Without pain there is no birth. 2012 wasn’t a lot of fun for me. I’ve lost relationships,lost my grandfather, gained a few pounds, fallen flat on my face, and been forced to reevaluate what it means to be a Christian and part of a church. Sure, the cruise to the Bahamas was fun but overall, 2012: you have been a real drain on the emotional economy!

The saving grace of this year has absolutely been seeing the new thing God has been doing: the formation of our little body of believers: CrossTrain Community Church. God had been laying the idea of house church on my heart before we even thought about doing it together! The intimacy of really knowing one another, of doing life together, simply being together as disciples of Christ who want to live for him and reach others, was so appealing to me. No building funds or mortgages, so we would be freed up to support missions, or take care of those who have a need. That sounded awesome to me! What a huge blessing it is to be able to do this new thing with some of my favorite people in the world! It has been joy to go through both the tears and the laughter with you, my sweet family, to have the gift of being together, praying, and seeking to love Jesus and love others. 2012 has been a hard birthing process, but I am beyond excited to go forward this next year and be love and light to each other and people we maybe haven’t met yet! Karen, Debbie, Alicia, Tara, Erin Alyse, Rachel, Christie,Janet, and of course Miss Reagan,(ok, the guys too) you are God’s grace, mercy and generousness on display in my life. I can’t wait to see how God uses our little tiny part of his church to impact the world. If it took all that heartache and pain to get here, you know what? It was worth it.