My Time at the Wesley Foundation: Makenzie McCabe

I’ve been at the Wesley for five years now, four as a student and one serving as an intern. My time at the Wesley is coming to an end, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what that means and how I feel about this chapter of my life coming to a close. I’ve been reminiscing about when I first came to the Wesley and all the things I’ve learned by living life here. 

I first came to the Wesley midway through fall quarter of my freshman year. It was the church two of my friends were going to, so I figured it would be fine. However, I didn’t talk to anyone who wasn’t my two friends. One time, an intern tried to talk to me, and I just stood there looking at him, horrified, not knowing how to respond, until he just kind of nodded his head and let me finish decorating the Christmas tree. (This is funny now that I’ve been an intern for a year.) Soon after this, though, I was saved in my car on the way to Ruston thinking about a sermon Kaiti Lammert preached, and I shared this news with the entire Wesley at the next weekly service. Everyone turned and looked at me and just started clapping and cheering. They had true joy for me, a person they hardly knew. They smiled and were proud, and not in the way I was used to seeing. Jesus had saved someone—that’s the purest joy. After that, most of the people on staff found their way on my schedule to hang out and started showing me what it means to be a Christian, as new as I was.

I’ve learned a lot from Jesus through my friends at the Wesley Foundation. Cooking for lots of people for our weekly lunches over the years has taught me more than good recipes (the hash brown casserole has been a great perk, though). I’ve learned that making bread can strengthen a friendship and tell you more about a person (watch for their technique in kneading the dough). Jesus has taught me how to mourn with others by the way my friends mourned with me when my grandmother and father died. He taught me how to pray for others by the way the people at the Wesley pray for me. He even taught me how much I can actually give to others, whether it be myself or money or possessions, by the way everyone here gives so freely. 

I’ve also learned during my time at the Wesley that it takes time. I didn’t know that it would take me five years to begin to feel loved by Jesus, or feel forgiven by Him, or even feel like I’m worth something more than what I have to offer. It takes time to become friends with people—real friends. Friends who do those things despite all of the times you fail. It takes time to trust them, too. It’s hard to believe it when they say that something I love is not good for me or that I’m wanted and welcomed. But I do now. It takes time to know Jesus and to let Him know me. The more I draw closer to Him, the more I realize He so much greater than I am. He is a gentle and risen and kind savior, and for me, that’s come with time.

As my time at the Wesley is coming to a close during this time of quarantine, I can’t help but get a little upset that I can’t end it with all the hallmarks of the end of the year. I’m sad I can’t hug all my friends or that I couldn’t laugh in person with them at the End of the Year video or go on mission trips and come back to the community waiting in the airport with smiles. We couldn’t go on Spring Retreat or eat sandwiches for the last Laid Back Lunch like we always do at the end of the quarter. There was no Waffles and Worship or signing mission journals. But, even though none of this is happening, I’ve learned that I don’t need it. One of the most important things that Jesus has taught me over the past few years, and that I still need help remembering, is that any communion with Him is communion with His people. And that is a lesson I’ll cherish forever.

Makenzie McCabe has been a beloved member of the Wesley Foundation for 5 years. She loves dance parties, watching love dramas, and bringing a smile to everyone’s face.