Answered Prayer

We have been looking for a church on and off for the last few months. For the record...I HATE church shopping!

I want good worship...EXCELLENT worship...good preaching...friendly people...I want to feel connected...to God...to other people...feel like I belong...and I realized yesterday the foundational thing I'm looking for. I want to find a church that accurately describes God...His TRUE nature...from the Bible...as depicted in the life of Jesus. I desperately need that...because it's way too easy to let my mind wander when things start heading south...and to see God as a big, mean, judgmental jerk who just wants to make my life miserable cuz I made a mistake. Granted...there are consequences when I make mistakes...but that's different from being punished...and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference...especially when I forget who God REALLY is.

Yesterday we decided to try City Church in Chattanooga. We'd heard good things about it...from several people...and their *Ethos* service sounded like it would be a good fit...especially with the worship.

On the way to church I was complaining to David about how I was begging God to show me what I was missing...why things seem to be going rotten right now...what about *me* is causing us to keep repeating this cycle??? And why wasn't He answering me???

So...we get to church...for the last few minutes of the 9:15 service. It was good. God was talking to me immediately. We saw the pastor in the hallway afterward and he was very friendly. He took the time to stop and talk to us...shake our hands...make a connection. Honestly...most times *pastors* only have time for people if they get in their faces or stand in a line...yk? So THAT impressed me.

We sat with friends in the Ethos service. I was prepared for the music to be deafening loud...but it wasn't. I didn't know the songs...and that was a little frustrating...cuz I like to sing when I worship...and they were hard to follow in that respect. BUT...God was talking to me anyway. And somewhere in there I realized that I had made the comment that I wanted Him to scream at me so that I could hear Him...and HE DID!!! I know what the point of the message was...and I did understand it...but what I heard more than anything else was...

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Simplistic? Yes! Necessary? ABSOLUTELY!!!!

The funny thing was...as we discussed the service on the way home, David said he thought the message that knowing God's love and allowing that to compel us to love others was...a bit naive. Ya know...I agree...and yet...I also know...somewhere deep inside...that it's really not. Remember...He said He would use the simple to confound the wise.

So...we'll be visiting again...trying the early service...deciding which one we like from there. I know we were where we were supposed to be yesterday...and I would like to have found a church home. But we'll take it one step at a time...and trust that we will know when it's time to commit...and where.