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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

The JOY of being known (FMF)

March 21, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 10 Comments

More than three years ago, we packed up a bright yellow Penske truck with all of our belongings and left all that was familiar. God had called us, and we answered.

Feeling a little bit Abrahamic– we left our town, our friends who were more like family, and everything we thought we knew and moved to a town in Georgia.

A town that for years was nothing more to us than a Starbucks half way between our parents and our home in North Carolina.

Because so many told us to visit a particular church, we did so within 48 hours of arrival in our new “home.” And found an instant solace there among other believers.

There was difficulty in those first few months. We struggled to settle in and lost a baby to miscarriage. We clung to each other and to Christ and felt Him pulling us to look deeper for a close community within our church.

Then we found them. That group of other families in our stage of life who wanted to know God better. And to know us. We were on our way to finding home.

The first few weeks were less than easy for me. Each Tuesday night, the drive home from our Ladies’ Bible Study group involved me crying to myself, crying to a friend left behind in North Carolina, crying out to God… “This is so exhausting… We don’t really know them… they don’t know me…. they don’t know our story… they don’t know who we are.” Worn down and wrung out from the constant re-telling– I questioned if I would EVER feel like they were family. I questioned if we would ever feel the joy of being known and known well.

But God poured His grace out on us. He cracked open our hearts with hope. Thank goodness they kept asking. We kept sharing our story… and asking questions to learn theirs.

And now? More than three years later? They are those we share life with. We share burdens and heartaches. We share lessons as we learn them. We share gifts. We share answers to long- prayed prayers. We love on each other’s babies. The babies we prayed would be born healthy and strong despite concerns. We share meals. We share Coffee and community and so much more.

And when I waved from the porch and then closed the door behind the last one of them that last night they were over I went to my sink– and I saw a pile of dirty forks. Forks enjoyed with a hearty dose of laughter and chocolate cake. Each one representing a former stranger who was now a close sister.

And I thanked God for my story. And the strength HE gave in the telling of it. And the Grace He gave to listen to theirs. And most of all, for the JOY of knowing and being known in the love and community of Christ.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday over here!

Five Minute Friday

No, Seriously. What are we doing?
Fleeting

Comments

  1. Chandra Hadfield says

    March 21, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    This gives me so much hope, Cynthia! I can’t tell you how long my husband and I have been searching for our community, and feel like we’ve told our story one thousand times. I needed what you wrote today to show me that God has those “do life with” friends for us, too! Thank you for this beautiful story of hope!

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 21, 2014 at 8:50 pm

      I’m so glad Chandra! Praying you find that community soon!!! So thankful for this little writing community we have too!

      Reply
  2. Brenda says

    March 21, 2014 at 9:32 pm

    This was sooo good! I can relate as we have moved a few times in our marriage and it is so sweet when you go from being someone new to part of the family.

    Reply
  3. Holly Barrett says

    March 21, 2014 at 10:45 pm

    Love this post, Cynthia! I’m new in my town and have found a wonderful church where I’ve been asked to lead the women’s ministry. Still missing a good friend, a small group, a community of people that choose to be together. Prayerful and expectant over what God will surely provide.

    Reply
    • Meredith Bernard says

      March 22, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      Oh these words! What a wonderful example of God’s grace and provision to a couple devoted to trusting in Him and answering His call. Even when we can’t see the future, He does. And when we are in His will, it is always good. I have a similar story of friendships born from a period I thought I’d never have them. And how sweet they are now. Thank you for sharing your story. I love your heart and the way God leads you to tell it. Blessings FMF Sister. 🙂

      Reply
  4. caseyprince says

    March 22, 2014 at 3:18 pm

    I have tears on my cheeks as I read about your comfort in your new space, they are tears of hope. I am a little behind you having uprooted our family 20 months ago for a move from NC to middle TN. My FMF post was on a similar joy, the one of seeing my kids joy beginning to return even though they miss their grandparents and cousins desperately. Moving is so hard, finding your people, your tribe, the ones who will fill the holes in your heart. Thanks for sharing your joy.

    Reply
  5. Mom- Linda Blythe says

    March 22, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    Beyond a doubt this was one of the most precious, poignant and compelling expressions of the Joyful rewards of engaging with other believers that I have ever read.

    Reply
  6. Ginger says

    August 26, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    You show your courage here. We all know it takes some to reach out and open up. It’s a challenge for me…thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      August 27, 2014 at 2:46 pm

      Thank you, Ginger! It is such a challenge, and honestly I’m not really sure it ever gets easier. Maybe we just learn the value of opening up? But it’s hard no matter what. Thank you for stopping by.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Unforgettable: (in)RL | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    April 28, 2014 at 11:27 am

    […] The last 3 years have been full of amazing, deep community for me. These women, these local, beautiful faces that cause me to light up when I see their names on my phone’s screen. However, just before we moved here, I knew exactly NONE of them. In fact, when we first arrived, the only people I knew shared my last name and a Penske Moving truck. But that has long since changed. […]

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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