Church

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family with strong moral values.  One thing that was expected in our family is that we went to church together.  Growing up there were weeks I would have preferred to stay home, or weeks I was bored at church.  However, as I got older it was through church that I was introduced to kid's and youth summer camp!  I will save that story about camp for another post, but the long and short was that I loved camp, and at camp I met Jesus and faith became mine and not my parents.

 I grew to love going to church.  I finally realized it wasn't actually about the act of going to church, it was about growing my relationship with God.  It was about learning truth from the Bible so I could discern sin and different things and situations that came across my path in the world.

I also was able to develop my knowledge of my faith through the private, Christian school at my church.  I loved going to a small Christian school.  I developed life long friend there, friends that I still consider today to be my closest and dearest friends.  I learned about what the scripture Proverbs 27:17 was about - "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."  My friendships spurred my faith on and they challenged me to keep moving forward in my faith.

My faith continues to grow, and I feel now more than ever I am pressing into my God as I face the uncertainties of this world.  I know He is faithful, and it is my job to be faithful to Him through this time and walk by faith and not by fear.

Now more than ever I believe in gathering as believers as a church.  I guess I never completely realized how much I appreciated it until it is physically taken away.  As much as I enjoyed watching different services each week, including my small local church, it is just fabulous to be together again worshiping, studying, and praying through these crazy times we are going through.