I came home...finally!

Okay so most of you are my close friends so you already know I have STRUGGLED with going to church since Emma was born. I started with the whole "worried about illness when she was an infant" thing. Then I worried because she didn't do transitions well or new people (she still doesn't)and then I moved to the whole guilt thing. She is already in daycare 5 days a week and it is just too hard on her and me to take her to church care too. BLAH BLAH BLAH... I OWN that it has been hard to get there and so we have only been a FEW times since she was born...on Sundays when Mom and Don had the girls.

I know there are people who see church as a routine thing they do or something they know is the right thing to do. I get that. I know there are many people that have just been doing the church thing their whole lives. I don't really know what I was waiting on because the desire to be in church has always been there for me, even when it wasn't for the rest of my family growing up. I didn't grow up in church... and only started attending a small Baptist church with my friend, Suzanne in 7th grade. When I changed high schools during my sophmore year, my friend Janet encouraged me to go with her to Asbury and so I did all the way through high school and college. During college, I went to the Vineyard in OKC whenever I stayed at school on weekends. Todd and I were married at Asbury and our membership still remains there today. Since being married, Todd and I have attended Arrow Heights Baptist Church, then First Baptist Broken Arrow... until recently.

Here is the thing with me and church attendance... I absolutely believe that I can love God and believe in Him without going to church. We are called to fellowship with a body of believers and it is HIGH TIME I got with the program on this! I crave Bible Study (I truly LOVE it!) and I so enjoy worship. I have found that I can be comfortable nearly anywhere as long as I am learning about Jesus. I have been to a variety of churches and most recently, have begun attending Broken Arrow Church of Christ. I gotta tell ya. I was REALLY nervous the first time. Why? The standards are pretty high and let's be honest, I am ALL ABOUT meeting expectations. It is Kelly's church (as my girls say) and seeing her welcoming me was of great comfort.

As I said before, I wasn't raised in church. We didn't go as a family... ever. (Okay, maybe once or twice after years of begging... but it was RARE!)I don't mean to CHEESE out here but I absolutely loved how it felt being there with people I consider part of my family (I would be speaking of Kelly and her boys, all 3 of them). Things were done differently... some different songs, no instrumental music (WOW, do I sing off key! Have mercy!), very traditional format, little kids in the service (I LOVE this for Emma!) but I have to say, it was the best BIBLE teaching I had been around in A LONG TIME. It was straight up and I LOVED that! I think I could have cried. It felt like I had come home. You know what? That is exactly what had happenned! Thank you for all of you who have prayed for me to just BUST A MOVE back to church! I don't know if BA Church of Christ is where I will remain but I really feel at home there. Katherine has made some great connections during Bible Study on Wednesday Nights and during camp last week. Todd and Emma are warming up... and I am all about it!

I write all of this to share with you a very personal struggle of mine and to encourage you to just GO! Go and be with God wherever you feel at home. It is really a bummer that I have kept God waiting, especially when He has been waiting right there for me all this time. Don't hear me wrong, I have ALWAYS been faithful to pray and believe. Now, I am being faithful to attend and be with a body of believers to learn even more about Him.



Katherine and I @ Burnt Cabin Christian Camp