The Fellowship of the Believers (Lord of the Rings pun intended)

A while back (very long ago, seeing I haven't posted in almost 9 months!) I wrote an article about going to church. If you would like to read that post, you may do so here: http://ayouthpastorswife.blogspot.com/2013/09/back-to-basics-going-to-church.html. And here I am to post again on the same subject. It has been weighing heavy on my heart because here lately our church has seen pretty decent numbers on Sunday mornings, then less than 20 on Sunday night, and even our faithful members seem to find excuses to not come to Sunday School and Sunday Morning Worship. 

As usual, my husband and I (and now our cute little boy) were watching a pastor on one of our local channels that comes on, early Sunday morning. He was talking about the first church and used these verses:

Acts 2:41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

This was a wonderful time for the early church. People were getting saved daily, and worshiping daily. Worshiping daily?! We can hardly stand to get together at the most 3 times a week! They met together, fellowshiped together, and had corporate worship in the Temple each day. They didn't mind worshiping in public even if that meant persecution.


I guess my question is, What reason did you not go to church today? I know there are reasons to stay home. Maybe you are a shut in, or sick (ain't nobody got time for a stomach bug!), etc. However, I think we are too easily tempted to make excuses for why we can't come to church. My favorite one right now is the 'I didn't get to bed until 'such and such' time in the morning, therefore, I needed my sleep.' As a new mom that is happy to get a solid 4-5 hours, this annoys me so much. Rant aside, I know it's easy to let other things become a priority: sleep, family coming over, work, school, but how shallow do those things sound when the early church was meeting together daily with the threat of persecution over their heads?


I don't say this to make myself look great. I am also tempted to put other things before church, Bible, prayer, but the sermon this morning, and scripture, remind me that I should count it a blessing to have fellowship with my fellow believers.

How to Have a Passion for Purity

About to enter the dating scene? Already dating but don't want to go too far?  Sometimes it's so hard to know how far is too far, and what rules you should live by. A conference told you one thing, your boyfriend/girlfriend is telling you another. What's a girl (or boy!) supposed to do?

Last night during our Bible study we came across this verse from Psalm 119:9

How can a young person stay pure?

    By obeying your word.

That's it. Those are the rules. Do you want to know how to keep your relationship from going 'too far' then get into God's Word and see what He says. Not only that, but you have to do what He says!

I loved the Joshua Harris books: I kissed Dating Goodbye, and Boy Meets Girl and highly recommend them to those wanting to go a different route than most. However, when it came time for my own love story things didn't go quite according to how I pictured they would. For starters, I was in Thailand, and my then boyfriend was in the States. We didn't physically date until 9 months after we met through a mutual friend on Facebook. This meant that all those 'rules' that the books and conferences suggested had no meaning for my particular situation. What did we do?

I think it helped that both he and I had a desire for purity. If your boyfriend or fiance doesn't have the same desire for purity that you have, then you don't need to be in the relationship. More than likely, he will cause you to do things that you don't want to do, and to go farther than you want to go. So, having a significant other that has a relationship with God (and not just one that says he's a Christian but doesn't live like one) is vital for a pure relationship. 

Second, we told each other that we would put God first in the relationship instead of each other. We then got on the same page as far as once we did meet, what we would do physically. Now, here comes the tricky part, because you have to decide what you will do to keep your relationship pure. For us, we stayed where people were, held hands, but never kissed. Actually, my husband never told me he loved me until he asked me to marry him, and we never kissed until our wedding day. This is what we did, and once we set up those guidelines for ourselves it lifted the burden of knowing whether or not we were going too far. It allowed trust to be built between each other. Since we often skyped while we were alone, knowing each others heart and intentions made it where we never ventured into the 'unknown' (you know, the after marriage stuff) or 'too far' category.

I said all that to say, you have to read the Bible, you have to set the guidelines with yourself and with your significant other. You both need to be in the Word. Because it doesn't matter how many conferences you go to, or books you read, your heart needs to be in the right place. 

Wisdom From my Mom

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and I thought I would share some wisdom my mom has taught me over the years that I hope to use with my own little boy. Also as a youth pastor's wife who deals with teenagers/kids a lot I see just how important some of her wisdom is when it comes to parenting!
Note: I am in no way trying to tell you I have parenting figured out (because, I really don't have a clue!), nor am I saying I was raised perfectly. These are some things that I feel that my mom got right, and I believe she has done her very best.

Mom First, Friend Second

I am guessing this must be a hard thing to do, but I am so thankful that my mom used this motto with us. So many parents today want to be buddies with their kids instead of dealing with their behavior and being their mom. Because my mom didn't put up with some 'rebellious' actions of mine as a 13 year old, she and I have a great relationship today. She disciplined me then, so we could be friends as adults. I pray I do the same with my little one. I don't want to 'talk down' to him, but I also don't want to allow him to do wrong things because I just don't want to hurt his feelings.

Never Talk Bad About Your Kids in Front of Them

My mom would shake her head every time she heard a mother say things like 'He/She's impossible.' 'I can't wait until school starts again.', 'They just drive me insane!', etc. Mom always said that of course kids are going to act badly if that's all that's expected of them! Not saying you won't have challenging kids (I know I was a bit of one!), but my mom felt that tearing your kids down wasn't the answer, love and discipline was.

Teach Your Kids That Learning About God is a Pleasure, Not a Chore!

To be honest, this is not something I ever remember mom saying out loud, but she instilled in us a love for learning about God. To this day I enjoy discussing scripture and doctrine with people because my mom made Bible study not only a habit, but a joy. We would gather as a family about 3 times a day to either read Proverbs, a chapter we were doing for our Bible curriculum, and then in the evening before we went to bed. We didn't just listen to her read, but we got to take turns, listen to it being read by actors on CD, or sometimes just discuss what we read.

Lead by Example

Sometimes parents come to my husband and I and wonder why their kids are doing things that aren't right, when they themselves aren't living the life they should. You see, I knew that before (or maybe a little after) I got up in the morning my mom had Bible study and prayer. I knew this because we would sometimes catch her in the act. She didn't just expect us to spend time in the Word, she did herself! She was always willing to volunteer at the church, made sure that when we cleaned the church we did it out of love for the Lord not just for people's praise, or for money we made. You could tell she lived this out, because she would always think of extra things she could do to make it cleaner, more organized, etc. She also took on the church's youth even though she isn't being paid a dime.  I clearly saw by example, and I have to say that makes me a bit intimidated thinking that I am going to be under my own child's watchful eyes just as I watched my mom to see if she would 'walk the walk'.

Thank you mom, for being my mom first, and now my friend, for never talking bad about me in front of others, and never making me feel like you didn't want me around. Thank you for helping me develop a love for God, and showing me, not just telling me, when it came to doing things for God. I love you, Mom!

Feel free to comment nuggets of wisdom your own mother shared, or showed you!

I have to love them?

Last night's lesson was on connecting to friends and foes. I'm all about friends, I love talking about loyalty, being there for someone, and having like-minded believers as my closest friends. What is not so fun to talk about are enemies. I mean, some enemies are just people who aren't that fun to be around, whereas there is this one person that I have such a hard time forgiving, and I think it's harder because I know that this person is supposed to be a born again believer. The person actually is in a great spiritual position, but has used it as a means to try to control and manipulate people.I actually wrote a post a while back on forgiveness, where I felt like I was getting to where I had forgiven that person (http://ayouthpastorswife.blogspot.com/2013/07/forgiveness.html). Fast-forward to a month ago, and I was told of something that made all those feelings and anger surged within me.  Now, especially after this lesson, I feel like I am back to square one with forgiveness.

Loving our Enemies

My husband used 2 verses to describe how we are to treat our enemies, and one really stood out, John 13:34-35:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Ouch! We are to love each other (enemies included) with the same undying, sacrificial love that Jesus loved us! By this, not by how we evangelize, or by how many times we go to church, (even though these are amazing things!) will people know that we are Jesus' disciples. Love will be the testimony that others see. I know that I need some work in this area, but how can we make this practical?

How to Love our Enemies

Luke 6: 27-31

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."

These verses offer some practical help when it comes to showing love to your enemies, however, this does not make it any easier! To show love, we are to first pray for them. Actually this is the easiest of all to do, because it doesn't consist of having contact with that person. However, if you have not begun to love that person as a fellow believer in Christ, or if unsaved as a person in need of Jesus, then you may find it to be a bit difficult to pray blessings on that person, and that God would work in their lives.
The next practical thing is a more difficult thing to do, if that person does something to you then don't reciprocate it.To not shout back hurtful words, or want to get even can go a long ways in your enemies eyes. (Prov. 15:1). The next thing the Bible says is that we are to give, even when they have taken things from us. Perhaps the person you despise most is having financial difficulty now, or needs help in some form or fashion. Helping that person, and giving to them despite what they've done, may just be the thing that brings them to Christ, or back in a close relationship with Him. Even if it's not, and this is the hard part, we must do it anyway because it is right. Christ didn't just die for the people who would accept him, he died and loved everyone. If we are to love with the love of Christ, we can't withhold doing good because we dislike a person.

I have written this post not just for helping you, my reader, but to help me be more accountable. If I write this, and believe it, then I need to live it. If I want a closer relationship with Christ, then I need to be willing to love not just the people that love me but the ones who aren't quite so easy to love. 

Big News!

You might have thought that I had forgotten my blog, but the truth is, a lot has happened in the past couple of months. The biggest thing to happen, we learned about 2 days before Christmas, my husband and I are going to have a baby! We are excited to start this parenting journey, although I will admit I am pretty scared as well. I didn't post at first because I felt pretty sick early on, but now that I am headed into my second trimester, I am getting some of my energy back. Hopefully that means more blog posts!
Soon I will get back to my regular blogging, and I will even have a guest blogger, but I just wanted to write and say that I haven't forgotten y'all.
May God Bless, and as always, feel free to ask questions, who knows, it might be included in a blog post!

More Than Lip Service

God has always wanted our hearts more than sacrifice. This is something that is hard to grasp sometimes, and I know I can't be the only one. I mean, isn't going and being a missionary in a foreign field, better than 10 minutes spent in reverence? Well, yes and no. It all depends on where your heart is.
Last night my husband and I read Malachi 1 as part of the Bible-in-a-year we do each year. And I hate to say it, but some of the minor prophets are so hard to read through, or at least for me. But sometimes, while reading about how God is going to punish disobedient nations, I come to these 'wow' verses that just make me stop in my tracks and really think about how great a God we have that makes things so relevant to us several thousand years later!
Malachi 1: 6-14 talks about how the people showed so little respect for God that they gave blind and lame sacrifices. In fact, God says 'How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered!' He would rather the place of worship be empty than full of people offering half-hearted service! God says that what they were giving, was something that they wouldn't even give their governors, because of how worthless the sacrifice was. 
When I was reading these verses (you should go check them out!) I kind of reworded it in my head and it stung a little to think about how these verses would apply to today: (this is my own wording of these verses, not scripture in the least, please go and read these verses for yourself before taking my word for it!)

God says 
You show respect for your parents, or authorities, but you show no respect for me!
You, the great church go-er says 'How is that possible?!'
You give me worthless worship
'How is that?' you ask
When you go into the house of the Lord, and pretend to love my people but are cursing them on the inside, isn't that wrong? What about the half hearted singing, or your yearning to get out of church so you can get to the restaurant before the other churches let out? There are other people around the world worshiping me, and giving me pure service, but you have no respect. I would rather the church doors be shut than this kind of service be offered. You also dishonor me with your actions. What about when you are outside of the church. Is is okay to sacrifice your time going to church, then turn around and act as if you don't even know me? You argue that worshiping me is too time consuming, and too hard to do, but do you realize that you would give your country better service than me?
How sad it is for those who promise worship with their lips, but turn around and give their hearts to something else!

Hurtful isn't it? I know it's hard to hear, but my prayer is that I'll not just give lip service, but my whole heart over to God. He is the King of kings, and deserves everything, so why should I give him just part of me?

Resolutions: Saving Money

I know money may be a hard subject to talk about right now, especially as you watch it quickly slip away with every person you cross off your Christmas gift list. Because of this,  it is often a resolution to budget better, or save more, so I thought I would share some things that perhaps can help you achieve that goal! I am not boasting to be an expert on the subject at all, just someone sharing tips from personal experience that will hopefully be applicable to your situation as well!

Eating Out:

Do you find yourself just picking up fast food on the way home from work because, well, it's just easier? Not only is this bad on the wallet, but on the waistline as well. If you missed my last blog on being healthy you can find it here (http://ayouthpastorswife.blogspot.com/2013/12/resolutions-being-healthy.html), and in this post I mentioned slow cooker meals, which can be a great help especially if you are a working wife/mom (or even husband/dad) and need something simple and easy. Instead of paying $5-$10 a meal you can spend just a couple of dollars (once the meat/veggies have been divided per person) on a homemade meal that's much healthier.

Even though I stay home, this lesson is still being learned, but for the most part my husband and I have 2 times per week we go out: Friday and Sunday. Even though we go twice, we still try to cut costs by looking for coupons, ordering water, and splitting the meal. Normally we can get out of Chili's for $15!

Grocery shopping:

'You can't just go to Walmart to pick up one thing', I have often heard, and believe it with all my heart. To be honest, I try to avoid the place when possible, but it seems that it has the best prices most of the time, so I am forced to go. To cut down on time and money I only go once week and my husband goes with me. Why is that important? He hates it worse than me! He has one thing on his mind: Go in, get the groceries, get out... He is so focused on the task at hand, that it caused me to start doing something that has really helped our finances.

I make a list based on what I plan to make (I am horrible at meal planning, so I just think of a couple of meals then make sure I have the basics to make other meals as well). If you frequent the store enough times to have its aisles memorized, then you can list your groceries based on where they are in the store (e.g. our store has dairy in the back, then paper goods, then baking supplies, so you would write your list like: milk, paper towels, sugar). This way you only have to walk down the aisles where you need things, and you don't pick up unnecessary things. I also put an estimated price by each item so I can see about how much everything will cost. This helps me determine what is necessary and what is not.

It may take a few minutes more, but you will be surprised at how much it saves. We spend at least $10 less than we did at first, and although that may seem like a little, it adds up fast! However, these are just suggestions, and if you are unable to put as much time and effort in it, don't worry. The main thing is to find what way works best for you. For me, I hate to coupon and have never been great at catching sales, so this method works best.

Saving money is all about thinking ahead, and figuring out what your 'needs' are and what 'wants' you can do without. Because this post has gotten so long, I'll stop here for now, and may do another money saving post at a later time. I'll leave you with this verse, which reminds us that money shouldn't be such a big thing in our lives, and that we have a wonderful Savior who takes care of our needs!

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5