Church

Please allow me to share some things that have been on my heart lately. In our Sunday School Class we have been talking about the importance of Church and if we have to attend church in order to be in obedience. I have had so many thoughts about this, but for whatever reason have not be able to share them in my class. (For those that know me...this is not typical me). However, I need to get it out.
I don't know all the correct answers, but I know how I feel about church and for me that is what I have to go with. Church may not be for everyone and I can appreciate that. If it is not then I feel like you have to find a place and a group of people to truly worship with, pray with and hold each other accountable. With that being said, I do feel like church is the place for me and I have been so convicted lately that I am not giving all of myself in those times nor I am allowing God to bless me when I am there. I think David and I go a amazing church and there has never been a Sunday when I didn't feel like I had been to church and I didn't leave with a feeling of action. However, I also feel like if I truly understood what God had done for me and how much he loves and protects me and my family, I would give so much more of myself in worship. Why do we hold ourselves back? Why don't I allow myself to go at place with God of true worship and thanksgiving? We can all look back and not only see how God has worked in the lives of those we know, but how he has worked in our lives. I feel like church is a time for believers to get a chance to be charged up. We live in a world full of sin. We work in it, drive in it, shop in it, watch it and church should be the one place we can let our guard down and worship. I'll be honest, for a long time in my life church was a social outlet for me. All my friends were there and we had a good time together. Now, it is so much more than that. I need that two hours to be in the word and worship. Now that we have Hannah, I feel it is even more important. When she comes home like she did Sunday to tell us she learned not to be afraid because Jesus would take care of us - that is what it is about. Her learning this at a early age. I wish she didn't ever have to face the real world, but we do. Don't get me wrong, I don't think those two hours a week is all God requires and I think we get sucked into that too. We can go every Sunday and never pick up the Bible any other time - that's not what it is about either.
I don't know what I am trying to say other than I think we don't allow ourselves to go to a place of true worship because we are afraid of what others will think or we have not been raised that way. I just don't want to be like that anymore. That's all.
Thanks for allowing me this time to get it out. Blessings.

The Great Adventure

On the way home tonight I heard a song that took me back to Youth Group at Radnor Baptist Church. The song..."The Great Adventure" by Steven Curtis Chapman. I first heard this song at Centrifuge (a weeklong Baptist church camp that totally rocked my world). But the song makes me think of so many more things than just that. I guess more than anything it makes me so thankful for the times I had a church. It was never a question in my house whether we were going to church on Sunday mornings - we just went. And being southern baptist we went Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night (even for Wednesday night supper). The great thing was...I never wanted to be anywhere else. The majority of my friends were there and we had a good time. During the summer that is where we ended up. Just hanging out. Now, don't get me wrong, we had drama - some serious drama actually, but I wouldn't change a moment of those times. Times like not being able to wait to be old enough to get to go to Sunday School in the "youth house". I think I was in there for one year and then it was condemed. It was really cool to me though. Hosting the youth rally and really feeling the Holy Spirit move for the first time in my life. Having lock ins and then sleeping all day on Saturday. Going to the wave pool for church night. Going on visitation - honestly, what is that???? I just loved it. So driving home tonight for a moment I was back there. To that time in my life where I didn't want to be anywhere else and I didn't know anything else than that. Was I sheltered - no just lucky!! By the way - my first concert was Steven Curtis Chapman and we were on the front row!!!! Back then I just loved singing to the top of my lungs "Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze." Tonight as I was singing at the top of my lungs, it was so much more... "Let's follow our Leader into the Glorious unknown - this is a life like no other....THIS is the Great Adventure."

A Wonderful Job

On the way home tonight there was a very pretty sunset (not exactly the one in the picture above, but you get the idea). I wanted to share the conversation between me and Hannah on the ride home. It went like this:

Hannah: Look at the pretty colors.
Mom: Do you know who painted this picture for us?
Hannah: Who?
Mom: God. He painted this picture for us to see tonight.
Hannah: Did he have a big ladder to get up there and paint that?
Mom: No, he painted it from Heaven - where he lives.
Hannah: Oh. Well, he did a wonderful job.
Hannah: I love him - he did a wonderful job.

Oh, how my prayer is this is just the beginning of her falling in love with Him and this is just a taste of the conversations to come. I hope I am never too busy to teach her the most important stuff.

SLACKER

OK. I know it has been a long time since my last post. Honestly, not a lot has been going on in our household over the past month. We rang in the new year at home - my favorite way and I think we were in bed before midnight. I had a seminar to do the middle of January and that kept me busy for a couple of weeks. I do have some exciting news. I am going to Thailand with my church in June. Our church is hosting a conference for missionaries and we will be there for a week. I am very excited. It is not what you typically think of as a mission trip. We are going to be staying in a VERY NICE lodge and there are 100 people going. My forever friend Sandra is going so that will make it even better. I am on the hospitality team and honestly I am by far the youngest person on this team. I am already praying God will give me patience with these ladies.
We finally got some snow yesterday and Hannah was beyond thrilled. I would post some pictures however, we can't find our digital camera and I had to take pictures with our old camera and who knows how long it will take to get those developed. If I go with the track record, it will be next year. I will work on getting those in the near future. The sad part - the roll already had pictures on there and it is no telling what the pictures are from. It will be a nice surprise. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and be on the lookout for those snow pictures :).