My Second Church Family

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so INCREDIBLY blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Body of Christ is probably the most amazing thing ever! God really knew what He was doing when He called us to come together to worship Him TOGETHER, seek Him TOGETHER, grow more in love with Him TOGETHER, and love on each other TOGETHER! And what I'm so excited about is that I don't have just one Body of Christ ... I have TWO!!! Granted, the Body of Christ is a universal thing ... all Christians everywhere are apart of the Body of Christ ... but I'm talking about the local Body. We each have a church home ... a place where God CALLS us to be apart, to serve, to love, to grow ... (And yes, Ben Nilsen, I AM CALLED TO CALVARY CHAPEL! ... Ha ha!). *A side note (as always!) ... Ben and I were talking at lunch today after church, and when I told him how I am called to Calvary, he told me I wasn't ... that he had talked to God and that I was really supposed to be at Grace. Goofball. Sheesh! ... Ha ha! I LOVE Grace Fellowship! I would not mind a bit if God called me there someday ... but for now, I'm confident in my calling at Calvary. But anyways! Let's try to get back on track! ... So we are all called to specific places in the Body ... we all have a local Body to be apart of. I am called to Calvary Chapel, and the people of Calvary are my church family ... it is my church home ... for sure! But what I love ... is that Grace Fellowship is kind of like a second church family. :) I have served and loved and been apart of this great church, even though I don't go to church there! The families at this place are amazing! Truly loving and seeking the Lord ... full of encouragement and love ... and it is a blessing to be a "member" of this Body.

I went to church at Grace this morning .... Pastor Warren was preaching on Psalm 73, and the last few verses of that Psalm are one of my all-time favorite parts of scripture ... and something I REALLY NEED right now! Didn't want to miss it! And Ben was bringing his friend Megan, and I wanted to meet her. And! We (my Grace folks and I) were hanging out this afternoon ... good reasons to go, right? So I walked in, and I knew nearly everyone! That is pretty amazing when you know most of the people in a church and you don't even go there!!! I said hi to Frank Bennett ... a fun guy who calls me "mom" and "Miss Safety" all the time - you'll have to ask me the story sometime. And I talked to Jeremy - right up there with Pastor Mike on the best youth pastors ever list! And I got a hug from Cindy and Kim Svoma and Pam. Pam told me she had been thinking and praying for me! What a blessing! And Marty came up and talked to me ... really caring to know what was happening in my life. :) And I got a smile from Kayla ... the cutest girl ever! And Judy Nilsen came right up to me and gave me a hug - a hug just for me! And I got a hug from Warren. And I had a good conversation with Sallie. ......... It was just a really great morning! And then lunch with my Grace folks was great! I got to sit and talk to Alec, someone I think is super great but never get to talk to ... and Ben turned from his table to give me a hard time ... always a hoot! And James Nilsen spit a spitwad at me! And Jared shook my hand. ... So yeah ... that's a long list of blessings from Grace! It was a muchly needed (yes, I know that muchly isn't a word ... but I think it is a spectacular word!) boost. A boost from my second church family!

Sometimes I marvel at how God's grace is poured into my life ... how He can (and does!) bless me the way He does. The friendships, the mentors, the encouragement and support that He pours into my life through the PEOPLE He has put in my life is beyond amazing! I have TWO church families ... it really doesn't get any better than this!!!! I love you, Grace folks!!!