Adding

For a while now Kevin and I have been feeling a call that maybe church the way we do it now isn't where God wants us to be. Not Saying corporate church is bad, it is very much needed, but we are feeling God pull us in a different direction.

While still continuing to go to TCC (our corporate church) we have also started to attend a home church. It has been a blessing to connect with people who have already traveled the road we are now on. We meet on Wednesday nights to sing, read the Bible, share, and pray together.

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, we talked about giving something up or adding something to remind us of God's love. Some of us gave something up, some of us added something, and some of us are still thinking about what they might do for Lent:-)

I was one of them who added. Although I do spend time in the Word, it is not enough. At times I feel very separated from God and it's my own fault. So I decided instead of giving up sweets, pop, junk food, all the things that would be hard for me, it was more important to add time with my Abba. That is what I have been doing. Spending time in His Word.

I am not going to say that I have been perfect in my daily reading. I haven't. But I have been doing much better and God has been speaking. My favorite Bible version is the NIV, probably because I have grown up with it and it is familiar to me, but I do have a New American Standard/Message Parallel Bible that has been a blessing. **Disclaimer** I DO NOT BELIEVE THE MESSAGE IS THE BIBLE, I believe it is another tool to use to grasp what God has to say to us in the Bible. I have come across some "verses" in the Message that have really spoken to me.

Romans 6 around verse 16 (the message doesn't have verses) - "there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act." - Wow, how true. We feel we have "the right" to do what we want, but God is saying that it will lead to death. How many times have we done our free act and wound up broken and bound because of it?

Romans 7 about verse 13 - "Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me." - Satan is so good at tricking us, isn't he? He can candy coat anything and make it look good, when it is nothing but rotting sin. This world is FULL of candy coated rotting sin, and it traps even the "best" Christians. I guess that is why God tells us to always be on the look out, because Satan is just waiting to release his trap.

There is a trap for each one of us Christians, made especially for us, it is where we are weakest, that is where Satan grabs a hold of you. If you really look at your heart to see where you are weak, that is right where Satan will be waiting for you. Psalm 139:23-24 - "Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

There is so much more I would love to write about in Chapters 7 and 8, but really don't have the time right now to do it. I could spend all day reading and writing what is on my heart, because believe me, there is a lot there, but I don't get paid to do that, and there is too much to do around here to spend the day typing away!

Blessings!!