Thankful Thursday

....a day late..... I've decided that by way of update and also in order to keep the proper perspective I want to try and do a Thankful Thursday post where I'll post a few things I'm thankful for that happened that week. We'll see how it goes. Here's the first:

-I'm thankful for wonderful people from church and our neighbors who invited us to spend time with them during the holiday weekend. We had a blast and were excited to connect with you all!

-I'm thankful for being able to use one my favorite hobbies, jewelry-making, to encourage others. We're currently preparing for the women/mom's class during VBS where the craft time will entail making a necklace and bracelet! I can hardly wait!!! (I recently made some more examples which I will post later.)

-I'm thankful, truly, to be in a position to be in ministry alongside of my husband, who challenges me to dream with him of bigger and greater things.

-I'm thankful for the hard times I've faced this last year with my health particularly, because I know that God has been drawing me closer to Himself and I am learning to trust more and worry less.

Thoughts on worship as a lifestyle--my journey

We've been talking a lot about worship at church lately. And in reading through "Satisfy My Thirsty Soul" by Linda Dillow, I've also been implementing a personal time of singing songs to the Lord during my devotional times. I'm learning that in all of the contexts in which I have found myself, with very different and distinct worship styles and songs, that while I do have my preferences, I have enjoyed learning to worship in new ways. I have found that worship is more of a heart attitude, offering up to the Lord what we are and focusing on Him regardless of our feelings or circumstances. And as you have probably experienced, as we really enter in to offering up our worship to Him, our feelings and circumstances, while they matter, become background as our Lord Jesus Christ becomes the focus and forefront priority once more. I have also been challenged to worship God with my life in every task and not just be mindful of worshipping Him during the songs we sing on Sunday mornings. And as it would turn out, the more I try to focus on Him and worship Him, the more consumed with worshipping Him I become. It's an amazing adventure that no matter where we are at in life we can still move forward towards Him even more.
Really, it comes down to this. We are all worshipping something or someone. It's where we spend our thoughts, time, money, and energies. I want to be absolutely undivided in my heart, wholly God's, which means worshipping Him in every area of life. How about you?

Soak the Church in the Month of May!

Well, yes, it has been raining a lot here this spring, and the weather has definitely warmed up considerably after the long winter. But, what's happening at church is not on the outside. We have been learning about obedience, basically. One of the steps of obedience of a believer in Jesus Christ is to be baptized (submerged in water to symbolize death to self and new life in Christ). Our pastor preached a sermon on this and as a result over 130 people will be baptized in the Month of May. Yes, over 130 young, elderly, and middle aged people--ENTIRE FAMILIES--being baptized with more signing up each Sunday after they see lives changed and hear how God is at work in others. God is at work in Warren, Ohio. It is SO exciting to be a part of a church where God is at work and the leaders are following passionately after God. If you're in the area, we would LOVE to have you join us one of these Sundays! Posted are pictures of some of last week's 26 baptisms and a link to the sermon:
http://www.northmarchurch.com/sermons/042609%20Choosing%20Baptism.mp3

Before we realize it........

How many times do we marvel at new life, new growth, beauty, and then become content to just stay in that place? In life, in spiritual matters, in relationships? Here's the physical example that got me thinking about this. Here's the beautiful garden (well it was a few weeks ago--see previous blogs). If you look closely, you see that all the green is not necessarily a good thing. Between and all around the plants (and even in the middle of several plants) are weeds. Dandelions, thistles (that really do prick your bare fingers!), and others that I cannot name. But they are all coming up very QUICKLY and with big roots that are hard to get out! Below you will see 15 minutes of work, and only a very small patch cleared. Needless to say, I will have to work hard to keep my flowers from being overtaken. In the spiritual sense, I was pondering how often I begin to see God working in my life with new beautiful flowers and then instead of pressing in, and letting Him continue to weed out the junk constantly, I step back and just let the beauty be my focus, letting the rain refresh, but ignoring the thistle thorns and overshadowing dandelions that really have gotten to quite the large size. In my life, I am like this garden many times. And intentionally or unintentionally let the weeds come up around the beautiful flowers. How many times I wait until the weeds begin to take over before I go back and say "Okay, God, clean out the junk!" Why can't it be a constant process? Why don't I stay there when the flowers begin to bloom in order for them to be even better and not surrounded by distractions and evil rooting itself all around? I mean, it wouldn't take as long to stay weeded out if there were only a few weeds each time instead of a whole patch of overgrowth! And the results would be constant beauty. Well, these are just my ponderings, I really need to get out and work in the garden.