Exactly one year ago, I remember having a community group meeting at Katie and Peter’s place to discuss and address concerns of the group. The discussion was brought up because several members were unable to be committed to the group for various different reasons. I still remember feeling so content and complete as I was coming out of the meeting. We all shared that with a smaller group we could definitely go deeper. We also shared that size of the group does not mean much when it comes to “success” of a ministry. And God definitely knows how much I needed to be reminded that.

A whole year has passed. During this past year, our group has been blessed in so many ways – we had new people joining the group and the leadership has changed and grew in number as well. This change in our group was very gradual, not dramatic, which makes it difficult to give just one answer the question of “Has God surprised you at all this year?”. He has surprised me since I had no idea where we were headed a year ago, but He was with us during that whole year, week to week, meeting to meeting. In that sense, He never surprised me.

As I look back, it really is not too difficult to just think about what we did right and analyze what we should continue to do. But I know that’s not what He wants us to do. Things may change again and we may be at the same place we were a year ago. If that ever happens, I hope that I will find comfort and be an encouragement to others as I remember His faithfulness to our group. I am thankful to be a part of Palatine community group. I feel so privileged to witness his faithfulness to our group. Still, I know it’s not about me or what I learned. As always, It’s about Him.

Haejin Nam

Community Group Leader