Lynchburg General Hospital, Lynchburg VA

Today, church looked different.

Today, church happened in a hospital room.

My husband was hospitalized and is still there tonight undergoing testing, and instead of a pew or a sanctuary, my “seat” was beside his hospital bed.

But as I sat there, I was reminded of one of the most beautiful truths of the Gospel… Jesus meets us right where we are.

The presence of God is not limited to stained glass windows or pulpits or choirs. His presence fills every corner of this earth, even a sterile hospital room with beeping monitors and quiet prayers. Today, the Holy Spirit reminded me “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). And oh, how true that was in this moment.

I am so grateful that my mother-in-law, father-in-law, and daughter joined me today. Together, we circled around my husband and lifted him in prayer. We prayed for peace, for strength, for good test results, but most of all for God’s healing hand to rest upon him. And in that moment, church happened, not with hymns or bulletins, but with a family crying out to Jesus, asking for His mercy and grace.

I could feel the love of Christ wrapping around us like a blanket. Even in our fear, we knew we were not alone. We prayed not just for healing of the body, but for the strengthening of faith, that no matter what the doctors say, we will stand firm on the promises of God.

As I sat there, I thought about how many times I have visited churches on this journey and how I have said again and again: “The church is not a building, the church is the people.” And today, God gave me a living testimony of that truth.

The walls of that hospital room became holy ground. The prayer spoken over my husband became worship. And the love shared in that small circle became the very heartbeat of the Body of Christ.

It made me think, how often do we confine God to certain places or times? Do we forget that He is Emmanuel, God with us, everywhere and always? Do we overlook His presence in the ordinary, in the painful, in the moments we least expect?

Today reminded me that we don’t go to church just to find God, we carry Him with us. And when life interrupts our plans, He shows up right where we are.

As I look forward to the week ahead, I don’t know what the test results will reveal. But I know this, God is faithful. He has already carried me through so much in life, through abuse, through brokenness, through valleys I thought I would never climb out of. And He will carry me and my family through this, too.

So today I give thanks. Thanks for breath in my lungs. Thanks for the gift of family. Thanks for the blessing of prayer. Thanks for a Savior who sits beside me in the hospital room just as surely as He walks with me into any sanctuary.

I am eager to see where the Holy Spirit leads me next on this journey but tonight, I am content knowing He led me here, to this very place, to be reminded that His love is with us in all things.