52 Reasons to Connect With a Local Church

“Karen Friday is a pastor’s wife passionate about the local church, women’s ministry, and sacred callings.”

This is the first line of my newest bio for a book proposal my agent and I plan to pitch to publishers soon.

And the main change conveys my passion about the local church. 

Why?

The local church is a sacred institution set apart for God and His people. Because the church is not just a building or meeting place, but literally the people of God…the body of Christ.

Perhaps there are those who feel my passionate sentiments are required or expected in my role as a pastor’s wife. Maybe a burning passion for the church seems like the ultimate job description for a pastor and his wife, and all staff members. 

But like passion for anything, it starts deep in our heart. Still, the main thing I want you to know: Not only is this passion meant for those called to various church positions, but also for every person who answers the call to follow Christ. 

Passion for the Local Church

So here are 52 passionate reasons to connect with a local church. I share Scripture references for some of my list.

(1.) God commands us to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8)

(2.) The Bible tells us not to forsake gathering together with other believers. (Hebrews 10:25)

(3.) We were never meant to do life alone. (Acts 20:7)

(4.) There’s just something powerful about the corporate worship of a Holy God. (Psalm 34:3)

(5.) It creates community in our lives.

(6.) Connects us with other Christian wives, moms, dads, students, and so on.

(7.) The preaching of God’s Word.

Thought for Today and Every Day: Jesus Saves

Popular hashtags on social media showcase a thought for the day or thoughts for a specific day of the week: 

#ThoughtOfTheDay

#ThoughtForTheDay

#TuesdayThoughts

Furthermore, people often use hashtags for wisdom and motivation alongside the above examples like: 

#MondayMotivation 

#WednesdayWisdom

Although I realized these hashtags let others know the information shared in a particular post as an important and sometimes personal thought. Still, a spiritual truth occurred to me.

The most unsurpassed and unmatched and incomparable thought I share with others today or any day remains: 

#JesusSaves

Since Isaiah 55:8 says God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, He provides the wisdom for salvation and the spiritual motivation we need to live the Christian life.

Unsurpassed Thought 

First, Google explains Unsurpassed as “Better than any other.” 

Next, God’s better-than-any-other thought sent Jesus with a purpose. “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

And Romans describes every person’s condition and need for saving; how Jesus saves us, and the unsurpassed salvation of Christ.

 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

5 Ways to Stop Shifting the Blame

Sometimes no one is to blame but me.

Our tendency to shift the blame on other men or women started with the first man and woman.

When the first humans disobeyed God, it triggered a finger-pointing cycle still in motion today. 

After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Adam told God it was the woman’s fault. When the Lord questioned Eve, she immediately blamed the serpent.

You see the pattern?

“It was her!” Or, “He’s to blame, not me!”

Who’s To Blame?

Let’s take a closer look. Pull the cameras in for a tight shot in the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 3:11, the Lord God asked Adam straight up, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Listen carefully to Adam’s response. “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12 (ESV)

Initially, it appears he is putting total blame on Eve’s shoulders. Then we notice that little three letter word—you. God, it was the woman you gave me. 

Adam blames God for his own wrongdoing by cause and effect. God, since you did that, it caused me to do this. Oh, how we also use cause and effect in blaming others.

Adam’s scripted lines from the movie trailer, God, You Messed Up Big Time: “If you hadn’t given me a woman, maybe this sin thing would not have gone down and we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. You ever considered that, God?”

However, God is the One who made the rules. When you create stuff like the universe and people, you get to decide those kinds of things. The Lord gave clear directions on living in the Garden and what fruit to eat. Disobedience is always our fault.

Blame and Excuses

How to Practice Summer Soul Care

Are we practicing soul care?

Because it seems as though many of us are intentional to care for our body—our overall health and physical wellness.

But sometimes caring for our soul falls off the radar.

As mentioned in 10 of My Favorite Things About Summer, one of my favorite things about summer is the slower pace.

For most of us summer brings a more leisure and unhurried rhythm of life. Kids are out of school. We plan time off work to travel and go on vacation.

And we often gather with friends and family fostering intentional connection and recreation. 

But in this slower pace and rhythm, the Lord also desires to teach us how to care for our soul. So here are some ideas for S-U-M-M-E-R soul care.

S – Satisfy our soul with what only God provides.

“For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:9, ESV)

“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (Jeremiah 31:25, ESV)

Like we long to vacation at the beach, hope to relax at a tropical resort, or desire to fill our summer with joyful activities, our soul longs for good things as well. The Lord wants us to slow down long enough to spend time in His presence. And ask God to satisfy, fill, and replenish our soul with His goodness.

U – Understand the role Scripture plays in our soul’s wellness. 

I Love Jesus: Staying in Love with Him

I love Jesus. 

Love. A small and seemingly simple word. But it holds more power than we realize. 

I’m not an expert on the subject of love.

Instead, I held misconceptions about love as a child and young woman. And hang-ups about love formed from emotionally expensive experiences. 

You see, my father abandoned me for a time, and I never remember the phrase “I love you!” by either of my parents until later in life. 

I was grown with my own children the first time my father uttered the words I love you. The conversation’s forever etched in my memory.

Still, as much as I wanted to hear my dad tell me he loved me, I needed to believe it. And I longed for the reassurance he meant it.

You know what? The same holds true today. My husband can never tell me or show me he loves me too many times. 

Because a continual and intentional assurance of love takes any relationship to a higher and deeper level. Pure and whole-hearted love, in the most powerful form, is a show-and-tell affection.

I Love Jesus 

Likewise, the words I love You, Jesus! rise in my heart and roll off my tongue more often these days. Why?

Maybe I’m tired of surface substitutes for real love. Perhaps I’ve grown weary of this: what God made true about love, people made fake. And I believe Christ is teaching me about an authentic and lasting love.

Jump: A Spiritual Lesson From the High Dive

My bare feet made their way up the ladder, mortified to back out now. A jump from the high-diving board. 

Could I pull it off with a secret fear of heights?

A public embarrassment to turn around and go the same way I had arrived—down the ladder and past the people waiting in line.

And I just knew as pool-siders gawked behind sunglasses, What a scaredy-cat! would also cross their minds.

My twin sister and I hung out at the local pool several days a week every summer. This adventure happened in sixth or seventh grade.

Yes, younger kids jump off high dives. You see, I mustered up enough courage to make jumps, oodles of them, off the low dive. Because it was low.

Yet, even for this high-dive feat, I wasn’t planning a crowd-pleasing, eyebrow-raising dive or backwards flip. Never a good diver, I kind of fell into the water from the sidelines, my arms in position to lead the way. 

My dives lacked perfect form and a straight body—bent legs always gave me away. Not olympic material (judges score cards read 3.0), you probably wonder why all the fretting, sweating, and heart skipping to jump? That’s all…jump.

Still, friends coaxed us, the Clarkston twins, into executing this jump. Since we needed to protect our good name as part of the hip crowd, we accepted the challenge. 

Execute the Jump

But at the bottom of the high-dive ladder, a going first tug-of-war ensued. “You go first.” “No, you go first.” Then, I reluctantly agreed to jump first. 

As I walked the board, I encouraged myself with a pep talk. For goodness sake, Karen, get a grip on yourself. Just jump off the end of this long board into nice, soft, sparkling water. You can do this. Stay straight and vertical. Oh, and guard against busting the water on entry, busts hurt like crazy! No pressure.

Freedom: A Day of Deliverance

In America, we are remembering and celebrating liberty as a country. Also, I desire to always celebrate my spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ.

So when I read a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, about Independence Day in 1776, I found this interesting.

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” (Wikipedia)

Like Adams, many of our founding fathers looked to God for “the day of deliverance.” And like others, I looked to God for my day of deliverance.

Jesus’ blood on Calvary’s cross set me free.

At sixteen-years-old, the Lord delivered me from sin and spiritual death, giving me eternal life—something worth remembering and celebrating.

America’s founding fathers commemorated freedom as the day of deliverance: Independence Day. Our heavenly Father commemorated spiritual freedom as the day of deliverance: Resurrection Day.

Therefore, here’s a list of 20 Scriptures to help us remember and celebrate.

Freedom in Jesus Christ

(1.)  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind.” (Isaiah 61:1, TLB)

(2.)  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, ESV)

10 of My Favorite Things About Summer

I’m a fan of summer. Perhaps you love summer, too. While I enjoy something about every season, summer remains my top pick.

Since enjoying this wonderful season is well under way, a top 10 list seems in order to share my favorite things. 

We’ll start at number 10 and countdown to my number one favorite thing.

(10.)  Reminiscing of childhood.

Reflecting on my childhood stirs a mix of good and not-so-good memories. Yet, when I think of summer, I remember fun and laughter and joy-filled moments. Memory lane reminds me of playing outside with my sisters and cousins.

Preteen and teen years meant days spent at the local swimming pool and the first time I jumped off the high dive. Another memory leads to number 9. 

(9.)  Catching lightning bugs.

Called fireflies or lighting bugs, these winged insects start appearing in June and are seen lighting up around dusk and nightfall. Recently, my grandson Foster spent the night. So I recreated this childhood favorite with him by catching lightning bugs and putting them n a mason jar. He insisted I do the catching while he cheered, “Go, Mimi, go!”

(8.)  Connection and Community Events.

7 Ways to Relentlessly Seek God

When we relentlessly seek God, it radically transforms us. And the enemy knows it. So he uses the world’s distractions to keep us from God.

It boils down to a constant spiritual struggle.

Like how living in this world clashes with not being of this world. Or, the ongoing battle between our flesh and spirit. Also, the conflict between our old self and our new self in Christ.

These struggles put us at risk of distractions that pull us away from seeking God. Instead, we look to our own desires and what the world has to offer. 

But it’s nothing new.

Throughout the history of the world, the history of God’s people, and the history of the Bible, the choice always stood in place. Either seeking after God or seeking something else. 

And “something else” includes everything from people and things to idols and self-worship to fame and fortune.

Look at Romans 3:10-11, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

Still, Acts 17 reminds us how God made the world and everything in it. Futhermore, He made all mankind to live on the earth. Why? 

“That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” (Verses 27-28).

So how does the Bible describe seeking God?

(1.) Seek God for who He is.

The Toughest Lesson God Wants Us to Learn

I’m excited to introduce an author friend, Chip Mattis. I know you will enjoy his words about dads and an important lesson we learn from our heavenly Father. Chip recently released a children’s book reflecting the love of a father for his little girl, Under the Dancing Tree. I purchased it for my grandchildren and will discuss it more at the end of this post.

There is one undeniable, incontrovertible truth when it comes to children: they don’t sit still.

My wife is the standard for self-control. Even when she was little, she couldn’t sit still. Crawling into bed with her parents one night after a nightmare, she tossed and turned.

“Be still,” her dad said.

So she went rigid and eventually fell asleep lying flat as a board.

My son can’t sit at the table very long. He likes to sit up, kneeling one leg on the chair and standing on the floor with the other. Or walk around the kitchen some. Or lean on the table and hover both feet off the ground. It’s both bothersome and funny. 

“Sit down and chill out, man.” 

My daughter squirms in her seat, delaying eating her food. She flips her head around to look at me upside-down. Then she’ll stretch way out under the table to play footsie with my wife. 

“Baby, sit still.”

My kids’ restlessness at the dinner table is ridiculous.

Learn to Be Still: When I’m Restless

But the truth is, I’m no different. I’m just as restless. It might not be a dinner table restlessness where the wiggles need to get free. It’s a spiritual restlessness, a feeling that if I sit still I’ll fail, I’ll miss something. The feeling of anxiety that I’m supposed to be doing a particular thing at a particular time. The sense of not wanting to displease the people I love or, worst of all, displease God.

But in each of those moments of restless anxiety, there is God my Father, assuring me I have nothing to fear. Through each stage of my life, God is tending to me like a garden, pruning where I’ve grown wild, watering me when I’m dry, shining on me when I’m cloudy.