On First, Heading to Second

UPDATE:

Earlier this morning, I posted about my good bloggy friend Veronica because we were both praying for each other to have a good church experience. Well, you have got to go read her post today about her experience! It is amazing proof that we both serve a big and mighty God!! I just cannot believe it. Like Veronica said, she is in CA and I am in TX, but it's like we are twins separated at birth. She had almost the same exact worship experience today as I did, right down to the scriptures and the song they sang! WOW!! It truly is confirmation that God listens and he hears our prayers.


ORIGINAL POST:

You, my sweet friends, are the greatest! What a wonderful treasure to get home and know that you were all praying for me! I had a wonderful time at church today with my best friend Jennifer.

The church we visited today will have its one year anniversary this Easter. It is a new branch of a long-time Baptist church here in Baytown. The idea of this new campus is to be a little bit more of a contemporary service and they have life groups that meet at people's homes instead of Sunday School. Their service starts at 9:30, but they have a coffee bar starting at 9, where you can come and just have fellowship with the other members. I liked that they didn't care what you wear and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. Plus, y'all know how much I love my coffee! Ha!

I got there today and took the girls (M and K) to the children's church. A few minutes after I got back into the sanctuary, Jennifer came in. This morning, my stomach was going crazy, but I was determined that I was going to church no matter what! Once I got there, I was fine, so thank you for your prayers! They really made a difference!

The service started off with about 30 minutes worth of music. They had people that played the drums, keyboard, and guitar and then people that just sang. Jennifer and I kept wondering if they were ever going to actually preach a message or just sing the whole time! LOL It was good music, in fact, they sang that song "Mighty to Save" which I recognized off my WOW CD that I bought. Since it was Spring Break, the regular Pastor was not there, but the person who did preach had a wonderful message.

The sermon had a whole analogy to baseball. He basically said you start out batting, you keep your eye on the ball, and first base is when you accept Christ. Second base is when you learn to live in God's grace. Third base is where you begin to want to live a life of service and then of course, the goal is to get to home base and bring others with you. I'm sure I messed it up somehow, but that's the Kristin version! The idea is to stay focused and to always be wanting to move forward, not for yourself, but for God. He said that by the time you are on your way to home plate, it would be nice to live such a life that when you walk into a room, the aroma of Christ fills that room just because Christ is in you! I loved that! The scriptures were from Phillipians.

Funny story......before the service started, Jennifer and I were both joking around about how we didn't know where all the books of the bible are and how we might look dumb if they had us turn to one. I'm just keeping it real, y'all. I love the Lord, always have, but I have so much to learn. I don't read my bible, but I really want to learn to do so, and I hope that one day I will love reading it. I told her good thing my bible has the little tabs on the outside! So, sure enough, they had us turn to Phillipians. I'm like looking all through the tabs to find it, then I finally find it at the end and I whisper to Jennifer "it's at the end." LOL Then she finds it in hers and we feel better! :)

I really liked that a lady we met said she was so glad we came and that they just wanted us to find a church. They hope it will be there's, but that it doesn't matter if it's not, they just want us to find a home. The girls had alot of fun and said they would love to go back. Jennifer said the message was exactly what she needed and I felt the same. We actually felt like that message was meant just for us!

So, that was my church experience. We plan to go back there next Sunday. I don't know if it will end up being my church home, or not, but I did enjoy it very much. I was telling my husband about it and he seemed very interested in it and I think it is a place where he would feel very comfortable, so that's a good sign.

My story definitely shows that prayer works. Even a few months ago, this day would not have happened. It's incredible how my life is changing!