Be His Church

For the past several weeks months, the girls and I have been making our way through Acts, studying the first church. It has been good for me to see the church as God designed it and study what my role is within the church body today. I've certainly learned a thing or two about what the church is...and is not.

For starters, the Church is not a specific church, but rather the body of Christ (born again believers) as a whole. To me, this is an incredibly important truth as some churches have the mind set of "us 4, no more" and if you're not a member of that church, you're essentially an "outcast"...or made to feel that way. Not at all what Scripture teaches us. {Romans 12:4}

The Church is not a place of condemnation, but rather a place of grace. We are all sinners, but sometimes we have a tendency to look at others sin as worse than our own. We see in Scripture that all sin is repulsive to God, no matter how minor or major the offense. {Romans 5:20}

The Church is not a place for the elite, but rather a place for all. Sometimes we see a particular mindset within the church that if you don't look the part, you're not welcome. We see in Scripture that Jesus went not to the religious leaders, but rather to the outcast and forsaken in society and welcomed them with open arms. {Luke 19:1-10}

The Church is not a place you go once a week, but rather a lifestyle of daily worship and service to the One True King. All too often, we can get wrapped up in going through the motions and playing church, but we see that what the Church really is and does is live it out every day, getting down and dirty in the trenches of life. {Joshua 22:5}

The Church is not a place of rules, but rather a place of love. All too often, churches impose rules and expectations upon new (and old) believers, or those searching for Christ, that nobody can maintain and that are not found in Scripture. We need to love others and disciple them in the Word and then let God do the rest. Let God show others what they need to change in their lives. {Romans 5:8}

The Church is not a place of gossip, but rather a place of prayer. All throughout Acts, you see the church (body) coming together in prayer, calling upon the power of God to work and move among them. There is tremendous power in prayer that we all too often forsake for a more "hands on" approach to life and our problems. {Acts 1:14}

These are all things that I need to work on myself. This year, I want to focus more on Jesus and live how He desires that I live. I want to be the church wherever I go, whatever I do. 

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*Don't forget about our second Thankful Thursday link up this Thursday! We'd love for you to join us!



Chilaquiles Casserole

I recently went through my Pinterest boards and cleaned them up a bit and organized my recipes better. While doing that, I came across a recipe I used to make that we all really enjoyed and thought I'd make it again. We loved it (again), so I wanted to share it with you. It's called Chilaquiles Casserole (please, somebody tell me how to say that name) and I pair it with Mexican Rice. Enjoy!

Five on Friday-New Year's Goals

Happy New Year (again)! While I'm not much of a resolution person, there are some goals I have made for myself for this year. I thought I'd share those with you...and maybe you can help keep me accountable on them, too. :) I'm linking up with Darci (and friends!) and Lauren Elizabeth. So, here we go!

{one} Daily spend time in the Word. If one thing is true, it's that my days fall apart when I don't spend time in the Word with Jesus. Sure, life gets busy and the days fly by, but it is an absolute must that I spend time, every single day, with Him!

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{two} Play more. I want to play more with my kids. The days are going by so very quickly as they grow older each day and I don't want to miss anything! I want to play with them more and soak up their "littleness" while I can. I also want to play more with Robert. The pressure and stress of life adds up so quickly and I don't want to forget the fun we had as we were dating and engaged. I want to relax more and just have fun with him.

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{three} Give grace. Give grace to others and give grace to myself!

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{four} Be intentional. I want to be very intentional in my relationships, growing and nurturing them on purpose. It seems that every year I grow to love and appreciate those in my life even more and this year I want them to know that...really know that. 

 

{five} Love more. I want to love others more. Even when it's hard. And the only way I can do that is to remove myself and allow Him to take control and be that love. Less me, more love....less me, more Jesus.



 

 



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So, there you have it. My list of goals for this year. What about you? Do you set goals? Or do you have a "word" for the year?

 

 

~Yesterday was our first Thankful Thursday linkup. We'd LOVE to have you join us this year as we focus each day on gratitude!