her and didn't know why. It wasn't anything she had said or done, but one night at a church gathering we had written love poems to our Lord. Everyone had written some thing or sang something, but she brought "footprints in the sand" because she said that that was how she feels most of the time. I was blown away by her honesty. For the first time in our relationship I saw the Lord in her. Instead of seeing her as my best friend I saw here as my sister in the Lord. It was awesome!!!! That has changed my view towards her because she is still my best friend but we now have something even more precious. We have sisterhood. I love it!!!! I love the way God works in us!

Marietta: The most surprising thing I've learned as a sister is how in the blending of our personalities we learn the difference between being real and rude in our dealing with each other. We are learning patience that we get from our Lord.

Aimee: This is a very difficult question to answer. It's not just being a sister, it's being apart of Church Life in general. I am one of the youngest sisters here. One thing that is really cool is how everyone is so different but we all can come together because of Christ. No matter how different we are, we all love Christ. As sisters, we have a closeness that is awesome. "The more we know Christ the more we love His saints," as I hard a brother once say. The love between sisters is so beautiful. We love one another and we love the Christ in one another. For me, I love to see Christ shine through my sisters. It's so…I guess the only word to use is holy. I don't love any people more than my brothers and sisters. I love knowing that when I'm going through a hard time, they are there, and will only give me Christ. And will encourage me in Christ. Being a sister in the body of Christ is a wonderful thing!

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4. How would you describe family life in the Church?

Anna: I feel the children are so blessed! They get to experience the Lord on a daily basis. They see the relationships between each other; they hear us call each other holy one, saint, brother, sister. How cool is that! When you hear a child running around singing one of our songs, well, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Maggie: We always have extra food, because you never know who is going to be stopping by. My kids know why we live in the neighborhood. They know we are together with people here because of Jesus Christ. One thing that always encourages me... I have three kids and my youngest knows and loves everyone here in the church. She knows she is safe with anyone of the people here.

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5. What encouragement would you give a hungry sister out there seeking the Lord?

Anna: Let go of what ever is holding you down. Give it to the Lord.
Have faith in God.
It's easy to say but its harder to do.
Only in the Lord can You experience faith.
Listen to him, always going to him and not relying on yourself.
Don't let you get in the way.
Call out to him. Say out loud, "Lord." You can say it in a whisper, "Lord help me. I need you to do this Lord because I can't, and sister let me tell you he will but you have to really let it go, lay it down. Just give it to Him. Trust Him, He'll never let you down. He love's you. Just know that the Lord works in His way and in His timing. We don't always get the answer we want, but He is always right. The Lord will meet you where you are. You just have to believe.
Don't have expectations in our Lord-have faith!
To whoever reads this: I'm writing this from my experience with the Lord. For me it's about loving him and having faith. But for you it may be different. The Lord works with us individually. He will meet you where you are. Just know the Lord loves you.

This is a song by Sade. The album is Lovers Rock. When you read this, read it as if it's the Lord speaking to you:

Marietta: Strip yourself of the "doing." Just sit quietly with Him and love Him. This is a process that takes time, but it comes down to simply Christ taking a larger and larger portion of my thoughts.

Aimee: A Word on Brokenness
Brokenness in Christ, I believe is something we ask for without knowing it, because we ask for Him to un-build those walls that we've built to make room for Him. To ourselves we think we are only asking for Him, His happiness, and a few awesome experiences. Brokenness is not an easy thing at all. I cannot say how it feels to be broken by Christ, for I believe I have yet to be broken. But I "want" to be, for all I want is Him. Brokenness is a thing that your spirit wants, but your flesh fights. Once again it comes back to the Love that we have for our Lord. That love, I believe is what helps us through being broken. Because we do not want brokenness-no one in there right mind wants brokenness-but we sure do want the outcome of being broken. The outcome is Christ, and that's all I want. I can feel my spirit, wanting only Christ-and I know that my spirit wants brokenness for my flesh so it can have more room for Christ. But my flesh is so afraid of suffering and of not being in control that it tries so hard to fight it. It's a battle of the spirit and flesh. I can't put into words how much I want to know my Lord more and all I know to say is that, if it takes being broken to take more of the Lord into every minute of every day…break me Lord!! All I want is you.