How 1 Paragraph Changed Everything

I read a story once when I was 20 years old. It became an example of just how important community and friendships should be, and it left an indelible mark on my heart. Though I couldn’t have begun to understand the root that had dug itself into my heart that day.

Well, let’s rewind. It was more a paragraph than a story.

While doing a prayer walk in Tokyo, Japan, I read through prayer requests from the missionaries in country. For the amount of Japanese people, there was an astoundingly small number of missionaries. There was at least one in each prefecture, or province, though.

Separated From Community

One prayer request stood out from the rest. In one prefecture where thousands resided, only one missionary lived among them. A young woman. She was the only believer in the entire prefecture. None with whom she was faithfully building relationships had accepted Christ yet. There weren’t any other missionaries either.

Her prayer request confided her loneliness. Though she loved the people she was serving, there was a deep longing for her faith family—her community. Everyone was geographically far from her, and most days were hard. At the end of the day, she had no one there with her to talk about the day, to drop everything to pray with, to laugh with.

My team and I finished our prayer walk after a couple of hours then made our way back to our hostel. When we debriefed at the end of the day, we talked about that one missionary. Our emotions were close to the surface, but as we talked about her, we reread her prayer request.

The second time reading it revealed a spirit of strength. She understood the gravity of her situation and wanted it to change, but she believed her community—though far geographically—could and would make the difference for her. She knew that God would meet her needs with the community He already established, even though she was technically alone in that prefecture.

Community Makes the Difference

I remember thinking about my family and my friends during debrief. I thought of what it would feel like if I were to go to the foreign mission field—which was my dream—to serve alone and be physically cut off from the people I relied on.

The first thing my heart latched onto was pity. I pitied that missionary. She had to serve alone, and she was choosing to stay rather than go home.

It disappoints me to say this, but I didn’t see her courage.

Regardless, this one paragraph was going to send me on a journey, and I didn’t even notice I had taken my first step down the path until after it happened. But the journey has gotten me to where I am right now:

Doing life with my community and pursuing connection will make the difference every time.

One paragraph…one…convinced me.

This wasn’t an easy lesson. It cemented itself in a season when I had pushed my community away. It was pure justification on their part to leave me behind. The number of people in my community had dwindled, and I wanted that number to rise again.

Cultivating Friendships, Deepening Community

Which brings me to the person I want to talk about: My best friend. Her name is Harley. We’ve known each other since we were kids in Sunday school, but we didn’t become friends until our teen years. I was 16 the first time I hung out with Harley outside of church. Our friendship took off after my extreme introversion was challenged…because she spent the night at my house.

I didn’t have many friends up until this point. I recall having at least one around the time I was 13, and then I was a loner for the most part.

Relationally speaking, I wish I could tell you I understood friendship and community and relationships back then. I don’t think I did.