What did she say?

My husband is one of GWP's elders, who happens to be on sabbatical. My mother-in-law, his mom, is our preacher’s step mom. My mother-in-law’s husband is the preacher’s dad. The preacher’s dad’s wife’s son is my husband…who happens to be the elder who is on sabbatical. The preacher’s sister gave me a wedding shower when I was marrying her dad’s future wife’s son. The preacher’s biological mom or, the first wife of my mother-in-law’s husband, wallpapered my daughter’s bedroom before she was born. That daughter’s grandfather, my father-in-law, died when my daughter was 7, so the father of our preacher who is married to my mother-in-law became the grandfather to my daughter when my mother-in-law, the mother of the elder on sabbatical, married him. She now considers her grandmother's present husband to be more like a grandfather than the first husband of her grandmother, since she has known him longer. Even though the preacher is leaving, his dad, who is married to my mother-in-law, the mother of the elder on sabbatical, is staying. The preacher’s sister, who gave me the shower, is leaving. The preacher’s dad’s sister is also leaving, even though the preacher’s dad made a plea to the people who supported his son, the preacher, to stay.

Words have been expressed by old men, young men, old women, young women, grandmas, grandpas, children, grandchildren, babies, babies that crawl, babies that walk, cows that moo, cats that meow and horses that nay. Everybody has had his or her opinion and, in one way or another, voiced such about the elders, those leaving, those who are staying as well as my mother-in-law’s husband’s son, and his exodus. And everyone who has had ears to hear has heard something about my husband’s mother’s husband’s son’s, better known as our preacher’s, departure. This is how the wife of the son of the preacher’s dad's wife feels when she thinks about the departure of the son of the mother-in-law’s husband.

She feels exactly the way this comment sounds....

And she is amazed at how fixing her eyes on Jesus, THE ONE AND ONLY, is the only thing that has kept her sane.

She realizes that the place where she worships is not confined to a building, her relationships are not defined by the preacher, the role she plays is not determined by a committee, the purpose she has is not ordained by men, the names of the people she prays for are not just written on prayer cards, the people she calls "brethren" do not just worship at GWP, the Spirit who comforts her is not limited, the Savior she knows is not judgmental and the God she worships, is no respecter of persons and, more importantly, loves everybody.

The wife of the son of the preacher's dad's wife suggests one thing. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, and not on each other. It's just too confusing.