Progress & Perspective - How You View It

Kind of had one of those "ah ha" moments today.

I was feeling like I have been treading water and not making any real progress in some areas.  Would think there was progress then have a set back or start to struggle with the same issues again.  Over and over, what was starting to feel like a vicious cycle.  To the point where even when things are going good, it had me always slightly on edge, knowing that it wouldn't stay that way.  Just kind of wearing on me, discouraging me and making me start to lose my perseverance. I have progressed enough to realize that with everything in life, this too shall pass.  But get tired of waiting on whatever the current situation is to pass.  You know the times where you just want to throw up your hands and say "I give up!" Yes, it WILL pass, but I'm tired of fighting and feeling like I'm not making any progress.  Was talking with someone about that today and she was saying that often in the middle of something you can't see your own progress.  Sometimes you have to step back and view it from a different perspective.

It made me think of working out with my personal trainer.  I've had a personal trainer for a couple of months now.  We train twice a week at the gym.  The very first session I had with her I thought she was trying to kill me!  Nearly threw up and couldn't believe how out of shape I felt. This week we met again, and like every session I left totally exhausted and feeling still out of shape (though at the same time I felt good and had that good kind of sore feeling).  Started getting discouraged with the fact that I leave every session very conscious of how much work I still have to do and not feeling like I'm making much progress since every session is so difficult.  Here is the part I had forgotten....she changes up the sessions...they are never the same...and they are, in fact, getting harder.  Her job is to constantly push me harder and further so that I actually make more progress.  But it wasn't until I looked back on my first session and did some of those exercises, the ones that originally I had thought were killing me, and being able to do them OK, to realize that I really have been making progress all along.

That was where I had my "ah ha" moment.  Just like I couldn't see the progress at the gym during my current work out session, I can't always see my personal progress.  To see my gym progress I had to go back and see where I used to be and compare it to that.  Same thing with my personal struggles.  During them I have a hard time seeing progress.  But stepping back and seeing it from another person's perspective or remembering how I have handled similar situations in the past, then I can see that I really am making progress.  In the past I might have made rash decisions or over reacted to a similar feeling or situation.  Today I thought it through, could see far enough ahead to realize that this would change and took a proactive step by talking it out with someone who could help give me a clearer perspective, encourage me and give me advice.  That is progress!  Actually a lot of progress for me, who tends to bottle up or mask how I feel with most people and not actually deal with it or overreact and possibly do something stupid.

Does that make how I'm feeling right now any easier? Not really.  But does it encourage me and give me the perseverance to keep at it and not give up?  Absolutely!

"So don't get tired of doing what is good.  Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time." Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

Last Day of School

I can't believe how long it has been since I blogged about anything at all.
A couple of weeks ago we went on an awesome sailing trip, sailed up the inter coastal waterway off the coast of Savannah and went to an island in St. Catherine's Sound.  We slept on the boat at night and explored the island during the day.  We saw a sea turtle, tons of dolphins, horseshoe crabs and jellyfish.  It was a blast and a great family experience!

Today was the kid's last day of school.  James Stephen is now an 8th grader.  LeAnne will move up to middle school as a 6th grader.  So hard to believe my "baby" is now a middle school kid.  It was hard for me today as I left her elementary school realizing that I probably won't ever be back.  JS started there in PreK so I have been at that school quite a bit in the last nine years!  She had a 5th Grade Honor's Program at school today and got three awards.  One for having all "As" all year, one was a Certificate of Achievement from Duke University TIP program (Talent Identification Program) and the "big" one was the President's Education Award for Education Excellence for Outstanding Academic Excellence, signed by President Obama and the U.S. Secretary of Education.  You go girl!  So proud of both of my kids.  They are growing up fast though.  I have loved every second of being a mother.

O2 - "I AM"

Friday night I went to O2 at 12Stone.  I always look forward to these.  Just an incredible time of praise, worship and communion.  And typically I feel refreshed and renewed after them.  This time was no different in that I knew how much I needed this night and came expecting God to move.  But I also knew I felt so bone dry that it would take a lot to feel refreshed.  Satan had just been having a hay day with my thoughts and continually whispering to me that I was unworthy.  Unworthy of God's love and unworthy of God's forgiveness.  It seemed like all day long Friday it was a constant onslaught.  Enough to where I started to forget about God's grace and feeling like I had to DO something.  So much so that at lunch break I drove past the hospital and saw they were doing a blood drive.  I pulled in and donated blood, knowing that the blood saves lives and hoping that would somehow make me feel better about myself.  Finally it was time to head to O2.

The theme for the night was "I AM."  They had a door on the stage to represent Jesus as the door.  And all around the worship center they had doors laying on stands and with markers and they opened it up for people to come and write on the doors one word describing who God is to them.  I wrote "steadfast."  Through all my ups and downs, times of chaos, and my wishy washy attitudes and actions at times, He is unchanging.  He is the rock, my unchanging place to run to.  No matter what I've done, said or thought, it doesn't change how He views me.  He is always there, waiting, with outstretched arms.  Even the times I don't necessarily feel it, it doesn't change the fact that He is there.  How comforting to know that even if my world rocks around me, He is the steadfast One!

Later in the service it was time for communion.  Though I was praising God for being my steadfast One, Satan continued to harass me throughout the service.  So much so that I had decided that I wasn't even going to participate in communion.  I watched as person after person went forward for communion.  I wanted to go but felt burdened and bound and unworthy.  Communion time passed and the next song began.  They sang Lift High (by Steve Fee).

Broken people call His name
Helpless children praise the King
Nothing brings Him greater fame
When broken people call His name

Lift high, your chains undone
All rise, exalt the Son
Jesus Christ, the Holy One
We lift our eyes to You

Sinners all exalt the Son
Your ransom paid and freedom won
We will see His Kingdom Come
When sinners all exalt the Son

[Repeat Chorus]

Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads
Look on Him
Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads
Look on Him
Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads
Look on Him
Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads
Look on Him
Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads
Look on him
Lift up your heads
Oh oh oh lift up your heads

Lift high, your chains undone
All rise, exalt the Son
Jesus Christ, the Holy One
Lift high, your chains undone
All rise, exalt the Son
Jesus Christ, the Holy One
We lift our eyes to You
We lift our eyes to You

When the choir got to the part "lift high, your chains undone, all rise, exalt the Son" I realized that my chains were undone.  Satan was lying to me and making me feel the weight of them, but I was NOT bound by them.  All I had to do is shrug them off, stand up and lift my head!!  So at that point I made my way down and partook in communion.  Thankfully, I still had time because shortly after that they removed the elements of communion.

At the end I did feel some of the typical refueled and refreshed feeling, but I guess the weariness of the struggle all day, all week for that matter, made me want even more.  And the neat thing was, at the end they asked us to come back and write "more" on the doors if we wanted to press in for more.  He is the I AM, but there is always more of Him to know, to reach for, to grow in.

I woke up in the middle of the night Friday night and again last night with that song playing in my  head and me singing along in my mind.  I was singing it in the shower this morning!  Thank you Jesus, that you have broken my chains, I can lift my head and praise You!  Help me remember that my chains are undone, if I'm burdened by them, it is because I am holding on to them, not because You haven't set me free!

Garden of the Soul

Disclaimer: this is a deviation from my normal postings.  I'm going to delve into the world of creative fiction today.  Sometimes I get these stories and words that just clog my mind, I can hear the words and even if I close my eyes I can see words floating by.  Faster and faster so that before long all I can hear is this huge static noise in my head.  Then I can hardly function or sleep or work or even drive because of the distraction.  I've tried many different ways to get rid of this buzz or static or whatever you want to call it.  I try to get louder than it, turn my radio up, or try to drown it, or any other number of ways to deal with it.  But have finally realized that the only way to calm the noise is to start typing and unscramble all the flying words into something that hopefully makes some kind of sense.  Most of the time that helps, I can then throw away or delete it and I'm good to go.  But today, I have the urge to keep these words, once I get them in some sense of order.  Call me crazy or whatever, but it's my blog so here goes...

Once upon a time there was a young girl.  And from the time she was very young she was given her own special garden.  Nothing pleased her as much as skipping through her garden barefoot.  Feeling the soft, warm earth squish between her toes, stopping to pull up a wriggling earthworm, or just gently running her fingertips across the young, gentle leaves of the small sprouts.  This was a very special place, and for the most part the sun shined happily upon the girl and her garden.  Rain gentle watered it and both the garden and the girl flourished.  One day the girl learned to read and noticed signs at each row of plants.  The signs read, "trust", "love", "security", "hope", "peace", and "joy".  She didn't know what the words meant, but it didn't matter to her, nothing could change how much she loved the garden and the feeling that overcame her at seeing her precious plants grow beautiful and strong.  With delight she watched each new leaf unfurl and lift it's head to the warmth of the sun, or gently bow down as the rain drops slithered down it's stalk.  But one day she came running to her garden and to her dismay some rabbits had been nibbling on the leaves of the plants.  It had never occurred to her that anyone, or even any creature would harm the garden.  She pondered what to do and decided to build a fence.  It wasn't high or strong or even wide, but she thought it would define her space as hers.  And for a time, all was well in her garden.  But once again, something broke through and damaged the tender shoots.  This time she built the wall a little stronger, a little taller and a little wider.  In the fence she added a gate...with a lock.  Again, time passed and she continued to enjoy her garden.  Occasionally she would look around and feel sad that she had to build the wall, but she didn't know how else to protect the garden.  Naively she felt that with this new stronger wall and a locked gate no creature could enter.  And in a way she was right, no creature could enter her garden.  But one day a person kicked and fought and ripped the gate off of it's very hinges, the plants were ripped and the straight rows were scattered.  She was devastated.  It took a while to rebuild this time.  The roots were all intact though so the plants continued to grow.  However, the garden didn't give her the pleasure it once did.  Instead of joyfully running to her garden each afternoon she warily walked down the path, wondering if yet again it had been broken into and pieces of it left in shreds.  How could she so freely play in her garden, knowing in the back of her head, that it could be taken from her?  Each day she carefully latched and locked the gate behind her and for many years it seemed that all would finally be ok.  She gradually relaxed and one day she met a gardener.  He promised to help her care for her garden, to help water it, to keep the weeds and creatures out, to expand it and to walk side by side with her down the rows and rejoice together in the beauty of the garden.  He said all he needed in return was the key to the gate.  She held the key in her outstretched hand and very slowly, finger by finger, released the key until it dropped into the waiting hand of the gardener.  And while he seemed to work and enjoy her garden nearly as much as she did, she started noticing things.  Storms would happen more frequently.  The once gentle rain that helped the plants to grow became fierce storms where the rain pelted the leaves so hard sometimes they tore and the wind would rip through without mercy.  But after each storm the gardener would assure her that it was normal, that this is what the real world and real gardens were like.  He was the gardener after all, so gradually she came to believe him and accept this as a normal part of owning a garden.  But while she accepted this as normal, she still had an innate urge to protect the plants and in desperation she built a very strong, very tall wall around it.  Yet, the gardener still had the key.  This new wall didn't always help and she became desperate at times.  At night she would sneak into the garden and water it with her tears.  This seemed to help the wilting plants to a degree, but it never lasted.  She became more desperate.  Even angry.  And one day in her anger, she went to the garden and cut the leaves, kicked the dirt and shouted at the plants.  "Just go away, you once made me happy, but now you frustrate me."  But after the emotion faded she looked around with great sadness and regret at the damage done to the garden, by her own hands.  She wanted to cry and gently lift the plants back up, but she knew the tears didn't really work, and besides, she had none left.  But the roots were still intact, so the plants once again tried to sprout.  She realized that the garden would never be the place it was when she was young, when they were both young, the little barefoot girl and the soft, young sprouts.  When all was optimistic and full of joy and hope and only rainbows existed and storms never came.  No matter what happened, she knew that garden was part of her, and she could never leave it and somehow over the course of time, the roots of the plants in the garden were intricately tied into her very soul.  No matter what happened to the garden, the plants kept their roots and stood firm.  But the gardener was jealous of the garden.  And he secretly began spraying poison on the ground around the base of the plants.  This was done a little at a time, but each day he added more poison.  It wasn't noticeable at first, but the girl finally realized that the plants no longer lifted their heads in joy as they reached for the sun, they no longer were able to drink up the nourishment from the gentle rains.  And that the storms covered them in splatters of mud.  She was bewildered at this change.  For from the outside all seemed to be in order.  The sun still shined, though the clouds often blocked it.  The rains still fell, though more in the viciousness of a storm.  The wind still brought oxygen, though often roughly instead of a gentle breeze.  Still she was perplexed.  The plants continued to shrivel, turn brown and dry up.  This made the girl sad because she realized that now matter how strong a wall she could build, it wouldn't help her plants this time.  One day as she was walking to her garden, she walked slowly with her head hanging down and in doing so she noticed something off of the path.  She stepped from the well worn trail into the weeds growing along the edge and saw the edge of a container.  She feared she knew what it was, yet felt this strange compulsion to pull it out and hold it in her hands.  She grasped it and with a tug it flew upward.  It was what she had feared.  A huge container of poison.  She sucked in air, feeling like none of it was reaching her lungs and with lurching steps stumbled to her precious garden, flung the gate open and saw with gut wrenching heartache that the plants were dead.  What more did she have to live for?  The garden wasn't just her most precious thing...it WAS her.  She wandered up and down the rows, looking for any signs of life, and occasionally would give a start as she thought she saw green, but she would touch it, and it would fall off into her hands.  How could she just abandon the garden?  She knew she could never leave it, dead or not.  So each day she slowly put one foot in front of another and almost painfully took the path toward the garden.  But each day was the same, and she would fall against the great wall she had built, and slide down to the earth.  Now dry and crusty.  No longer soft, warm and welcoming.  At times she wished she could just lie down in the dirt and die like her precious plants, yet deep in her was still life, a heart beating, strong and steady.  By this time she no longer bothered locking the gate, who would even want a garden filled with dead plants?  Inside the walls was no longer a thing of great beauty, but of sadness and destruction.  She didn't know how long she continued to visit the garden each day, but one day there was someone else in the garden.  Sarcastically she asked him, "Having fun?  Do dead plants amuse you?"  He didn't run, just looked at her slowly and gently.  At last he spoke and said, "I am THE gardener."  "Humph!" she replied, "yeah, I know all about gardeners..."  He didn't say anything but instead knelt down into the dirt and reached a hand out to a dry, brown wilted stalk and slowly lifted it up.  She thought his behavior quite odd, but even more strange was that she noticed holes in his hands.  She didn't know what to say to him, but figured at this point, why bother caring what someone said or thought about her.  So boldly she asked, "How come you have holes in your hands?"  He didn't respond, look her way, or move at all.  Just continued to gently hold the stalk in his hand.  Extremely curious now, she took a step forward and squatted down to see what this odd person was doing.  In amazement she noticed that at the base of the stalk a green streak was growing.  How could this be?  The roots were dead, weren't they?  But the green was growing taller and wider.  She quickly blurted out, "How'd you do that?"  This time the stranger did turn toward her.  He held out his hands and said, "I am the GIVER of life, the keys to life and death are in my hands, and your garden I purchased with my life.  That is how I got these nail scars.  If you will allow me to be your gardener, besides I am the only TRUE gardener, I will bring your garden back to life."  She wanted to run and fling her arms around him, she wasn't sure what was stopping her, or why her feet felt like lead.  Finally she gave in to the desire and rushed toward him, watering his shirt and her plants with the tears she thought she no longer had.  She glanced around and the first green plant she saw was on the row marked "hope."  Yes, she thought, if my plant "hope" can grow, then surely the rest of the garden can also come back to life.  In that moment she gave her garden to Him, every dirty row, every wilted plant, even every storm beaten stone in the wall surrounding the garden.  For she knew, with Him all things are possible!

I'll Pray For You

You know the scenario.  You and a friend are talking and you end up saying something or they say something and the response is, “Oh, I’ll pray for you.”  We Christians do it all the time.  The visit ends and you part ways.  Hopefully you remember and say a quick prayer for your friend.  But have you ever had someone stop right then and say, “Do you mind if I pray for you right now?”  It means a lot doesn’t it?  I have a friend like that.  It doesn’t matter if it is 2 am in a motel room at a conference that we have to be back up for by 6 am or on the phone, Robbin has just stopped and prayed for me right then and there.  And it has always meant a lot to me, it wasn’t just a Christian phrase or platitude, it was sincere.  Since then I’ve started noticing times when I could do the same.  But so often I don’t.  The other week at the jail a lady came up to me after the service to ask for prayer.  I did stop and ask her if I could pray for her right then.  I grabbed each of her hands in my hands and just started praying over her.  It was all Holy Spirit, it was awesome and definitely not just me saying words.  She and I could both feel the presence of the Lord and I think I would have kept praying for quite a while if the guard hadn’t come and rushed me out of there.  But more often then not, I let an opportunity for both me and another person to be blessed, pass me by.  Well apparently God is trying to get this into my head because it has come up several times lately and then yesterday there was a small article about it in the February 2010 HomeLife magazine.  It states almost exactly what God has been telling me. Allow me to share:

Prayer Farce

“I’ll keep you in my prayers.” Have you offered these words of comfort to someone and then failed to follow through with your commitment? This means you’ve missed an opportunity to meet with God on someone’s behalf. For Christians, prayer is not optional and should not be taken lightly. Casually telling others you’ll pray for them and not really meaning it is counterfeit Christianity. And telling others you’ll pray for them just so you have the right words to say is a farce of faith – and an abandonment of God’s provision. When you offer prayer – and follow through – you unleash the power of God Almighty against adversity. The book of James reminds us that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b, NIV). Prayer changes lives. It sustains the hurting through tough times. It provides hope for restoration. And prayer battles the enemy. This is why prayer is not a casual promise. If you’re not going to pray for others, zip your lips. But know this: When you intercede for others, your own walk with God goes to a deeper place. So get real. When you make a prayer promise, mean it. And then do it.

On the next page in the magazine under a section titled, Prayer Unleashed, this suggestion jumped out at me:

The absolute best time to follow through with a prayer promise? In the presence of the person in need. Simply ask, “May I pray for you right now?”

Wow…so right there in print, was almost word for word what God has repeatedly been laying on my heart.  For me, it isn’t so much the fact that I don’t pray for them…I do.  I actually keep a post-it note on my work computer monitor of people to pray for by name each day. But was more the concept of praying for them WITH them, right then and there.

“Dear God, may I not pass up on the opportunities You present for me to unleash Your mighty power.  Please don’t let pride or fear stand in the way of what You would have me to do.  Give me the boldness to come before Your throne, with confidence that as Your child I can come with requests and You are always available and there.  No matter the location or time of day.  You, who know the number of hairs on our head, care about our every worry, no matter how great or small.  Forgive me for the times that I’ve felt something was too small to come to You about.  Thank You for all You have taught, and continue to teach me, despite my stubbornness to learn.  I love You Lord!”

Changing the World - One Person at a Time

Today at church the service was on Nehemiah (session 3).  I have to admit, I was zoning in and out pretty badly during church.  But Nehemiah is one person, who changed his world.  At the end of the service they had a family come up and share about their recent adoption.  They just adopted a son (they already had three children of their own) from Ethiopia.  The mom was talking about how there are 147 million orphans in the world.  147 MILLION!!  That number can seem so overwhelming.  And as often happens when things are overwhelming, we end up choosing to do nothing at all.  But this family knew that they couldn't change the lives of all 147 million, but they did have the ability to change the life of one.  They showed some video of them at the airport bringing their new little son home.  Plus it just so happened that they sat two rows in front of us during church so I had already sat there making faces and grinning at this little fellow.  To then imagine him orphaned and starving, suffice to say, it was moving.  Everyone in the family, including the little guy, had on t-shirts that said "147 Million" on the front and on the back they said, "Minus 1."  He told us it might not be adoption for all of us, it may be something entirely different.  We were encouraged, that though we may not be a person that changes the whole world, we CAN change the lives of at least one.

 Fast forward to this afternoon.  LeAnne and I headed to the mall to get out for a bit since there wasn't much else to do with all the rain.  Afterward we stopped to get some gas.  I pulled up behind this guy who was pacing, on his cell phone and had his gas cap open.  I get out to pump my gas and hear God speak to me.  Not audibly, but very clearly.  Don't get me wrong, it isn't like I've never heard Him speak to me, but typically it is in a more generic fashion.  Help someone today, don't do that, you get the idea...  But this time it was specific.  "That man is out of gas and I want you to go over there and put some in his car for him."  My first response was "Uh God, I only have enough for half of what I normally put in my own vehicle and if you don't know, I don't get paid again until NEXT weekend."  But it was way to clear and specific for me to ignore.  While I'm pumping my gas I watch him walk over and talk to a younger lady and she just shook her head and turned away.  He continues pacing.  I finish pumping my gas and close my gas cap.  With a deep breath I say "Ok God, not sure why or what exactly this is about, but I'm going to obey."  As I start to walk over to him I shout out, "hey, do you need some gas or something?"  Not very original, but I'm a little out of my comfort zone at this point.  He starts desperately trying to tell me that he lives in Athens and accidentally left his money home and can he borrow some money.  I tell him that I don't have any cash, and before I can explain I see his face just fall.  Quickly I explain that I will, however, go put some gas into his car.  Walk over to his car, swipe my card in the gas pump and I began pumping gas.  He profusely thanked me and I told him to please just pass it on.  He said he would, hopped in his car and drove off.  I probably should have taken the opportunity to tell him about the Lord and that God told me to put gas in his car, but I didn't.  I pray that he was able to see God work through me through my actions, even if I didn't say it.  Got back in my truck and had the great opportunity to explain what had just happened to my daughter, who had sat in the truck watching the whole time.  She may not be able to change the whole world either, but now she knows it IS possible to change something for someone around you.  Even if it is for a stranger that you will never see again.

More Than a Membership...

My relationships with gym memberships has been a nearly constant thing for most of my adult life.  During my late teens I never really saw the need for one.  I was very active, fit, tall and at times bordered on scrawny.  When teased at times with names like "String Bean" or "Pole Bean," I never considered that one day I would really miss being called that! Doing commercials via magazines, newspapers and TV (all local level) and even getting stopped once in Orlando by someone wanting to know if I was interested in modeling runway looks, I never really saw the need for a gym membership.  That, however, all changed after the birth of my son.  Within a week of my six-week post natal check up I was signing up for a gym membership.  I had always lost weight super fast with just slight changes but most of the time could eat anything I wanted, whenever I wanted with no problem.  A whole bag of Doritos, washed down with 20 oz of Mountain Dew while watching a movie at night had never been a problem.  Now, suddenly, I was faced with the realization that this time it was going to take some work to get off my baby weight.  Went to the gym faithfully until one day there I broke my foot.  Then not long after that I got pregnant with my daughter.  To make a long story short, ever since then I have been a member at one gym or another, and though at times I would really put a lot of effort into it, most of the time I quickly ran out of steam and then I just "showed up."  Meaning a nice stroll on the treadmill or a few lunges, not enough to do much of anything, but enough to say I went and make me feel better.  Though at times I bemoaned the way I felt and looked, for the most part I became complacent.  With excuses like well I just don't have an athletic build or it's in my genes. But recently I was faced with the fact that being healthy and losing weight is more than a membership at a gym!  On November 23, 2009, I went to a new doctor who did a complete blood work up on me.  A week later the results showed triglycerides over 200, cholesterol at 196, pre-diabetic sugar levels, as well as very low B12 (under 200).  Nothing like black and white to get you motivated, especially after my Dad's heart attack in July of 2009.  They say numbers don't lie, and mine were yelling at me to make some serious changes!  We made arrangements for weekly B12 shots and I found a program where I can keep a detailed food/exercise diary on my phone.  My phone is always with me, so no excuses as to why I didn't log something.  Started interval training, weight lifting and to throw some fun into it, tried some new things like yoga and pilates.  On January 11, 2010, I went back for more blood work.  Now keep in mind that that six-week period covered the major "food" holidays!  Yesterday I got my results back.  My triglycerides are now at 85 (down by over half!), cholesterol is at 161, blood sugars are in the normal range and my B12 is up to 783.  As a really  nice by-product I'm also down about 15 pounds.  I love that, but seeing those numbers typed out really siked me up!  Could go on about nutrition tips, work out tips and the like, but that is not my point to this blog.  The point is that a gym membership alone did NOT change my health or my weight.  It took work, effort, consistency (even when frustrated at not being able to see changes), and determination to change.

How about your relationship with Christ?  Is it more than a membership?  Does your Christianity consist of saying, "Yes, I'm a member of ___________ church and I show up faithfully!"  Christianity was meant to be more than a membership.  It is meant to be a relationship with Jesus Christ, with each of us being a part of the body and having an important role to play.  I Corinthians 12:12-27 talks about that.  Our Christian walk is more than a membership, it is a growth process.

Paul wrote, "I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God." (Ephesians 1:16, 17)   

"Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Ephesians 4:16)

For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God. (Colossians 2:19)

So how about it?  Is it time for you to have a spiritual fitness check-up? (to help you get started on testing your spiritual fitness and growth, read Galatians 5:22-26 and see what the fruits of the Spirit are) Is your walk getting sluggish or stale? Have you gotten complacent about where you are at spiritually?  Feeling like it is unattainable or seeing someone that you admire and just thinking, that is them, no matter what I do I won't ever be a Beth Moore, or a Billy Graham, or whoever you admire? Are you going to let your relationship with Jesus just be a membership or are you going to do the real work to grow and learn?  It isn't an exclusive thing, it is for EVERYONE.  Dig in and discover the benefits of being a healthy, growing Christian!