Living out Community within Our Small Groups~

  I have been to a lot of different kinds of churches over the years Some I stayed for a short time and others for years. I think there are two vital components that every church needs to grow and strengthen their congregation, first always make sure the teaching is biblically sound. Second, that there are Community groups within the church; it’s what builds up community, family atmosphere within the church.

 What is community? What does it look like within the church setting?  If I were to explain to someone who was not a believer, what community was I would use this allegory? Think of a small suburban town and how they have different communities and each of those communities is people who live in close proximity with one another, they may or may not work close to each other and they share in each other’s lives. You hear about communities coming together when a tragedy happens, that is how I think community groups within the church should be like. A group of no more than 10 people gathering in one’s home, really taking off their masks and getting to know one another on a deep personal level. They become your family!

  In today’s “church” people, do not tak the time to invest in each other’s lives. We have so many excuses, we are too busy,, we barely have time for ourselves and our families. Having community groups that are our small groups having the community feeling, that closeness as a family is the building block, should be for the blueprint of today’s churches.

 Learning and growing in our faith goes a lot deeper than listening to the Sunday sermon. Its investing in each other’s lives, even when they are messy. If we have small groups their foundation needs to be anchored to the Word of God!~ We don’t just want  communities groups, because we should have them, but still be so disconnected with one another. the purpose of  them is building community within our small groups, so we can grow in our faith and grow as a close knit family of brothers and  sisters in Christ who love each other immensely and as Christ loves us~

As Christains are We Stained Glass Windows?

 Good evening readers; I hope your  having  a relaxful evening .I love reading God s word, and learning all I can how to deepen and strengthen my faith in  Christ Jesus. One of my favorite ways to explain the scriptures or a point that Jesus is making is do a object lesson, and I love incorporating those into my blogs.

Quite a few years ago my husband and I and a mutual friend of ours went into Boston for the day to do some sightseeing. One of the places we stopped in to be Old South Church, it was a beautiful cathedral with breathtaking high ceilings and exquisite stained glass windows. When you walked in the doors, you could not help but be mesmerized by the beauty you saw in these windows. Some of the windows told a story, each window, was part of the journey.

   Other windows were so elaborate that fit so perfectly together to make the most amazing design of colors you could set your eyes on. I had never seen anything so breathtaking in all my life. I slowly looked around; I could not take my eyes off this sight. When the sunlight hit these windows at just the right angles, they would come to life, the light radiated through the colors and all I can say is its unlike any experience.

 Its like a artistic medium, only when the light form the sun shines through these glass windows, can we enjoy the full effect of its true breathtaking beauty. Our lives very much mirror these stained glass windows. Each of us has jagged pieces of our lives, some good, some bad. We tend to think in our mind that we are not worth anything of beauty, that there is no way god could find use for us.

Its not until we are broken, in the right places, that Jesus gathers each fragment, he takes ALL of us at our most vulnerable and weakest times and he uses these moments to teach us, make us, and then they are used as stepping stones for him to create his masterpiece.

Here is a quote by: Elizabeth Kobler Ross:” People are like stained glass windows, they sparkle and shine, when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true  beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within”  

  We can have gifts that Gods given us; we can want to serve him, its only when the artist takes over the work.  if there is no light , if there is no surrender to his Will, if there is no wiliness, the colors are there the gifts are there.

  When we honor and serve him, his light shines through our daily lives, in all we say, in all we do. When we take ourselves out of the equation and others can see how He is working through us to be what he created us to be!

    A image of his  likeness, a example of his love and we will radiate his beauty, just like those stained glass windows you gaze upon, the next time you walk into a church or cathedral. Its not just a  bunch of colors that form together, it’s not just a picture that’s pretty, it’s what is shown when not only the sun, shines through that window, but when the son shines through our lives, will the radiance of his majesty be proclaimed!

In the Potters Hands~

Good evening Readers, I hope you all are staying warm, despite the weather outside is cold .I’m so excited to start this new blog and share what God has placed on my heart. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now, and now that we are moved and getting settled into our new place I can focus more on my blogs and this exciting new one!

   This blog has been in prayer for a while now and its now just coming to fruition, but its all in Gods timing not mine. I want this blog to be a place where you can come, and read and be encouraged. There are many topics that I want to address and ill always be looking for feedback. This blog is all about issues we as Christians face, topics that some may go pushed under the rug, some that are misunderstood, but my prayer is that every topic I discuss is shared in LOVE with scriptures as the foundation I build on!

 This first entry I want to share with you all why I chose the title I did and what it means. So pull up a chair, get comfortable, sit back, and let the Lord Minister to your soul! The title for this blog is “Clay Formed” There are two scriptures that I am basing my title on and they are taken from Isaiah 64:8, which says Yet Lord you are the Father. We are the clay, YOU are the potter, we all are the work of your hands.

   The second scripture im applying is taken from Jeremiah 18:1-6, which says! This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, go to the potters house and I will give you the message, so I went to the potters house, and I saw him working at the wheel. However, the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred into his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter does?” declares the Lord. Like clay in the hands of the potter so are YOU in my hand!

 Lets take a step back and reflect on what a Potter does; his fine art of molding and shaping a plain lump of clay into a magnificent and beautiful piece of work. Have any of you ever seen a potter at the wheel, I have, they make it look so easy, as their hands glide so gracefully over  the clay, the wheel spins, its no easy task, if they move their hand one wrong direction, their masterpiece  is no longer that, but a mess

  .It takes practice and precision to get the art of using that wheel. A couple years back my mom and I, went to see this ministry called the Potter’s wheel. A husband and wife gave their testimonies.  When he came out on stage, he had his wheel and just a gray lump of clay. We then watched in anticipation as he worked that clay, he was so in tune to detail and making sure everything was perfect, it was a process, but the result was a vase so beautiful, so delicate, we couldn’t take our gaze off of this.

    In the same way, we all are like clay in the masters hands. Our pasts can be messy; our lives can be full of brokenness and shame, fears and trials.  Only when we let the Master Potter form our lives, do we start to see what his plans are for us. We cannot do it on our own, if the potter did not know how to work his clay, then the outcome is not reached.

   When we submit to the Lords calling, and we surrender our lives fully to his leading, then we become who we are meant to be in Him. He is the potter, we are the clay, mold us and make us, this is what we pray! Do we want to be a mess of clay, or in the hands of the ALL-knowing God who can mold us and make us! now you understand why I titled this blog clay formed, we are all CLAY in the masters hands, ready to be transformed into masterpieces, , He is forming us  on a daily basis to be more Christ like created in his image!