life has been flowing swiftly almost like the waters of white rapids . . . and I am paddling as fast as I can to stay a float . . . sometimes the currents are going so fast my breathe is taken away . . . even though sometimes the ride is scary, it is also exhilirating.
The smaller membership church I partner with is moving forward in our transformational process, but it has been sloooooow going and the changes are not what I expected.
Well, I am not really sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect that alot of the changes I would be seeing would be in myself . . . in the way I preach, in my becoming more comfortable in the pulpit, and I have learned what it means to live I Corinthians Chapter 13, not perfectly, but more thoughtfully.
It is my prayer that as others go deeper and further with Jesus they will see places and relationship where the Word is transforming them more and more into the image of Christ, Himself . . . listen how Paul tells us what God desires in us . . . So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12: 1-2
Lydia
