Focus on Faith

First of all, I do believe in God. However, I have not attended church on a regular basis for quite some time. I did go for several months back in 2006, but I have not gone on a regular basis since I was in high school (over 15 years ago). I have been meaning to get back into a regular church routine, but of course I have had so many excuses and reasons over the years from lack of time, late Saturday nights, other things, waiting for the right moment, to waiting until I started a family, to being just plain lazy. Whatever my reason was for not going to church, I have still remained faithful to God in that I pray almost every day. I am thankful for all of God's blessings and all that I have in my life and because of this, I pray for my thankfulness, for people or loved ones who I want to be looked over, or just for random thoughts. I would not consider myself to be the most religious person on the planet, but the truth is that I'm not ashamed of my religion nor my relationship with God. A bit of history about myself...my mom is a Buddhist who defines the Buddhist religion as a belief out of fear...my dad is an Atheist who denounced God during his childhood being a preacher's kid who had to sit in church almost everyday while he watched his father not practice what he preached. Luckily for me, my parents have been supportive of me finding my own view on religion and I was fortunate that my Grandma on my dad's side was a church goer. I do remember my dad taking me and my brother to a church in Texas when we lived there, but I remember that we'd walk or he would drive us and then he'd go home, but I do have to give him credit for getting us involved regardless of his own feelings for God. When I lived with my Grandma in second grade, I remember attending church with her, as well as when we'd visit her on holidays. Then when we moved to Jerseyville permanently in 6th grade, I attended the First United Methodist Church every single Sunday. I loved Church camps and Sunday school and being a part of a family oriented church.

I had always told myself over the years that I would reacquaint myself with going to Church when I started a family...it was a promise I knew I had to keep. But of course, the excuse that hovered over me and Chris was moving to our long term location. We said, once we moved to Ballwin/Fenton/etc, we'd attend several different types of churches and settle on the one we felt the best about...but our one year in Arnold as a married couple has turned into almost 3 years and still our excuse for not finding a church was dwindling.

A new friend via Thirty-One, Laurel, has been talking to me about her church for several months now and everything she was explaining was exactly what we were looking for and even better, the church is within a couple miles of our house. My view on religion is that all religions based on the bible are essentially the same but have a different theme or format to how they serve God. I am open to becoming any religion based on the bible whether that was Methodist to Catholic, I just wanted it be something that I truly felt inspired by. I had most recently attended the Journey, which to me has been a wonderful experience because it is an urban church meaning that they teach scripture in a way that you feel inspired, compelled, and moved...it is not about what you wear or where you came from. I really loved going there, but after I moved to Arnold, there wasn't a close location.

So this past Sunday, Chris, Tia, and I attended Laurel's church. We arrived at the South Telegraph Christian Church and I was a bit nervous and excited. We walked in and saw a buzz of people. We weren't sure where to go and we were of course behind schedule. We were directed downstairs where we would find the nursery. To our amazement, it was a computerized check-in system where we'd enroll Tia into the computer, get a barcode printout to stick on her back and we'd keep the associated tag to check her out when we went to pick her up. To me, it was very cool and we felt it was really secure. I could tell Chris was impressed as well and even more so when Tia went willingly to the girl who would be watching her. I think Tia knew this was a whole new experience and she was intrigued enough to see what it was all about. Knowing that the ladies watching Tia are ones whose kids were grown or who never were able to have kids, they'd give her lots of love and attention for the hour with her, we felt good.

We found the sanctuary and the minute I set my eyes on the ginormous room with a stage with a 6 piece band already playing some music just hit me so hard. Admittedly, I broke out into tears and I hate to say it, but I could not gain my composure for almost the entire service. I was royally embarrassed that the water works were a flowing and the more I heard, the harder I cried. They were happy tears and the whole experience made me happy. Happy I was there, happy Chris was by my side holding my hand, happy he was enjoying it as much as I was, and happy that I found a church similar to the Journey. My friend Laurel was on stage almost the entire time singing in the band and seeing her really made me feel at home. Kleenex were magically placed in the pocket in front of me which almost seemed meant to be. When we left, we both really felt nothing but goodness about our experience. We are going to check out their classes starting next Sunday and see if we want to join as regular members. We are going to take it week by week and attend when we can.

I told Chris, I wanted us to attend together because we both want to, not out of obligation and he completely agreed. So I am thankful I am going to have a chance in 2011 to work on my relationship with God. I think Chris and I both agree that we were really meant for each other and one aspect is to help each other become closer with God. Chris is Catholic and although he hasn't attended church on a regular basis, does want to help our children be introduced to the church and have their own choices when it comes to religion.

What I do want to comment on from what I learned from this week's service related to setting goals:
Be Wise When Setting Goals
(1) Know Your Limits
----Start small and build. Can't automatically be perfect or you'll be setting yourself up for failure.
(2) Be True to Yourself
----Choose attainable goals. For instance, if you choose to accomplish a goal during inopportune times, you won't have a chance at accomplishing your goal. If you do your best mid-day, set to do the goal mid-day.
----Know what you can do and what is best for you, so you can achieve it.
----Set goals that stretch you a little bit. Have to be something to reach towards. Setting yourself up for success, but also setting yourself up for a challenge.
(3) It's Okay to Fall Behind
----Understand that at some point, there is going to be a hiccup. That's okay.
----Your goal is to accomplish it, not to stay on track. If you fall behind, don't worry about catching up, just start where you left off to get you closer to your goal. If you keep falling behind, you will get deterred and often will give up because you can't catch up. Don't just plan for a day in the future to start over. Set yourself to get as close to a goal, not an obligation staying on a schedule.