5562 Promise Land Road, Appomattox VA

What a blessing it was this morning to join the online service of Promise Land Baptist Church, my 130th church on this holy and humbling journey.

Even though I am still in a season where I cannot yet return to in-person visits, God keeps showing me, every single week that He can meet me anywhere.

Even here. Even now.

The worship team opened with songs that reached down into the very center of my heart. “He didn’t have to let me live.”

Those words hit different when you’ve lived through trauma. When you’ve survived what should have destroyed you. When there were moments where the breath in your lungs was not something you were sure you’d ever feel again.

Those words made me tear up. Because I know the only reason I am still alive today is because God kept me.

And then they sang, “Hold on to Jesus.”
And I whispered it to myself like a prayer, Lord, I am holding on with everything in me.

I needed to hear the Scripture Reading from 1 Thessalonians 3:1–5 today. As the scripture was read, I felt like the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and said, This is for you today.

“May we be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men… but the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil.”

I needed that reminder. Because there are people who have wounded me deeply. There are wicked things I’ve endured that should have broken me beyond repair. But the Lord has been my guard, my shield, my protection.

The Pastor preached from the words of Jesus:
“I am the Vine. For without Me, ye can do nothing.”

He spoke about how so many young people and older people too feel disconnected, restless, unsteady, empty. And then he gave this brilliant analogy:

We take our phones everywhere but what good is the phone if it has no signal?We can scroll all night, but wake up in the morning just as empty as we were the night before. Because the only signal that satisfies the soul…
is staying connected to Jesus.

Abide in Me.
Not visit.
Not check in occasionally.
Not listen to one sermon a week and think it’s enough.

Abide, dwell, remain, stay! The branch cannot bear fruit unless it is connected to the Vine.

That word “abide” got inside of me and stirred something up.

Because after everything I’ve been through, after every broken place, every painful memory, every betrayal, there has been a hollow space inside of me for most of my life.

And I realize now, Jesus has been filling that space. Not all at once, but one encounter at a time.

And today He reminded me: “My child, you don’t heal by trying harder. You heal by staying with Me.”

That is the lesson I’m taking with me from Promise Land Baptist Church. Jesus is not asking me to perform. He is asking me to stay.

Stay close.
Stay connected.
Stay in His Word.
Stay in His presence.

I thank God I am still here. I thank God He kept me alive when I didn’t think I could make it. I thank God He continues to deliver me.
I thank God that He is healing the hole in my heart, piece by piece with His unconditional love.

This message fed my soul today. I can’t wait to visit Promise Land Baptist Church in person soon. And I cannot wait to see where the Holy Spirit leads me next.

Because I know now,
the branch lives because of the Vine.
And I am abiding in Him.