Tracey and I have been on a spiritual journey of sorts, individually and together for awhile now. This is a tough journey to explain to others. As with many things in life it is so hard to give someone else the experience without them actually experiencing it. I have done the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer 3 day, 3 times. It is a powerful life changing experience and I can talk for days about what I went through, what I experienced and how I felt but it will never come close to what you will get by doing it yourself.
The same goes here. Everyone is in a different place with their spirituality, their religion, their beliefs. Although I am passionate about mine and there are many reasons I want to share them with you that is not what this post is about. It is also okay for you to disagree with me and what I have to say, but please do so respectfully.
Both Tracey and I are believers in Christ and were baptized many years ago. When you first believe you experience a euphoric feeling, when you are baptized that feeling grows beyond your wildest imagination. I could not think of a more joyous feeling ( having my kids comes close second!)
This past October I must say I think I experienced that same or at least a very similar occurrence. I have to tell you a little bit of the back story so you will get the full effect. I have been very involved with my church since being baptized, I have served in many different areas, I have grown and matured in my faith, and I have made life long friendships that I call family. To say I loved my church would be an understatement. Our pastor at that time was incredible, love the man of God is he and what he stood for. I love what he brought to our church. He baptized me, he was there during happy times in my life and during the most devasting times. SO when he announced he would be retiring, I panicked. Where would I go to church, what would I do without him. Saying I was worried about whoever stepped up to replace him, well let’s just say I didn’t think anyone could. Our Pastor had brought our church from a little tiny church that a few members actually mortgaged their homes to build the church, into a mega church status. He has touched so many lives all over the world and I was heartbroken to see him go.
When the new pastor started, when he preached his very first sermon I was awestruck, but reserved my judgement to see if he could hold our attention for more than one sermon. It is one thing to preach and touch lives, but to do it week after week after week is definitely a Divine ability.
Fast forward a year with our new pastor, which we love as much as we did the old one, and we have seen even more growth within our church family. Tracey and I both felt the same way but didn’t talk about it until some time had passed, and then discovering we were so on the same page was heartwarming. We have been more drawn to not miss a sermon, even watching online or on replay when we travel. We are serving in many more areas than we have in a while and feel the need to do more. As we watch each service become more and more crowded and see many more faces we don’t know, we are overjoyed with the growth.
Late last year we were approached by our senior pastor for a one on one meeting, and we of course attended. We were let into an inner circle of “in the know” about some things coming up within the church. Plans on the horizon if you will. One of the needs was sponsorship for summits that were to be held to lift up and inform the leadership of the church. We are not talking staff type leadership, we are talking members. After hearing everything, Tracey and I took time to discuss and pray about what we had heard and been asked. A few days later we both agreed to be sponsors. What an incredible honor to help provide something for so many to be blessed by. In late October we attended one of the summits.
This is where I, and Tracey, experienced that euphoric feeling again. The difference this time, it was not personal, it was not about ourselves, our hearts, our souls and the changes within us. Well maybe it was, but this was different. Have you ever heard someone say after one is baptized that they are “on fire for the Lord”? I hear it quite often and I have even said it about people. You experience something so profound that you want everyone to know about in hopes they will experience the same. Well after this summit that is exactly how we felt about our church! We left there “on fire” for the church, the direction it is going and all the changes to come.
The new direction our church is going has been lovingly named Uncharted. Not because we don’t know where we are going but because we have never been there before. This direction includes the building of a new worship center to accommodate our growth, among many other things. As we learned more and more and grew and grew in our excitement and belief, we renewed our commitment to the body of Christ and our Church and church family.
All of that to tell you that Tracey and I are on a journey we have never been on before. We have committed to lead others to a similar commitment to our church, to give financially to the tune of a number we never imagined we could or would, and to give of our time and energy to serve within the church and our community to a level beyond anything we have ever come close to.
We have both taken on weekly, sometimes daily serving roles within the church. I am volunteering in our finance office, Tracey is a Care partner and works with benevolence and counseling. We serve weekly as prayer partners during and after services. We try to say yes whenever asked to fill a need. This has flowed over to our Life Group as well. Our group has developed a heart of servitude and we have embarked on many service projects at church and within our community and beyond.
To say this is a life change, I am just not sure that would describe it. We do believe we are doing what we were created to do, on a path we are destined to be on, with those designed to do the same.
We are making changes big and small in our lives, some would surprise you and some would make you laugh.
One of the biggest changes for me personally has been my lack of time for writing. I have never proclaimed to be a good writer but I do love to and these past 6 months have really challenged me in my time management.
Currently I am putting in almost full-time hours at the church due to my friend and the church bookkeeper, Michelle undergoing surgery and recovering at home. Not sure how many of you know just how hard it is LOL. I know how hard it is to work full time, I do. But do you know how hard it is to not work for several years and then go back to work? How did I ever get things done when I worked full time? Thank goodness Tracey has really pitched in and helped me out! I do plan to find a more balanced schedule and get back to my writing.
We are purging and clearing out things from our home that no longer bring us joy! Yep you guessed it, we watched that little spitfire Marie Kondo teach us how to thank our things for the joy they brought us and then let them go. We have watched and re-watched episodes to learn to fold things from socks to sheets. Getting rid of stuff is liberating and having more room just feels good. Just don’t ask me to show you my sheets! This is a very slow process and sometimes feels overwhelming, but so worth it in the end. This activity is a step towards our goal of downsizing a home base and going more full time in our RV when our last little chick a dee flies the coup in a couple years. I think my kids are tired of receiving pictures with the words, “do you want this”!
We are cutting back on expenditures that we feel are unnecessary or maybe just a little too expensive for right now. We are not very good in this department to be quite honest. Our love of travel comes at a cost. A cost we are willing to spend!