Spiritually Mismatched Marriage and Small Groups
February 24, 2025
Have you had a nice weekend? I did, I visited that church that God has asked me to visit. It was beautiful, and I wonder what he has in store for me there. Exciting!
Anyway, today I wanted to talk about the topic of attending a small group. Is that something you do? It's not an entirely straightforward thing when you're in a SUM, right?
Early on in our SUM, Bryce said to me "I will not cope if you start attending a small group." There was a finality in the way he said it.
"Why?" I asked, lip quivering.
"Because it's the epitome of weirdness."
That was us then, not very used to church life, and struggling with the fact that I had suddenly become all Christian. It was one of those moments where I felt the pain of our faith difference. And after that I didn't take part in a group. That might have been right or wrong of me to give it up; but this whole SUM thing is so hard. We try to make our faith easy on our spouse, so we let go of certain things we want to do.
Well, about five years after that, things had got easier in SUM-land, and I duly joined a small group at church. Bryce was happy enough with it by then, and I enjoyed the group. However, it was made up of couples.
I could have stayed in the group, but the couple thing actually became too challenging. In the end, I wrote to them and thanked them for the time we'd had together but said "I'm actually going to choose to stay home with my husband for a while instead of attend this small group but thank you for all the great time we've had."
I remain friends with some of those lovely people, and it was certainly not a wasted time. It never is.
Well, finally this past year, after I arrived back from Europe, God plopped me into a small group that is perfect for me. Yay! And this has turned out to be a gorgeous new thing in my life.
A friend got me connected to it. It is a group of women that meet on a Thursday from 12pm-2pm. One of them has a house that is perfect for the purpose. She herself is the first in her marriage to become a Christian, there are beautiful family photos on the walls, and she hosts us around her welcoming table. There is always fantastic food that I look forward to as I drive there. And, most importantly, these women love God, which means the conversations are about God God God every week.
(Here's a little pic of some of us and the FOOD table, yum!)
So, finally, after a meandering journey, I have settled cosily into the world of the 'small group', and it has become an absolute treasure in my life.
How about you? Are you part of a small group? Is that part of your life a challenge at the moment in your SUM? Do you need prayer for finding a good group of fellow believers?
Let's share.
Love you all loads
Ann x