What was the last thing God asked you to do?

Yesterday, our pastor spoke about Nehemiah.  If you don't know the story of Nehemiah, he was an ordinary man that did an extraordinary thing.  He heard that the wall in Jerusalem had been destroyed and it tore him up.  He called out to God and decided that he wanted to rebuild it.  God provided for him to be able to accomplish this amazing plan.  Nehemiah faced constant ridicule, doubt and opposition for what he was doing, but he kept going with God's help and was able to do work that would have taken professionals several years to do and it took him and his helpers only 52 days!  Nehemiah kept the goal in his sights and was not distracted.  Not only did he rebuild a physical wall, but he also met the physical needs of the people there.  Pastor Brady(New Life) related this to being in God's will.  How do you know what God's will for you is?  He posed this question, "You can know what God wants you to do by asking yourself, "what was the last thing God asked me to do and did I finish it?"  Don't keep asking and looking around for something new if you haven't finished the last thing."

I knew right away what it was for me.  I have been called to be a biblical wife and mother.  My will, RIGHT NOW, is to follow God's calling for me to finish this job.  I often feel like I am underappreciated, tired, not doing a good job,etc.  I am constantly distracted from the job God has called me to do.  I am going to try to keep my vision and follow through, like Nehemiah.  I need to avoid my distractions and call out to God just as he did and I will eventually finish building my "wall of Jerusalem".  I can also apply this to the homeschooling of my children.  It is still not the "popular" choice in our culture.  I may even be ridiculed or opposed by people in my life. I fight my own doubts.  I have to keep the focus and know that the end result is for God's glory.  He has a plan for our family and I am not going to let myself or others get in the way of that.  I will work joyfully for my family and for God.  Like Nehemiah, finding out that the wall was torn down, I am sad to think of what would happen to my family if I didn't do everything I could, with God's help, to keep my family from being torn down. Inspiring!  I am going to print out a picture of the wall to remind me of my calling and that God will equip me to do what He has called me to do.  Be blessed, go read Nehemiah--it's pretty short! Little book, big message.
Wall of Jerusalem
One of my favorite verses,  " They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” "
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”  Nehemiah 6:9

Never say never

So, I said we'd never go to a mega church.  Nope.  We would always go to a nice small church where we know everyone and it doesn't get too crazy.  Well, God must've laughed and decided to throw us clear of our comfort zone and straight into a MEGA church in Colorado Springs.  We have some good friends that have attended this church for several years and they invited us to join them when we moved here.  Uh oh.  Did he just invite us to that MEGA church?  I got nervous.  Mike said we'd better hurry up and find a church so we could tell our friend we'd already found one.  M said she'd get sick if she went there.  C has sensory integration dysfunction, how would he react?!

We discussed and decided we'd go for kicks, just for the experience.  We'd not had a connection at another church near our house and hadn't lined up one for Sunday yet so we accepted the invitation.  Well, 4 Sundays later, I think we've found our home.  Huh?  Well, for one, it took 4 Sundays because the pastor was gone for 3 of those Sundays and we felt the Lord calling us back each time so we'd finally get to hear the pastor preach.  Thankfully, we listened because we loved him!  He is a teacher!  Yay!  He is there to challenge us and help us grow.  He's not a showman to get people in the door.  He doesn't make everyone feel warm and fuzzy, but he has a heart to help people grow and come to Jesus.  He even does all this without yelling. : )  The other 3 speakers were great, as well. 

The worship music is so God centered and honoring.  It brings me to messy tears each week because it brings me to a place that makes me realize how much I love God and how much He loves me.  The church is big, but as I worshipped, I would look around and see what God sees.  There are so many people, for one thing and what is wrong with that?  That is something to celebrate!  All those people have made the effort to come and worship the Lord and learn more about Him.  Hallelujah!  Why did I complain and worry about size?  As continued to look around I noticed young, old, rich, poor, fashionable, not so fashionable,  black, white, hispanic, Asian, Indian, you name it all worshipping together.  Amazing.  There are people dancing, hands in the air or standing like a statue all worshipping together.   I am now to a point that I don't look around as much as can focus on worship the Lord, but I was in awe the first few weeks. 

I have felt a new fire lit inside of me.  A fire that challenges my faith in a good way.  A fire to make my relationship with Jesus extend beyond myself.  I want to help fill churches and make them mega churches   I want to help within the church to reach out the many that may walk through the doors hurting or wanting to grow.  It's not about me and my comfort zone, it's about God and the work He is doing.  He is doing a work in my heart, for sure! 

So everyone else in my family is loving it too!  M loves her class and has already made friends.  C loves his class, though it will take him time to feel a part of things.  Mike has some issues with mosh pits that he needs to work out, but I am praying he'll get over it. : )  In the end, I am so thankful for our friends inviting us, I am thankful that Pastor B was away for 3 weeks so that we had to keep coming back and I am thankful that God is alive and well and working on hearts.  Is there something wrong with small churches?  No,  they are also doing God's work, but I am looking beyond my little world and what makes me comfortable now.  I do have a desire to make close friends and have fellowship in smaller group settings, which will hopefully come soon!

I am reminded of the first mega church in Acts(we studied this in our homeschool this week!) 

⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

 Acts 2:41-47 NIV

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  1 John 1:3

We are finally in our new home!

Whew!  It's been awhile since I was on here promising myself that I would blog more!  It has been a whirlwind couple of months.  We moved out of our home in Newport, Rhode Island in January and moved into a vacation rental on the island for a month.  Talk about crazy!  We've been really unschooling this year, but we've been doing LOTS of life learning, family building and field trips(such as the Pequot Museum in Connecticut and a trip to Boston.  We then drove down to my in-laws in VA.  We visited Mt. Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington, while we were there.  We then drove on to Lexington, KY for a night and then stayed with dear friends and had a short reunion with old army friends in Illinois near Scott Air Force Base.  It was fun to see our kids reconnect after not seeing each other for 5 years!  Then it was on to Kansas and then the long, boring drive from there to Colorado Springs.  We are now in our new home!  Yeah!  We feel so blessed to be assigned to this beautiful community.  I'm sure the next 2 years will fly!  I can't believe that I get to wake up every morning to look at Pike's Peak.  God is awesome!

New Year--big change!

Happy New Year!  We had a very busy 2 weeks over Christmas.  We traveled to Fort Worth, Texas to visit my parents and then headed to Colorado Springs to look for a place to live.  Colorado will be our new home in just over a month!  We were in awe of the beauty of Colorado Springs.  We were able to find a house to rent for the 2 or so years that we will be stationed there.  We are very thankful that it all works out!  We have been blessed to be near the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean on the island of Newport, Rhode Island for the past year.  Being a military family has its perks.  We can show our kids many parts of our beautiful nation.  Hopefully, we will be able to show them more of the world before my husband retires from the Army in the next 7 years!  The freedom to explore while homeschooling is also such a bonus to our lives.  Growing up with working parents in Iowa, I never got to see much other than when we visited relatives in Texas.  Who knew I'd grow up to see so much and I'm glad to share it with our children and husband.  Here's to our new adventure in 2012!