my favorite day of the week...

is Sunday!  I love our church family.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  When I walk into church it feels like home.  I love the people, the kids, the preaching, the music.  Today was especially cool because we got to see our former music pastor, Kent Ferrin, his beautiful wife, Kathy and their kiddos, Abby and Will.  I've really missed them, and today when I saw them and hugged them it was hard to believe it had been 2 years since I'd last seen them.

Those 2 were the ones I looked up to the most while they were here.  I'm a choir girl, and Kent was my pastor.  Because I was with them the most.  Kent did such a great job at making us feel like a family.  We sang together, we had parties and cookouts and game nights together and we all just genuinely liked each other.  Not that we don't now, we do!  We just don't do as much as a group anymore.

It's okay, though.  I don't expect for things to always stay the same.  Times change.  People move on.  Change is inevitable.  Am I always okay with it?  Of course not.  Do I want things to stay just the way we are?  Sometimes.  But I shouldn't feel that way.  I know that the things of this life are only temporary.  And yes, I become very attached to things the way they are.  I am constantly working on that.

I started writing this about my favorite day of the week, and got sidetracked.  Whoops.  It was about church this morning.  The worship is always so good at our church.  I'm a music girl (I said I was a choir girl) and the music is what always makes me either really like a place...or really NOT like a place.  We've been to other churches, and none had the kind of music that I was used to.  And we're not just church peeps.  We are pentecostal peeps.

Do you know what that means?  We clap our hands, we raise our hands, we're never really still, people shout "Hallelujah!", we are generally loud people.  And the music?  There's only one volume setting: LOUD.  Just the way I like it.  I love to participate in the service.  I love to sing in the choir.  I love to lead worship on the praise team.  It's my favorite place to be...in the house of the Lord.

My kids feel the same way.  Just this morning after a great service, 2 of them came home wanting to write out Bible verses they're going to start memorizing.  Life verses, they called them.  They came home with these on a card.  The title is 10 For Life, and today they got the first 3.  The first one is Proverbs 3:5&6.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."

The 2nd one is John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."

The last one is 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land."

I love that they got so much out of church this morning.  In this day and age, there are so many things that we as parents are up against.  Life with technology is nice at times, and scary at other times.  It's nice because we have everything at our fingertips, but it's scary because of the bad stuff that can be at their little fingertips.  Or mine, or my husband's.  I am constantly in prayer over my family, though, and I trust that God IS directing our paths, just as His word promises. 

This is why I love Bible study so much.  It keeps me fresh in His word and His promises.  I'm currently just starting Esther...It's Tough Being A Woman by Beth Moore.  I haven't started the homework yet, but from the one dvd session we've watched, I know it's going to be awesome.  With my awesome church peeps.  Of the women variety.  :)  Happy sigh here. 

What about you?  How do you stay fresh in God's word?  How do you tackle to task of raising your kids in this day and age?  Just curious.  Leave your thoughts...even if you've never commented before, now is a great time to start!  Love to all.