As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ… If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share in its joy. 1 Corinthians 12:12,26
When you read these verses, what does it mean to you? How do you view your Christian community? Is it the body of Christ, made up of many parts, many people that work together to serve others, that suffer together, that rejoice together?
We live in a culture that tends to highlight all the ugly in our communities, in our world. Many people may believe that the body of Christ is non existence, the community is broken and everyone is in it for himself.
When Christ is the heartbeat of the community, the parts of that community make up one body and do serve others, suffer together, and rejoice together. Love overflows from each individual into the other, connected by the blood flow from the heart of Christ. In order to thrive, the parts of the community must each be life giving to one another. If the arm is broken, the rest of the body compensates to help heal the brokenness. So does the parts of the community. If one individual is hurting financially, medically, emotionally, the rest of the community pours out love in various ways to heal the individual who is hurting.
Several months ago, I found myself in the ER facing an unexpected surgery. Being a single mom and not having any family around, I was full of anxieties. “What was I going to do? How was I going to take care of everything? This can’t happen to me.” Little did I know, I was a part of the body of Christ. I had reached out to a few new sisters in Christ I had recently met asking for prayer.
I lay in a room in the ER crying because I had no control of what was happening and couldn’t take care of the things I was responsible for. As I lay there, there was a knock on the door to my room. I thought it was just the nurse. As the door open, one of my new sisters, peaked her head through the door. At that moment, I felt a release of the anxiety that had been holding on to me. She sat with me and comforted me until I was called to surgery. After surgery, several of my new sisters visited me in the hospital, bringing moments of joy and laughter. I was flooded with phone calls and texts asking me what I would need when I was released from the hospital. Anytime I mentioned a concern or worry, within minutes it was already taken care of. They tended to my needs in the hospital, departing the hospital and at home. Before I knew it, I had my aftercare taken care of by two of my beautiful sisters that were retired nurses, food to last for a week and my weekly groceries taken care of. I was appalled with emotions of the love that these ladies in my church community poured out on me. They, as the various parts of Christ’s body, were an extension of my suffering as they nurtured my needs. Their strength compensated for my weakness. Today, I find myself in a similar situation, and yet again am overwhelmed with love from the support and care of my church family, my beautiful sisters in Christ.
These beautiful ladies, my community of sisters in Christ are one of the examples of what St. Paul meant in his letter to the Corinthians when he told them they were the parts of the body of Christ. As Christians and a community, we are called to use our talents to support one another. We are called to suffer when one suffers and aid in their suffering. We are called to rejoice when one is honored. We are each given different gifts, strengths and weaknesses, to use together to make up the unity of the community, the one body of Christ. This is the will of our Heavenly Father as He has intricately placed each of us in our community to aid as sisters and brothers, part by part, as one body.
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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