2nd Last Day of May and feeling Revived

Today is Sunday, May 30th and it feels more like November or March, but not almost the beginning of June. That is the weather feeling but not the spiritual feeling. Jack and I have been discussing seriously for the past 2 weeks about getting back into the church groove. We feel that our soul has started to heal and that it was time to go and hear a spiritual message. Now don't get me wrong, I love doing devotions with my husband, but somehow I needed to hear a different message. Even reading the paper this morning, the Christian section talked about Christians that only go to church 2x a year (Christmas & Easter) and the only 2 messages that they get from that. My soul needs a different message and so does my heart.
So with that we decided that going to Oak Park was the right thing to do. When we entered church the elder greeting was very friendly and encouraging. Then as we walked further into the foyer we were once again greeted by several folks wearing some kind of official name tags, but again very friendly in there welcome to us. We did have a chuckle about "which other CCOC members might be there" and low and behold sitting near the back to the side were Bob & Betty Watts along with Wes & Roberta and family. So we chose to sit behind them. They commented on having had the same thought when they got to church as well.
The message that Steve McMillan gave was quite close to what the newspaper had said about the 2x a year visitors. As well he talked about the journey that Oak Park was going to be on and the new things that they were going to be doing. Most of the dialogue were things that Maryvale had already been doing so it was nice to hear that people want to give back to their community.
After church we were invited by the Watts families to go out to lunch. This proved most interesting as it allowed all of us to share our feelings on Oak Park and what/where we see ourselves going to worship. Many feelings shared were the same, and yet we were looking for different areas of interest but the main agreed interest was the need for some spiritual focus. To hear a gospel or read from the bible and hear the translation was a common factor.
We talked on the way home about it being too soon to settle on a church as well the need to not want to get involved with any ministries as of yet. So we will continue to go to several churches to have ourselves spiritually met. I know that it will take some time, but that's okay. We're not in a rush to settle and I know that when we do it will be for all the right reasons. God is everywhere and so knowing that we will take our time to be a part of his church family which is okay with us.

Life's Journey

Our journey lately has been a turbulent one but we have held our ground and become closer as a couple. We have loved watching our new home getting built and much like life the house has most of the outside complete. So we continue to journey together and apart finding new things and new friends.
Jack signed me up for a ladies golf school to help me "refine" my game and meet some new ladies. So last week was my first lesson and wouldn't you know it but a golf supplier for the company I work for, is my instructor. Of course he only knows me from work and not my "golf skills". Wasn't he in for a surprise. Not to mention that I was enrolled in a intermediate class - not a beginners. So much to my surprise I met some lovely ladies (only 6 in the class) and also learned quite a bit about my handling of a golf club plus my stance was all wrong. I also learned that I needed to get "newer" clubs as mine were from the 80's. So after a great discount from my instructor, hitting the driving range yesterday was wonderful. I am really excited about going for lesson #2 on Tuesday.
Yesterday was a first of open houses for our house and one promising lady that came through. Our realtor plans on having a couple more open houses next weekend, as well the one lady plans to bring her brother through, as she dislikes the kitchen (this was my opinion as well). Her brother is a contractor so she wants his opinion on what could be done. We pray that they see the beauty of the whole house and that she will make this her home (after Breanne's wedding in July).
So life's journey continues for both of us. Jack is reading more and keeping his spirits up and we are faithfully doing our devotions together to enrich and bring us closer together to God as a couple, plus we are getting on with our life in whatever direction that takes us.
Thank you to all of you that have reached out to us this past month...we couldn't of gone on with out all your prayers, letters, cards, and emails. We love all of you and want you to know that Life's Journey has taken on another avenue and we are feeling blessed by all of you.

The Door is Closed

The big office clean up happened at 6:30pm last night. And yes it was difficult to sort through and pack up but it was the final chapter in the book. Some might say that it must of been good to do this or some might say that it was the finale and I believe that both statements are true. The crew to help clean were Jack's brother, Bud & Marlene, our good neighbor Kevin who had his van and years of experience of moving things and my son-in-law, Cecil who had his truck to take away the bookshelves.
While Bud & Marlene worked on packing up the books, I helped Jack sort through nine plus years of binders, papers, gifts, photo's etc. Was it tough - you bet it was. The memories were overwhelming for both of us. But yet we managed to keep it together while we did this.
While it was tough to do this, it was tougher seeing some folks at the church that had a harder time coming to see us and say "nothing" or just "goodbye". When I hear "goodbye" I know that this means, we won't see you again, or the door is now closed and we know you won't be back. And that's okay for me. As change has to happen and it won't if we are still there.
To the folks that wouldn't come out to say good bye, good luck and remember God is always watching!
As we settled into our home last night, we talked about the relief of knowing that this last bit has been handled. The books and papers neatly piled in the old office, the keys turned in, the lights turned off and the door closed. However, we know that we have not closed the door to Jesus. Somewhere amongst the hurt and disappointment in how this whole thing was handled, we will go on to continue to want to follow in Christ's footsteps. We will still reach out to others in the areas that we are both gifted and we know that we will make a difference, just somewhere else.
I know that this is not Sunday (my hardest day of the week) but I know that my soul has started to heal and the more that we read together and talk about things, I feel that I am soon ready to go back out into the world of believers.
We have had several invites to go to a variety of churches and one that was the closest to our hearts, was from a family that left Maryvale. This young family took the time to correspond and encourage us! Hard to believe in some ways, but after reading the hurt they experienced and being able to relate to them, we have to believe that there are still good people out there. And in my last message to them, I expressed how we might just show up in the lobby of there new place to worship, and we would be there because we want to all be fed spiritually together. After all, isn't that what church family wants - togetherness in Christ?