"Sing My Love"

I don't listen to music much... occasionally in the shower is about it. I have a very talkative two year old. She is in a phase of stating everything she sees over and over again until you've repeated it (so she knows you know exactly what she's talking about). I know... it's great for her development and I will miss these days one day!

Anyway, I'm probably way behind the times here, but I came across "Sing My Love" by Jesus Culture on Pandora a couple of days ago and I can't get enough of it! Once you've encountered the love of Christ, you can't help but want to show Him how much you love Him. You can't help but praise. Once you've confessed your sins with you mouth and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God sees you through His son Jesus. He doesn't see all of your junk and baggage, He sees you as holy. There is a constant outpouring of grace. Once you truly understand this picture of grace, you can't help but desire to show Him how much you love Him.

There was a time in my life that I was unable to understand God's love for me. My gut turned with each failing and sin, knowing that I had disappointed Him. I felt so condemned all the time. In Romans 8, it says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So, does this mean we can live a life of sin with no consequence? Not at all. It means that live our lives by faith, knowing that if we make a mistake (which we all will), that there is a path of grace. It means that I no longer have to make decisions in fear... that if I make the wrong choice, there will be a path of severe consequences. Instead, I make decisions by faith and God's grace is there to catch me if I fall.

I'm not sure what this means to you, but this makes me want to praise Him! This makes me want to seek after Him. He is pleased with me. He loves me. And I can't hold back my love and my praise!

The Church Search

I belonged to one church for over 10 years. For the last several years, it was not where I belonged. I became bitter and hurt because I was serving where I shouldn't have been serving and leading where I had no place in leading. 

Moving to Midland, TX was the best thing that could have ever happened for our family. We found an amazing place of grace in our church. The pastors and leadership were so real. I had never seen a group of people that would completely emotionally expose themselves for the benefit of others. I know that no church is perfect but it was so refreshing to meet people that admitted mistakes, failings, insecurities and doubts. They gave grace to others when it was needed and their attitudes allowed for others to give them grace for their failings. This church brought so much healing and led me to fall deeper in love with Jesus than I've ever been.

Fast forward to today... it's hard to find a great church! We have been in League City, TX for over two months. In true Jennifer fashion, I made a spreadsheet of all of the potential churches we wanted to visit. We have eliminated all of the possibilities. We are expanding out search to nearby cities and our amazing "former" pastor is making some calls for us. There are so many things that factor into the search - doctrine, style of worship, style of preaching, content of preaching and the list just keeps on going. 

I have to remind myself every day that we made the move to League City by faith. We will make our new church choice by faith. I just pray that God gives me the grace I need until then - because being churchless is quite frustrating! 

So, TBH (I think that's what the kids are saying these days!), I've been thinking for some time about writing a blog. However, I have always struggled with whether I had something worth saying or not. So, I've reserved this blog address for myself. I will write my thoughts as I want to and if this evolves into something more in the future, so be it! I hope at some point, someone will think my thoughts are worth reading :)