Our Church Dilemma...

So we are creeping up on our second year hear in Montgomery Alabama, and boy does time fly! The best things about moving to a new city have still not worn out and I still find delight in learning details of the inner workings of a community.

Coming from Florida it seemed we were forced to make some lifestyle compromises that I am very grateful of. Although we all miss our daily, and sometimes, multiple walks to the beach has been more than made up for with such an outstanding homeschooling community filled with wonderful families bonded together to give our children not just an education but life skills that will ring through eternity.

I have enjoyed learning the spots to pick local, wild, blackberries; the free admission to the art museum, the fall outdoor concerts, the skating rink, participating in the consignment sales (they really should be year round y'all) meeting unforgettable friends and having the opportunity to own our own home which we have the freedom to have a big garden and roaming chickens. Having the time to cook home-cooked meals and learning, timeless, health benefits.

All that sounds great, but it is the fluff that fills up our days as we hungrily await our spiritual feedings to grow where we have been planted to be used in the season God has planned for us to bare fruit.

We used to think part of this equation included finding a proper church home. Well the more I study and the more I hear and see the things going on in church the more I am convinced that may not be the case. Now, I am no way advocating that people should leave church and not attend. As you can see the title is "Our church dilemma", as we long to be a part of a body of believers that Loves the Lord and wants to grow in Him. I'm simply saying, I think it's more than just "plugging" ourselves in somewhere and hope to get our batteries recharged during the possible 4 hours or so spent at church every week.

With the over 200 + churches in Montgomery you would think we could find a place. But our hearts are just not in the same place as what we have seen. In acception to a church we attended over the past 6 months, the churches we have visited, although filled with wonderful people have a message that has left us unfulfilled.

We have a relationship with Christ. We talk to him every day, not just in prayer before meals, but in constant communion as we can't breath without Him. I have even been in such need of Him that I have asked Him if I should blow-dry my hair that day. Weird, I know but that is where my heart is, daily, in a walk with Him. We don't wait for Sunday to see Him. To us Sunday is another day as our longing for Him never ceases. But when we step inside a Church it is filled with extended prayers and 40 minutes of singing, (Not sure why it's called Worship as worship is to prostrate yourself before the Lord.) a message that seems is preaching to the lost, a plea to turn your heart over to the Lord as a last ditch effort before you leave the building until next week .

Ok, Yes, Please! Reach the Lost! Ok, but now what...so a church is now filled with Christians longing to grow, longing for fellowship for encouragement. Everyone leaves, immideatly. Not to come together again, some on Wednesday, but until next week. While each brother and sister goes home dealing with some kind of physical or emotional suffering that could of been comforted by the out stretched arm of a fellow brother/sister without having to say a word. Yes, God is are ultimate comforter but He asked us to be a part of His body of believers for a reason.

The pomp and circumstance going on takes away from these sweet, sweet communions God intended as the "body" of Christ to work. We are each but a body part and CAN NOT work without a proper joining of each part.

As a woman, a large complaint I have is my struggle to be a good wife and a good mom. What does it mean to Love my children and more importantly my husband; what does that really look like? I don't know 100%. According to the Bible the older woman do know and are to be teaching the younger. I don't see that. I have never experienced that either. Are we to proud as young mothers?

We are now at the point where we would LOVE to find a small group of believers that meet up at a home. With no fluff, no drama (we are human that may be a lot to ask), and no putting on our "Sunday Best" to hide the wickedness of our hearts. Just raw communion in good times and bad of folks who are most interested in growing in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Not to sure the church as we know it America is what God has intended as the Body of Christ.

Thus our dilemma...