Finding My Roots in Christ
By Kellye Carmack
Please don’t ask me where I’m from. The answer to that question is complicated, and I feel like a complicated person when I try to answer. What should be a simple response of naming a hometown is instead a rambling about my childhood in a military family. From the time I was born until I was fifteen my family moved across the country (or world) nine or ten times. I don’t have one place where I grew up or a hometown to call my own. When asked where I’m from, I often think to myself, “Nowhere and everywhere.”
Moving so much meant that we were regularly uprooting our lives and adjusting to new places. Almost everything changed: my neighborhood, my friends, my school. My family as a whole changed as new churches influenced our thinking and new cultures moved their way into our traditions. Change was the constant companion of my childhood. I’m in no way complaining. My roots are a diverse mixture of beautiful places, people, and cultures tightly woven into a strong foundation. I’m grateful for my roots, hard as they are to define.
The constant uprooting of my childhood has often made me think about the security we have in Christ. I was a young child when He first caught my attention and pulled me close to Himself. He has never taken even one step away from me. Throughout all the changes, He stayed, and He was the same. Every day and in every place. When I went to a new church or anxiously walked into an unfamiliar school, He was ahead of me and, at the same time, right next to me. In those years of transition, I grew in the sweet assurance that I was rooted in Christ.
You may have a similar story as mine or you may have lived in the same place your whole life. Either way, I imagine you understand what it’s like to be uprooted from what is familiar. Maybe a difficult situation in your husband’s ministry forced you to leave your church and you are trying to navigate a new place while grieving lost friendships. Perhaps your last child has left home and your daily routine as a mother has completely changed. Changes can make us feel like we have been pulled from the foundation that held us together.
For those who are in Christ, our foundation is more than our past experiences or our present realities. We are rooted in Him and that root runs deep and strong. He is the source of everything we need for each new season. Our identities find security in Him.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)
Kellye is the Women’s Ministry Director for Practical Shepherding Women’s Ministry. She has an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies and a master’s degree in Biblical Counseling. She served as a missionary in Western Europe for two years helping to share the hope of Christ with women in difficult situations. While in seminary, she met her husband Craig who is an associate pastor at their church in Louisville, KY. She loves helping women discover the unique ways God has gifted them to serve the church.