Do you know He's walked before you? Happy Palm Sunday!

Today, the hubby and I enjoyed a peaceful wandering in the woods. As we enjoyed the silence and cool breeze, it was hard to not see the immense beauty around us.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. We see all around us the care God has taken with His creation. He gently tucks it in through autumn's cooling temps and wakes it again to new life in spring. How can that not impress upon us the immense love he has for us?

In the midst of my marveling at creation, we jumped a small creek and I tripped on the undergrowth. Playfully, I teased my husband over his 'immense' concern for my safety... Seeing as he didn't pause to help me across the small creek or even turn around to my grunt at having almost tripped. His response though stops me. He says, "I'm walking before you."

While I was teasing him, and we both knew it, it reminded me that there was no lack of concern in his actions. Quite the opposite! He was walking ahead of me to make sure there were no unseen dangers.

As such a simple act swelled my heart with love, it also very vividly brought to life the truth we know about Christ... He walks before us. He has seen the trials we face. He has known the hardship and the heartache.

He chose to enter our lives in human form, which we recently celebrated at Christmas, and to pay the ultimate price for our sins, which we will celebrate this Friday as Good Friday.
Thankfully, the story doesn't end there! 

Next Sunday we will celebrate His resurrection, and the promise of the new life He gives us. How precious we are of all creation!

As today we celebrate Palm Sunday, his arrival in Jerusalem for a week he knew would include immense suffering, death, and a trip to hell... HAPPY PALM SUNDAY!

As we celebrate this week, let us remember the ultimate price He paid and the larger than life gift He gave.

And as we draw closer to Easter Sunday, let us rejoice in the realization that He did it all that we may find comfort in the knowledge that He has walked before us.

He paid a debt we could not pay, for a life we do not deserve, and He will not leave us to walk it's road alone.

May you find joy and comfort in this Easter season and may you see life anew in Christ!

In Christ,
A Southern Sinner

Foot bridge

Sundays with Westminster 9.21.14

After a few weeks on the road, we made it back to church on a Sunday morning, and of course, it was exactly what I needed to hear. I'd had a hard week... up and down, impatient and irritable, motivated one moment and discouraged the next. 

Then our minister begins a sermon on missions.

We had a missionary in attendance, so the automatic assumption is that he's going to talk about world missions and how we are all called to be missionaries. But then he said something that spoke to my heart, just like God intended it to... As a SAHM, I have an important mission field -- the hearts of my children. I must remember that and not lose sight of the fertile soul before me OR the value of my efforts!

Sundays with Westminster 9.14.14

Yesterday's sermon:

The Spirit and the Word
Genesis 1:3-5
Rev. Mike Allen
Westminster Presbyterian EPC

Sundays with Westminster 9.7.14

Posts will be halted for a week as we deal with some family medical issues.

For those of you enjoying the Sunday sermons... Here's the link for today's.

This is a mobile blog post, so the format is a little off. Hopefully the link will get you where you need to go. :-)

Our Starting Point

Genesis 1:1-2

Rev. Mike Allen

Westminster Presbyterian

http://media.sermonsonline.com/westminsterepc_66017_32K.mp3

In Christ!

From One Saved Sinner to the Next

Sundays with Westminster 8.31.14

Today's sermon was on the Life of Membership, specifically our membership to our local body of Christ. Not that we should submit to local leadership, even though we should, but that we should have unity in the body. Being eager to make peace, walking in humility and gentleness. Also doing our part to build up the body of Christ.

When we do not put our time and efforts into our church family, we are putting our time and efforts elsewhere... and it will show. How can we expect the body of the church to grow, not just in size, but in maturity as well?

The leadership of the church is not placed in their position to do all the work. Their gifts are leadership and instruction, and they are there to prepare the members for service. Having said that... we are then called to actually serve!

Sundays with Westminster 8.24.14

It's been a busy weekend, and we were on the road during church. :-/

I've heard that we missed another great message... which I will listen to first chance I get!

In the meantime, here it is for your enjoyment:

Today's sermon: The Life of Leadership (click here to listen)
I Timothy 3:1-13
Rev. Mike Allen
Westminster Presbyterian Church, EPC


In Christ!
From One Saved Sinner to the Next

Sundays with Westminster 8.17.14

So, we made it to our second Sunday in a row. Little Bit did well, but we didn't push our luck and went to visit the nursery as the choir rose to sing.

Today's sermon was one of my favorites from our pastor! Maybe it was just something I needed to hear. Maybe I just miss a good soul searching invitational to come to Christ. (I did grow up Pentecostal. :-) Either way, the words were true and food for my soul.

Sundays with Westminster

I grew up in the church, as in every time the doors were open we were there. :-)
Did I always love it? I was a kid! Of course not. That would require loving having to sit still and listen to adults talk for hours. BUT did I learn from it? YES! YES!

Sadly, that habit kind of fell to the wayside as I moved out for school and lived away from home. I could offer a list of excuses for how it happened, but that's neither here, nor there, or worth worrying about.
Did I completely ignore God? Of course not!! But the habit of spending His day in His house didn't get the devotion it deserved.

We, Husband and I, have attended the local EPC, off and on, for almost as long as we've been in south MS, but only in the last couple of years joined. With a little one in the house now, we made the decision to make a better effort to attend habitually. I want our little one to have that immersion in the body of Christ and that kind of exposure to her church family.