I was sitting in the service yesterday and realized just how good God has been to us lately.  He deserves a praise blog!

He completely answered my prayer about when Asher would be born.  In order for me to not lose part of my paycheck, I needed to have Asher Saturday, Sunday or Labor Day.  I prayed that Asher would come in His timing but that sure would be nice if He could work it out for that weekend!  It just amazes me that we have a God that answers little prayers like that.  It seems like in the whole scheme of things as something insignificant.  It reminds me that He loves to give good gifts to His children, whom He loves.

And then with Asher’s birth, I was just nervous.  And then the epidural didn’t take away the pain (Asher was “sunny side up” and that causes back labor).  But I just prayed for Him to get me through it and seemingly miraculously I dilated from 6-7 cm to 10 cm in around 30 min.  It was all over really quickly!  I was so thankful.

We got a little worried about Asher while I was pushing because his heart rate was dropping and they put oxygen on me.  Mike leaned over me and prayed and our little boy is so perfect and didn’t have any problems after the initial 30 sec. after being born.  He has been so easy thus far!  I have always said that Nolan was so easy, we are doomed to have a little terror for the next one.  But this is far from the truth, atleast this first week!

And finally, I was just so excited yesterday to go to two services at The Patio.  It is such a great opportunity for us to make the kids ministry really awesome.  It flowed great, just giving us good momentum.  It feels good to be here as a church.

So thanks, God, for doing all of this awesome stuff.  You are so good to us!

Here are a few things that I have observed about the Patio lately. 

Things have really been coming together for us as a community of believers. Almost 100% of us live in The Fork. Amazing. And so we see each other almost every night of the week. Incredible. That is all great and exactly what we believe! But I get the feeling that it has kinda become the norm and we aren’t as excited about what God is doing or has called us to do. Mainly, I think we have been lacking in being involved in neighbors lives as well. Please forgive me if I am wrong about this and you do not feel it applies to you but I know at times it applies to me.  I just don’t want to miss our mark by being really close to one another but not to those that still do not know what following Jesus is all about.

The other thing is that I think we can spend lots of time together and still not be real or caring with one another. I just wanna make sure that those around me know that I’m glad they are around and I want to be there for them. I know several people right now that are going through some stuff and so I think its important to not just ignore that.

I just wanna try as hard as I can to be a real Christ follower. That’s all.

I sat in church today and was in awe of how good God is and how much He has done for us!  I thought about how to give Him praise for it all and the best I could do is to attempt to blog it.

He called us to this.  He has confirmed it many times.  I love thinking about Christina and Mladen’s pastor praying over the streets of Reedy Fork, asking God to raise up a pastor and church. That is the best image He could have given us to affirm our calling.

He brought us all together.  Christina and Mladen just happening to move here and letting us borrow all of there Friends DVDs.  Jason making a leap of faith to join our vision.  The Chauncey’s not giving up on their hearts for church planting.  God instilling a passion for this neighborhood and to see Him work in every one of you.  We all have our special stories of what He did to get us here.

He has blessed us with relationships.  I think of all the people in Reedy Fork that we have come into community with.  Sandi, Brian, Rebecca, Blayne, Kerrie, Maci, Lou, Jessica, Charlie, Denise, Jay, Julie, Karen, Marvin.  Lives that He has a plan for.  That He wants to come alive.

He gave us Morrisette.  It is great.  I am loving how it is coming along.  It is us.  And they have been so willing to work with us.

He has brought Jason, Will and the Chaunceys here literally.  Many of you are working to get here as well.  Can’t wait for Him to make it happen!

He has provided financially.

We have arrived to March 2, 2008.  He has gotten us here.  Its amazing and unbelievable.  And I am so excited.

Jason’s choice of song today was perfect.  “Greater things have yet to come.  Great things are still to be done in this city.”

I haven’t felt like I’ve had much to say lately. But I went to a conference this past weekend and God revealed a few things to me indirectly as a result.

For a while now, actually years, I have been praying for a particular person in my life to be less critical.    But God somehow revealed to me that my desire for that characteristic to change was selfish. I wanted that prayer answered because life would be easier for me.  I realized that it wasn’t out of love for the person.  I wasn’t really wanting them to experience God in an awesome way or to be free of that negativity.  It was for my gain. 

Prayers for people should be motivated by love for that person and love for God.  It should burden me that this person daily lives in this kind of spirit because they are unable to experience God with it.  If I loved them, I would want the best for them, not because it is the best for me.  So my prayer has changed that God would help me to love this person, as they are, faults and all.  That is my first prayer.  Once my heart has changed there some, I feel I can pray for them unselfishly to experience God and live freely with Him.

One question that has come as a result of all that is “Am I in love with God?”.  If I loved Him, that should drive my life and make me want those around me to experience that love relationship.  I feel like most of the time I serve Him but it is for the “mission” and I forget that that mission is a result of how much He loves me and wants a personal relationship with me.  It is much easier for me to do things for Him than it is for me to sit down and spend time with Him.  In all honesty, I am horrible at that.  This weekend has been better for that but I need more of it.  I need to pray for myself that I will love Him and love spending time with Him more.  Please pray for this if you will.

I was thinking about that blog I just wrote (which is funny because you’ll probably read this one first now).  I just started thinking that it might have sounded negative or like I was complaining.  I am not.  I was just thinking out loud so to speak.  I feel very blessed by life in general.  Just so you know!

Its nice to be back to normal life in G’so.  I had to catch up on reading everyone’s blogs this morning andI have been inspired and blessed by what God is teaching you (namely Mike & Jason who wrote 7 blogs each, Jeff & Mladen). How awesome is this church!

I was inspired by my grandmother, Big Mama, last night. She goes to a traditional Methodist church & I have to say that I tend to be skeptical of its passion and leadership. But last night I jokingly commented on her rubberband “bracelet”. She said that her pastor had given a message titled “Mission Impossible” and through this had encouraged the congregation to go 21 days without complaining, whining or criticizing. Whenever they failed and caught themselves, they had to change the rubberband from one wrist to the other. Then they started over with trying to achieve their 21 days. What a mission! I immediately grabbed a rubber band and took the impossible challenge.

Driving back to gso late last night, I was really tired and just wanted to get home. Also, I battle falling asleep at the wheel, so I was nervous about getting sleepy, especially with Nolan in the car. All of a sudden the orange cones had me exiting I-40 for a detour through Tanglewoods and Clemmons, several miles out of the way and with a speed limit much less than 70. It wasn’t marked well so I had to stop at a gas station once to make sure I was going the right way. My dad called and I was frustrated and I really wanted to fuss and complain about the state highway people. But I caught myself & remembered my rubberband. Way to go Big Mama & her pastor! And of course, way to go Holy Spirit! Any mission is possible with you.

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