As I mentioned in my last post, my husband was facing a job change...which meant a church change for all of us. Being uprooted from our church family, who I particularly had grown deep roots with, has been a challenging change to think about. In fact, I think I had attempted to protect myself by not thinking about it too much.
Well, last Sunday, he was officially voted in as the new Worship Leader!😊😢😊😢
This morning was our first official Sunday in this new role.
I find myself with sadness of leaving friends and joyful anticipation of how God will work in this new setting.
Here I am in a place of building new relationships, starting over, and the awkwardness that comes with all this change.
In my time with the LORD this morning before leaving for church, I was asking God to remind me of my identity in Him. As usual, I went to Ephesians 1 for the Truth of who I am in Christ.
~Redeemed
~Forgiven
~Lavished with the Riches of His Grace
~Having obtained an inheritance
~So that I might be for the praise of His glory
~Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit
Who I am and my identity are secure in Christ no matter what the people at the new church think of me.
I kept reading and was reminded of a passage that has spurred me on time and again.
Ephesians 4:11-16
Through this passage, along with other passages that talk about the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12), I am convinced that each believer in Christ has an important role to play in the Church, the Body of Christ, so that, as verse 16 says, "when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
I have a part in this new church body, so that it will continue to "build itself up in love" and "all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (v. 13)
And so, I walked in with that heart and mindset. I freely exercised the relational gifts God has given me and chose to be unhindered by my insecurities. And God blessed.
It was a worshipful morning and one of encouragement and joy, free from the current burdens the enemy wants to weigh me down by.
Praise to You, O Christ!
And I don't think it was coincidence that today's sermon was on Romans 8:14-17, which declares us children of God who are fellows heirs with Christ! (Sounds familiar from Ephesians 1:))
My identity and joy are in Christ no matter the circumstances...I can embrace this change that God has brought about because my identity in Christ is constant and secure.
Praise to You, O Christ!
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Roller Coaster Slows
Roller Coasters are notoriously fast, right?
Well, this roller coaster has been going up and down for about 9 months now (an no, I'm not about to have a baby! :))
I'll share more details about the roller coaster in another post, but for now I'll explain that the roller coaster I'm riding is unique in that the train is slowing for about a week, but most likely will pick up speed again with an unknown ending point...
Today is the day my husband presented his official candidacy as Worship Leader at a church different from our "home church." He will be voted on next Sunday, June 23rd and then LORD-willing the roller coaster train will pick up again pulling a whole lotta change in its wake.
What is particularly surprising about this change is that my husband is a structural engineer by trade and I have been pioneering a women's ministry at our young church for the last three and a half years. Are you really bringing about these changes, LORD?
And yet, it seems as though the LORD is indeed moving in ways that lead us to believe He is up-heaving my husband's career path and uprooting us from the church home we and our four kids have grown to love over the last five years of living in our city.
When this transition came onto the table 9 months ago, we started walking by faith through the doors the LORD seemed to keep opening. It was very bittersweet -- sweet to think of the exciting things the LORD had in store for us and yet also spurred bitter sadness at the thought of leaving our beloved church family.
The next nine months proved to be such an emotional roller coaster that my emotions admittedly have become dull (more specifics to come). Now the sweet isn't as sweet and the bitter isn't as bitter. I am just taking the next step and trusting in the Spirit for the appropriate emotional response to follow.
While having my time with the LORD this morning (shortly before leaving for the new church where I was to sing praise and worship under my husband's leadership), I was reading in Exodus. (I am preparing to lead a workshop through Exodus and so I have been seeking to "live in the text.") I was reading Exodus 20 and the second half of verse 24 struck me, "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you."
Wow, such a good reminder. Now, the context of this verse is God speaking to the Israelites in the wilderness through Moses and yet, the truth of God's character evident in this verse continues today...God still causes His name to be remembered. And in fact, the church my husband is candidating at is a Gospel-preaching, Christ-exalting church in which God is surely causing His name and true character to be remembered. ("In every place"...including the "new church," Jill.)
In this verse God also promises to come. And He has! God has come down to us (Ephesians 4:9,10) in order to dwell with us (John 1:14) by means of His Son, Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit. The dwelling with His people which He has desired since the Garden of Eden and has been seeking to restore through the Exodus and throughout time has been manifested in Jesus Christ Himself! God has come to His people as a whole, has come to me personally, and will be with me through this potential job change and the journey of transition to follow.
God also promises to bless. Echos of Genesis 12:2 (and the 18 other references in Genesis) ring through this promise of God's to bless, found here in Exodus 20:24.
The Israelites followed a blessing kind of God. Even though their disloyalty lead them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Deut. 1:2,3), God's character of being a God of blessing remained the same. I serve that same blessing kind of God.
I am still sad at the thought of being uprooted from my home church. And I am still unsure of how the future will unfold and the unknowns of adjusting to new people and a new church and balancing our family with my husband's new role. BUT GOD.
But God has fulfilled His promise and He has come.
But God dwells with me.
But God is faithful.
But God is trustworthy.
But God is comforting.
But God is sovereign.
But God has a purposeful plan.
But God's name and character is worthy to be remembered.
BUT. GOD. IS. A. BLESSING. KIND. OF. GOD.
Thank you, God, for the reminder this morning, amidst your Law in Exodus 20, that You are a God who causes Your name to be remembered in whatever place we are and You have come and You bless.
Well, this roller coaster has been going up and down for about 9 months now (an no, I'm not about to have a baby! :))
I'll share more details about the roller coaster in another post, but for now I'll explain that the roller coaster I'm riding is unique in that the train is slowing for about a week, but most likely will pick up speed again with an unknown ending point...
Today is the day my husband presented his official candidacy as Worship Leader at a church different from our "home church." He will be voted on next Sunday, June 23rd and then LORD-willing the roller coaster train will pick up again pulling a whole lotta change in its wake.
What is particularly surprising about this change is that my husband is a structural engineer by trade and I have been pioneering a women's ministry at our young church for the last three and a half years. Are you really bringing about these changes, LORD?
And yet, it seems as though the LORD is indeed moving in ways that lead us to believe He is up-heaving my husband's career path and uprooting us from the church home we and our four kids have grown to love over the last five years of living in our city.
When this transition came onto the table 9 months ago, we started walking by faith through the doors the LORD seemed to keep opening. It was very bittersweet -- sweet to think of the exciting things the LORD had in store for us and yet also spurred bitter sadness at the thought of leaving our beloved church family.
The next nine months proved to be such an emotional roller coaster that my emotions admittedly have become dull (more specifics to come). Now the sweet isn't as sweet and the bitter isn't as bitter. I am just taking the next step and trusting in the Spirit for the appropriate emotional response to follow.
While having my time with the LORD this morning (shortly before leaving for the new church where I was to sing praise and worship under my husband's leadership), I was reading in Exodus. (I am preparing to lead a workshop through Exodus and so I have been seeking to "live in the text.") I was reading Exodus 20 and the second half of verse 24 struck me, "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you."
Wow, such a good reminder. Now, the context of this verse is God speaking to the Israelites in the wilderness through Moses and yet, the truth of God's character evident in this verse continues today...God still causes His name to be remembered. And in fact, the church my husband is candidating at is a Gospel-preaching, Christ-exalting church in which God is surely causing His name and true character to be remembered. ("In every place"...including the "new church," Jill.)
In this verse God also promises to come. And He has! God has come down to us (Ephesians 4:9,10) in order to dwell with us (John 1:14) by means of His Son, Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit. The dwelling with His people which He has desired since the Garden of Eden and has been seeking to restore through the Exodus and throughout time has been manifested in Jesus Christ Himself! God has come to His people as a whole, has come to me personally, and will be with me through this potential job change and the journey of transition to follow.
God also promises to bless. Echos of Genesis 12:2 (and the 18 other references in Genesis) ring through this promise of God's to bless, found here in Exodus 20:24.
The Israelites followed a blessing kind of God. Even though their disloyalty lead them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Deut. 1:2,3), God's character of being a God of blessing remained the same. I serve that same blessing kind of God.
I am still sad at the thought of being uprooted from my home church. And I am still unsure of how the future will unfold and the unknowns of adjusting to new people and a new church and balancing our family with my husband's new role. BUT GOD.
But God has fulfilled His promise and He has come.
But God dwells with me.
But God is faithful.
But God is trustworthy.
But God is comforting.
But God is sovereign.
But God has a purposeful plan.
But God's name and character is worthy to be remembered.
BUT. GOD. IS. A. BLESSING. KIND. OF. GOD.
Thank you, God, for the reminder this morning, amidst your Law in Exodus 20, that You are a God who causes Your name to be remembered in whatever place we are and You have come and You bless.
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