Church Hopping...

That is a term I didn't not grow up with.

As a young woman, I found St. Mary's...and I was ruined for mass anywhere else. In the meantime, if you had a football game or a family party on Sunday, you could always hit the "5" on Saturday night at any one of the parishes in our area. No one ever questioned it. Mass was mass no matter where you went.

Well, I had my very own Protestant Reformation close to 14 years ago now. We started out in the Baptist church, but it was like being a kid in a candy store...so many to choose from! How about those Methodists? The Presbyterians? Episcopal? Lutheran? Assemblies of God?

But don't "Church Hop" was the biggest warning we received. Being a newbie, I knew it had to be bad, just by the tone. It takes a couple of years to get vested in a church....be aware~said with a scary voice from a bad cartoon.

Fast forward to 2012. I was asked by a dear friend if I was church hopping now. I am way to old now to even care if we are. If the church we are in can not meet the needs of our family and we cannot meet the needs of the church we are in do we stay? I did that...for years because I was afraid of church hopping! I think I was more afraid of being accused of it than doing it.

I have this thing, crammed into my head and my heart by my mom for years and years~absolute truth. Always seek out absolute truth. Do not settle for anything less. I know exactly how to find it and how to hear from God on it, with out a doubt. It does, however take four very important steps...don't mess them up!

1)Get a bible.
2)Open the bible.
3)Read the bible.
4)Do what it says.

After a season of feeling like I was playing biblical Whack-A-Mole...I remembered what I forgot, Absolute Truth is not that hard to find.

Something else I was raised on: When the hand clapping, arm waiving and foot stomping stops, and it will for one season or another, what will you have? Well I found out: Absolute Truth and it is still there.

Be blessed all,

It only seems fitting...

“Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters, “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

What a year. I was asked on Christmas Eve if I was still writing...yeah, just not sharing so much. I lovely woman approached me a little while later and told she was reading and loving my book. Wow I found the reader! It made my night for sure.

For Christmas John gave me a new bible and a new perfume called Sensual Nude. Yup...we are just fine.

So how do we close out 2011? Wiser, I hope. It was a year of learning and realizing, freedom and joy and sorrow and lose. In the end, even the good byes were the best things that ever happened to me. Turns out, I am way better off leaving the past behind...

That question in Isaiah~that you know I needed spell check to spell~is the one that is tugging my heart this New Years Day; "Will you not be aware of it?" Wow! And Wow? What I love most is that He is not asking me if I "was aware of it" but "will I be aware of it" and that is an important distinction. That whole 22 vision and hindsight thing. How easy it is to look back and know what I've done right (no not spelling wise) and wrong is not so hard when I am six months past...but will I be aware of that fact that He is about His work while I walk through that river or desert?

There are moments when we are blindsided by events in our lives. I've had a few this year. Things that made me spin around and ask, "What in the world just happened?" or "Where in the world did that come from?" But the truth is, those things were always there. We like to ignore things in our face because they make us uncomfortable...but that does not make them go away.

So not a lot of looking back and "pondering" for me this New Years Day. Instead, I am looking at all the pieces that seem dis-jointed and know that He is going to take us through the wilderness and create rivers in the desert places.

A few months ago, I began asking what the purpose of this blog was. What was the purpose of this ministry? Who? What? Where? and for crying our loud Why? It all seemed very Maryellen serving. As God would have it, He had a plan for this space in the blogesphere and a place for my heart to serve as well. Even when there are those who may have rejected my offering, He did not. He took it, made it clean and pure through His precious blood and gave me a new vision for a new tomorrow. Somehow He has wrapped this heart of mine with a love for His people~that began years ago...while I was not aware of the how of it all, I am now. He has kept me safe from those who would take advantage of a heart that longs to serve. He has shut doors that no man can open. He has planted my feet on the solid Rock of Jesus and removed the area rug on top of Him...so that I may not stumble when that rug got all folded up and yucky.

I got me a new business to go with this old blog of mine. Bread to cast upon the waters as I take in the Bread of Life...This is the year that Five Loaves Bakery begins to serve in ways that I cannot see yet, and goes in places I only dream of. I am humbled by the call~aware of my own short comings. I can do all things...anything that He calls me to. That blows me away. Here we come 2012~watch out. Gonna' get ya'!