Opportunities!

This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it! Will you? Are you looking at today as the day the Lord made just for you? Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, rejoice and be glad in it! No, life isn't fair! It's not easy~but there is joy to be found! On this day! The joy of the Lord, Jesus Christ! Who sits at the right hand of the Father and receives our prayers! So many opportunities today! If you are reading this blog, thank JESUS for your ability to read! To be able to communicate with others the love of JESUS! I was instant messaging my friend this morning and realized that we pray together a lot through instant messaging~ have you tried it? Who's your friend online that you never see? Do you ever send them a prayer? Lift them up! Where's your blog? What's going on w/ your life and your relationship with Jesus? I wanna hear it! I've been thinking a lot about opportunities. That the pastors at Hope Chapel in Santa Rosa sure do create a lot of opportunities to get closer to God~ they have homegroups, church on Saturday, church on Sunday, worship nights on Wednesdays, Bible studies, youth groups, discipliship groups, mens camp, women retreats, missions, so many opportunities! And I wonder, what is it going to take for 94% of California to get closer to God? Because these Pastors and ministry leaders, many of them have 40 hour a week jobs on top of what they do for the church! These things they do for the glory of God are reaching 6% of California~ so how can we, "church going" Christians hold up their hands and help them out to reach the rest of the population? Do you know? Listen to them! Pray for them! Help them! Forgive them! Love them! How many times in your life have you gone to church and said you didn't like the Pastor so you turned away from God? How many times have you gone to church and said you liked it but don't know Jesus? Really, know Jesus? I was talking w/ Rudy and thinking out loud about how do we help change the perception of "church going" Christians those who know Jesus... change the perception of ministry isn't something we "do" on Sundays, or at bible study, or youth group, or outreach...it's who we "are." Because often times people will say to me, Lori, how do you do it? How do you do ministry and mothering...and I say back, "how do you not?" I don't do very much for Jesus. I fail repeatedly at what I am called to do. I used to battle with Rudy about him spending so much time w/ missions and church. I hate to admit that. I hate to admit that I wanted more from him for myself rather than wanting him to give of himself to the Lord. I prayed a lot about it because it hurt our marriage. "Get behind me Satan!" How subtle it was~ that I saw Rudy growing so close to God as a bad thing because it took away from ME. Ever been there? Well, I still go there but not as much... I've learned that there is more joy in this marriage when we have both submitted to the Lord~ more time together~ more blessings when I put myself aside~ sure, I miss him but how cool is it to be married to man who loves JESUS so much? Teri Bennett and I actually got to see firsthand at the Mardi Gras Outreach our husbands in worship for hours...and what a blessing... so for those of you out there who get mad at your husband for serving God...DON'T. Just start praying about it... don't be the one thing that discourages your husband or child from serving and drawing closer to God! The world as it is, 94% of California (!) doesn't know JESUS! 94%! Those closest to you don't need you to be the one thing that keeps them from knowing God better! The pastors can't do it all! They need (I think) your commitment to love others and love God! It's not enough if we just go about our days and nights letting them love others and love God! There are just too many people out there who need love! I dare you, actually dare you to instead of having an attitude of being "mad" at them (your husbands or pastors or friends who you think are Jesus freaks), JOIN THEM. It's really the best thing I've ever done. It's better for my marriage, my children, myself and most importantly, I've never felt closer to God in my entire life. I can't do great things for God. But with God, all things are possible.