This is My Short Version

I have a million thoughts going through my mind today, so this post may be very scattered!

Today, we went to church as usual, only Lily was having no part of staying in the nursery today. She was screaming her head off, so we just decided to take her to the service with us. For most churches, this wouldn't be that obvious, but our church is so small that every little noise she made seemed like it was so distracting. Oh well, that's just the way life is sometimes.

The sermon today was quite honestly, very depressing to me. Not because it wasn't the truth, but because it hit close to home. We started a new series today called Kaleo, which means "called." Our Pastor talked about how we are called to community, like the church in Acts 2:42-47. They devoted themselves to fellowship with one another. They had a shared relationship. They did life together and had a deeper experience because of that. He talked about how having this type of biblical community demands extreme commitment. This commitment is what produces extreme results.

Our church doesn't have Sunday School. They meet on Friday nights for Lifegroups at the Pastor's home. Our church just started in January. It is a really small group right now, but I know that it has the potential to do great things! Our Pastor told us that he feels it is more important to be in the lifegroups than it is to come to church every Sunday. The lifegroups is where we will have that biblical community. Church is just the entry point to welcome others to join. He wants us to experience life together. Our church, by the way, is called Lifepoint. By becoming a family, and not just going to church on Sunday, we can accomplish great things for the Lord!

Let me back up a minute. Last week, the Pastor told us to let him know if we could help out. Because we have such a small group, his wife has NEVER been to a service because she is always with the kids. Another one of the wives is always in the nursery and never goes to the service either. Well, I emailed to let them know I would love to help. I have been feeling that since I finally got over the hurdle of going to church, that I should practice what I preach, so to speak, and be someone who gets involved and doesn't just talk the talk. Anyways, of course he emailed to let me know they need help in the nursery. Well, I had to email him back and tell him that I just can't do the nursery. I know how I am and committing to something like that would cause me to have extreme anxiety and I would probably end up not going to church because of it. He told me that he would find other ways for me to help in more of a behind-the-scenes type of way, but I have been feeling incredibly guilty for not stepping up. I kept thinking, maybe the Lord is challenging me. Maybe it won't always be comfortable.

So, I've been praying about this. I've been praying that the Lord will let me know where I can help. I've known I should be going to Lifegroups, but again, it's out of my comfort zone to be sociable with people I hardly know. I think today's service was the answer I've been praying for. I think the Lord is trying to tell me that he is calling me to step up, to do things that may be out of my comfort zone, because that is the only way I'm going to be able to do His work. I don't think the Pastor was trying to make us feel guilty or anything like that, I think he was just being honest. If we all stepped up, we could do great things with our church! It's never going to happen if we are just content to go to church service for one hour on Sunday.

So, I just felt horrible after service today because I know that I have not been putting the Lord first. Our Pastor said most of us schedule church activities around all of our other commitments, but what we really should be doing is putting the Lord first and then schedule our other commitments around Him. He is so right. Why is it that I can go to dance, softball, the movies, etc. and be just fine with the time and social aspects of those things, but I can find a million reasons not to go to the Lifegroups? It's not right, but I am terrified of stepping out of my comfort zone.

Anyhow, after church we went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant because we had free kid's meal coupons, courtesy of the girls' good grades at school. Then, we went to the mall and let the kids ride the carousel, for free, using some tickets we got at a recent Birthday party that Kaylee went to. Lily was laughing the entire time!

I took this picture with my cell phone.
It was a fun day and when I finally got on the computer, I found out I had won a giveaway from Bethany over at Happyascanb! I couldn't believe it! It was a fabulous giveaway filled with all of my favorite things: a book, mascara, coffee, and a travel coffee mug! That just made my day!

Another thing that's been on my mind lately is blogging. I have been hesitant to get to know anyone new, simply because I spend so much time on the computer as it is trying to keep up with what all of my friends are doing. Well, because of that, I almost missed a great opportunity to get to know two of my fellow Texan bloggers:

Crystal at You and Me Plus Three - She is traveling to Houston tomorrow for her daughter, Bentley's open heart surgery. I decided to check out her blog the other day, because Veronica is friends with her. That's when I found out she was coming to Houston. I almost missed an opportunity to offer my help and support because I was being selfish. I have her button posted on my sidebar. I know she would love it if we could all pray for her, if you aren't already.

Tiffany at The Pifer's Journey - Tiffany and her husband have been trying to conceive for 3 years now, and are about to begin fertility treatments. Her friends have gotten together and are selling bracelets and keychains to help pay for expenses, because her insurance does not cover any of these treatments. I have her button on my sidebar also if you would like to help.

Anyways, these are just two ways that the Lord has shown me that I must not be selfish and I must always be sensitive to His calling. I pray every day that He will help me hear Him and be guided by the ways that I can serve Him. My MIL has season tickets to the Astros, so I was able to get Crystal's kids some tickets so they can go to a game this week while they're here. Also, my SIL's sister works in the ICU where Bentley will be after her surgery. She will be off this week, but she has all the other nurses looking out for Bentley. I'm not trying to make myself look good by telling you this, I'm simply using it to illustrate how I could've missed this opportunity to help if I hadn't taken the time out to read her story.

Anyways, if you read this long post, you must be Veronica. LOL!!!! Ha!!!! Love ya, Veronica!
Veronica and I both don't have a short version to any story!

Have a great week everyone!!!