Thought for today...

It has been so long since I have blogged last. Partly because there is SO much going on that it can sometimes be overwhelming to think how to write (or blog) it down! So I am going to try today! I also realize I have never written "Prevention Part 2" but that is coming...

We just finished up our last class last night, Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey). So many great principles over the last few months. Most weeks you were taking notes like crazy with so many things to apply. I appreciated that they were things we could grasp and start doing that day. I feel so great knowing there is a valid plan we can use to honor God with our money. Last night's DVD session was my favorite. Like I said before, usually your taking notes and getting a lot of "meat and potatoes". But last night Ramsey was summing up the 13 weeks by speaking to the heart.

Sometimes as Christians we can compartmentalize our lives. You talk about your work life, family life, social life, and spiritual life. What is that? Does God look at all this and separate it? No way. It is all one and when we really believe this it can be transforming. A true Christ follower brings Jesus into all aspects of life. He is there in the midst of every decision and situation, whether it is big or small. Walking in the Spirit allows you to blend all these areas and live out your faith. That is one reason I am so passionate about health. There is not a difference between your spiritual life and physical life. God is looking to be acknowledged and honored...even in the small stuff.

I Corinthians 6 talks about your physical body. If you get the chance read this whole chapter from the Message Bible. These are the verses that talk about your body being the temple. Often times you can read something hundreds of times but you read it in a different way and have a light bulb moment. But let me quote the last part of chapter 6 out of the message. "Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see you can't live however you please, squandering what God has paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body."

Allow that to really sink in. God looks at you and just sees YOU. He wants all of you and doesn't want to just be included in your "spiritual life"...especially since there is no such thing! He wants to be with YOU, all of you. If your heart is right then that will spill over into decisions you never even thought were about God. The way you handle money, relationships, exercise, eating, marriage, and family matters are just a result of how you are including God in every moment.

browns mill church

Well, it is finally here! We have a temporary web site up for the church we will be launching early next year. Go and visit the site and sign up for the newsletter. This is a very exciting day for us! I am just speechless...

www.brownsmillchurch.com/

Please pray about your involvement...God is doing incredible things. I appreciate your prayers so much!

Happy and Sad

Let me tell you about my conversation I had last night with Summer. We were on our way to her softball game and out of the blue she says, "It's weird because I feel happy and sad about moving to plant a church." My response was, "I feel the exact same way!" I thought it was interesting that she had really been thinking about this the past few days. I dropped the bomb on her Sunday night. She was really quiet about it. Of course she said she didn't want to leave Spring Hill (her school) and her best friend that lives two doors down. So I told her it was okay to feel sad but to enjoy them while she has them. And then I quickly told her all the "perks" about moving even though I only half believe them myself right now.

Truth is, when I think of moving I get really sad too! For almost 2 yrs. this is what we have known. We have been incredibly blessed from every angle. I guess we have become well rooted here in Fayetteville. Oh and then I won't even go into thinking about the details of a move including moving boxes. When I think of moving boxes I feel ill. We have been through so much transition in such a small amount of time with too many "moving" stories to tell-most have been blocked out of my mind forever. Will I be able to do this once more?

Of course I will. It doesn't matter how much we have moved in the past or how many bad moving experiences we've had. When I focus too much on those things it makes this all about me. It can easily make my selfishness turn into self pity. The past is the past. Not one of those moves were like this one we are about to take.

With this move we are completely surrendered to our Father and when you are seeking Him with your whole heart, He actually DOES direct you (that's a promise!). What a different perspective knowing this big change is ahead. But the best thing is the perspective of wanting to get into that community to show people how they can know the Jesus we love so much.

I've been so over concerned about how Summer is going to react and feel. But the fact that she admits that she is sad to move away but happy--just the fact that she is a little happy about it means that God is working in her too. God is calling Tim and I to this ministry so that means He is calling Summer, Micah, and Jake as well. This is the happy part about it all! God is going to use us as a family to accomplish His will. Such happiness comes over me when I feel like I am doing exactly what He has created me to do.

So along with all the other emotions, just like Summer I am both happy and sad, but mostly happy because God is growing the desire to move once more. That in itself is a miracle. I just won't think about packing and moving vans until I absolutely have too!

Let the journey begin!

I know this post is supposed to be prevention part 2 but I can't resist sharing what has been happening especially over the weekend. Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you can barely put into words what your experiencing? That is how I feel today so I will do my best! I have already mentioned on some posts about us getting ready to plant a church. Some of you know the details of that and some don't so I am going to back up to explain some things!
For years we have known that there was going to be a special way God wanted to use us. As we have been searching and praying about what that could be there has always been a spiritual discontentment. Tim has had incredible opportunities to be involved in ministries that are making huge impacts for the kingdom. With every ministry opportunity that has come our way we have felt humbled to be a part of such great movements. However, there has been the underlying feeling of knowing that whatever we were currently doing, God had something else in mind. It has not been easy as a wife to watch my husband wrestle with this. Every job change I heard him say that he knew it would be temporary until God revealed what He really wanted him to be doing. To live like this is very frustrating. I wanted so bad for him to figure out what his true purpose was and to do it.
You've heard it said many time before...God's timing is not always ours. During these years of frustration, He was shaping Tim into the person He needed to be. He was using each ministry opportunity as a stepping stone to what we are about to do. It is easy to see now that we needed all these experiences to even be capable of allowing God to use us in this way. And He has even used our mistakes. How else are you really able to learn? How else would you really be able to relate and reach out to people if you haven't really been there yourself?
Fast forward now to around spring of this year. God starts stirring Tim's heart once again except this time he addresses it. We start to unpack this possible calling of God to be church planters. As time went on through the summer the feeling of God calling us out got stronger. We even admitted to some close friends that God may be taking us in this direction. Every pastor and leader that Tim met with to talk to about this confirmed this call.
But you do know the difference of saying God may be calling you to something or God is calling you to something. We had never fully crossed that bridge of saying that we are really going to pursue what God is telling us to do. Fear, doubt, uncertainty among many other scary things set in and make you think that this isn't really what you should be doing.
But I will also never forget the day we finally crossed that bridge. This was one of the best days of my life because I knew this was God's plan for us. In fact, I knew months before but how do you tell your husband, "Can you just make this decision??? Can't you tell that this is God calling us to do this? Don't you know you are supposed to be a pastor???" Of course I had to just wait for God to reveal this to him. But the day he did I was so elated. I couldn't wait to tell anyone. But I didn't tell anyone for a few weeks and even then it went a little something like this: I don't know any details, I don't know where and with who or anything else. All I know is that God wants us to plant a church.
After surrendering to this call Tim began to meet with a good friend that actually were a part of our small group. This was in August. It was a divine appointment because it just so happened that God was having them (Kevin and Suzanne) go through some of the same feelings, that spiritual discontentment and knowing God is leading you to do something else. It is amazing how God started working. God melded our hearts together for the passion of a very specific mission. From then on it has been a roller coaster. But when the four of us came together knowing that this was God's purpose, doors flew open. It feels like every day something happens as more confirmation. Do we have the details yet? No. But things are happening so fast and God is showing us very specific things. Our church model is almost completed and our church name is Brownsmill Church. We know the area we will be serving in, Newnan (still Atlanta, about 30 min. west of where we are now). In future posts I will explain why we chose the name and location. Today it just feels awesome that we know the direction to take and who we are taking it with. There is no better feeling than knowing you are walking smack dab in the center of God's will. There are some great times ahead and some challenging ones but thank you for wanting to be a part of our journey! Let the journey begin!!!!