Thursday, June 6, 2013

Big Steps

The big steps I'm going to talk about are not Brynlee's, but steps that our family is making together.  First, a little background story. We made the decision to leave Bethel almost 4 years ago.  We started "church shopping" and "small group shopping".  We knew that the small group atmosphere is really what the Lord wanted for us.  We found such a wonderful small group.  We knew the first week that was where the Lord wanted us.  We were with them for 2 years.  We started out attending Woodland because the group was through them, but when the group split off, it was time for us to go also.
Our first time going to Cornerstone was the last time the current pastor was going to be preaching.  We loved the church from the beginning.  It was the right size for us (big enough to have diversity and small enough that we could still feel like we were part of a church family).  It took us a little bit to say out loud that Cornerstone was our church, but it came eventually.  Just when we were ready to start really getting involved I got pregnant with Brynlee.  Then, everything except the necessities got put on hold.  We were really bad at attending church on a regular basis and therefore took a step back in getting involved in the church.
After Brynlee was born, we jumped back into things pretty quickly.  Over the course of that summer, we really felt that the Lord was telling us that we needed to focus on really becoming part of the church and not just attenders.  Our neighbors, the Hershbergers, had been so great to us while I was pregnant and they were interested in starting a new small group in the fall.  It turned out to be perfect!  The kids are at one house, the adults at the other, and we take turns watching the kids. It was hard for us to leave our old small group, but it has really helped us become more committed to the church. The group has really hit it off and become close quickly. I love them! 
Due to the timing of things and my pregnancy, we kept missing out on some of the steps to become members.  Recently, we finally got everything worked out and took the last steps to make it official.  Sunday, April 28, 2013 we officially became members of Cornerstone.  Our three girls were all baptized.

I want to explain what the baptisms meant to us (mostly because 4 years ago I would have been completely confused by it, so I'm sure I have someone out there wondering what in the world we are doing).  The baptisms do not signify that the girls have been "saved" or anything like that.  It is basically a baby dedication, but a little bit more meaningful and descriptive.  Due to the fact that Justin and I are members and believers, our children are being accepted into God's family.  That means that they will be raised in the church and we are committing to teach them about the Lord.  I'm really excited to see how the Lord will be using us at part of the Cornerstone family in the future.