Whoops... been a while

Wow, it has been a while since I posted. Please forgive me. God has been working in my life more than I could ever have imagined.
I could not say that God has commanded me to be silent. It just seems to have worked out that way. I got a gentle nudging to post so here I am.

There has certainly been a lot going on. Our church got its tent up and we have been meeting there on Sunday Mornings. The service has changed to 10:30 AM (was 9:30) due to the cold weather as we need to warm the tent up hours before starting service. Last Sunday we could see our breath as we sang! Brrr! Don't think I have seen a pastor with a beanie and gloves on while preaching the Word either!
There was a terrible forest fire near us in August. There were two huge fires that threatened the Aeneas Valley for over a month, the Tunk complex and the Northstar complex. Both were south of the valley, but from the east and west sides and were about to meet. God showed up. The firefighters were amazed that the fire would threaten the ridges that would allow the fire to overtake the valley and the flames would die down as if not allowed to go further. Many of us evacuated as the valley was on level 3 evac notice. That means get out now.
We left and gave it to God. Our travels are a story in and of themselves which I will not go into here. Let's just say that God was with us in every step, along every mile and with every situation. Praise the Lord! All is well in the valley as the fire went around the sides of us. Others were not so lucky and need our prayers and help.

Frontier Hubby (FH) and I took a break from Growth group meetings. These are discipleship meetings to help others grow into small group, home-meeting leaders. Awesome time of fellowship and learning how to incorporate God into our lives!

We are starting growth group meetings again. Just one. We said we had thought about it and a bunch of people said, "How about Thursday?" People are hungry for God and fellowship.

In the next few months, FH and I are looking to start a marriage solidarity group. It's purpose is to bring couples together stronger than ever. It is a Christ centered ministry. FH and I have experienced a tremendous leap in the strength of our marriage (it was spiraling downwards) as we have put God first and gotten some good information. This helps to mend us more and more into the oneness mentioned in the Bible. We expect the sessions to be about four months long if we meet weekly for 2-4 hours. No start date or curriculum is finalized.

There are announcements being made this Sunday at the church. Important ones. Please be there if you can. For location and other church related info, visit avefc.org.

May you find all things new in Him, Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

Snowy Day Proves it is Not Spring Yet

Silly conclusion isn't it? Looking at a day in time does not prove the season. Yet that is how science makes conclusions now and usually how we make conclusions too.
Is the Bible true? This is an eternal questions with eternal consequences. I do not pretend to be so knowledgeable to give a grand and fully reasoned answer. All I can offer is my experience (in a very shortened version) and another question.
I had my doubts. I thought maybe God's days were longer than ours. I have reasoned that God uses parables to teach and that maybe the Bible was just a collection of stories. Maybe God is so distant from us, that we don't matter to Him, it's just us against the world.
Then, I found some teaching that presented the Bible as fact. They read the stories as if we were a part of them. What were the people in the stories thinking, experiencing? How did they feel and what did they do right or wrong? Easy to see when sitting in a pew, but what if that was us? It's like the difference between playing football and sitting on the couch telling the players what they should be doing. The stories such as Jonah came to life like a movie and Frontier Hubby and I would talk for hours, sometimes days afterwards.
OK, if you are bored jumped down to the section after the line to read the second question.
There is a whole 'nother discussion about creation vs. evolution that I cannot do justice. It boils down to your underlying belief system. Science in no way disproves God. It totally depends on your basis of belief. In fact, there are a lot of scientific proofs for God and creation. Here is a website that discusses scientific finds from both perspectives. creationrevolution.com
I loved physics and biology in school. Loved them. I was fascinated by how things worked and getting down into cell structures and reproduction, how muscles worked, how the body was put together and all that was of great interest. I liked physics for how it showed how things worked. It also showed me the difference from hypothesis (educated guess), theory (testable guess) and law (proven consistency when tested). I could apply laws and theories to things in nature and get an outcome. Cause and effect. Story of my life in a way.
Now, I see these words tossed around like people do not understand their meaning. The "Big Bang Theory" can only be a hypothesis since it cannot be tested, but hypothesis does not sound strong enough.  Global warming can only be a hypothesis too as it is a suggested conclusion to some facts that many scientist (even some who worked on the project) do not agree with. The world goes through heat and cold cycles over years. In the 70s we were told an ice age is coming and that no one could live north of California by the year 2000. Doesn't that sound silly now? But it was what the people were told to get laws made and give the government more control. Same 'ole same 'ole.
So what has all that to do with the Bible? I believe God shows Himself in His works. Go out and visit the mountains, deserts, beaches, rivers, valleys and such where there is little or no sign of man. Wow, it is breathtaking. Look in a microscope at a cell reproducing. The complexity of all things individually and then together, shout there is a God.
Spiritually, I have had a couple of scary moments that I could only describe as spiritual attacks and the instant I finally got the name "Jesus" out of my mouth, the attacks were gone.  That convinced me right then and there that there is an unseen world.
Now as I read in the Bible, I can see God is consistent, yet surprising. He is loving, yet just. He had a plan from the beginning and it works.
I read a book, Cold-Case Christianity, that was written by a guy who was actually out to prove Jesus didn't exist and even if he did, Jesus was not the Son of God. He was a cold case detective and started reading the first books of the New Testament. He used his skills from his job to read the testimonies of the gospel writers. What he did convinced himself that Jesus was real and that God is the one represented in the Bible. He states that you have to go into any evaluation with an open mind and let the evidence take you where it will. Deciding beforehand that someone is guilty, does not bring justice. It only brings your own desires into play. There are a lot of stories about people who set out to disprove God exists by reading the Bible and God shows up. It's awesome.
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So why did I write all the above? Because of the second question I have. We ask ourselves this at church and growth groups (small Bible studies that review Sunday's sermon.)
"If the Bible is true, what does that mean to us?"
If God is God and he is the personal, caring God that the Bible represents Him as, shouldn't we somehow change? That question has rocked my world. I want to just fit Him into my life and keep on doing things my way, but that question makes me stop and wonder what it is that I have to change to fit better into His world.
How have the changes that I have been making affected me?
1. My marriage is better. Frontier Hubby was a diehard atheist and even he came to see the reality of God through Jesus since we have been in Aeneas Valley. We both have made Biblical principle based changes into our marriage. Our fighting is reduced to about 10% of what it was and is less emotionally harmful to each other.
2. We have a lot of friends. Now, understand I have had a few friends all my life and make new friends fairly easily. Frontier Hubby does not like people that much. In fact, we moved here to "get away" from everyone. But God in His infinite wisdom has put us in a place that has a multitude of exceptionally bright people in similar circumstances. They have built, with God's help, an extensive community interwoven with folks of different backgrounds and skills that help each other and get along fairly well. They are a blessing to us!
3. I am growing emotionally and spiritually. I look to God much more often. I love people more than ever. I am so grateful for what I have and no longer feel like I need more to be happy. These are all works in process and I feel like I am improving in so many ways I cannot write about them all.
If you are interested in learning more about God but have been put-off by hypocritical Christians, find a church that isn't put-offing. They are out there like AVEFC. It is worth the effort!
Are we going to change our life to be more like what God wants us to be? How? Each lesson we learn helps us do just that and that is the purpose of this blog, to share what I am learning.
May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

Can God be trusted to make all things work for good?

Any small community has pros and cons. But how about a church full of professing Christians, me included? One would think the love of Jesus would rule our lives, and it does to a point. Because we are all human, we naturally lean to our own understandings, forgetting about God. We fumble around and there are the inevitable bumps in the road. Can God be trusted to make all things work for good like the Bible teaches?
We love our congregation at AVEFC. Not just as a "feeling" but in real ways such as concern, helping, being available when called. How do you love them all when one is doing something that may hurt another person? For me it is not making judgments, and knowing God is big enough to handle the tough situations. I pray to be in His will. Sometimes that becomes awkward so I keep moving forward so that He can work things out. That has to be God, because my nature is to not get involved and stay hidden. He gives me strength and love. I must rely solely on Him.
At one point last year, the church leadership at AVEFC realized that as we grow, the church will get messy. What does that mean? Well the Aeneas Valley is a small population base and their backgrounds vary a lot! And there are many broken people in this valley.  As they all come in to be part of God's family, we need to love them. PERIOD. Let God work out any flaws in their lives as He works out the flaws in ours. Its a process and we will always be in process until we get to heaven. We very much expect messiness from a group of people who have different belief backgrounds, such as Catholic, Lutheran, Assembly of God, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Messianic Jews, and even non-believers just looking to see what we are about. Frontier Hubby was a diehard atheist until attending this church and meeting Jesus in a new way. AVEFC wants to be a place where people can learn about God in a non-judgmental environment. A safe place. I hope that can become the reality. All Christians are in the family of God. Let's take keep our eyes on Him and not ourselves. In the scope of eternity, denominations and other differences should not keep us from loving one another with agape love -- no judgments, no expectations, no grudges.
If you are curious come check us out. It is a different experience from most churches. The people are real, the preaching is different, the Word of God is explored, and hopefully, then applied to our lives. Bring a teachable spirit. It does not help much if you come in already knowing everything. We all have much to learn. See more at avefc.org
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Frontier Hubby had a really tough week last week. He was preparing to give a teaching Sunday morning on a chapter in the Firm Foundations series. As a new Christian, only 3.5 years old, his depth of knowledge is limited, but he is truly searching out the Word and has been successful at getting the lessons across. This is not a pastoral thing, but as Frontier Hubby has a background in teaching, he is comfortable being up-front. As a teacher/seminar leader, he was an expert in his field. Now that 'expert' prop is gone, he is learning to rely on God -- a difficult lesson for a lifelong, self-reliant man.
He was preparing his teaching and smack in the middle of the week, he was exposed to a horrendous scene of a video on the internet sent via email. It was a sick violence that disturbed him to his core. He could not unsee it. There was an instant hatred that entered him. He began praying about it and God gave him much relief. Over the next few days, his hatred turned to prayers for the people involved. God is showing him how to love those who we would normally hate for their actions. That has to be divine as Frontier Hubby is not one to just love and forgive his way through life.
With all that going on, Frontier Hubby was having problems concentrating how to give his presentation. On Sunday after the service, it was Frontier Hubby's time to talk. We had some great discussion on the scripture and its interpretation, mostly on legalism. He ended his session by talking about his week and how this video affected him and how God was blessing him through this time. His final statement was awesome, "Jesus is enough for me."
The congregation was clapping when it was done. That rather shocked Frontier Hubby as he hardly knew where the words were coming from when he spoke. I think God was helping him to say what He needed to be said. There seemed to be a shift in the room as God touched the hearts of people.
Pastor Shane often tells of problems that come up during the week that relate to what he is preaching about on Sunday. Ken is now learning that God works like that in his life too. Their messages are so much stronger and real when they share what has been going on during the week. It is clearly a God thing to make it so relative to the scripture to be covered. How does He do that? Guess because He is God and He does work all things out for good. Just sometimes we don't always see the good, but it is there.

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving 

Changing to Meet the Truth

All this talk about Jesus' authority, but what does it mean to me? My life? My responses to situations affecting me?

A question we ask ourselves at AVEFC is: if what we learn is truth, then what do we do about it? In this subject of authority, the easy answer is to just say accept it and live your life based on it. 

Ha! I don't know about you, but I am a rebellious soul. If my dad were still around you could ask him. He could tell you some stories. In general, when told to go right I go left (part of that is dyslexia LOL). Or more importantly, if told to do or not do something, there I would be doing the opposite. A life time of that nature running rampant is hard to reel in and change.

I am independent and had raised my boys, on my own, for 8 of their in-home years. I am used to looking at things with my own logic and experience. So, my first problem is simply remembering that I am not in charge. I go off on tangents without even giving a thought to God or that I should even pray about it. Then I start seeing unintended repercussions. That's bad and at that point is when i start thinking, "Hey God, come on. A little help here." My own fault that I didn't ask in the first place!

I have written earlier on a blog that I am working on contentment and gratitude. How can I do that if I don't let God lead me? That is where I am today--learning to follow Him. That does not mean I am going off into the wild jungles (I don't think), it simply means to look to Him first. Ask what He would have me do, how to respond or just wait.

I have started my blogs for some creative freedom and to share myself with whomever reads them. I prayed about them and felt an urge to make them happen.

I am having that same urge in finding a way to make some income. There are a few avenues open to me, but I want to honor Jesus not my abilities or follow some man-made plan. So I wait.
There are a few things I am working on ATM. Things like writing a fictional book, the church website, blogs, and doing other things online. I just wrote a book for my granddaughter, and feel led to do something in the realm of relationships--marriage, family, people--putting God into it but not sure how to go forward there and a number of other things.

My ability to focus is also reflected here

Writing a fictional book takes time and I have to keep God and my family responsibilities before it. If anyone has written or been passionate about something that is not directed towards your family, you know how hard it is to keep it all balanced. I tend to do many things at once, but only focus on one or two things with full force.

Take babies for example. The baby becomes the mom's focus and the husband is often left on the periphery somewhat ignored, especially his need for serious affection from his wife. Guilty here. I didn't know that I should have had a better balance, nor did I know how if I had been aware. That is something God has shown me. That is one reason to keep God first, He helps with making my marriage good and keeping a major focus on my Frontier Hubby! That change in me, made a change in him, too. We are so much better together now than ever. When either of us takes our eyes off God, we end up fighting because it then becomes all about us. If you do not know God, that may sound really off-base, but it works! I would rather be happy in my marriage than give into my need to be the number 1, most important person in my life. Been there, done that and flopped.

So, if Jesus' authority is real what should we do about it? I try to bring myself under His authority. He is not a selfish, power hungry person. He is God, the benevolent dictator, and He is concerned about us. There is talk about if we all love each other, there would be no war. Well, if people were not involved that might work, but whoever is in power will become corrupt. It is just human nature. So how about we all look to Jesus and love Him. The rest falls into place as long as we get out of the way!

So, what are you going to do about the truth of His authority?

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

The Contented Woman Now

 

The Contented Woman is a blog by a friend on her Christian walk, thoughts and her interests. She had (and still has) a large following on it. Her frontier hubby was diagnosed with terminal illness and passed, so she took a leave from the blogging world and has recently picked it up again. Take a look to see if you would also like to follow her messages.

Bless you my friend.

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving