Last night my sweet Miss B had her piano recital. I'm happy to report she did AWESOME! The poise and confidence she shows for a nine year old is quite amazing to me. Her three years of lessons and daily practice is starting to pay off... just goes to show that sticking to a difficult skill and persevering is one of life's best lessons.
Compared to some of her friends, Miss B doesn't have a lot of family living nearby. My husband's father (Granddaddy) lives just a few miles away and he never misses a special event in my children's lives. I am so thankful for my sweet father-in-law. Other than that, however, it's usually just our small family. Sometimes that is ok, but there are other times where I know it kind of difficult for my children. My mom and dad live twelve hours away, and most of their aunts, uncles and cousins live far away, too.
I don't blog much about our church life, but I really should. After much heartache and soul searching, we left the only church our children had known last year at this time. Nearly 1/3 of the active members left as well. This was the church that just the year before had seen me through a very difficult surgery and recovery - bringing meals, taking care of my children; basically anything I needed I could depend on my church. This was the church where both of my children had gone to preschool, where I was the president of the preschool board, the church we called HOME. It was beyond difficult, but the national church body had made some decisions we did not feel were in keeping with Biblical teaching. My husband (the wise leader of our family that he is) decided right away that we could not stay. Yes, I was upset with him and didn't quite understand (I knew in my heart of hearts he was right, but I loved my church and wanted to stay), but I had to trust him as my husband....
Many, many tears were shed. I felt we were without a church home. My children had lost a whole support system and friends. My dearest friend here remained at the old church. Ugh. (I am happy to report, however ~ she is still my dearest friend!) I just felt sad a lot of the time. Last summer was spent visiting other churches and never quite finding the perfect "fit". I don't know how to describe what happened next, other than it was a total "God thing".
A group of other "displaced Lutherans" (all of them former members of our church) had formed a new Lutheran church. Friends of ours had urged us to attend, but I guess we just had to discover for ourselves what was out there. After seeing a dear friend of mine (who was helping start the new church) one day, my sweet Miss B just burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. She was hurting so deeply, missing the fellowship, support, and love she had at the old church. Her feelings were an exact copy of mine ~ she just let hers show, and I tried not to.
The happy ending to this sidetrack is that we somehow the next week my husband said we should attend this new Lutheran church, appropriately named "Word of God Lutheran"... while in the service my husband leaned over to me and asked I would like our family to be a part of the group of charter members? I remember wanting to sob right there in church because I felt like we were now at home. So, the following week, 180 people signed the charter membership for the church. God knew just what He was doing when he led us out of our old church and through the wilderness of looking for a new church. All I had to do was trust His way was perfect, and yes, it was. I found a lot of comfort in this verse:
Our church now - after just a year - is in its own worship and office space. We met today to plan our first Vacation Bible School. We have a FABULOUS interim pastor who I know was sent by God to heal so many hurting hearts. We are a close group of Christians - in many ways a family.
*Images courtesy Photobucket
