Dear Francis Chan, why must your books be so convicting?

In Sunday School at Journey Church, we've been going through "Crazy Love," a book by Francis Chan all about loving God and God's love for us. We've now finished that book and are on to "Forgotten God," a book written about the Holy Spirit (the forgotten God). It is absolutely unreal the simple truths he states that have such profound ramifications in my life. They are truths gleaned directly from God's Word, but presented in a different way. For some reason, they rip at my heart.

"We are not all we were made to be when everything in our lives and churches can be explained apart from the work and presence of the Spirit of God." Is this the way I am living? Am I content with my life? God designed us to be people who need a Savior, but do I even hint at needing anything? Our Sunday School teacher quoted John Piper last week, asking if we were in "heaven" with all the things we ever wanted, all the people we ever loved, no hurting or suffering, but God was not there, would we be okay with being in that "heaven"?  Good question.  The good little Baptist girl in me says, "Oh, no, of course not!" However, my life says something different, and if I examined my heart, would I really be okay with that right now?

We must come back to the place where we desperately need (long for, can't live without) God's presence in our lives. The Christians in other parts of the world get it...why can't we? God, bring us back to you! Give us a thirst for your Spirit and a hunger for your Word. Don't let us fill ourselves up with empty things. Show us the way back to You.

Summertime!

It's summer, and I'm now a stay-at-home mommy full-time! Of course, things never go according to plan, so even though I'm a housewife, I have no house. That's ok, though. All in God's time. The tornado last May 22 changed everything, and I'm betting that there will be even more change in the future before "normalcy" kicks back in (assuming it ever does).

God has been doing a great work in our lives. It has been amazing to see how he uses situations to grow us closer to Him. I have been doing a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer called "Jonah," and it has been such a hard study. It's not because the work is so difficult, but because there are such hard questions to answer. What have you been running from? What is God calling you to do? What is your attitude like when God gives you direction?

Beginnings

A blog must begin somewhere, and this is such a place for this blog. I'm hopping on the bandwagon in an attempt to connect with family living far away, organize my otherwise disheveled thoughts, and preserve my pre-texting writing abilities.

There are so many changes that happen in the first year of a child's life, and I have experienced a ton of exciting milestones with my daughter. I have failed, however, to document many of those great moments in writing. I hope to note the small daily progress and shout out the great leaps forward in my daughter's very exciting life. We'll see where the journey takes us...