My 6 Week Break

I wonder when I'll realize that I never know best, He does.  

I've written about my faith journey, finding my church, being saved and baptized (here and here) before and recently I thought that I needed a break.  A break from church, from the routine, from the Sunday morning Sunday school and service.  From fellowship.  From God.  

My week is busy, my husband and I each work full time and work opposite shifts, have family obligations, dance class for Olivia, grocery shopping, errands, friends etc.  so when I felt overwhelmed about 6 weeks ago I felt like I needed a break from something and I decided to skip church. 

 As I sat back relaxing that warm Sunday morning I watched the clock.  9:59 I remember thinking that we'd usually be settling into Sunday school - the Shipmates room, talking, drinking coffee, having a snack and getting ready for our lesson.  As the time ticked by I distracted myself with different things.  Glancing at the clock again it was 11:15, just about the time the worship music would be ending and we'd start the service in prayer.  A little pang in my heart told me that I knew I was missing something I loved so much.  The joyful noise that fills the room when the band starts playing and the choir starts singing gives me goosebumps every week and where was I?  At home missing it.  The day went on and I tried to not think about how this Sunday was the first in over a year that I'd missed church.  As the day ended I'd convinced myself that it was no big deal.  

The week went on and then Sunday came again.  I didn't go to church that Sunday either.  Against my better judgement I decided I still needed a break.  For the next 4 weeks I did the same thing.  Mother's Day was mixed in there, my mothers birthday, Olivia had a cold - all reasons I told myself that missing church had to happen.  That it was ok.  

Within these past 6 weeks something's changed though.  I've been irritable, easily frustrated, not praying as much, arguing with my husband over little things.  Doing all the things I do less of when I actually go to church, when I'm in the word, when I get refreshed by his grace each Sunday morning.

So many women from church reached out to me over these past 6 weeks and I love them for it.  Messages saying 'I miss you and the family, are you ok?, Can we pray for you? Do you need to talk? I'm thinking of you and praying for you!'  Each one made me smile and feel a little bit of regret and shame at the same time.  

This past week I knew that we needed to go back.  Being away for 6 weeks had done enough damage.  I'd missed enough lessons, bible studies and time in His presence.  I woke early on Sunday morning determined to go and Satan surely put every obstacle in my way.  My daughter being a bit fussy, spilled drinks, feeling tired and even a flat tire on my way there.  But, we made it. I felt such a peace as I pulled into the parking lot and fell right back into my Sunday morning routine.  The routine I thought I needed a break from felt so familiar and comfortable.  

All of my friends welcomed us back with open arms and hearts.  

It's funny that I took a break because I felt overwhelmed and too busy, little did I know He's my reprieve and my rest.

~Laura

The Great Date Experiment

Our Sunday school class is a group of young married couples, most of which have children and were starting the Andy Stanly series on "staying in love."  To kick off our 8 week class, this past Saturday {3/2/13} our teachers planned a date night deemed The Great Date Experiment."  They put together a packet of things to do, topics to discuss, questions to answer and times in our relationships to reminice about - and they provided free babysitting!   All the couples met at church beforehand, dropped off our children, were served hors derves and given our packets.  Where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do was up to us.  Joe surprised me and we went to Fred and Steve's Steakhouse in a local casino, a place that we wouldnt have been able to go with Olivia since she's not allowed in the building.  Neither of us had ever been there before and it was perfect.  

  We were seated by a window overlooking the rest of the casino and a live band.   

  Our waiter was amazing and super attentive.  The service was great and the food was amazing.         Joe and I got to talk and laugh and sit and eat without any interruption.  We talked about how far we've come in our relationship, things that we hope for our future, how much we love our daughter and are so, so blessed to be her parents.  We answered the questions in the packet about the beginning of our relationship, what we did to impress the other, where we'd want to live if anything was possible, our dream vacation and we even added in some questions of our own.     We laughed a lot and there were even a few emotional moments shared.    We held hands, kissed, hugged and just truly enjoyed our time together - alone.    

Profession - Part 2

Check here for my post yesterday about the journey that got us to this awesome day.  Our baptism day!

My emotions were running high all morning.  I was nervous, excited, anxious, grateful, humbled...but most importantly, I felt blessed.  Blessed to be here, in this spot, receiving this beautiful gift with my husband.  Being baptized together as a couple in front of our church family.

The morning flew by, getting everyone up, dressed and out the door for church didn’t leave much time to dwell on what was coming.  We went to breakfast as a family and prayed together for our approaching baptism.  As we sat in Sunday school my mind kept drifting off thinking about what was coming.  How it would go, how everything would play out.  All the details. 

After the 15 minute "almost time for service to start" bell rang it was all I could think about.  The amazing women in our Sunday school class all shared encouraging words as I grabbed my bag to leave which completely put me at ease.  Joe and I went to the baptistry and into our respective rooms to get ready.  This is when my emotions really took over!  Being away from Joe I was wondering what he was feeling and just wished I'd kissed him before we separated to get ready.  I put in my robe and waited while listening to the choir praise Jesus with their beautiful songs.  Joyce was in the baptistry with me helping me through the steps to ensure everything was seamless.  She talked with me the entire time to help keep my nerves at bay. 

When it was time for us, we walked out and I had a moment of tears.  Tears were shed for so many different reasons.  For the people who weren’t there, who didn’t come to support us.  Tears for our amazing friends who did come, tears for the people who helped us on our journey, tears for the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for me, tears for the future, for being blessed and able to raise Olivia to know Jesus.  Joyce and Jacquie saw me emotional and immediately prayed with me.  Their beautiful words lifted me up to the Lord and as quickly as the tears started, they stopped.  A peace came over me and I was calm. 

Our pastor spoke and I watched my love, my husband get baptized and then it was my turn. I walked into the baptistry water (of course I almost slipped going down the wet stairs)and pastor Glen shared a bit of our testimony to our church family.  While he was speaking I was surrounded by so many people who have helped me along in this journey.  In front of my stood Jacquie, Joyce and Amanda, behind me Pastor Glen and my husband, across the balcony was Renata and on the main floor Sarah and Ken.  All of which have encouraged, loved and prayed for us!  God certainly put these people in our lives for a reason.   

Then, as my husband stood to my pastors right hand side, I was baptized!

I am so happy, humbled and proud of my husband and myself for making this decision for our family, for Olivia and for our future.

After church service we were approached by so many people with hugs and congratulations!

The day was perfect and the love of Jesus was most certainly present and pulsing inside the walls of our church!

An outward expression.....

...of an inward change.    Turns out I am ready - well, we're ready to take the plunge (pun intended!) and get baptized!  I've discussed my new found faith - not sure how much longer I can call it new - a few times before on here but most recently the idea of baptism was presented to my husband and I and for some reason I was totally nervous, shell shocked, not ready.  (If you want to read more about that, go here.)   ...or so I thought.   It's funny how God works on your heart when you pray to Him about your concerns or fears.  It had been about 2 months that I was concerned about making this decision.  I had reservations deciding if this was the right thing for me and my family.  I was worried that my family who wasn't following the same path would be mad that I'd changed religions and left the Catholic church.  I was worried that I didn't know enough, wasn't a good enough Christian and wasn't seasoned enough in the faith to do this.   What I didn't take the time to think about is that I'd already made a change.  I was a different person before going to church and being saved than I am today and there's only one explanation for that and it's Jesus.  I live my life a totally different way than before.  I live to please the Lord.  I live to honor Him and show the world His light.  I'm different.    Something that really struck a cord with me and made it click was when one of the pastors at my church said "Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change."  Boom - got it.  The change was already done.  I've been changed since July 11, 2012 and now I get to outwardly express this change in front of my church family this coming Sunday!  My husband and I will be baptized this Sunday January 20, 2013 and I'm so, so honored, humbled and excited!   Please pray for us as we take this awesome step in our faith journey.   "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  Matthew 28 :: 19-20  

2013 Goals

This is the first year I've really put a lot of thought into the goals I'd like to achieve.  Maybe it has something to do with my upcoming birthday and turning the big 3 0 this year or maybe it's maturity or maybe is that I've realized that my life is so much more than just about me.  Maybe it's because I want to glorify God in all that I do.  Maybe it's because I now realize that I'm here on this earth for so much more of a purpose than I can even imagine for myself.     This year I've put together a list of goals I'm going to work hard to accomplish in 2013.  Some are definitely more important than others but all have meaning and will help me feel like I'm on my way to becoming the best me I can be.    My Goals for 2013:   ~ Lose weight and start on the road to a healthier Me - I've discussed this here and here.  I've made it through the first week of eating healthy and really focusing on this aspect of my life and I'd consider it a success so far.  I'll post an update soon.   ~ Read 12 books - I really enjoy reading.  I tend to get lost in books and fall in love with the characters.  This is just a goal I've set for myself because I tend to let other things get in the way of my time with the Kindle!  I've already started the first book of the year and I have a couple others lined up.  Any suggestions?   ~ Pray more and deepen my relationship with Jesus - 2012 was the year I found Jesus and started my relationship with Him.  I've always believed in God but this whole relationship with Him and living my life to glorify Him is new.  I want to explore it more, learn to trust Him more, pray more and live and love like Him more.  2013 is the year to jump into my new found faith and see what He has in store for me.   ~ Participate in Secret Prayer Sisters - at my church our Sunday School group created secret prayer sisters.  You're given a name of another woman in our group and you pray for them, surprise them with little presents throughout the year and in turn they do the same for someone else.  It gives you a chance to give a receive prayer and thoughtful gifts.  Since I'm fairly new to the church I'm looking forward to this to help build relationships with some of the awesome woman that attend my church.   ~ Go on at least 5 dates with my husband - like I mentioned before my husband and I don't go on too many dates.  We hadn't been out together alone in quite some time and I know that to ensure a strong marriage and be the best parents to Olivia we need to make sure that our relationship remains a priority.  Now that I have a reliable babysitter we're on the right path to ensure at least 5 dates during 2013!   ~ Attend a worship concert - the music at church and listening to Christian music really helps me understand God and His goodness.  I love the fellowship that a worship concert seems to have and the idea of worshiping Jesus through song with other believers seems so special.   ~ Be baptized! - I've also talked about this before and my hesitation when it comes to this part of my faith journey but I'm proud to say that I've resolved this within myself and will be baptized soon!   ~ Begin paying down debt - because of irresponsible choices as a young adult my husband and I have a bit of debt we have acquired over the years.  Getting credit cards when you're young, single and don't have a family and other important responsibilities tends to make it difficult to keep up with all the payments when you have other more important bills.  We're currently on the right track and so far we've been blessed by God and have already been able to pay 17 accounts down to a ZERO BALANCE!  I can't even express the amount of joy I feel typing that sentence!  God truly knows the desires of my heart and has answered my prayers and made a path for us to achieve this goal.  The things we've paid include medical bills, credit card bills, money owed to my parents and taxes.  A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders and starting out the year on the right financial foot feels awesome!    

A (late) Thanksgiving Recap

Life has been busy with work and a death in the family which has

kept me away from the computer and blogger for over a week. 

Let's back up to Wednesday night, Joe and I went to "Pie and Praise" at church. 

It was beautiful to hear everyone's testimonies and listen to all the various blessings

and trials that people are thankful for this year. 

I felt moved to speak and it was an emotional experience. 

I thanked God for my and my husband's salvation. 

He's changed our lives this year, my husband and I were both saved within 3 months

of each other and now we're a Christian family raising our daughter to know Jesus. 

To me, that's amazing. 

Olivia's life will be radically different than if God hadn’t done work in our lives and hearts. 

So, I thanked Him publicly for our salvation. 

Thanksgiving day we had dinner with my parents, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and nephew. 

Olivia had a blast playing with her cousin and the food was delicious!  Of course Olivia wouldn’t know that the food was good because I couldn’t get her to eat anything besides a roll!  Kids.

Joe and I did a little shopping on black Friday but NOT in the middle of the night!  We enjoyed the rest of our long weekend at dance, a play date with friends and their kids, church, shopping and more church! 

Now, it's time to start decorating for Christmas!

(I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving, I'm so bad with remembering to take the camera out!)

Friday Randoms

TGIF - this week has been good.  I'm just glad it's Friday which means tomorrow is the weekend and weekends are fun around here!  Saturday is dance for Olivia and Sunday is church and my BFF's 30th birthday!  Although she'll be busy studying for her nursing exam I'll be texting her Happy Birthday lyrics throughout the day.  30 is a big deal!   Today after work I have discipleship - my last class.  I'm sort of sad that I won't have weekly one on one meetings but that just means that now I'm further along in my faith and I need to pray more and rely on myself and my husband to strengthen our walk ourselves.    I can't wait to deliver my friend's birthday present.  I made her a survival kit for her 30th year to help her stay young at heart.  The idea was inspired by a pinterest pin but mine didn't come out nearly as pinterest worthy.  I know she'll love it.  I included fun things to give herself a makeover, take a relaxing bath and get cozy and watch a movie.  Not to mention a sappy letter and an awesome card.    Tonight I'm meeting my cousin for dinner.  We haven't spent time together in a long, long time, just us.  Truth be told, I miss it.  When we were younger she lived down the street from me and being 5 years older she drove and had an awesome mustang convertible and 90% of the time you could find us crusing the streets of our town with the top down and the music up.  I miss those days.  I'm so excited to see her because she just found out she's expecting and I couldn't be more excited for her!  This is her first baby and she's going to be an awesome and fun Mama!   Happy Weekend!  

Double Dose

For the first time yesterday, we got a double dose of church.  Every Sunday we spend from 9:30 - 12:15 at Sunday school and our morning service but we've never gone back for the nighttime service.    It was the first Sunday of the month so our church had the monthly Lord's Supper and since we've never seen it before, Joe and I were interested in going.  We had an early dinner and headed back to church for 5:30.    The service was awesome, it was so refreshing to get another solid hour of worship and praise, especially at night so it was even more fresh in my mind at the start of the week.   Joe and I aren't yet baptized members of the church so we weren't able to participate but it was so informative to watch and learn just how important and serious taking the communion is.    We got a double dose of worship, music, fellowship, praise, messages, time with Him and bible study.    Needless to say, Sunday night service is part of our new routine.