Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

In the air of some changes going on in the prairies, I have been lead to get back into regularly posting.  I've done a few different meme's on Mondays.  I tried to do my own Martha's Monday, where I wrote about how I organize my life.  It was fun but once I let everyone know what I do, I had nothing else to write about. 

Last year I participated in Music Mondays.  I also participated a few years ago in a meme called the Sacred in the Ordinary.  These meme's allowed me to look at the small things that God does in my life, whether it was a song or a first tooth.  I find that too many times I'm too busy looking at the big picture.  I'm a visionary.  I see the big things and can plan big things.  It's the little things I either tend to ignore or forget about. There is something sacred in being able to see God in the miniscule and not just in the grandeous.  It's looking through all the messiness that life throws at you and still being able to see Him through it all. 

Every Monday I will be sharing what God has been showing me through the messiness of life.  It is my personal belief that this walk isn't clean and crisp and straight or narrow.  It's wide and twisted and mucky and messy.  It's about the ups and the downs, but through it all God is there with us.  

Recently I found an anthem to how I long to live my walk with God.  A song that inspires me to push through the messy and focus on what God is calling me to do.  It's also a song that makes me want to crank up the volume in the swaggin wagon and drive around town like a true cool soccer mom.  Ok, maybe it's not that cool, but I have driven around town with this song blaring.  It's infectious and I hope that it inspires you as it inspires me.

I've let this go on for long enough.  I've been languishing on what to do and when to start.  When I do get ideas, I sit on them and don't do anything further.  Yes, I'm talking about my blog.  It has been sorely ignored and taken for granted.  I notice the difference in my life between when I blogged full time and when I've put it on the back burner.  

This isn't even about followers.  I've never been one to count.  I'm grateful for all who stop by and actually read my rants, confessions, sermons, and other silliness.  This is about me and my ministry and how I've taken advantage of God's love and grace and put Him on the sidelines.  When I blog, I'm inspired by the things I see, read, meditate on or hear - all gifts from Him.  I was really good at blogging this stuff when I was close in relationship and in obedience to God.  I was inspired by everything and it helped that I found memes that encouraged this inspiration.  Then some of the memes stopped.  People changed focus and I didn't think I could continue, at least that's what I told myself.  I became discouraged.  Then I went through a period of depression and attack that I'm still working through.  My blogging took a back bench.  God most of the time took a back bench.  I "allowed" myself to become apathetic and watched the world float by.  NO MORE.

God calls us to be obedient.  He calls us to go when He calls.  He is a God of action.  No lying by and letting the world go by.  So I'm coming up with a plan and doing things I should be doing because He has been whispering it to me.  Lately, I've heard Him yelling at me.  I'm getting scared that He'll just get tired of it and walk away.  I'm done just living.  I want to live.  I want to share what God has been sharing with me.  I hop you will join me on this journey and see what God and I have and will be doing.

House church leader sentenced to labour camp in China

The deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance, Pastor Shi Enhao, has been sentenced to two years of "re-education through labour," an extra-judicial punishment that is handed out by police and requires no trial or conviction of a crime. He has been charged with "illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings." This charge stems from the fact that Pastor Shi's large house church of several thousand members meets in various different sites around the city.

Meanwhile, the police's Domestic Security Protection Department has ordered Pastor Shi's church to stop meeting and has confiscated the congregation's car, musical instruments, choir robes and 140,000 Yuan (approximately $20,900 CAD) in donations.

Please pray the Lord will protect and sustain Pastor Shi, his family and his congregation.

Pray they will keep their eyes on Jesus, persevere in their faith, and not grow weary or lose heart (Hebrews 10:32-39; 12:1-3).

Pray for Pastor Shi's release and, in the meantime, that he will have opportunities to share the gospel in prison.