Thoughts on life by mother&wife

(Side note: Martha is one of my personal heroes when it comes to domestic goddess-ness. Is the woman even real?!)

Something that is always running through my head that I don’t vocalize nearly enough is that my church is awesome. Divine Life is unlike any other church I have been to- it practices Christianity in so many real ways that you are constantly aware of how your life should, can and does affect the world around you (which can actually be pretty annoying when you want to have a selfish fit ). We are Pentecostal in tradition, but probably have the most “un-Pentecostal” order of service that most are used to. We meet on Sunday nights and our service is very… well, I supposed “organic” is a good word to describe it. There is an atmosphere of reverence but the freedom to worship how you want. We have stations that you can visit during service to give of your offerings, take communion, journal, do artwork and submit prayer requests. This encourages me to be an active participant in worship, not just standing there and letting the worship team be the only active participants. The sermons delivered are very intellectual and really make you think. There is usually time at the end for questions and clarification.

Like I said, it is unlike any other church I have attended. I say all of that to give you an idea of what to expect if you ever want to check it out. With so many great options in Oklahoma City, I know you have your pick of which church to visit, so I for one would be super pumped if you showed up

Okay, I said all of that because I want to encourage you all to begin to live out what I dub “Practical Christianity”. We go to church on Sundays and hear about how much God loves us, how we should respond to Him; we get instruction on how to go about this life and how to get through another day. But another thing that should be taking away from Sundays is how to live Christianly. I am no expert on this, to be sure, but hopefully the conscious effort is a good start. As Christians we are to show Christ to everyone. We are to behave in a way that humanizes people, and that takes an effort to get your focus off of yourself.

An example of this from my personal life is a little story from my banking days. I was in college working as a teller and my grandma in Chile had just died over the weekend. I wasn’t going to get to go to the funeral and was dealing with the fact that she wouldn’t be at my wedding which was 2 months away. An older lady came in and did a deposit. Being distracted, I gave her the wrong amount of change (I felt tears coming on and honestly just wanted her to leave so I could go cry in the bathroom). Man, that old lady just laid into me on what an idiot I was, how I was trying to steal her money, blah blah blah. I just burst out crying right here and the whole story poured out of my mouth- “I’m sorry but my grandma just died and I am getting married and she won’t be there and I can’t go to the funeral and I won’t have any closure and let me just count it again, please give me a break I’M HAVING A REALLY BAD DAY!!!”

The look on homegirl’s face was enough to make me feel like a jerk, but I am sure her level of jerkitude was much much higher. She mumbled an apology and sent me flowers the next day. I wasn’t trying to make her feel bad, I just wanted her to understand why I was having a “human moment” and to treat me as such. I’m sure we all try our hardest to think that there is always a reason people act the way they do when they mess up our order, miscount our change or cut us off right before the light turns red. But making a conscious effort to live Christianly, to humanize people by our interaction with them- well, that is rewarding in itself.

I kind of got off on a tangent there but that is one of the greatest things I have learned at DLC. And now I just want to thank my church so much. Ryan and I recently learned of a family in need. They are a family just like any of us- nice house, two cars, two kids, good family. However, due to choices and outside influences and people who DON’T make it a priority to put people above money, they are in a tough spot. Looking for a well-paying job these days isn’t easy and with two small children, simple things like diapers and food can cause major anxiety when it comes time to purchase them.

At our small group, Ryan and I asked for the group to pray for them. We asked them to pray practically, that they find jobs. We asked them to pray spiritually, that God would heal the wounds that the bad turns of luck had inflicted on them. We asked them to pray for the couple’s marriage and for their family. Our small group pastor took the needs, anonymously, to our congregation. The response was amazing- not only because of the amount of diapers and supplies that came in, but that it was for people they didn’t even know. They just know that we care for and love this couple and that they needed some help.

Last night we took the stuff to the family and they were surprised that our church would do that for people they didn’t even know. But to me, and many other Christians in this world, I am sure it would be only natural. There is the mindset of “there is a need that I can help meet, so I do it”. Who cares if they don’t go to my church or don’t belong to my political party… who cares if they live here or North Dakota, who cares what the circumstances are? I am proud to be a part of Divine Life, because it is made up of people who will drop what they are doing, re-prioritize and practice their Christianity. It was more than we asked for, but the impact reached further beyond the phrase “We’ll be praying for you”.

Prayer is essential. Everyday Christianity benefits from prayer and spirituality. But it is most seen and felt when it comes to those practical, everyday actions. I challenge you to implement the goal of humanizing those you come into contact with, and to live it out for all to see. How can that be anything but a good thing?