The Meeting
I was first introduced to Desperately Dependent Community shortly after I started dating an interesting man. He wanted to take me to dinner to meet Kirk and Melanie Lewis. I could tell that they were significant to him. While describing his relationship with them, he said things such as, “they’re like parents to me,” and they are “true mentors,” and “they have helped guide me through really dark times in my life.”
Upon meeting them, they presented me with a gift bag. In this bag was a copy of their book Desperate Dependency. Melanie told me that I could read about Joel in the book. You have to keep in mind that we had only been dating for a short time and that I was both curious about what I didn’t know about him and falling in love with what I did know. So, I think that I did what most people in my position would do. Instead of reading the book from front cover to back cover, I combed every page until I found his name and read his story first.
I want to know more!
Reading Joel’s story did a couple of things for me. It told me something I did not know about his life. It helped me connect with him better, too, because there were parallels in our struggles. Lastly, it made me curious as to what ended up making such a difference for him. So, then I started at the beginning of the book and read it as ordinary people do. Ha!
I have read certain parts of Desperate Dependency multiple times. The book gave me a different perspective on my relationship with God. For most of my life, I struggled and fought so hard to control things without understanding that I am in control of NOTHING. Reading this book and coming to the understanding of how truly desperately dependent I am on God has been life-changing.
I am a work in progress.
I am a work in progress. There are things that I have not learned. There are things that I have learned but that I have not been willing to change yet, even though I know I need to change. I am smack dab in the middle of this process. I have days where I feel I have made progress, followed by days where I “feel” I have taken three steps back. The keyword is feel. Even on the days when I struggle, I still can see a noticeable difference in how I handled things on my own before versus now when I allow God to lead me through those days. I still have days where He carries me kicking and screaming like a toddler that doesn’t get her way. The thing is, I am seeing where Christ is relevant to every aspect of my life.
DDCommunity Church
I started attending DDCommunity Church with Joel and participating in weekly church services. I’ll admit, at first, I was a little lost. Although I have been a Christian since the age of 11 and have spent most of my life since then in one church or another, the churches that I had been in didn’t look like this, sound like this, talk like this, and were not set up like this. I sat there from week to week, hearing the truths of God from the Bible that I had grown accustomed to hearing but watching and listening as people openly shared out loud about how they were trying to make each lesson relevant to their daily lives. I don’t remember a definitive a-ha moment, but little by little, I gained understanding.
Before I knew it, I was hearing the Sunday evening lesson and simultaneously making personal applications. Even though I tend to be quiet and reserved, I eventually started sharing out loud what was on my heart as well. That is when it started happening. It was beginning to make sense. All of it. My understanding of what God’s church is supposed to be like started making sense. My desire to know Him more has grown. My desire to have a personal relationship with Him in which I place Him above all other human relationships is strong and growing stronger.
DDCommunity makes a difference!
The concept of the Desperately Dependent Community has blessed my heart in such a big way. Because of what this ministry has done for me, I feel passionate about telling others about how this community can make a difference for them in their quest to find how God matters in everything that we go through!
Mindy
You can read more real-life stories on our Testimonials page.
