Have you ever been surrounded by people, and felt completely and totally alone?
Maybe you have more friends on social media than you can count, but you aren’t sure who to turn to when you going through something difficult. Maybe you have a long list of acquaintances and no authentic friendships. Maybe you feel like no one knows the real you.
Experts call this concept “crowded loneliness” and we’ve all experienced this at one time or another. We’ve all felt left out, overlooked, isolated, or misunderstood.
The truth is, as humans, we are created for meaningful relationships. We’re hard-wired for family, both natural and spiritual. And when we begin to intentionally connect with others and invest in relationships, it changes everything.
At the beginning of this year, Kim Taylor’s small group walked into Values 301 as strangers, all carrying their own struggles and challenges. Five months later, Kim’s group is walking through life together like a family.
“My family started coming to Milestone this time last year. We always knew it was a great church, so we were like, ‘Let’s go give it a try.’ We instantly knew this was where we needed to be. We did 101, 201, and 301 back-to-back and loved it. We had so many great connections.
It has been really cool seeing the season of life we were in then and the season we are in now through spiritual family.
In January, I felt led to start an evening women’s group. Nathan Swedberg called me and said, ‘A ton of women just signed up for 301. Would you be interested in doing a 301 group?’ I took a day and prayed about it, and really felt led to do a 301 group.
I went to 301 the first night, the ladies were all my age, one of them was newly widowed, 4 of them newly divorced, and another whose husband is atheist and refuses to go to church with her. All of these women were on this journey alone. And the Lord just reminded me that I could be in any one of these women’s chairs. It was the coolest thing.
We all connected and barriers came down.
We’ve met together, we’ve had meals together, and we have done life with each other. One of the ladies had surgery and we brought meals to her. A single mom in our group had her house chosen for a Serve Day project, and a few of our girls got to help with that.
Our Monday nights have just been amazing. We just said, ‘Let’s keep doing this Monday night thing.’ After 301 we decided to do Restore as a group and now we want to do Freedom in the Fall together.
It’s been awesome to see the Lord move through our gathering together. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for our group.”
-Kim Taylor
The Bible is clear—we aren’t meant to be alone. Psalms 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families.” You might feel lonely, even with a packed parking lot and hundreds of people in the building, but God wants you to experience genuine relationships right where you are.
If you’re interested in joining a small group, Values 301 is a great place to start and our next class is kicking off June 17, 2019. Visit Values 301 on our website for more information on how to jump in!
Ps. Pulley
June 7, 2019 at 10:37 amKim, so proud of you, these great ladies, and the spiritual family you guys are developing!
Pastor Ron
June 7, 2019 at 12:53 pmIf you haven’t experienced Values 301 it’s time… Hope to see you there.
Lorraine Thomas
June 8, 2019 at 8:02 amThank you, Milestone!
One of Milestone’s our core values: ’your destiny is tied to your relationships’.
God’s House the connections He orchestrates.
Brothers and sisters that share the same core values.
Others focused
= Spiritual Family
God sets the lonely in family! Psalms 68:6
We truly are, better together!
Nathan
June 8, 2019 at 2:02 pmThanks for stepping up, Kim! Incredible story!
Kim Taylor
August 25, 2019 at 9:40 pmThank you so much Pastor Pulley! Your Monday nights were one of our first loves!!
Kim Taylor
August 25, 2019 at 9:42 pmThank you Pastor Nate!! Seriously if you hadn’t have believed in me, I wouldn’t have taken that first step to lead 301. Thank you!!
Kim Taylor
August 25, 2019 at 9:42 pmAmen!!