A Simple Nudge

I will start this post by saying this is about my faith walk.  It has no medical info, and I understand if you want to close the blog now.  For those of you who are staying, you should know I am not one to talk about religion.  My faith, yes, but religion, no.  I truly believe that as Christians we need to embrace other Christians no matter what church they attend.  We all fundamentally believe the same, and our divisions cause confusion.  Before I go on I will say I have thought a good deal about this post.  I have felt very nervous about writing it.  I have always had this need to be understood, and I fear this post may be hard to write in an understanding way.  Basically I feel the need to explain myself for decisions I have made and those I am going to make.  Why?  Well again I just want people to understand where I am coming from.  I guess it is my silly feeling of being judged.

I grew up in a catholic family.  We went to church every Sunday.  My parents where very involved in church as well as prayer meetings outside of church.  As funny as this is going to sound, my parents were charismatic Catholics.  Bet you did not know that was even possible, but it is.  We went to prayer meetings where the music was so alive, and you felt God all around you.  People would sing and dance.  I loved it.  I was young, and did not understand everything.  As I grew older we did not go as much.  But my parents still were around many families that had the same values as them.  For various reasons it was not possible for me to be married in the Catholic church.  I was very sad, but still went to mass.  When Aidan was born there were some things that happened that made me realize I needed to find a church home for both of us.  I did not leave the catholic faith out of anger, just felt at the time God was leading me in another direction.

This is when I found my wonderful First Christian family!!!  I can't say enough about the love of the people at that church!  They have supported our family through job loss, surgeries, and heart break.  The people of FCC have prayed for our fam with unending love.  I am constantly moved by these wonderful people who continue to love on our family!  This was also the church home where I worked for 3 years with the preschool age children.  I loved every Sunday sharing Jesus love with them.  What a Joy to hear them praise Him!  How humbling to hear their sweet prayers each Sunday.  They changed and grew me in so many ways.  I miss it terribly, but I also know my body could not handle this job anymore.  God knew this, He prepared my heart for this.

When our fam moved to Athens I felt very alone.  I missed my friends, my family, my home.  We started going to Brookfield Church.  All I can say is WOW!  It blew me away.  I made instant friends, and the service was alive and wonderful.  I felt like a kid again in those prayer meetings.  The music, sermons, and prayers moved me to the core.  When I say that I am so very grateful to Brookfield it is not an understatement.  I miss it all the time.  I have desperately wanted to go and visit, but have not been up to it.  I pray every Sunday for their growth, as they are a new church that will change Athens for the better!  I just know it!

Coming home was a huge blessing.  We felt so good to be in our house again surrounded by those we loved.   I started searching for a small church so that Tim might feel more comfortable.  The day we moved back into our home it was a huge snow storm.  Five men from Faith Bible Church showed up at our door to help.  We had never met any of them in our life!  A friend had told them we needed help and there they were!  It was amazing to see His love poured out to us in such a wonderful way.  I decided to go check out the church these men came from.  We really loved it.  It was small, and yet family oriented.  The teaching was wonderful and very bible based.  We thought we might be home.

Over the past few months I have become much worse.  To see me you might say, "She doesn't look sick?"  But I can assure you I am.  When I wake up in the morning and step out of bed my feet feel broken.  They are literally curled up into a ball and after slowly walking on them they begin to relax.  My legs are cramped and I am completely bent over.  Slowly I can lift my back up and start to walk normal.  My neck and head are completely kinked and my arms are normally numb.  I am not saying all this for any other reason than mornings are terrifying.  I am so worried that one morning I will not be able to move.  I kept praying about this and I kept hearing the same thing, "You need your family."  I am so thankful for my mom and dad who jump in when Tim can't.  I knew that they would take the kids to church if I could not.  After missing several weeks of church, because I could just not do it on my own, I went to church with my mom and dad.  It has been a really good experience.  The kids love being with PopPop and Grandma, and it is great for me to have some extra hands.  We have decided that we need family and church to be one now.  This way the kids are at least hearing God's word even when I can't be there.  So St George Byzantine Church has become our new home.

I feel I have a weird view on religion.  From my many travels of church families I have seen one common thread...many people who desperately love their Lord.  They sing different songs, say different prayers, and may even read different interpretations of the Bible...but they all share Christ's love.  I feel I have found a home in all these churches.  I feel blessed by the many relationships and perspectives I have seen.  I am excited to see where God will lead us as a family, and what I will learn in the future.  For now I am thankful He keeps nudging me in the right direction for our family at that time.  I pray that this will not divide me from any of you but reinforce the great love we share!