Sigh. Transitions are bittersweet moments.

A couple months ago, Ethan and Rachel sent out an e-mail to the small group asking them, basically, to RSVP for small group this fall. We needed to get an idea of who would be joining us and who wouldn't. He sent it to all of the members our original small group, including the ones who weren't likely to attend. One by one, we have received confirming e-mails from three couples of their plans to not attend small group this fall. The latest was the X Factor couple, Hannah and Jordan. We haven't seen them all summer and I had a sneaking suspicion they wouldn't be returning.

So that brings our total size down to 4 couples, and two of them are adding extra members of the family in late February and early March, and then they will step out of the small group.

It's obviously time for change.

My heart kind of hurts for Stephen. I tried to tell him..... See, when my love was growing up, his parents led a "small" group, that was really not a small group, out of their home. It involved whole families, children included, from all different walks of life. Their group met for 3 years and numbered THIRTY people when they finally decided to plant a church with their "small group." Presbyterians do things a lot differently than other people.

When our small group members started getting pregnant, somehow Stephen thought that we would just grow together in families, like his parents' group. (I don't know if he ever thought we might plant a church, but I imagine he would've thought that would naturally follow, if it ever got to that point.) I tried to tell him it was not likely to work that way. He held onto his beliefs. But I was right in the end.

So it's time for a change.

On Sunday, Stephen went to talk to our assistant pastor (Peter) before church. Peter was talking to a young girl about my age. As Stephen spoke with Peter, Peter practically "offed" the girl onto me, LOL. He's like that: He really loves to help people connect with people. It's his heart. So since my husband needs to talk to him, he sends Darcey over to me, with no instructions except: "This is Darcey. She's a brand-new Christian and was just baptized last Saturday."

I liked her immediately. She had an open face and kind of looked like me. We made small talk. I told her a bit about our small group and she expressed interest in finding one. I didn't right away invite her to ours, though, because it's been a strictly "young marrieds" group and she appeared to be single. I found out that she has been coming to Countryside (our church) since November and that she had been through some life stuff and just decided she needed to start attending church. She mentioned some Christian friends. She didn't have much chance to elaborate, though, because then Dave started leading our worship. For a frozen moment, I couldn't decide whether to let her find her seat or to invite her to sit with us. I wanted to do the latter... I really did. But instead I found myself saying politely, "It was really nice to meet you, Darcey," and she scurried off to her seat a few rows in front of us, by herself.

She hasn't left my mind since. The thoughts keep coming back to me: I should have invited her to our small group and I should have invited her to sit with us. I saw her face and felt it immediately and I know it must be God.

Apparently she made an impression on Stephen, too. I found out today, as Stephen and I were talking about her, that he had thought of inviting her to small group as well. He knows just as well as I do that our group has always been a "young marrieds" group... But as I said.

It's time for a change.

So we're not sure what's coming next. I'm going to act as God leads me--and I intend on striking up conversation with her next week, only I don't know about what yet. But there were some things left unanswered: I don't know how long she has been a Christian, just that it hasn't been very long. And she didn't tell me more of her life story, but Peter did tell us some. So I have some ideas for talking to her about different ministries our church offers that she might be glad for.

It's a good thing I know so much about Countryside. LOL.

-Stephanie

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