small group, XCELR8, update on 2009

I really must say that I love my small group! I really look forward to it every other Monday. I just think that it is so cool that we are such a diverse group and yet we can be so open with each other and speak what's on our minds. Everyone has struggles in their lives and it's good to know that no one is perfect. We all struggle in different areas and because of that, we can all help each other in different aspects.

I'm really excited about the current series at New Pointe, they always know how to speak to my heart and share what God has to say on so many different areas. With FAITH being first and foremost, knowing who our faith is in and that we should still pray and ask God to meet our needs, but not to focus our trust in the stuff that we want. He provides in his timing and he knows exactly what we need. Then in FUN, how many times do our non-christian friends pull the fun card on us? Growing up friends would always say, "You go to church? You must not get to have any fun!" It instilled a belief at a young age in the kids because a lot of people go to churches that have old ways, and in a lot of aspects, church wasn't fun as a kid, that's another reason that I love New Pointe. It's fun to go to church, God is so real at New Pointe, so alive, and yet the atmosphere is always changing...wonder what will come this Sunday...

Just a small update on how 2009 is coming along. As you probably know I have lost 3 pounds since starting my diet. Still going at it, no matter who decides to jump on the temptation band wagon! I also said that I was going to work on getting out of debt in 2009. Mike got a raise and we are working together to pay the bills which has cut down on arguments and all is going well. It's a slow moving process, but we didn't get into the mess overnight either! I've been reading my Bible, still working on getting through it in a year, a got off to a slow start, but I am going to catch up and I am going to try my hardest to make it this year! Then for the BIG prayer of the year. Reaching out to single moms. I have been praying a lot about this and have felt led to expand this into more than single moms. I feel led to start volunteering in the Warehouse with the middle school and high school kids. I know what it's like to go through the rough patches in school and I feel inspired by the youth of America. I've also been praying about how to get involved with the single moms, where to start, and I am going to be contacting my old Sunday School teacher in the upcoming weeks to see what kind of things they need volunteers to do right now. The youth of our country make mistakes, and that youth is also in the churches, I believe that they need people to stand up and speak out about mistakes that they have made and have become stronger by learning from those things instead of acting like kids didn't do that kind of stuff when they were younger. There has always been sin out there...and there's no point trying to cover up the rough patches in our lives. God loves us no matter what, I'm sure he doesn't want us hiding our lives under a rock when it could be used as a learning tool for so many people around us! I really just want to be a light in this dark world, and I think that has to start by shedding some light on the darkness of our own lives. After all, we are human, we make mistakes, but that's not saying that we have to be stuck with those things for the rest of our lives.