Transformation Tuesday – Church

Yesterday, we officially celebrated Memorial Day. The day before that was my birthday. Tomorrow will be my youngest grand’s fifth birthday and the celebration of 4+ decades together for me and Mr.  We’ve done a lot of celebrating this week, with more to come, but what’s that got to do with Transformation Tuesday?  Just this…

Loving and being loved makes life worth living?  Can I hear an amen?!

On Sunday we had church at my house.  I mean AT my house.  I mean TEN adults and FOUR children, all related, all in love with Jesus sat in my living room and shared a song, a Scripture, and a message centered on love; all together. That has never happened before!

Amahhhzing!!!

What made it easy for us to have church at my house was the fact that we had an ordained pastor (My DIL, Megan), leading us and a group of seasoned believer/thinkers and spirit-filled Saints ranging from 4 to 84 filing in the gaps between spurts of inspiration with sanctified observations. It was W.I.L.D.!!

Mr and me had previously planned to travel over the Memorial Day holiday, but God…

God had other plans, and I’m so happy we changed ours.  When do you get the chance to witness 14 different personalities from 5 branches of the same family tree sitting together in the same room and celebrating with one another the same Savior?!  These people have my heart, as does our Jesus.

In my experience times like these are rare, so I am exceedingly grateful that I had mine!

When we had church at the house on Sunday our attention was drawn to a passage in 1 Thessalonians 2, a part of Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica, written while he was in prison in Rome.  In the letter he explains the love he has for Jesus, for the church at Thessalonica, and for all those who have left fields, families, fortunes and the favor of men to love and serve the Messiah.  As I looked around the crowded space of my living room Sunday, and realized how engaged we all were in this adventure Paul was writing about, I was filled with gratitude and wonder at all that God has done in our family. With His help we have all, EVERYONE, “dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.”  (1 Thess 2:2) We have dedicated ourselves to changing the world (and indeed, eternity), one loving act, one testimony, and one prayer at a time.  Fourteen strong, we are a force to be reckoned with, and fourteen strong, we are a testimony to the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

We weren’t always so bold, but today we understand that working together we cannot fail.  God promises it in His Word, the Bible.

Here’s the really scary part of this story for the devil and his minions—we are more than fourteen strong! Fourteen is only the number of those sitting atop the iceberg on this particular Sunday.  In actuality, we are many, many more and we’re all surrendered to and serving Jesus to the best of our abilities.

Wow, just wow!

As I finish today’s Transformation Tuesday post I also want to share with you some of the drawings/activity sheets we came up with for the kidlets on Sunday.  They did these while we adults shared together in the living room.

We asked the kids to first make pictures depicting who they loved, and then place those pictures or words inside a heart bubble.

This is what *J* did with his heart bubble. I was so glad to have made this list!

This is what *F* did with his heart bubble:

Here

Here is what *E* did with his heart bubble. This is a cow. A pogo cow, as we called it.  One legged, it is still a pretty powerful statement of E’s love for God’s creature–all God’s creature–beginning with the cows.  Ah, Farm Life!!!

We next asked the kidlets to say what they were thankful for. This is *J*’s response:

What a kid!  I made this list, too. I was soooo happy!!!

I think this one was done by *F*. Translation known only to God. 😉

Finally, we asked what they would bring along with them on a trip, to share with new friends they’d make ( to show them they loved them and that Jesus did too):

The “taplet” he’s referring to is a kindle or ipad.  He’s pretty sure that along with legos and some cash or precious gems, a tablet would make anyone’s day brighter.  I think I agree.  You can never have too many legos!  😉

What are you thankful for this summer?  What gift have you been given that demonstrated to you how greatly you were loved?