I Had No Friends

Good morning…

She asked me to write an 800 word article for our November newsletter at Northside Church. She knew the story of how God has organically grown our ministry to women. She shared with me the Scripture verse for the month: Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer (Romans 12:12, PHILLIPS). From this enduring Word of truth, God birthed through me the following words.

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From “My Nothing” to “God’s Something” by Sue Allen

I had no friends here. On the first Sunday our family walked through the doors of Northside Church in the fall of 2003, I knew absolutely no one. Having just moved away from the life of my dreams in small town Pennsylvania, I was grieving the loss of my close-knit friends, our nearby extended family, and the slow rhythm of a simple lifestyle.

At the time, our kids were ages two, four, six and eight. That first day, I remember picking up our youngest from his Sunday school class. He raised his white-blonde covered head and stared at me with his big brown eyes, “Mommy, I think this is where Jesus goes to church.”

From that moment on, the Spirit of God had me hooked.

We returned the following Sunday, and that very next week I got a call from a woman in our new neighborhood. “I heard your family has been visiting Northside Church,” she said. “I just came from a preschool board meeting, and they’ve decided to open another three-year-old class for next fall. If you want your son to go to preschool, you need to apply today. The class will be filled within twenty-four hours.” Following her advice, I called that day and our son received one of the coveted spots.

Those first few years, we took advantage of the church’s many offerings. Groovy church. Sunday school. Wednesday Night Dinner. Children’s choir. Vacation Bible School. Mom-to-Mom coffees. UMW circle. Yet to be honest, I still felt lonely, missing my dear friends and my old life. Every relationship I began here seemed stuck on the smiley surface. I begged from my gut, LORD, please take me on a journey from ‘my nothing’ to ‘Your Something’.

Then one early morning God startled me awake, “Host a Bible study in your home.” A Bible study? In our home? But who would I invite? I don’t know anyone well enough to ask them into our home. I argued back. The nagging thought grew even zanier. I sensed God asking me, an untrained, ill-equipped, stay-at-home mom, to write the study with Him. I had filled pages in my journal most days for years, but I had never shared my writing with others.

During my quiet time, God led me to the unwritten study’s central Scripture verse, and reluctantly I wrote it on hand-made invitations along with the time, the date, and the location of the Bible study. Any acquaintance who smiled at me during church that Sunday got one of my invitations. Apprehensively, in pure obedience, I passed out a handful and waited, doubtful.

When that first Tuesday morning arrived, I was surprised to hear a knock on my door, then another, and still more. To my amazement, seven women gathered around me that autumn day in 2005. Each of us spoke of being in a time of transition. Each felt called away from the old and toward something new, but we did not know the details of the plan God was orchestrating. Each desperately wanted to hear the voice of the LORD before moving forward into the future.

Strangely the very next week, a Northside member called to ask me to apply to work in the Children’s Ministry. Me? I had never even taught Sunday school. “Will you please pray about it?” she asked.

As I prayed about the possibility, I felt drawn to interview and began working in March of 2006, right up the hall from our son who was then in the four-year-old class. I enjoyed my time in the Children’s Ministry, but my deepest love was leading Bible study with the kids’ moms. When the Women’s Ministry Director position opened eighteen months later, I applied and was hired. The next morning, I called Christa Groves, one of the women in our young mom’s study, asking her to partner with me as our Program Coordinator.

Since January of 2008, Christa has blended her keen relational, organizational, and problem-solving skills with my gifts as a daily blogger, a soulful teacher, and an avid prayer warrior. For thirteen fruitful years, together with God we have nurtured Northside’s ministry to women. Now we invite you to become a part of God’s organic growth among us.

Upcoming Opportunities

Saturday, Nov. 6th – “Awake to Wholeness Women’s Retreat” livestream webinar
Dec. 3rd – 5th – Women’s Retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center
Mid-December to mid-January – register for Winter/Spring classes
Week of January 10th – weekly Winter/Spring classes begins
March 2nd, 6:30 – 8:00 pm – Women’s Lenten Communion Service
March 5th and 19th – Mission Circle and Women’s Ministry host workdays at the Habitat For Humanity Build

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With no friends, I felt lost and lonely. For about eighteen months I experienced my life’s darkest season of depression, heavy and hollow. Hemmed in by God, I was finally awakened by a crazy idea. Looking back, I marvel at the way God planted within me three unpredicted seeds: “Host a Bible study in your home.” “Write the words I give you.” “Please pray about it.”

Host. Write. Pray. Sprouting from these clear directives a vibrant ministry now blossoms among us, from “my nothing” to “God’s Something.”

…Sue…