Garfield has returned!

So, be truthful. How many of you knew that as soon as I got a new cat that Garfield would come home? Yeah...my hubby knew this too. So now I have 2 cats, which is fine with me because I love them!

Paul will be home from the Navy to visit for a week starting on Wednesday the 29th. I'm very excited about this! We still have Jason's friend staying with us, but he is going to Colorado in a day or two to visit his family and to scout things out there. I think that he is thinking that having his house burn down and getting laid off from his job in the same month might be some kind of sign from God that he needs to "get out of Dodge". Hmmm, maybe so.

Henry and I have submitted all of his information to the Connections Academy and are just waiting for the shipment of his books and computer. Hopefully I will have him out of school by Thanksgiving at the latest.

Stephi and Randy are laying laminate flooring in there house this week. I can't wait to see how it turns out. It will definitely be a GREAT improvement over the crappy carpet that came will the house... lots of stains on light beige carpet is gross!

Work is pretty much the same... actually better. They have trained some new people to be in charge... so I don't have to do it as often, which is good. I was starting to get tired of doing it all the time. It is nice to actually be a nurse. Makes me remember why I went to nursing school... I was starting to forget.

Last, but not least, I am becoming an official member of Copper Hills Church! I went to a class this past Thursday to learn more about the church and I am signing the pledge on Sunday. If you are all wondering about the Summit, they voted to dissolve last week and they donated their remaining assets to a few different causes. Pastor Scott was offered a full time ministry position at Copper Hills and I've started seeing a few more Summit folks at Copper Hills.

Life goes on.

The End

I went to the Summit tonight since I had the night off. I knew that Scott was going to resign and I wanted to be there and I wanted to see my Summit friends again. But I wish I would have just stayed home. It was like witnessing an extended resuscitation on a dying person or like watching an autopsy. It was hard to be there and I didn't feel like I belonged there anymore. One of the people from the Summit/New Life task force even asked me why I was there (since I have been going to Copper Hills for a month now). I said I was there to visit my friends, but I felt like saying "I don't know".

The truth is that I really don't belong there anymore. I no longer have a vested interest in the Summit. Copper Hills is truly my home now and I think going there tonight showed me that. So I guess it wasn't really a waste. I just felt so bad watching this small group of believers that I once counted as family. They are just trying so hard to keep this group together and I think that the tighter they hold on, the more it moves out of their grasp. Please pray for them.

Wednesday and Pay it Back

I got an email from The Summit yesterday that read:

"In order to help alleviate any uncertainty regarding the future of the Summit, there will be a meeting this Wednesday night for the entire church body for the purpose of claryifying where we are at with the merge decision and what other options are available to us. All are invited and encouraged to attend.

Steve Lingenfelter, pastor of New Life Church, will be there to share New Life's perspective as our partner church. There will be time for everyone to ask questions and voice concerns. We want to make sure that every option available to us has a chance to be discussed before voting on the merge. This gives everyone the chance to make an informed choice. As announced last Thursday, the vote will take place on Thursday, August 28th.

The meeting will be in the cafe at 7pm this WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20th. If you have any questions, but are unable to attend the meeting, please email them beforehand so that they can be addressed."

We currently share a facility with another church, as you can see from above. I am glad that we will be exploring all the options so everyone can see exactly where we are and what will work and what wont. So that is where I will be Wednesday.

Also, Ronda from Ronda's Rants blogged about a great "pay it back" idea yesterday--so the first 3 people who comment will get something special from me. Great idea, Ronda!!

... our struggle is not against a human opponent

I visited Copper Hills Church on Sunday. It was great! Everybody was so friendly and I recognized lots of people. Some had visited our church a few weeks ago and some were actually from the Summit and were visiting to check it out like me.

The message was from Ephesians 6:10-17, the armor of God. It was so timely. It reminded me that the troubles that we have in this world are from Satan and we need to remember that he is the enemy. He wants us to lose focus of that. He wants us to take our eyes off Jesus and concentrate on the problems around us. But if we do that, then we will not be able to stand against the evil one.

I Survived!

Well, I got through it! I gave my testimony last night at church. I was so nervous. I couldn't get my voice to stop shaking and my mouth even went dry, but I persevered and somehow made it through.

I wasn't sure exactly what I would say, after all if you've read my faith journey (all 9 long posts of it) then you know that I had to really shorten it. Pastor Scott even threatened me with 'the hook' if I went too long. Now, I didn't time myself, but it must have been somewhere close to the 5 minute mark because I wasn't dragged off the stage. I prayed about it a lot this week and I figure that I must have said what God wanted me to say... I'm not sure I even remember exactly what I did say. But it must have been OK because a bunch of people came up to me afterwards and said that they enjoyed hearing it. God is good. Who would have ever thought that anything I ever did would bring glory to God?!

Many others shared their testimonies too (some from The Summit and some from Copper Hills) and I never get tired of hearing how God works in the lives of His children. We even got to hear from Pastor Brad and he told a wonderful story of how his summer sabbatical has given him refreshment of his spirit and how he has learned and grown even closer to God.

I would have to say, though, that my favorite part of the night was meeting my brothers and sisters from Copper Hills and realizing that as Christians, no matter where we go we are part of one great and wondrous family. The family of the Living God!

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! - 1 John 3:1

Sorry It's Been So Long

Wow. It was a rough weekend at work. We were very busy. I'm rested up and will try not to go so long without a post again.

On the home front, Henry started his first day of 5th grade yesterday. I spent the evening signing tons of papers. I also plan on calling Steph today to see how the moving went this weekend. Steph and Randy moved into their 1st house.

As for church. We could certainly use all the prayer that you could send up for us. It looks like this is really hard for everyone and I'll definitely post more about it once everything settles down and becomes clearer.

...sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Thursday night at church was very interesting. If I haven't said so yet, all the comments that you all left for me really helped me. And I could tell that you all have been sending prayers up for me. I went to church Thursday with a positive attitude - that God's will would be done.

Our pastor opened with a song and then a reading from Isaiah 35. Our pastor and the pastor from the other church spoke to us and then took the time to answer all the questions that we had. Towards the end our pastor really opened up and shared his feelings about all this with us. And I could feel how he has been carrying a burden for us on his shoulders and in his heart. That's what I needed to hear. I knew right then that we could trust him to do the right thing for our little group of believers.

So I went to work that night and changed my work schedule so I could have Sunday nights off. Thursday night church will soon be a thing of the past. I have no doubts that this is what God has planned for us.

Part 9: Growing Pains

For Part 1 click here
For Part 2 click here
For Part 3 click here
For Part 4 click here
For Part 5 click here
For Part 6 click here
For Part 7 click here
For Part 8 click here

After many months of barely attending and 3 full months of not attending at all, I decided that I had to return to church. After all, even Jesus went to synagogue and He is God (and from what I've read, the religious leadership in His day was seriously lacking).

So I searched the Internet and found a church service on Thursday nights, which was perfect for me, since I was working Friday and Saturday nights. The first time I went, I was surprised at how small it was. After all, I had just come from a church of 10,000 plus. But after that first night I knew that I had found the right place to be. It didn't have the fabulous musical production that I had been accustomed to, but the pastor spoke the message from his heart and that is what kept me returning for more.

This second home that I found is called The Summit. The timing of this post can only be attributed to God Himself. Last night after the church service our pastor shared with us that he has received an offer, for lack of a better word, to join our church with a larger church nearby. This prospect fills me and others that I've spoken to with anxiety. And rightly so. We have come to love our small community of believers. While I have only been there for a year, I count these people as my family.

Joining our family to another is not something to take lightly. Our pastor says it will be like a marriage (The Brady Bunch if you will) of churches and I know intimately just how difficult mixing 2 families can be. I think that my greatest fear is getting lost in a large church again. I feel for the first time in my life as a Christian that my faith is growing deeper and I believe that being part of a small group of Christians that love each other and hold each other accountable is what has made the difference. I know that I'm not alone in the fear that becoming a large church would be a step backwards.

I've learned a lot this past year at the Summit. I've learned that I can share my life and my troubles with others. I can reach out for help when I need it and I can be there to help others that need help too. I've learned that being a Christian is not something you do alone. Yes, it's a narrow path, but there's still room to walk it with someone by your side. I've learned that trials are an opportunity for our faith to grow. I've learned that there is a difference between happiness and true joy.

Life will be filled with conflict, but you can't just give up or bail out when it gets a little tough. We are the net effect of the seeds we have sown in our lives. So this week I will be praying because I've learned that praying is what you do first, not what you try as a last resort.