Renewing of the Home

The last week or two have really been quite uplifting for me. And it's not just because school has started.

For about the last two years or maybe 3, God has been working on mine and my husband's hearts. We were no longer where He wanted us to be. We didn't know what this meant and we weren't in the place we needed to be spiritually to know that that was what God was doing. It started with our Sunday School teachers stepping down and they went threw very trying times. We weren't so sure we were suppose to stay in that class, but we did. We were in the word and the other class that we were interested in was during the worship service we typically went to. Our church had two services and Sunday School went on during both. Plus had we changed classes we had 6 kids to change classes too.

So we continued and we were blessed by the Lord with fellowship and growing closer to Him, but there was something missing. We, Jeff and I, started feeling out of place. At first we though it was because we had 6 kids and while we did know other families with many kids, it's not exactly common. After Benji was born, our church family ministered to us and helped us through the trials of his heart condition and the surgery. We felt closer to the Lord and thought that that was what we were missing. You know that spiritual closeness that sometimes we forget about once the daily grind gets ground into us.

Some more time went by and we started feeling lost again when we would go to church. We made excuses and visited my mom's church once or twice but didn't think anything about this missing piece. Everytime the women's group would start a Bible Study I would go to sign up but then something would stop me and I would feel miserable. We lost any touch of the world outside of our home other than sporting events. (Not that we wanted worldly fellowship, but the fellowship that was available we felt we didn't have.)

Finally, a major crisis happened in our family and we were all alone. We struggled, we knew God was the only way we would survive. And it has taken us a year to get to where we could hear God's call on our lives.

We have recently changed churches. Our spiritual needs are now being met as we need them to. All of our kids are being blessed. Little Benji, the youngest, went from kicking and screaming when we would drop him off at the nursery at our old church to running from me when it's time to go to nursery where we are now going. The atmosphere is different to us. I am not saying that God's presence is not at our former church. That is not the case at all. We have just outgrown our former church. Sorta like as you grow up, you go through school and you change school's once you get so far.

So, now that we have changed churches... The kids are loving to go to church and learn about God. And they are really learning. I signed up for Bible Study and I also joined MOPs. I am looking forward to being part of both groups and some of the ladies are in both groups.

All of this going on and it is amazing to say that, now that the spirit man is being fed and we are getting back into the Word the way we are suppose to be. Our home life is getting calmer and renewed. Three of our children have issues that can stress a mom, and dad, out. Two are emotionally/behaviorally challenged and then the other is developmentally challenged. All three are in therapy and getting help, but we have good days and bad days that have to be dealt with.

In getting back to the Lord, our home is renewed by His love and grace. We are growing closer to Him day by day and that renewal is awesome.

In God's Love,

Labels: bible study, church, family, home, MOPs, renewal

posted by the Johnson Family at 2:23 PM 0 comments

Spiriutal Awakening

Isn't it wonderful when you are sitting in a church service and all of a sudden the Lord touches you? I had a Sunday Service like that yesterday. It was marvelous and it is what my soul has been craving for too long.

The last few months our family has been in a spiritual drought. About a month ago we decided to go to my mother's church just to test the waters. The church we were going to we had become very comfortable and while there were some changes we didn't completely agree with, we stayed. Now, we know that the Lord was calling us to move away from the church we called home for nearly ten years.

I am not advocating to change churches if things get stagnant, I do advocate listening to the Lord and heeding his call. Our former church has blessed as tremendously, our spiritual needs have merely outgrown the church.

Anyhow, back to the spiritual awakening. Sunday during the sermon, the preacher spoke of Christian love. Sundays' sermon was a sequel from last week's and it was a true blessing.

Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another. Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times. Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers. Ask God to bless those who persecute you---yes, ask him to bless, not to curse. Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep. Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise. If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord." Instead, as the scripture says: "If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame." Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.
(Romans 12:9-21 GNB)


Being a Christian is being LOVE.

If we are rich and see others in need, yet close our hearts against them, how can we claim that we love God?
(1 John 3:17 GNB)


What is impressed upon me is that we are to reach out to others. If we see people in need, we should help them. If a fellow Christian has fallen, pick them back up.

We are still on our journey looking for the church that the Lord wants us in, so I do ask for prayer that the answer is obvious. I pray that the church we move to will be the church that will meet all of our family's needs now and in the future.

I will say one more thing, just because we left the church we were attending does not mean that it is not following the will of the Lord. It's just not the road we are suppose to be on. There are many people I know that go there and are blessed to be there. It is where the Lord has put them.

Labels: christian, church, family, God's Love, moving

posted by the Johnson Family at 12:15 PM 0 comments