In celebration of our church’s one year birthday, I was asked to stand up in church and tell about how God has shown up for me in the last year. What I said is below. If you would like to watch the video, visit Springs of Life Church on Facebook.
As many of you know, the past year of my life has not been an easy one. Less than a year after losing my dad in 2024… my grandpa, whom I had the privilege of caring for over the last 5 years of his life passed away in September of 2025. my mother unexpectedly died 9 weeks later.
There are some kinds of grief that change you. They rearrange the inside your heart and mind. They cause you to reevaluate everything. They cause you to wonder who you even are now without being defined by the ones who are gone.
To be completely honest, I’ve been a mess. I still am. however, through it all I know I have a safe place to land - not just physically here at The Price Center on Sunday mornings, but in the arms and prayers of the people who ARE Springs of Life Church.
Our church was only about a legit month old when my grandpa passed and we were only 4 months worshiping regularly when my mother died. We were barely getting our footing, some of us were still getting to know each other. But through both of those losses the members of this church supported me, through prayer, by text, through music, on coffee dates, and my favorite, through hugs.
Jessie, our worship leader, led the music at my mother’s funeral. That beautiful voice that always carries a sense of peace, helped create a sacred space that meant more to me than I can fully express. Some of you showed up. When I stood up to say a few words, looking out seeing some of your faces, knowing you drove over an hour to the tiniest town in Texas to be with me on the hardest day of my life meant more to me than you’ll ever know. You didn't have to be there, no one would have faulted you for not showing up, but you did and that has stayed with me.
This past year, you have loved me in so many ways. You have checked on me. You have thought of me. You remembered the hard days. You knew that hearing “Amazing Grace” which Jessie sang at my mothers funeral might bring me to tears. You knew that Mother’s Day might be difficult. There have been mornings when I have walked into church carrying something heavy, and you simply cried with me. That is family.
Not the kind of family where everyone looks alike or thinks alike or has the same story. But the kind of family where you can show up exactly as you are, even when you are hurting, even when you’re a mess, even when you are still figuring things out and still be loved.
Recently, I have found myself on the other side of loss, in position to comfort others who have recently experienced the passing of a loved one. In the midst of those hugs I have realized that my capacity to love has grown. By being loved deeply in the midst of very specific circumstances, I now have the ability to share that depth of that love with others. I may not have the perfect words, or be able to take away their hurt, but my soul aches for them, and my heart prays for them with a fierceness that only comes from understanding.
This church family has reminded me that love doesn’t require us to have everything figured out. It doesn’t require us to be perfect or certain or even okay. Sometimes love simply means sitting beside someone in their grief. Sometimes it means showing up. Sometimes it means crying together. And sometimes it means reminding someone that they don’t have to carry everything alone.
When I think about this past year, I will always remember the loss. But I will also remember the people who showed up in the middle of it.
I will remember being held by this church family.
And I will remember that even in one of the hardest seasons of my life, God is still expanding my capacity to love - to love Him, to love myself, and to love others.
Thank you for being the kind of church that provides a safe place to keep figuring things out.
And thank you for loving me even when I’m an absolute mess.
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