Blind Faith

Our service today at church was awesome!

One thing I love is hearing stories that move me, inspire me, give me chills. Today, our pastor told one.

Some background: Our church has been holding services in the gym at a local college for the past 8 years. The lease is running out and will not be renewed, so the church is in need of a building. They have searched and searched and searched and searched. They finally found one but need a lot of money to buy it. In researching, the pastor found out that 87% of the church members give less than $50 per month to the church.

So, 2 weeks ago, he had a service about it. He had never talked about money before, but felt that it was a big problem because the members cared more about money than their church and God.

Today, he told us that after the 11:30 service on that day 2 weeks ago, he was praying to God that no first time visitors were at the church that day because he didn't want to turn them off. Then a woman and a man walked up to them. The woman said:

Hi. This is my first Sunday. (Our pastor cringes). The service was good. My husband and I have been married for 4.5 years and we have been doing it "our" way and it isn't working. We need God in our lives. God spoke to me today and told me that I needed to do something. I need to give you my wedding ring, and you are to sell it and use the money toward the building. We paid $16,500 for the ring.

Pastor Matt: No, no, I don't want your ring.

Woman: Listen, you must take the ring.

Pastor Matt: OK, ok.

So he took the ring and the woman and her husband left. The next weekend, there was a marriage retreat at the church. Matt had the ring with him and told the story of the woman who was called to give by God and followed him on blind faith, even as only a first time visitor to the church.

Later, a man at the retreat came up to Matt and told him that he wanted to buy the ring. He told him that it was probably only worth half of what she paid for it, but that he wanted to buy it for $17,000. Pastor Matt said deal.

Then, after the man wrote the check and handed it to Matt, Matt was handing the ring to the man when he said "No, I don't want the ring. There is just one thing you need to do. You need to give that woman back her ring."

At this point during the service, I am balling. I look around and others are too.

Blind faith. God called to the woman and she LISTENED. And she was blessed.

Amazing, isn't it?

Small Group

Joined a small group....
I've been twice now. I like it so far.
What they do is take the sermon from Sunday and expand on a it a little, with questions and discussions about the points of the sermon.
Today the sermon was on decision making. Did they know I'm the worst decision maker of all time? So they asked us to text "Heart" or "Head" to this number on the big screen depending on which mode we used to come up with our decisions. My text, of course, was "Heart." Then they did an instant tally of texts to come up with a percentage of each. It was neat! The result was pretty even...49% of us use our hearts, 51% use our heads. Then the pastor got into how we really shouldn't use either of those modes, but use God instead. Simple as that. We need to listen to the small, quiet voice of God to make our decisions. Makes sense to me. I wonder what God will say next time I ask him whether I should have the Thai crunch salad or the veggie sandwich? HeHe totally kidding! I just threw that in there for those of you who know how deep my indecisiveness runs! So anyway, this week at Small Group, we'll discuss all of this. I'm kinda lookin' forward to it...

Where running takes me.

For me, running started as a way to get in shape. Then, at some point along the way, I started to actually enjoy it. Now, I can't imagine not doing it. While running, I sometimes just sing to myself. Sometimes my mind wanders and I think about men, or work, or movies. Sometimes the only thing I can do is to repeat to myself that I am almost done...and to keep going. Sometimes I think about God. The other day, I was doing my own little Jog-for-God. Is that weird? Anyway, there I was, running up a hill, when I said "Oh God please help me get up this hill!" So then I wondered, is it ok to dedicate a challenging run to God, and then turn around and ask Him to help you do it? hehe :)

It must not have been that bad because He helped me up. And here's what I made it to:

God Blessed Me With a Divorce

I know, you probably read the title and followed it with a big "HUH?" Divorces are awful, right?

Well, keep thinking that for a few because I don't have time to write about this right now but I will later tonight. :) Thanks to Trisha for our discussion today because I was reminded again how thankful I am for the hidden blessings in my life.

[Oh, and note to self...don't forget to write the blog about the "stick" mom bought for you - sheesh! :)]

Ok I'm back. So, yes, God blessed me with a divorce.

Some background: My divorce was one of the most difficult things I have ever gone through. I didn't want it. I prayed almost constantly to God for days and days...longer...asking Him to bring my family back together. One night I couldn't stop crying and I couldn't sleep either and I was exhausted. I talked to my ex husband's grandpa Luther on the phone that night and told him what I was going through. He told me to pray. I told him I was. He told me to pray loudly, scream if it made me feel better. So I sat there and practically begged God to help me sleep and to take the horrible thoughts away from my mind, if only for a little while. That is the last thing I remember before waking up the next morning. That prayer was answered.

But others weren't. My marriage ended and I became a single mom. I never thought I would be a single mom. For what was probably more than 6 months, I would just start crying at work. I would cry in the car. I was a complete mess.

Later after my divorce was final, one year after we first separated, I was feeling better. I wasn't feeling like my old pre-divorce self though. I was feeling like my pre-marriage self. I was happy! I was alive! The light was back in me. In noticing this and in talking with those closest to me, I realized how incredibly unhappy I was during my marriage. My sister said it best when she told me that "misery spewed from my pores." I was stuck in a loveless marriage with a person who I resented for so many reasons. And God gave me an out. He didn't answer my prayers.

Thank you God for unanswered prayers!!!!!