Stepping Out and Kneeling Down

Obedience and Action both allowed God's Will and Grace to shine brightly in my life tonight. It was just awesome. We signed up for a bible study group for married couples from our church. Our church is a BIG church, the kind you can be anonymous in if you want to. It's the polar opposite of any church we have ever been led to before, but God led us to it's doors and it fits our family perfectly. Because they started very small and have grown so big they have a very strong emphasis on small groups because Jesus called us to be in fellowship with each other and experience life together .. There are men's groups, women's groups, couples, families and singles groups...  Groups for guitar players (TJ is signed up already, lol), knitters, quilters, runners, hikers, songwriters, community outreach (the community outreaches are awe inspiring!!!), recovery, grief, and lots of bible study groups (although, they are really ALL bible study groups! Even the runners study scripture together). So many others... If you want to be involved with like minded Christians there is a place for you. They challenged everyone to get involved in a small group during worship this Sunday and we accepted that challenge. We picked our married group first because we are both hungry for adult fellowship. There where three groups closer to our house but for some reason I was very strongly led to this group... Obedience and Action :)  In the hours leading up to the group I was so nervy I developed a tension headache. I started hoping for Jess to have to work late so we could just go next week.. Or the week after ��. I was trembling when we walked up and I was SO awkward the first 30 minutes while people came in. Everyone knew each other and we where the new couple. We sat down did an ice breaker to introduce ourselves and it felt like God was in the room with us. We studied scripture in relation to strengthening our marriages (half of the group of 8 couples are in their first couple years of marriage, the other half have been married 15+ years like Jess and I). We talked, laughed, and prayed. Then the guys and girls separated in to groups and we continued to lift each other up, gently guide each other in to making better decisions in our marriages and, more laughter and prayers. The guys where out back doing the same, but at the end there was some really loud hooting and laughing ... I asked Jess why when we where driving home and apparently there was some good old fashioned manly farting taking place, LOL. 

It was just such a wonderful God led night and that continued once we where home. When we got home we laid on our king sized bed with all four kids discussing our bible verse of the week.. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

There is no school for the kids this week so the conversation was long, rambling, full of laughter, goofiness, farts and lots of love. It was truly a blessed blessed day.... With a lot of farting, lol. We took turns practicing that verse with each other by saying something encouraging and something to build each other up... When it was Sylver's turn she stared at TJ in silence for a good 20 seconds. I said, Silly? And she looks at me and says completely dead pan, "Just look at him, mom. He's not giving me a whole lot to work with here..." When the laughter died down she had the sweetest things to say to him, including he's her BFF. The sweet words spoken among the jokes, jibes and occasional sarcasm where awesome. We should do that every single day, honestly! It was fun and such a great way to hide that verse away in our hearts. We all agreed Trinity is the member of our family that best represents that verse on a daily basis. 

I can't help wondering what I would have written if I had stayed home and let fear win. Action and Obedience are causing me knee quaking fear and resulting in growth and peace and blessing beyond any expectation I could have ever hoped for. I was completely set free from something that was eating me up this week, too. Because of action and obedience. 

It can't be stated enough. God is AWESOME!!!