Reasons for Going to Church

On my trip to Charleston, SC, my family decided to go worship at the church I grew up in.  Shamefully, I admit, I wanted to go there because I wanted to #1 see people and #2 be seen.  Yes, I did want to worship but the reasons I just mentioned were in the forefront of my mind.  Previously, when I had been "home" I had attended the later service and had been told that most of the people my age go to the earlier contemporary service, so this time I told my husband we should go to the earlier service.  He wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting up early after we had been driving all day Sat., but he did want to go to church so he said okay.  As it turned out, there was hardly anybody there at the early service and they didn't have a nursery so we didn't really get to worship or get "fed" because we were too focused on keeping our 2 year old occupied and quiet. 

 I am reminded of John, who in the book of Revelation, was worshipping God by himself on the day set aside for that purpose - he didn't postpone his worship b/c there wasn't anybody with him and b/c he was on an island with no other believers he wasn't worshipping to be seen either. 

The lesson I learned from this is: the point of going to church is never to see people or be seen but to worship our Heavenly Father who has given his one and only Son as a sacrifice for us - so that we may have eternal life! 

Faith Being Tested

Recently, we took a trip to visit some family and some friends on the east coast.  There are many we were going to see whom I am pretty sure aren't living their lives for Christ.  Before we left, I prayed that God would use me as a tool to witness to them about the amazing things He has done in my life (see my testimony here): about the peace I feel even in stressful situations because I know He is in control, about how since my relationship with Him has grown my relationship with my husband has also grown, and how He's answered all my prayers (maybe not exactly the way I was expecting) in a way that was far better than I could ever imagine. 

While in the moment of visiting with all these people, I never felt really led to say anything specific about my faith and because of the change of schedule I didn't spend time in The Word like I normally do.  I was really disappointed about this upon returning home - why didn't God use me like I wanted Him too?  why didn't I speak up and talk about Christ around them?  why didn't I spend time reading my Bible like I normally do, that would have been somewhat of a witness to them? 

I don't really know any of the answers to those questions, but I do know that God's plans are perfect, so I must not have been the one He wanted to use to witness to them or maybe it wasn't the right time.  Also, I know that my actions were still the same as they would have been at home - I didn't do anything on our vacation that I felt went against God's will or anything I know to be against the Word of God so I guess my life was sort of a witness in itself, just not what I was counting on.

Why we don't "do" halloween

In Oct 2007, my husband and I were working with the youth group on Misawa Air Base.  We were supposed to do a lesson with the students and decided on one that dealt with the "holiday" coming up - Halloween.  Being fairly new Christians, we knew there seemed to be something a little ungodly about the holiday but we didn't know where all the customs stemmed from so we did some research.

We found these things:
* Some Halloween traditions, for example, the Jack-O-Lantern, come from Irish legend. The story behind this sinisterly-smiling vegetable tells of a man stuck between heaven and hell as a result of a bargain with the devil. The turnip was the original hollow, candle-lit head of choice, but when the Irish immigrants came to America, they traded their tiny turnips for giant pumpkins.

*Most sources agree that the modern holiday of Halloween finds its origins in the Celtic and Druid festival of the dead, “Samhain.” This festival marks the Celtic New Year. It encompasses the eve of October 31st and the day of November 1st. Common Halloween practices point directly to the pagan festival of Samhain.



* Bobbing for apples on this supposedly “hallowed eve” served as a popular means of fortune-telling and the length of an apple-peel was considered an indicator of one’s life span.
 
* During the Samhain festival the Celts believed the physical and spiritual world interacted like at no other time of the year. They thought "souls" of the dead would visit the living. People offered sacrifices of animals, plants, and, some speculate, even humans, to those of the spirit world for a bountiful harvest.
 
* As Christianity began spreading in Europe, November 1st became known as “All Saints’ Day,” with the preceding evening having the name of "All Hollow’s Eve.” This holiday actually came about in hopes of suppressing the non-Christian holiday of the Samhain. Soon the mixing of the traditions of the Celts’ "Samhain" festival with "All Saints Day" produced a holiday we know as Halloween.
 
After doing this research, Mark and I felt very convicted about participating in any part of the Halloween festivities.  We honestly couldn't find any part of it that seemed to stem from the Bible or that seemed like it would be glorifying to Our Lord and Savior.  As a result, we have chosen to not participate in this holiday, except for the passing out of gospel tracts to the children who come to our door.
 
We know there is no where in the Bible that specifically says "Do not celebrate Halloween" and as Christians we are given freedom to do many things b/c the blood of Jesus has saved us, but what kind of witness is it to unbelievers or new Christians if we participate in these celebrations - and really how does God get the glory by us dressing up to go collect candy? 
 
So, when people ask what my daughter is going to "be" for Halloween, I say, "Herself, we don't do Halloween." and no I don't think I am depriving her of anything by this.  She can dress up on any other day of the year and candy is available year round, but even if it weren't - we are Christians and we are not supposed to be like the rest of the world, we are supposed to be set apart, show that there is something different about us.

Making Your Home a Haven Challenge

I'm  starting another challenge with Courtney over at Women Living Well blog.  This is what she writes as the challenge for week 1:

It is week 1 of the Making Your Home a Haven Fall Challenge. Here is this week's challenge: Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. I will be starting mine in the morning! But you can start yours at dinner time. Do what makes sense for your family. I will be placing mine in the kitchen - the main hub of my home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.



Women Living Well

For the past 3 days, I have been lighting a pumpkin spice candle in our kitchen.  The light and the smell has reminded me to slow down and focus on the important things going on around me - my daughter playing, giving my husband the attention he needs when he comes home, and catching up with friends who I know are struggling.  I plan to continue to do this and let the light from the candle remind me to just take things one step at a time and not try to cram all these things into one day - isn't there a saying about "Just do the first thing first" 

Good Morning Girls

Per a suggestion from Courtney at Women Living Well blog, I organized a group of ladies to form an accountability group.  We are holding each other accountable for having our "quiet time" each day.  So, every Monday-Friday we write a message on facebook to each other, telling about what we are reading in our Bibles and our thoughts on the verses.  We started on Sept 1st and it has been so great!  I love the group for several reasons:
1)  I like having other people's insights into the scriptures - it keeps me going back to scriptures I have read a dozen times and seeing something new (this happens anyways, but more so now).
2)  This group has helped increase my desire to want to have my quiet time in the morning and lessened the temptation of putting other things before it. 
3)  A great way to see how amazing God's word is and how it is live at work in other's lives. 

Here are just some of the excerpts from my morning quiet time responses:

Good morning! This morning I read Jonah chapters 1 and 2. I could have read the whole book since it is only 4 chapters long but I wanted to reflect on what God was telling me with the story of Jonah (and Lilly woke up super early this morning so my quiet time was w/ her in the bed beside me). Anyways, I was just thinking about how many times we don't do what God asks us to do, just like Jonah - how I run away and try to hide. But, you can't hide from God and He's always there - isn't that so comforting to know that God is ALWAYS there - showing us His love, giving us wisdom need, telling us when to be bold and keeping true to His promises! He is an awesome GOD!

 

I was focusing on the HW in the Beth Moore study today as well as looking up verses about my spiritual gifts that I talked about the other day. So, I was in many chapters and verses of the New Testament but I kept questioning the part about how I'm supposed to love my enemies and serve them - (like what Laurie read about last week) - this his hard for me sometimes, especially when people really hurt me. So, several verses struck me in answer to my question, "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written:"It is mine to avenge; I will repay, "says the Lord" - so it isn't up to me to make sure people get what I think they deserve. It is up to me to "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" both verses from Romans 12. One thing that really gave me peace was the memory verse from the Beth Moore study - They will make war against the Lamb but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful" Rev 17:14...these are my thoughts, Jesus wins no matter what so I always want to be on the side that is with him and not against Him. My life needs to be of service to Him so that I can be part of the called, chosen and faithful that are with Him in the end. I can chose to love my enemies despite my feelings, I can choose to serve people I don't care for despite how I might feel about them because it is my duty to live my life as a living sacrifice to the Lord - I can never repay Him for what He did for me on the cross but I can certainly choose to obey and choose to do what it right.

"Renewed" Spark

Recently, my husband went away on a business trip.  He was gone for 2 weeks, but I'm fairly used to him being gone for a time because since he has started working for his current company (almost 2 years ago) he has been on several trips.  Before this position, he was in the USNavy and was deployed for months at a time, so like I said I am used to it being part of our life.  However, usually, when he is gone it takes me several days to get used to sleeping by myself in the bed and up to a week to get used to a routine w/o him home.  This time while he was gone I was so at peace - I didn't have any trouble sleeping and things just seemed to fall into place.  I started to feel bad about it because I thought "how awful that I am doing so well w/o my husband."  Don't be mistaken because I did miss him, but things were not how they usually are when he is away - it was weird. 

Usually when my husband comes home from a deployment or business trip, I can't wait to pick him up because I am happy that he'll be here to help me - to watch our daughter and give me a break or to do whatever I feel stressed about at the time.  But, when my husband came home from this trip, I had butterflies in my stomach.  I was so excited to see him, kiss him and just to be near him!  I wasn't thinking about all the things I wanted him to do, I was just excited he was home.  It reminded me of the feelings I had when we were dating. 

So, I thank God that HE gave me that peace while Mark was away and that HE allowed me to have this wonderful renewed spark of passion for my husband when he returned.  I continue to pray that God would show me ways to keep that spark alive in our marriage, and HE has already made me aware of my husband's love languages so I need to make a conscious effort to show him love in the way he receives it best.

The Food Battle

For the most part, my husband and I agree on how to parent our daughter. We aren't against spanking in times of obvious defiance and we both want our daughter to have Christ-like characteristics where she cares about others and is friendly to all people. There is one area where we differ and it is when it comes to food. Of course, we want her to eat healthy, but my husband requires that she finish all her entree' before having anything else, even if it means giving her the same plate at the next meal. While I suggest that she be given the whole meal(fruit, veggie, entree') at once and she should eat most of it. I just do not see the point of forcing her to eat something she obviously doesn't like.


Now, I don't want to be disrespectful to my husband, so I try to only give my daughter what I know she likes and very small portions so she'll meet his expectations. Every once in a while, I make something new and not being sure whether she'll like it or not, I give it to her and she doesn't like it. I strongly dislike the battle between the 3 of us to get her to eat the food. He's looking at me to make her eat it, I'm feeding her like a baby (she's 2) to get her to eat it, and she's crying and upset because she doesn't want to eat it.




Does anybody have a compromise that will work in this situation?