Renewal

Oh God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirst for more.
I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.
I am ashamed of my lack of desire.
O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee;
I long to be filled with longing;
I thirst to be made more thirsty still.
Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed.
Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.
Say to my soul, "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away."
Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland
where I have wandered so long. - A.W. Tozer.

It has been one of those weekends that we have seen and tasted that the Lord is good. Our struggle to find a church body has been on the forefront of our struggles and we found ourselves weary and heavy laden. Yet within that our most Holy God met us in the stench of our selves and brought about repentance and hope. We are no closer to finding a new church home than we were at the beginning of the weekend but our focus has returned to the main thing which is Jesus. Oh how I love that name. The road to finding a church home has been more daunting and weary than we ever imagined it would be. We have questioned our motives, questioned our responses, questioned our desires and even questioned ourselves. How does one go about picking a church? You follow the direction of the Holy Spirit in obedience.

We may end up at a church that we never thought we would attend but as long as we keep the main thing the main thing, I am hopeful. It has been such a rewarding experience to watch my very mild husband, become passionate about his family and the spiritual growth of his children. To see him set aside his comforts to reach out to Josiah and Naomi and teach them about the awesome God we serve.

Dustin and I did not grow up with parents that esteemed the Bible or attended church regularly. We do not have parents that have a relationship with Christ. We have been perplexed in how to relate our love for God to our own children, how to teach them at home and how to raise them in the admonition of the Lord. Now we understand. It all comes down to purposeful discipleship- bringing our children alongside us in our own journey in the faith. Living out a Deuteronomy 6 life. We don't need programs, we don't need to be trained teachers, we simply need to point everything back to our God who is the Creator and Sustainer of us all. Will we do it right? Some. Will we mess up? Count on it. Is there grace in all of this? Absolutely!
Praise His Holy Name!