Sunday, November 4, 2012

30 Days of Thankfulness, Day Four

I'll keep it short and sweet tonight, as I'm ready for bed and have been for a while, but am making an effort to actually update daily. Yes, I would like my gold star now.

Today being Sunday, it seems like the perfect time to mention how thankful I am for my church.

I've told the whole church saga on this blog before - how I grew up in one church, felt led to find a new one, felt an instant connection at a new one, felt like a traitor to the old one, et cetera, et cetera. It was not a fun transition. It caused much family tension, many tears, and much frustration.

But the plain and simple truth of the matter is that the first time I visited Osborne, two years ago this month, I felt the Holy Spirit during the worship service in a way that I never had before, in all of my (then) 31 years.

Since then, I have learned so much...about who God is and who I am because of Him, about practical life application of God's word, about loving people and serving joyfully.

I am still so far from perfect. I fail daily, and multiple times daily, at that. But here, I finally feel as though I am maturing in Christ. I can hardly help but be thankful for that.


I have also been blessed with an amazing new church family at Osborne. There are some people there that I went to school with, and love seeing again - if it weren't for one of them posting about Osborne on Facebook, in fact, I would likely have never visited. (Thanks, Liz!) But there are so many more that I have met for the first time there, that I wouldn't have known otherwise, that I love dearly and cannot, now, imagine being without.

I love the music. I love the pastor, although he stomps on my toes weekly. I love that there is a huge and well-run children's program, where my girls both learn and have fun. I love that there are thriving homeschool and adoption/foster care communities in the church. I love helping teach the kindergarteners on Wednesday nights, and big hugs from them between songs at music time. I love praying for my church family and knowing that they are praying for me too, and I don't even have to ask it of them.


If you're a local friend who reads my blog and you don't have a church home - please, come visit with me sometime. I'll show you around and stick right with you until you feel at home.

If you're not local...well, I invite you to check out some of the sermons online. There are LOTS that you can watch, and they're all worthy of your time.

No matter where you are, my wish for all of you is for a church home where you feel welcomed, loved, appreciated, interested, and convicted - a church home that allows you to fully appreciate Psalm 122:1: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."


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