Church, Making it a Relationship Instead of a Religion

"Going to church doesn't make you a christian any more 
than parking in a garage makes you a car"   ~ Woody Allen ~

Some of us attend church every single Sunday unless we are out of town or dreadfully ill, others attend when they can make it due to jobs, family ties or simply when they get time, and some attend on holidays or when the spirit moves them. No judging here, my lifetime church attendance record has been spotty to say the least as have my experiences attending different churches. I have gone to a  variety of churches in my life including Catholic and Assembly of God, Calvary Chapel plus several others of Christian origin.

I finally found my home church nearly two years ago and I am crazy about it, the church is without a doubt the capstone of my week. The pastor where I attend service and his wife are wonderful people who bend over backward to help members of our congregation. They are rock solid, they have been there for many of us more times than we can count...I have come to think of them as family. Because of this, I drive roughly forty miles every Sunday rain, sleet or snow to worship and praise Jesus with this small group of like believers. During the past two years, I have bonded with many of these people, gone to their weddings and baby showers and I have seen new born babies arrive in their mothers arms on their first outing to church and then sat back and watched them grow into toddlers, they are all so precious.
My church is a wonderful place, the hugs are plentiful, the message is always good, coffee hot and the cinnamon rolls are always fresh and yummy and made with love. I feel blessed and thankful to be a part of such an awesome church family.

Our pastor is very through, he wants to make certain everyone has a clear understanding of the message he is delivering and he makes certain that we do so. His desire is that each time we walk out of church, it will be with some new knowledge of God.

I find that people who attend church handle the message they hear in a variety of ways. Some people thrive on those words and study and think of the word of God daily. They say Good Morning to God and delve into scripture and worship music throughout the day, every day becoming stronger in their faith. Others attend church regularly, see the value of it yet are done with it for the most part by the end of the day on Sunday and still others forget what was said by the time they get to their car. Some have no intention of doing anything that might inconvenience them or deprive them of something else that they may want to do instead, yet for some reason, feel the urge to attend church anyway, this is especially true of those who don't remember to go until Easter or Christmas.

Any of the for-mentioned may not be doing what you do, but when you surrender your thoughts and heart to God, He will shower you with Grace sufficient to love all of them...no matter what choices they are making and He will also give you the power and words to encourage those who stay away to make an effort to be fed, because faith needs food to sustain life. Going to weekly service strengthens our relationship with Him and the stronger the relationship you form with Him, the fuller your life becomes and with that comes the promises and the destiny He wants for you.


As for me, I love everything about Sunday! I enjoy an early breakfast, My usual breakfast is a smoothie made up of some fruit and vegetables, some almond milk and sometimes some nut butter (I love almond) or protein powder. However, on Sundays I like to do something really special and one of my favorites is waffles. I try all different kinds like buckwheat, apple cinnamon, bacon cheddar but one of my favorites is Pumpkin with Apple Cider Syrup.
It is divine, and if I have the time I like to go the extra mile and whip some honey into a hunk of butter to slather on the hot waffles. These waffles with some crispy bacon and scrambled eggs will make for an over the top breakfast.

I love saying Good Morning to Jesus and giving thanks for the breakfast He provided me the skills to prepare. He knows that I love spending the day with Him, not just Sunday, but everyday! He rides shot gun with me and provides me with a constant source of companionship every day of my life. I enjoy spending my days focused on his peace through quiet and prayer. He helps me focus on those who need His love and strength so through Him I strive to show by example that they too are loved by a God who loves them unconditionally. All we must do is have faith...

Hebrews 11:1-39 (ESV).11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Fearing Fear Dedicated to my oldest daughter.

Psalm 23:4 (ESV)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me

My oldest daughter has Epilepsy and is plagued with the anxiety attacks that seem to go along with the illness. Every three years she has to have a through check up, which includes a blood draw. Although she hasn't had a seizure in over three years, her last two seizures occurred while she was having her blood drawn.With this in mind, it is only natural that she be frightened of the procedure. For those who are not familiar with the illness, a seizure can mean the loss of driving privileges for 3-6 months or forever depending upon the severity and frequency of the seizures. For an independent, super active young woman like my daughter, that would be catastrophic! Each time her dreaded appointment date approaches, her anxiety level goes through the roof, she doesn't get enough sleep and is unable to eat just thinking about it.


This last time when her dreaded appointment date finally arrived, she called me very early and I reminded her of her faith and that I would be praying. I even went so far as to ask her to call me prior to the procedure and I would talk her through it, if she wanted me to. After talking to me she wisely threw some clothes on and went to the gym. While she worked out, her prayer warriors did their thing. We prayed for complete healing, peace, serenity and a successful, seize free appointment and that her anxieties would diminish and flee from her, leaving her in peace.

 Job 3:25 (NIV)

 What I feared has come upon me;

    what I dreaded has happened to me.    

When my phone finally rang, I was thrilled to hear her voice. It was small, yet very strong, ringing with happiness when she said to me "Mom, it went really well, I didn't have any problems at all." I was relieved, thrilled and thankful, all at the same time! She told me of the wonderful nurse on duty who was so kind to her and made her laugh and that it was over before she knew it. It is now behind her for another three years and I have faith it will not present a problem for her ever again.
Prayers were answered, God is good all the time!

Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)

⁶ Be strong and courageous. 

Do not fear or be in dread of them, 

for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.

 He will not leave you or forsake you.”

It is only human to be afraid or fearful. We each have things that scare us to death and although our fears may seem foolish or silly to others, they are real and anything but funny to us. How easily we forget to look to God, pray and not become immobilized by our fears. The more we focus on those fears, the more power we give them. Our fears may belong to us, but we must fight to prevent them from owning us. 

I like to refer to it as The Nike Rule...  Just do it!

Jesus wants us to live a life without fear and He will help us. Once we march through our fear or that fear comes upon us and we survive it, a calm overtakes us and it is the best feeling imaginable.
We wonder what in the World took us so long to look them in the eye.

The following is a list of various fears people have. 
The Phobia List   I am fairly certain that you will find as I did, that you are thankful to be the way you are.

Stay blessed!

Who Knew? Dedicated to Love INC

“The woman I was yesterday, introduced me to the woman I am today; which makes me very excited about meeting the woman I will become tomorrow. ”
― Poetic Evolution

Isn't life grand, just when we think we are pretty cool God puts us in a pot and turns up the heat! We never know when it's going to happen either, no outsmarting our creator!
I do volunteer work for a non profit in my area called Love INC  (Love in the Name of Christ). They offer a plethora of wonderful things to Black Hills area residents who struggle financially or otherwise. They welcome volunteers with big smiles, even bigger hearts and some time to spare. For more information about them look here. http://www.loveinconline.com/
On Thursday evenings Life INC is in full swing. Area churches and others are encouraged to volunteer their time, energy, groceries and child care skills to assure a success. A hot meal is prepared and offered prior to a variety of classes relating to child care, finances and pulling your life together in general.
I was volunteering in the kitchen one evening last fall when one of the staff told me I was welcome and encouraged to sign up for a class if I wanted. I looked over the selection and decided on a course called Jobs for Life.
My three years of college didn't prepare me for what I am learning here. The instructors and mentors are wonderful. The text/work book for the class says "The Journey is the reward" on its cover and that is a fact! I have met some truly magnificent people there and as I feel my own growth, I am also able to observe the growth in others.
After class lets out those interested typically go somewhere for coffee. It was during one such outing that one of the instructors decided without my knowledge, to video me with her iPhone while I was talking. For me to say that I wasn't prepared to see myself like that is an understatement.

Whoa! What an eye opener. Like I said previously, just when we think we are pretty cool....the Lord is up there working in his mysterious ways!
This is not a class for the faint of heart or anyone who doesn't welcome a crash
course in constructive criticism because you get it all there, along with a plentiful helping of humble pie  and a pride buster thrown in for good measure. I highly recommend it, if you think you can handle it.
What a tremendous service this class is. With the proper attitude and a great big smile you can learn a great deal from it. Thank you Jesus for your trickery! How in the world can we be annoyed when our blessed savior opens our eyes?
If you are inclined to have a pity party after you have been severely humiliated I strongly suggest you make yourself a pan of brownies and get over yourself. http://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2013/09/jack-daniels-salted-caramel-fudge-brownie-recipe.html
A bite or two of these bad boys will expedite your recovery...all is not lost!

Smarts vs. Passion

I was so thrilled when I found this article, it is one of the closest descriptions of myself I have ever read...

There are smart people and there are passionate people. Smart people show up, do good work, and then go home. Passionate people can’t help but show up early, drive everyone crazy with ideas, suggestions, and numerous attempts at solutions that result in both success and failure. They stay late, and they annoy the smart people because they make the smart people look lazy. When they fall down, they can’t help but get back up and try again. Smart people annoy the passionate people because the smart people are just trying to get the A. Passionate people don’t care about the grade, they care about learning something, and being better.

Smart is boring, and easy, for the smart ones. Smart is safe and smart is average.

Passion is life, and risk, and adventure, and unpaved roads, and massive fulfillment.

Written  By Whitney on January 30, 2014

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I am a very passionate person.

Being so has gotten me in trouble, caused me to loose sleep, caused me to annoy the holy hell out of several million other people and caused me to cry myself into a stupor many times.

On one hand it is the most frustrating way to be and on the other hand, I wouldn't change it about myself if I could. Being passionate has pushed me to complete things that I would have otherwise walked away from. Being passionate has kept me caring for people who I probably should have forgotten long ago and being passionate gives me tenacity.


I am passionate about many things...

1. My Savior. How can I not be? Just reflecting on that very word...savior... brings alive a passion within me like no other. dictionary.reference.com/browse/savior noun 1. a person who saves, rescues, or delivers, 2. the savior of the country. 3.a title of God, especially of Christ.

2.  Development & Writing are my favorite outlets and with any luck, they are skills and passions that will somehow manifest themselves into a career of sorts. These are my favorite go to-s for cold snowy days and sleepless nights. Taking bits and pieces from here and there and putting them together in an enormous collaboration that hopefully, prayerfully will result in the precise goal I am seeking.                                                                I thrived fooling around with My Space...remember that thing? I had more fun fitting the codes for teeny frogs into tiny spaces and rattling on about whatever I liked best at the moment. I miss that...now everyone is on Face Book, and all that true creativity is not an option. Instead of creativity there are mindless posters and so many guidelines and rules it doesn't fulfill that same desire to be creative that My Space did. Sorry Face Book, I hate to break it to you, but even my eighty nine year old mother called it "in your face" and she wasn't far off. People struggle to calmly scroll down their home page without jumping in somewhere they have no business and attacking their so called 'friend' for offering an opinion that differs from theirs...God forbid! Discovering and chatting with friends, both old and new is their redeeming grace. 

3. Cooking is the first of my two favorite tangible ways to creatively express a passion. I am a very particular eater. I don't use cake mixes nor do I eat meals from the frozen food section of the grocery store.        I want my meals to be made from real food. I see people in the grocery stores loading up on helper this and helper that, frozen this and frozen that and although I am thrilled that those products are available for those who hate the kitchen and hate cooking, thats not for me,           I love it all! I confess to being a small scale Martha Stewart wanna be, I enjoy all things kitchen, even cleaning it....yes..I said cleaning it. When you get the kitchen all cleaned up and sparkling, the heavenly aroma of Carrot Cake coming from the oven, fresh flowers on the table, a bowl of fruit on the counter and coffee of course, ya gotta have a pot of coffee (or tea) ...it is the best room in the home. The room to relax in, the room friends and family always seem to gather in the most. The kitchen is after all, the heart of the home.

4. Plants & Gardening: What better way to express a passion for life and living than to work with soil, digging and planting, weeding and watering...cultivating new life. Just think for a minute about how excited people get in the spring! They can hardly wait to go to the nursery and buy plants and all the needful things for their gardens. It is a passion that stirs deep within us. Tilling the garden, adding fertilizer, tilling again...making the rows and planting the seeds. Watering and weeding, cursing the zucchini that was too small to pick this morning and the size of a baseball bat tomorrow afternoon. With the sweat and hard labor comes the rewards...the pride you feel when you can serve friends and family vegetables and fruits you have grown yourself. Fresh salsa or jam made from the fruits of your labor, salads made from freshly picked greens tossed with home grown tomatoes and dressed with magic potions like Spicy Coconut Cilantro Dressing made from fresh herbs and coconut oil. These things supply a feeling of victory that only a summer garden can provide, a feeling that can not be compared.

I am blessed to have these passions and I am eager to discover new ones.Thankfully when I trip, stumble and fall I have the passion God gifted me with to put me back on my feet, on the right track... and heading towards the Mark

Acts 14:15 KJV
¹⁵ And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein

*This was a fun blog to write, I am learning how to add some new things in an effort to make reading it more fun for you. Note the underlined words, when clicked on they will take you to the directions or recipe of the underlined item.  

Stepping Up With Integrity

The dictionary defines Integrity as..a noun
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.(www.dictionary.com)
- See more at http://www.positive-deviant.com/definition-of-integrity.html#sthash.Oi6RVnqk.dpuf

The dictionary defines Integrity as..a noun
1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.(www.dictionary.com)
- See more at: http://www.positive-deviant.com/definition-of-integrity.html#sthash.Oi6RVnqk.dpuf

The dictionary defines integrity as a noun: 1. adherence to moral and ethical principals; soundness of moral character; honesty 2. the state of being whole, entire or undiminished: to preserve the empire. a sound-unimpaired, or perfect condition, the integrity of a ship's hull.  www.dictionary.com

Integrity is a word that is not used much in today’s English. One definition I like is this...
 “the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity”^[1

So we can say that a good synonym for integrity is honesty.
As we stroll through life we have things happen to us daily and how we respond to them without taking the time to mull them over is pretty darned important. As I researched the term integrity I came across this little story, most appropriately called Poor Aim...enjoy!
 

I like to walk in the early morning with my dog. One glorious Saturday morning I was enjoying the quiet and the beautiful weather and loving life while my dog Jett and I made our rounds.
At one home I passed, I noticed a newspaper that was lying near the curb instead of near the doorstep. Thinking I would make someone else's life a little easier I picked up the paper and gently tossed it towards their door. My aim was way off and instead of landing on the doorstep the paper sailed in the opposite direction and landed on the roof of a travel trailer in the driveway. No one saw it but me and I burst out laughing before I realized how I had just complicated the problem.

It was too early to knock on the door and tell the homeowner where their paper was. So, instead, I walked home, changed clothes and went to the grocery store to make it right.
I returned a little later with a new newspaper a basket of fresh strawberries and shortcake and found the homeowner in the driveway working on his vehicle with some friends. With a deep breath, I approached and said, “I hope you have a great sense of humor”.
Fortunately, they did and I couldn’t help but smile all day. I’ve heard it said, “Character is what you do when no one is looking”. 
Character feels good!

 An important part of having integrity is developing critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking is defined as follows:
the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion

 What it boils down to is 'think for yourself'. Do and say what you believe is right, even if down the road you are moved to change your mind. Thinking for ourselves is something that we all have problems doing from time to time because we become caught up in thoughts like "will people dislike me if I have an opinion that is different than theirs?" or "everyone thinks this or that so they must be right." When we believe either of these things we are not using critical thinking skill at all. 

What does the Bible say about having integrity?

Proverbs 28:6 (ESV)  ⁶ Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Titus 2:7-8 (ESV)⁷ Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, ⁸ and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

 In Paul's letter to Timothy {in 2 Tim 1:7} he reminds Timothy {and us} to be courageous and compelled by God's love to share our spiritual gifts - whether it be serving, teaching, giving, encouraging, leading, praying, etc.

So, today when God nudges you to be who He created you to be. Don't let fear hold you back. Instead, remember this truth and tap into the power of the spirit He has given you - one of power, love, and self-discipline.

 

 

Your Christian Stewardhip Can Define You

Stewardship:
1: the office, duties, and obligations of a steward
2: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something ; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care <stewardship of our natural resources>

So what are we actually stewards over?  
Personally, I believe it applies to everything we have been given. The most obvious things
would include our finaces, homes, abilities and the gifts God has given us, yet it also includes the influence we have over others.

I particularly like how the definition says “managing of something.”
Just like the manager of a store is responsible for his/her business and employees, we are each responsible for managing ourselves, which should include our behavior toward others at all times.

When I started researching stewardship, I found several verses in the Bible concerning how people were rewarded for their good stewardship in the handling money and property. The good stewards were the ones who took “risks” and action in order to multiply or improve what they had been given. The poor steward was the one who out of fear decided not to take a risk and were then considered to be lacking in motivation.
Consider the things we do and the people we encounter on a daily basis. Are we being good stewards in all areas with all people?

I know I certainly have room for improvement. This year I had the opportunity to work retail during the busy shopping season and it was a real eye opener for me. I learned a couple of important things about people.
 #1. People working retail are performing a thankless, underpaid position, one that should be appreciated by shoppers more than it is.
 #2. Most shoppers are demanding and rude...
O.K. I know...the customer is always right. Whatever...blah blah blah...
That very statement has sadly encouraged this behavior.
It has prompted our culture to feel so entitled that we forget something as rudimentary as shopping stewardship. Our minds are so transformed that we, as a society believe that the employee in the retail setting is the only person capable of scoring the big F in Retail. What about us...the shoppers...what happened to our shopping stewardship?

I was taught when growing up to put things back where I got them if I decided against them. (Have you ever seen the box of ice cream on the bread shelf??) I was also taught to hang things back on the hangers after I tried them on (not rip off the tags, throw them on the floor, wade through them to leave the fitting room and expect my mommy; the store clerk making $7.50). This shopper even puts clothing back where I got it if I decide against it..yup..yup...you read that right.
Sometimes people think I work there, but No, I just have a boss who expects this from me.

Jars of Clay wrote this wonderful song that reminds us of how we are suppose to behave.                  A few of the lyrics go like this...

We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord

And we pray that our unity may one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they'll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other
We will work side by side
We will work with each other
We will work side by side

And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

This should be our Christian Mantra.

My dear friend Michael Knopf  https://www.facebook.com/theholyspiritministry tells me he can spot a Christian by the light in their eyes. I like to believe that this is so. 

Enjoy a spirit filled weekend and don't forget your shopping, no scratch that...your Christian Stewardship in all areas of your life. Don't forget, your bossy boss is watching you too.

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