I’ve been drawn back to old hymns lately. Maybe it’s all of the busyness in this season that makes the slow and familiar songs comforting. Maybe the Lord knows my heart needs to be steadied by truths that have been passed down through generations in the church. There’s also a chance it’s simply because I miss home. And hymns remind me of home.

Today I found a letter I wrote five years ago to the church I grew up in. At the time, I had been praying to find a church that had the level of warmth and depth of Cherry Hills and had not found it. As I reread the words I wrote, God’s faithfulness was apparent to me again. Two years ago, we started driving across several towns to attend a different church during COVID-19 while the kid’s ministry at our church had not reopened. One visit turned into answered prayers and regular attendance. What once was a letter to my home church, could now be written similarly to our new church home, Lakeland. And I’m so grateful.

Dear Cherry Hills, 

As I write this, I’d like to think I am like the apostle Paul who would write to the Philippians fondly with the greeting, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” Words will never be enough to express how deeply I resonate with Paul when I think of the treasured people within the Cherry Hills family. 

When I moved to Wisconsin over two years ago, one of the most challenging adjustments for me was surrendering my proximity to Woodside Road on Sunday mornings. Over the years, my fondness for Cherry Hills has come from the atmosphere of praise that dwells within its walls and the overwhelming sense that the Holy Spirit is resting in the hearts of the people that fill these seats. While God is undoubtedly at work in other areas of Springfield and has shown his favor in my community here in Wisconsin, I have never walked into another sanctuary that replicates such a reverence for His presence like Cherry Hills. 

At the age of 25, I have to come to recognize within myself a deep desire to be known and beyond that, to sense reciprocity in my relationships to their fullest extent. When I reflect on the relationships in my life that personify this, every single one brings me back to the Cherry Hills family. The intentionality behind the way you as a church family so recklessly love one another is an absolute privilege to still be a part of, miles away.

As I have matured into adulthood in the last several years, no one has taught me more about generosity than this family. I have lost count in the last year how many times I have been blessed with thoughtful gifts or a card just to say “thinking of you”. You have taught me that it is never about the dollar amount that I give, but the posture of my heart that Jesus is after. 

As a result of your infectious spirit of generosity, I have found myself asking, “What more can I give?” or, “Who can I invest my time into or encourage today?” Unbeknownst to you, the baton you have passed on so well helps me rhythmically welcome Jesus to continue to build my character. Oh, how deep is my gratitude to be caught in the riptide of your love that moves me to compassion for others. 

Thank you. Wholeheartedly, I thank you for the way you have loved my dad and have graciously allowed him to lead. Thank you for the adoration and care you have shown my remarkable mom. We are privileged to experience the overflow of your love time and again. I truly believe we are better in Jesus because we get to walk through life together with you!

I love you, Cherry Hills family, and I am electrified that we get to carry our worship together into eternity!

Love, Natalie 

So as I have been singing hymns I first learned from sharing a hymnal as a little girl in a church pew, I have held a reverence and gratitude for how the Lord has carried me and a hope for how he is carrying me still. In the years since I’ve gotten married and moved away from home, he has slowly been building a new identity for me when I walk into church. I’m not recognized as the pastor’s daughter anymore on Sundays, but I have found that Jesus continues to remind me I’m forever his.

After leaving Cherry Hills, it took a long time to sense his presence at church the way I felt it growing up. What has been such a gift is finding that again in the last few years in such a new, yet familiar way at Lakeland. That’s not to say that the Holy Spirit was not in the other places we attended since moving, but it’s allowed me to become even more grateful Sunday after Sunday when Lakeland has felt even more like home. And that’s because I sense Jesus there, too. I recognize a familiar expectancy for God to show up. And he always does.

Getting older is a funny thing. The older I get, the more I have come to understand that two things can be true at the same time. I miss home. I miss the church I grew up in. And I am home. I am building a home in a different place. This will be the first Christmas Eve spent at our church in Wisconsin, without family on that day. And two things are true. I will miss not gathering with the people who shaped my upbringing in Illinois. And I am looking forward to meeting Jesus at Lakeland on Christmas Eve. I’m so grateful that the limitless Spirit of God dwells in many places.

May Jesus dwell in our hearts this Christmas season as our Emmanuel. God with us!

And thank you, Jesus, for being with me, all these years.
Praise God from whom all blessings continue to graciously flow.

Take care & take heart,