Finding community

Zach and I both came to Jesus early in our lives, accepting Jesus as Lord and savior at youth camps in our early teens.

My parents were members of our local Methodist church in Colorado and we attended nearly every Sunday. Zach’s parents were estranged Catholics from Baltimore and had witnessed the corruption in the church during the 70’s, so weekly church service was foregone in favor of spending time in God’s creation. Despite the difference in approach, both of our childhoods helped shape the believers we became.

In 2011, after meeting and graduating from Colorado State University, Zach and I decided to move to Austin. Our plan once we got here was fluid at best, and we worked about five jobs between us as I got through nursing school and Zach found his place in the IT sales world. Though it pales in comparison to the struggles of others, that time of financial struggle helped cement much of what we had learned about the character of God, and what we admire in each other. Zach and I would both point to that time in our life as one that, while it was difficult, called us to trust in His plan and brought us closer to Him and to each other.

I was working as a nurse in the ICU when covid hit in March of 2020. The volume, scope, and tragedy of the pandemic combined with the stress of adapting our family to new challenges as Zach moved to work from home in our small starter home is about as close as I’ve ever been to a crisis of faith. While the situation drove me away from acute care nursing, the outcome was overwhelmingly good. Our third child was born, my parents moved back to Texas from Colorado, my sister and brother-in-law moved back from Australia and I stay at home with our kids now, which has benefited our family dynamic in ways I never knew it would.

Sometimes it’s only in hindsight that we can see how God was working in the suffering. As our family outgrew our home in Cedar Park, we decided to move to Dripping Springs. We hadn’t found a church family we really liked up north and needed community in our new town. I decided to start with what I knew and came to Dripping Springs Methodist for Sunday traditional service. Everyone was so welcoming and the service was genuine, biblical, and relatable.

I knew this was the place for us. Shortly after, I met Celeste and Katrina and knew this was a place our kids would come to know God as well. We’ve rarely missed a Sunday since!

Kaitlin Roberts