Greatest Blessings - Nathan Mendez

The fellowship has been such a blessing to me so far. Learning more about God and also learning how to live in community is something that I know I will always value. One of the biggest lessons I am learning by living out here is that whenever you have fellowship, there will always be conflict. There may be pain, anger and just brokenness in general. Beforehand, I made the mistake of thinking that all of that could be avoided if a close relationship with someone (family or friends) was approached in the correct way. I have been proven wrong.

If you are truly getting close with anyone there will be times of pain. It could come from seeing that person suffer or even conflict between you, but pain will come. While this may seem like a bad thing I believe it is actually a blessing. It has a way of showing you that you care about that person and they also care about you. 

As christians, we experience a lot of pain in our lives. Our hearts break over sin and over those who are not saved from it. They also long to be in a perfect relationship with our Father. As our relationship with God grows stronger and stronger it becomes more painful when we are not in communion with Him. When we don’t seek Him out we notice a difference in our hearts and our minds. I want to learn to seek Him more diligently this year so I can be closer to Him. The pain will come and go. 

- Nathan Mendez