What Blessings Have You Received From Your Local Church?

[BrotherTony]

I have an atheist friend who was talking with me the other morning...I was talking about the blessings from the Lord that I had received over the years since I came to know Christ as my savior. He was skeptical to say the least, and was very hostile to the idea that God did anything or gave anyone anything....So, I started out with the many blessings God had given me and my wife in our local church...he was very obstinant and against agreeing to give in on anything being a gift or blessing from the Lord. I named several things from the air we breathe to the home I live in....He disagreed vehemently and was very hostile....He told me to give him proof of blessings....period! So, I started with my testimony, how I had been involved in many things before I came to know the Lord, and that I was on a pathway that would have led to an early death. I had been shot and stabbed by the time I was 20, and though in a Bible college, I didn't know the Lord. I got saved at Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisconsin on April 15, 1983...forty years ago. I mentioned my changed life. This friend knew me back then and knew how my life was back then, and he also knew the many things I was involved in and things I had experienced. He couldn't refute that one thing, and he finally relented and agreed that there might be something to what I was saying. Then he asked me what blessings I had received from my local church.....I gave him a  list of things...I had gained friendships with many brothers and sisters in the Lord...I had found a place to get involved corporately to witness to others....I had a support system that many in the world don't have today. He listened intently and was finally asking about the Lord...

So, what blessings have you received lately from your local church...or just received with or without the church? 

Blessings...

BT

[TheGloryLand]

Sunday, I visited an American Baptist church that I attended for many years. Independent Baptist, for many years they wanted to build a Gym building. For they also, have a Christian school my 2 kids attended. Finally after over 10 years, this building is going up. I felt very happy and blessed to hear this news, even though my children are adults now.

[Dr. Robert S. Morley]

Lovely testimony, Tony! I have valued the prayer support of the our church and key individuals in particular, especialy when our family has gone through a crisis. It really is a huge blessing to have "a support system that many in the world don't have today."

And, yes, TGL, it is a blessing to experience joy about things and for others that we might physically be disconnected from but are still somehow connected to.