Prayers for Community Answered After Over Two Years of Loneliness


"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

When I came into college I was a hot mess. I had no idea what I wanted. As I began to meet people and understand college culture, I realized I had a strong desire for Christian community. 

One night I was alone in my dorm room sad that I didn't have anyone to hangout with. I decided to make a prayer wall in my dorm room. One of the first things I put up was asking God to send me friends who had a desire to grow closer to HIM the way I did. I wanted friends who had a deep personal relationship with Jesus. 

I have prayed and journaled about this for so long. On March 7, 2017 Leah Hiebert messaged the UMW Young Life page asking what Young Life was all about. I quickly responded back giving her my contact information so if she had any questions she could ask me. On March 15, 2017 she texted me asking some questions. Then five days later she came to visit Dillon. I invited her to hangout with Young Life at Dairy Queen free cone day and she came. It was amazing. This was the first time we met, but I could tell there was something special about her. I wanted to be her friend. From there we texted and got to know each other. We found we had so much in common. This summer I was working in Georgia and there were times when I got really lonely or would miss home. About three weeks into my journey I got a package of letters from this sweet soul. She wrote me a letter for everyday of the week and I wrote her back everyday. Since I was off the grid for a majority of my summer we had an old fashion letter friendship. Yesterday August 31, 2017 Leah  moved to Dillon, Montana. 

If you watched us interact with each other you would never know that before yesterday we had only seen each other in person once, for an hour. I feel like Leah is my cousin or a part of my family that I never see, but I love dearly. Even more than that, she is my sister in Christ and she has encouraged me so much. I'm so thankful for the community this friendship has brought already and excited for what Jesus has in store for us. 
"I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope."
Psalm 130:5

Christian community is something I have desired for quite some time. There were times when I wanted to loose hope, but that is when I trusted HIM more and prayed harder. Don't get me wrong I had Christian community all over, but nothing close to me. To me it seemed so long before it came, but it came at the perfect time because God's timing is always perfect. 

I am so excited to serve and love Jesus along side Leah. She has come so far to live life in the Big Sky State and for that I am so thankful. I am so excited to live life along side her, literally along side her because we might be roommates soon! I am so grateful for this sweet, special soul. 

I do not know what you are praying for or waiting for. I want to encourage you that God has a plan. If you are hopping for community, I encourage you to trust in God that HE has a plan. God has taught me so much in my lonely seasons, when I have clung to HIM. I encourage you to dig deep and pursue HIM alone. 

If you want to know more about Leah she is pretty cool and she has her own blog. Be sure to check it out!

P.S  No Matter what, I want to encourage, pray, and befriend you. I am on social media as @406_jourd on Instagram and @jourdynMack101 on Twitter, give me a follow and feel free to DM me anytime. If you ever need prayer or someone to talk to email me, jourdynpuppies@gmail.com, don't laugh it is from fourth grade and I stuck with it. 

P.P.S Want to see more encouraging posts? I used to write for Odyssey, so if you want to see more check out the link below.


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