Looking for a church home

The last few months we have often talked about “we need to find a church home,” “we need to find a church family,” “we need to get connected”

Since we have been in Florida we have attended a few churches, a couple in Zephyrhills ~ but it’s 20+ miles from our Little Home on Wheels and some days that seems way to far. We’ve attended a few churches here in the Land O Lakes area but something just didn’t feel right, it was hard to make connections even with reaching out multiple times to the pastors. Yes, I know they are busy, but so are we. But that just seems to be pretty common around here ~ no one seems to have time to connect. This past Fall one of our school psychologists passed away after a year filled with the birth of a new baby and battling cancer at the same time. She lost the battle with cancer but we were reminded often: her dreams had come to life: surrounded by a loving husband, giving birth to a beautiful baby girl and she freely shared she loved Jesus.

We attended her Celebration of Life and immediately felt welcomed at the church. So much so, we planned to go there and check it out. We attended a couple of services, felt very welcomed and the preaching was amazing! Pastor Matt reminded us both so much of PR from Love Springs BC in SC. But one thing we couldn’t get past was the loudness of the music. We sat in different places but that didn’t seem to help. It was suggested we wear ear plugs – but that hindered being able to hear the person sitting next to us and really just muffled the music and made it uncomfortable to sit in the sanctuary. We watched one service online (the last Sunday of December) where the whole service was online. We turned the volume down and then the music was amazing and the sermon was amazing and challenging to both of us. But it’s hard to build community if you go to church “online” only. We know some people really like the loud music and dark sanctuaries…we just couldn’t get past that.

Last July we attended a little church about 5 miles from the campground. We had felt welcomed and it was great to see such a diverse group of ages of people but Ron was working every other Sunday and it was hard to give up one of the few days we had when he was off on the opposite Sundays. This past December after a lot of discussions between Ron and I we decided that it was time to give up working one extra day every other week. Ron had first started to make extra money for us to go on our cruise to celebrate our 50th anniversary AND we did that. So the timing was right.

So this morning we went to Resonate-Tampa** and we were blessed. It was nice to be remembered from visiting over six months ago. The sermon was challenging and encouraging at the same time. Titled “Running with the Giants” with the focus on Gideon. **From the pastor’s wife “We are upgrading our website, but if you click on the YouTube icon at the bottom of the website, it will take you to our YouTube page**

Scripture came from:
~ Hebrews 12:1-3
~ Hebrews 11:32-34
~ Judges 6 and Judges 7:19-20
~ Matthew 28:18-20

Some of the points that I gleaned:
~ God is and should be the main character in our life story
~ Our life is not a sprint but a race of endurance, it’s a marathon
~ When God called Gideon his reply had been he wasn’t a brave person, his life was full of fear and confusion and it was much easier to follow the old comfortable ways
~ God calls us not on our current condition but on His future intentions
~ God sees me not as I see myself. He sees his beautiful daughter that HE chooses to love not the hot mess I feel like so much of the time.
~ God speaks to my identity ~ Daughter of the King and not my ability or lack of abilities.
~ That it’s okay to need REASSURANCE at different times of my life – this of the story of Gideon and the laying of the fleece. Gideon needed reassurance that God really was the God he said he was.
~ Poppa God is patient and personal and he truly cares about who I am, not necessarily how I see myself
~ Poppa God uses the little I have (or I think I have) and makes it enough!
~ We think we can see the whole picture of the situations we find ourselves in but we can only see a snippet of it…Poppa God sees the whole picture.
~ Remember Poppa God speaks to my identity before my ability.

And we had to laugh at how Poppa God always throws a little laughter at us at different times. Just before the pastor finished his sermon he asked, “Who do you belong to?” Ron and I looked at each other and laughed a little. Why you ask? Because in 2002 when the Workentin family gathered to celebrate Ron’s mom’s 80th birthday there was a big family reunion in Blaine. I met many family members I had heard of but hadn’t met. When I was being introduced to Belva, Ron’s cousin, she asked, “who do you belong to?” And if you have known me for any amount of time you can just imagine what I replied. I won’t keep you in suspense. I immediately replied, “I don’t belong to anyone, I’m married to Ron.” To say that was not the best way for me to respond would be correct, it’s what I said. 🤣😊😃😗😐About an hour later Belva walked up to me and said “I know who you do belong to, Jesus.” and I said Yes I do. We have chuckled about that memory a few times this afternoon.

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My question to you today is ~ do you see yourself the way you think Poppa God sees you or is your vision a bit skewed? I know mine has been skewed and I have to remind myself Poppa God loves me just the way I am.