Reminded

Ever have one of those "ah-ha" moments? Have you ever been sitting somewhere and felt like God was really talking to you or beating you on the head trying to tell you something? That's how I felt today. I felt like God was reminding me of just how blessed my life is.

We go to a small Christian church here in town. When I say small, I mean small. We average 50-60 people, although that's probably on the high side. We do have a large youth (ages K-7th) group though. In fact, when it's time for the kids to go to their service, the worship center looks empty because all of the kids have gone to their class. It's kind of funny.

Anyway, we don't have a "youth minister" per se. Instead we have a few couples who volunteer their time to help out with the youth program. Last night, the youth leaders arranged to have a lock in at the church for the kids. Although Tanner was with Mike this weekend, she still got to go. Let me tell you, when I got to church this morning, she greeted me, pajama's and all, at the door with the BIGGEST smile. The first thing out of her mouth was "We had so much fun! I didn't go to sleep until 3:30!"

The kids played games on the WII, dug puzzle pieces out of green jello using only their mouths, decorated a prayer box, had devotions, ate pizza, made t-shirts, scrapbooked, face painted, watched movies and ate ice cream. They all stayed in their pajama's for church and were so stinking excited to tell the parents all about their nights. Fourteen kids ranging from age 4 to age 14 were there.

It was so neat to see ALL the kids so excited. Notice I said the kids were excited. The grown ups on the other hand....yea, excited isn't the first word that comes to mind. The adults were dead tired yet excited that the first ever New Springs lock in had been a success.

Once a month we have "Family Feed" which is a themed fellowship lunch after the service. Today, because of the lock in, the theme of Family Feed was brunch. One of the Dad's that spent the night last night made waffles for everyone and the rest of us brought all the fixin's. We had brunch before service, took communion together, then continued to worship and have a sermon. The kids (and a lot of the babies) all stayed in big church and though it was sometimes noisy and the kids were figidity because they were tired, it was just a really neat time of worship.

I sat there snugglin' with my Ivy girl (one of "my" many babies at church) during the praise and worship time.....listening to the sermon while watching the kids up front listening so well....just thinking and thanking God for our small, yet so powerful, church. Though we are small in numbers, we are strong in heart and strong in faith. Our church has so many wonderful, caring, compassionate, loving, on fire for Jesus people in it and I'm so blessed to be apart of it.

Before I found New Springs, I had tried several area churches. At almost every one, I was looked upon differently because I was a single mom. I always felt out of place and awkward no matter how many Sundays I went and tried to be apart of things. At New Springs though, it was different. Even though I was the only single mom for awhile, it didn't matter. I was treated the same as everyone else. The people at New Springs took Tanner and I in despite our status in life and didn't one time judge us or make us feel uncomfortable. When Steve started to coming to New Springs, they welcomed him with open arms as well. We have been so blessed by New Springs and her congregation.

Thank you Jesus for reminding me today of just how blessed I am.