That precious thing called the Church

2 Corinthians 13:5 starts off with simply this, "Examine yourselves as to wether you are in the faith. Test yourselves."

I love the Church. And I don't just mean our church, though I'm quite biased and think we have a pretty awesome church! But I love the Body of Christ as a whole. I love how different churches have different focal points. They have different passions that drive them; goals and visions that God has given to that particular church. I love that not all churches are the same. How boring would that be? I love the differences that make up the Body of Christ. There are so many wonderfully amazing, Bible believing Churches amongst the Body of Christ.

That being said, can I tell you my pet peeve? Or at least one of them...I'll save my list of annoyances for a later date as surely you all will tune me right out. But gum popping ranks pretty high on said list. And the sound of clipping nails. Lily likes to list my pet peeves. Sheesh, what a great example I'm setting.

My #1 pet peeve in all the world is this: Church bashing. Drives me up an ever lovin' wall. When good hearted, well meaning people, come against the church and all that the American Church is not doing, it seriously hurts my heart. Again, perhaps I'm biased, because I'm blessed to belong to a church that full well knows we are not doing everything, but by golly we are doing something. And so are many, many, mannnnnnnnny churches in this great nation of America. I absolutely love to see what other churches are doing for the Lord! I have a few different churches I like to watch on TV; I follow many churches on facebook & I watch different churches online. Why? Because there is so much to learn from the great body of Christ! God gave us all different gifts. And I love to see those gifts in action.

Forgive me if that sounded harsh, my main pet peeve. I guess I just love the church so much on a personal level, that when I hear any negativity towards God's great body, it crushes my heart. I love the church because I would not be here in this great life I live, if not for the church. It was because of a church youth group that I accepted Christ, as a pain filled teenager. It was because of the church that I learned life skills that some take for granted, as I did not learn them in the home as a kid. It was because of the church that I grew in my relationship with the Lord. And it's now because of the church, that I get to do something for the Lord that I never in a million years thought I would be fit to do. And quite honestly, I'm not!

That all being said, I fully realize the church is not perfect. Every church has it's issues, of course. It's made of people. But what an awesome institution that God ordained for His people, the local church. He set up a pattern for us to follow. Hebrews tells us: "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

We have the privilege to come together to "stir up love and good works." Isn't that what the body of Christ is about? That we should come together, regardless of our doctrinal and theological differences, and "stir up love?" Oh my goodness that's powerful. Stir up love.

My favorite preacher, aka my husband, spoke Sunday on the topic of Offense. It's been popping up in random things I've been reading this week, all the way down to my morning devotional today. Clearly the Lord is talking to me! Offense comes to everyone. And yes, it comes to the church. Which is such a bummer. But it does.

Smith Wigglesworth says this: "There are thousands and thousands of different churches, but they are all one in the Spirit to the extent they receive the life of Christ. If there is any division, it is always outside of the Spirit. The Spiritual life in the believer never has known dissension, because where the Spirit has perfect liberty, there is total agreement, and there is no schism in the body."

If we simply would live every day according to the freedom that that Christ died to give us, there would be no room for an offense to settle. Because as soon as something offends us, we would have our Spiritual eyes on, and we would recognize it for what it is: the bait of Satan. If we have on the right eyes, in that moment, we will not choose to accept the bait, but rather, we will "stir up love." The moment we allow the offense to settle in our hearts, is the moment we take the bait. And when we take the bait, as my handsome bald man says, we become an agent of Satan. As we allow offense to build in us, we begin to operate out of a very scary place. We begin to say things that we normally would not say - we make choices that we otherwise would not make - we leave churches and relationships - we give up on dreams and begin to lose our passion for the thing we once held so dear. Because we took the bait.

2 Corinthians 6:3 says, "give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not blamed." We all have a ministry. You don't have to be a Pastor of a church, an evangelist or a head of a ministry to take this verse to heart. Anyone that confesses Jesus as Lord has a ministry! Your life becomes ministry the moment you accept Christ. We have a bigger picture.

Again from today's devotional: "God wants to show us that we must so live in the Spirit that the ministry is not blamed. If your ministry is not to be blamed, how can you help to prevent it from being blamed? You have to live in love. See to it that you never say or do anything that would interfere with the work of the Lord; rather, live in the place where you are helping everybody, and causing everybody to come into perfect harmony. Remember, there is always a blessing where there is harmony. 'One accord' is the keynote of the victory that is going to come to us all the time."

There it is again, "Stir up love."

Today, I'm choosing love. Tomorrow, I'm choosing love. And when offense comes, as it will, I'm going to "stir up love." I'll even love those that have created my biggest pet peeve, coming against the sweet and precious church of my Lord. Why? Because I refuse to be an agent of Satan. No bait for me today. I'm full :)

How about you?

Oh ya, that book...

I've mentioned before that I'm working on a book; a few of you have been so kind as to ask me about it's progress! The operative word here being "working." It's taking quite some time to actually be able say that I'm "working" on it at all. My hopes are that in the fall, when our regular routine starts up (actually I can't say it's a regular routine as it will be a new routine!) I plan to devote much more time to it. At any rate, I thought I'd share a chapter of it that I have done with you. It's totally a rough draft, so forgive my errors and if it flat does not make sense! But I would love your feedback. Thank you!

Chapter Three: I am enough

Madison Avenue was a very busy street; it was years ago when I lived there and it still is to this day. The street was lined with huge bushes, to provide a barrier to the noise, albeit unsuccessfully. I remember the flower they produced so vividly, as I walked Madison Avenue often.

One particular day my mom sent me to the gas station to pick up a loaf of bread. I was probably about 7 years old at the time, and the walk was pretty far for my little legs to take me, at least half a mile if not more. I did not mind the walk; it gave me something to do. And although I had to cross a busy intersection, again, no matter to me. The downside to this journey was that as you will recall, we were on State assistance for food therefore I went without cash, but with food stamps. I don’t know how my little mind knew that it was embarrassing to have to use food stamps. I don’t ever recall being teased about it or anyone even knowing for that matter, but for some reason, I just knew that it was not how the majority of my friends’ families functioned.

Perhaps it was because when I was able to sleep over at a friend’s house, I always was thrilled when it came time to eat! We always got to have something for dinner that was different than the beans and rice, or top ramen that I’d grown accustomed to. And when I slept over on a school night, look out world, Jen was taking a sack lunch to school! Complete with a Kudos bar! It was hog heaven for me.

Now don’t get me wrong, we never went without food. Sure we had food stamps, and yes I recall getting food from a church, but we never were without. And the reason for that is because my grandparents were always there. My dad’s parents, they took care of us in lieu of their son’s responsibility. At the start of every school year, they bought us clothes, and often, groceries. Very early on in life, we started spending weekends with them. I cherished those times. We went to pizza every Saturday night and breakfast every Sunday morning. Funny how I recall every food related detail. No, I don’t have food issues or anything! My Grandparents were an integral part of my childhood.

Back to my walk to the Gas station. I eventually made my way there, grabbed the loaf of bread and placed it on the counter. I gave the man my food stamps, more than enough to cover the cost. No big deal right? Well, you would think I’d committed treason the way the clerk treated me. He would not let me have the bread. He said my mother needed to be with me if I was going to use the food stamps. And so I left. Without my bread. And without any ounce of dignity I had left inside my 7 year old little heart.

It wasn’t the lack of bread that hurt me, even though I knew it was an inconvenience to go home empty handed to my mom who had enough on her extremely full yet somehow empty plate. It was the shame that filled me in that moment. I already was embarrassed to be on state assistance. I already was embarrassed to have to pull the food stamps out of my pocket and place it on the counter for someone to see it and know of my plight. I guess in my mind, seeing that food stamp told my story. In my mind, if someone saw that food stamp, well then surely they knew all the dark secrets that our little duplex on Madison Avenue held. Surely they knew of the addiction that resided there, surely they knew of the abuse that took place. In my mind, that food stamp represented all that I was. The shame, and the embarrassment that was me. And it was not enough. That’s what I left the gas station with that day, the reminder that I’m not enough.

What would it have taken that man to just to give me the loaf of bread, to spare me the humiliation? I wish the adult version of me could have came up behind me that day and done what I would do if I saw that situation play out now. If I saw a child attempting to purchase a measly loaf of bread I would happily buy that sweet kid the bread. And then some candy. And then maybe a toy! Anything to reverse the shame that was clearly overwhelming that child.

But the adult version of me did not come to my aid that day. Nor did anyone else for that matter. And so it became just another time where the reality of my world was evident; that I was not enough.

I wasn’t enough to cause my father to stop drinking. I wasn’t enough to keep my parents together, striving for a better life for my siblings and myself. I wasn’t enough. That was my reality then. But it’s not my reality now!

I am enough! I may have been “a statistic waiting to happen” as someone once labeled me but I can say now, with my head held high, that I AM ENOUGH! God thinks I’m pretty special. He says in His Word that “greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world.” So clearly He thinks I’m enough if He is willing to reside inside me. If God is willing to live in this heart of mine, this heart that has been broken more times than I care to count, this heart that has been stepped on by people, trampled on and rejected, if the Almighty Creator of this world still chooses to dwell in my heart then wow, I guess I am enough. And so are you.

No matter what life has labeled you, no matter what hand you have been dealt in this life, you are enough. You are enough! You have what it takes to make it. You can be anything you want to be. You can do anything you want to do. Greater is He that lives inside of you. God does not dwell in worthless habitats. It’s not in His character to do so. He is far to genius for that. He is much to royal to lower His standards to abide in a place of not enough.

Jesus says in John 15:4, “Abide in me and I in you.” Wait a minute, what? Abide in me and I in you? The same God that so delicately created the flower abides in me? The same God that so powerfully created the rushing wind and the mighty waves, He abides in me? Yes. Yes He does. The same God that created the strong and powerful Volcano to erupt is the same God that so tenderly hand crafted you in the womb.

The clerk at the gas station that day had no idea what he did when he turned away a little tow headed 7-year-old girl. But that’s ok. Because every time I buy a loaf of bread now, I’m going to take a moment to thank God, not only for the means to buy the bread, but to thank Him for the sweet reminder that He gives me, that I’m enough. Perhaps you will do the same.