In The Center of God's Will
We had our first real fellowship event as The River tonight. We met at one of the members house on Miner Lake and had a potluck and baptized 5 people in the lake. I was a little nervous, because I've gone to some fellowship events at other churches I've tried out when I was just getting to know people, and its always been really scary and intimidating and embarrassing for an introvert like me. But tonight just brought back to mind that this really is where God wants me to be, and that all of my time of waiting and praying and searching has brought me to this place, with these people, for a purpose. That's a welcome blessing, but its also really scary. I'm reminded of something from the sermon this week. Many people have said that the center of God's will is the safest place to be, but in many ways it can be the least safe, because that's where the devil will come in and try to knock the crap out of you. Okay, it wasn't really stated like that in the sermon, but that was the basic gist of it all. In general I'm trying to be more trusting and have more faith that God is leading me in my daily walk (as well as trusting and being more vulnerable with my friends) but that is achingly painful for a trust-phobic person like myself. I've made the mistake of letting people's betrayals of me in the past transmit over into my viewpoint of God. Bad Carrie- bad, bad Carrie.
I'm also happy today because I feel like I'm getting to know people there- even though Paul and Melissa weren't there, I didn't lack for people to talk to. I think in a way it was good for them to be sick- or playing hooky, depending on your interpretation, forced me out o my introvertedness. We were discussing how many people we could name who were from the River that we didn't know before we began meeting- and I could only do about 5. Shows my lacking, and I didn't really learn anyone new today, but I feel like I got to know the people better that I already knew. Also, the baptisms were great! Its great to see the power of God moving in such a visible way. I'm so glad that I had a great time, because this bitter, mean woman (im being serious when I describe her that way) who comes into the daycare occasionally to tell us what we were doing wrong came in to yell at me for having the sprinkler on in the hot time of the day, and it was getting the air conditioner wet- oh my! I had to restrain myself from yelling at her "The thing is outside all WINTER! I think it can survive the sprinkler getting a little wet if it can survive snow and rain storms!!!" I think the hardest thing to take is that she has absolutely NO role in the management of the daycare, the facilities of the church, or any ability to discuss things in a rational manner- she goes right to angry accusations. Thankfully, I restrained myself (there was still a child in the daycare) and through prayer, loud music, and driving slightly faster than usual I arrived with a positive attitude. Isn't it amazing how you can be going along in a perfectly normal day, excited about something and then the devil (or our own sinful spirits) will lay something in our paths that derails us from what we are pursuing? And it can take only one thing to bump us off when 20 positive things may have happened that day.
Quote
I had just spilled juice on Juliana's new outfit, and while I was cleaning it up, I jokingly said, "Sorry Juliana, no ones perfect."
Natalie: "I am."
Me: "Excuse me? Did you say that you are perfect?"
Nat: "yes."
Me: "but honey, we all make bad choices, we all make mistakes. Only Jesus was perfect, not us."
Nat: "I am."
I don't think I ever really got her to understand the concept of her own imperfections. I'll have to work on that- a mental note for next year's Jesus Time- make sure the kids know they aren't perfect.
We had our first real fellowship event as The River tonight. We met at one of the members house on Miner Lake and had a potluck and baptized 5 people in the lake. I was a little nervous, because I've gone to some fellowship events at other churches I've tried out when I was just getting to know people, and its always been really scary and intimidating and embarrassing for an introvert like me. But tonight just brought back to mind that this really is where God wants me to be, and that all of my time of waiting and praying and searching has brought me to this place, with these people, for a purpose. That's a welcome blessing, but its also really scary. I'm reminded of something from the sermon this week. Many people have said that the center of God's will is the safest place to be, but in many ways it can be the least safe, because that's where the devil will come in and try to knock the crap out of you. Okay, it wasn't really stated like that in the sermon, but that was the basic gist of it all. In general I'm trying to be more trusting and have more faith that God is leading me in my daily walk (as well as trusting and being more vulnerable with my friends) but that is achingly painful for a trust-phobic person like myself. I've made the mistake of letting people's betrayals of me in the past transmit over into my viewpoint of God. Bad Carrie- bad, bad Carrie.
I'm also happy today because I feel like I'm getting to know people there- even though Paul and Melissa weren't there, I didn't lack for people to talk to. I think in a way it was good for them to be sick- or playing hooky, depending on your interpretation, forced me out o my introvertedness. We were discussing how many people we could name who were from the River that we didn't know before we began meeting- and I could only do about 5. Shows my lacking, and I didn't really learn anyone new today, but I feel like I got to know the people better that I already knew. Also, the baptisms were great! Its great to see the power of God moving in such a visible way. I'm so glad that I had a great time, because this bitter, mean woman (im being serious when I describe her that way) who comes into the daycare occasionally to tell us what we were doing wrong came in to yell at me for having the sprinkler on in the hot time of the day, and it was getting the air conditioner wet- oh my! I had to restrain myself from yelling at her "The thing is outside all WINTER! I think it can survive the sprinkler getting a little wet if it can survive snow and rain storms!!!" I think the hardest thing to take is that she has absolutely NO role in the management of the daycare, the facilities of the church, or any ability to discuss things in a rational manner- she goes right to angry accusations. Thankfully, I restrained myself (there was still a child in the daycare) and through prayer, loud music, and driving slightly faster than usual I arrived with a positive attitude. Isn't it amazing how you can be going along in a perfectly normal day, excited about something and then the devil (or our own sinful spirits) will lay something in our paths that derails us from what we are pursuing? And it can take only one thing to bump us off when 20 positive things may have happened that day.
Quote
I had just spilled juice on Juliana's new outfit, and while I was cleaning it up, I jokingly said, "Sorry Juliana, no ones perfect."
Natalie: "I am."
Me: "Excuse me? Did you say that you are perfect?"
Nat: "yes."
Me: "but honey, we all make bad choices, we all make mistakes. Only Jesus was perfect, not us."
Nat: "I am."
I don't think I ever really got her to understand the concept of her own imperfections. I'll have to work on that- a mental note for next year's Jesus Time- make sure the kids know they aren't perfect.
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