Today's Devotion

Being Thankful: Part 4 Church




Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.~ Romans 12:9, NLT



Today I'm focusing on being thankful for church, but am using the wide defination of church being all believers where we should do just as this verse says not pretend and really love one another. I feel quite blessed to have a church home with 4 walls as well as a church among believers through fellowship to fill the void between Monday and Sunday. Now I will say without the formal structure of attending church service it does make it more difficult I think to walk a Christian life. We started attending our church about 2.5 years ago and since that time God has really worked in both Nathen and I's life; partly because I think we are getting that spiritual recharging each Sunday morning through worship, and message~they also do a wonderful job of encouraging us to continue our worship and fellowship through the week. So I'm so thankful for our church and the wonderful people I've met through our weekly attendance there. Now the informal church we can experience outside the walls of church on Sundays; fellowship with other believers. I thought I'd share a couple of examples of how God has blessed me with fellow christians in my life. First, all of our nannies for the boys have made their christian faith known and have been very open about sharing their faith, and even asking for prayer. It's such a blessing to know that the boys are cared for by strong Christians, and am so thankful that although a short time in our lives usually about a year I've been able to be a part of their lives. Michele was with us for about a year moving back home in May and for being in her early 20's her faith was so important to her she even talked about it in her interview! Karli our current nanny requested a devotional, bible study material so she could get back on track with her walk with God, and we share prayer requests for each other. Although my workplace is not affliated with a church I again feel blessed that I do know other Christians in my building that I can talk to and pray with. Just last week as I was preparing to do a presentation for a classroom one of the teachers shared with me about listening to God, now I barely know this teacher but she felt confident enough to talk about her faith with me, and I was encouraged by our conversation, I always feel like I can't share my faith much working for a school district but our talk made me realize that there are things I can do to show my faith. Now when I'm not working or at church I'm blessed by great friends, and a loving Christian husband (eventhough he claims he's not a good Christian, I've seen him be more Christ like at times than me) some very strong Christians, some may not be Christians at all but the fellowship that I have my friends in Christ is always encouraging, and helps keep me on track and motivated to continue to share the message with my friends who may not know Jesus as their personal savior. I'm not sure where I'd be in my walk with God if I did not have all these support systems/churches in my life. It's just amazing how your life's focus changes when people around you are Christian and you build each other up. So lets all try to love each other so we can experience the blessing of Christian fellowship.



In God's Love,

Sarah