Chapter Four: In My Face (continued from chapter 3)

***IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST READ, BE SURE TO START WITH THE FEBRUARY 16 ENTRY***

well, at that point in my life, i'm not sure exactly what was happening with my husband, but i know i was really searching and desiring accountability in my relationship with God. i needed someone to get in my face.

...brief flashback....

while we lived in the house that burned, we did get involved in a church between new waverly and huntsville. it was a little country church with a pastor barely older than us who really was looking for support. not realizing how much we were teetering, he put us in leadership right away.

sometime after the house burned but while we were still living with my aunt and uncle, we decided to leave the church. i can't really comment too much on whether it was the Lord. we thought it was the Lord telling us to leave. but i can say that it definitely wasn't the Lord in the way we left.

sometime when no one was there (i think on sunday afternoon), we went to the church building, took what was ours, left what was theirs ... with a note ... and never came back.

...flashback over...

i said that to illustrate that i knew i needed something, and i was afraid because i had seen my potential to hurt and betray.

ok, back to the story.

as i said in chapter 3, we had visited that famous popular church a long drive off, and while james really liked it, i had never gotten a response to my cards asking for information on getting a more intimate involvement. so after we moved, i decided to check out that church down the road, and i would report back to james what i thought.

i can't say i remember anything about the sermon except that i managed to sit in the back of the youth section and decided not to sit there anymore. i also remember that i was sure to fill out one of those little cards "on the back of the seat in front of you" and put in the offering. that was the most exciting part. that was the part that had a chance of connecting me to someone who would get in my face about my soul.

a couple of days later i got a handwritten card in the mail, signed by a lady named pat, that said they were happy i was there. another day soon after, the lady who had signed that card called to see if she could pray with me. another day, a lady named brenda called to invite me to her home group for young married women. i told brenda i couldn't come this thursday, but maybe next week. brenda kept calling until i started coming....and she called every thursday to make sure i didn't forget. pat called too....to pray with me.

if you know pat and brenda, you know that God answered my desire for someone to get in my face. when i say "in my face," i mean that they loved me enough to help me deal with what matters--to speak truth to me about what it looks like to live for Christ, and they were courageous enough to love me with open arms when they didn't even know who i was.

i never missed home group on thursdays, and i mean NEVER. and eventually God and brenda convinced me that it was important to be at church on sunday morning too.

There's something so incredible and God-evident about a true church family. My mother lives in northern michigan. i live in east texas. that's a serious commute. my mother is possibly my favorite person on the earth. but i realized that i'll see her in heaven, and right now i have to obey where God wants me to be. anyway, God has given me multiple other mothers who love me like a daughter and make it a great deal easier to be separate from my earthly mother in this life. He has also given me so much family--brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Flashing ahead....a few years later, God and Brenda and Pat convinced me to lead that home group that Brenda had invited me to. and i still lead that home group today. before i became a member of the church, God allowed me to find the pastor of that church that i betrayed and to ask forgiveness. i've been a member about 4 1/2 years.

but that's flashing ahead, and this isn't about being a member of Christ the King Church. it's about being a member of the body of Christ God's Son....and there's lots more to tell

......next time......

I guess we'll call this CHAPTER THREE. I had no idea i had so much to say. 8)

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Glada are wonderful people. I mean that. They immediately offered their home to us. It wasn't even a question.

Once, when i attempted to express my thanks to Uncle Larry, he calmly replied that "God gives us things so that we can share them with people."

That said, dependence on someone else is a very difficult place for your pride.

James and i told my aunt and uncle that we only needed to stay there for a couple months....tops.

Aunt Glada said she didn't want us to leave until we found just the right situation and we were really ready.

We both immediately started looking for work through temp agencies; that's pretty much the quickest way to start working somewhere while you look for something you actually want to do, but it can also be pretty difficult and sporadic.

God gave us a resting place there with Uncle Larry and Aunt Glada. We were uncomfortable, but God was working in our hearts.

In May, the Lord used my uncle to connect me to the great job i still have working for the county. James also found work. Then, as September approached (so much for a couple of months), through James' job, we became aware of a rental home, and the landlady liked James so much that she wanted us to move in right away--no money up front. So, September 1, 2001, we moved into a lovely two bedroom rental home with a fantastically large kitchen, and an agreement that James would remodel it.

Things are looking up! 8) We were both gainfully employed. Our car was still running. We had a lovely place to live.
And once we got moved in, i started looking again for a church.

Things looked really good at that point, but looking back, i think i shall call that house "The Purification House." Nothing is as smooth as it seems it should be when you haven't let God deal with your heart yet. So we had a pretty bumpy ride ahead.

More details to come...

I've never known what it meant to look for a church. My dad has been a pastor my entire life, so i never had to look. I just went to church. But finding a church you can call home is a huge challenge and a fantastic blessing from God when He leads you to the right place.

Our house happened to be less than five miles down the road from a church i'd seen with "CHRIST THE KING" in giant letters on the side of the building. I thought it looked like it might be the kind of church i would like, so after visiting a large popular church a little too far away (and with no response to my little card in the offering requesting information on cell groups), i thought i would check it out.

.....as always, to be continued.....