In The Community, Lynchburg, VA

Church #175 is quite a milestone on this amazing journey.

As I sit here writing this on Saturday night, I cannot help but smile at all that God has done over these past three years.

When I first began this journey, I never imagined where the Holy Spirit would lead, how many churches I would visit, how many people I would meet, or how many times God would completely change my understanding of what it means to be the church.

I thought this journey would be about visiting buildings. Instead, it became a journey of watching Jesus show up absolutely everywhere.

Today, church happened in the presence of family.

This morning I did something I have not done in a very long time. I turned my phone off. I laid aside work responsibilities, stopped checking notifications, stopped thinking about what needed to be done tomorrow, and simply chose to be fully present with the people God has entrusted to me.

It was not an extravagant day. It was beautifully ordinary.

We went grocery shopping. We put away laundry. We wandered through a thrift store. We laughed. We rested. We simply spent time together.

And somewhere in the middle of what most people would probably call an ordinary day, God reminded me that love is never ordinary.

For a long time I have been praying for God to make a way through one difficult season after another.

Between grief, caregiving, work, responsibilities, worries about the future, and trying to keep everything together, I have found myself asking God over and over again for strength. But today, He reminded me that sometimes the miracle is not found in doing more. Sometimes the miracle is found in stopping long enough to notice what He has already given us.

One of the sweetest parts of today was spending time with my precious dog Cupcake. She is now fifteen years old and has been such an incredible gift to our family. Over these past several weeks, we have watched her slowly decline, and anyone who has ever loved a dog understands exactly what that feels like. They become family. They grow alongside your children. They celebrate your happiest days and somehow always know when your hardest days arrive.

As many of you know, I have been struggling since losing my mom, along with other events, and through so much of that heartbreak, my sweet dog has stayed close beside me, almost as though she knew I needed her.

We know the day is coming when we will have to say goodbye.

Even writing those words hurts.

But not today.

Today I held her close. Today I loved on her. Today I thanked God for fifteen beautiful years.

And maybe that is another sermon in itself.

How often do we spend so much time grieving tomorrow that we forget to embrace today? How often do we mourn what is coming instead of giving thanks for what we still have? Today reminded me that love is always worth the heartbreak.

Another beautiful part of church today was finally finishing a book that I have poured my heart into. It has taken countless hours, countless rewrites, countless prayers, and today my daughter sat beside me and began reading it aloud. I cannot even begin to describe what that felt like.

There is something incredibly humbling about hearing words that God has placed on your heart come back to you through someone you love.

As she read each page, I found myself realizing that God was using my own writing to preach another sermon directly to me.

Isn’t that just like Him?

Sometimes He gives us words for someone else… only to lovingly remind us that we need them too.

My daughter sacrificed her own time to help me today, and I cannot thank her enough. Watching her invest in something that has meant so much to me reminded me again that love often looks like sacrifice. It looks like giving your time when you could have spent it elsewhere. It looks like encouraging someone else’s calling. It looks like quietly helping without needing recognition.

That kind of love looks a lot like Jesus.

As I reached Church #175, I found myself thinking about all of you who have faithfully walked this journey alongside me.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for every encouraging message. Thank you to those of you who stop me around Lynchburg just to give me a hug and tell me you are still reading these posts. You probably have no idea how much those small moments have carried me during one of the hardest seasons of my life.

Thank you, too, for the incredible honor of nominating me again this year as Best Civic Leader of Lynchburg. I am genuinely humbled.

If anything good has come from this journey, I pray it has simply pointed people toward Jesus, because that has always been the goal.

Our family is still walking through many trials right now. Some days still feel incredibly impossible. Some prayers are still waiting to be answered. Some worries still try to find their way into my heart. I do not know exactly what tomorrow will bring. I do not know how every situation will work itself out. I do not know what the next chapter will look like.

But I know Jesus.

And that changes everything.

The greatest surprise about reaching Church #175 is realizing that after all these churches, all these sermons, all these miles, all these unexpected sanctuaries, like today, God keeps teaching me the same lesson in deeper ways.

Love Him. Love people. Be present.

Do not hurry through the gifts He has already placed in front of you while anxiously searching for the next one.

Today was not filled with extraordinary events.

But today my family laughed.

Today my daughter gave.

Today my sweet Cupcake was still here.

Today a book reached completion.

Today my phone stayed off (for the most part).

Today Jesus reminded me that His presence is found just as much around a grocery cart, a thrift store, a couch, a manuscript, and a family gathered together as it is inside the walls of a sanctuary.

And today… my family desperately needed a good day.

God knew that before we did.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us. Please keep praying. We feel those prayers more than you know, and I truly believe God is still writing a beautiful story, even when we cannot yet see every page.

I cannot wait to see where the Holy Spirit leads next week.

Love you all so very much,

Annie Stewart Lambert