Life a Weblog for Young Adults

I’m thankful for my church because of the deep and authentic relationships my husband and I have with other members. Being in relationship with other couples who are committed to God and strive to have godly marriages is a key ingredient to the success we’ve had in the first five years of our marriage. We’re in mentoring relationships with couples who have more marriage mileage than us, and we have, in turn, poured what we’ve learned about marriage into engaged couples and newlyweds.

I am so thankful for the testimony, witness, and inspiration of a man named Joe. He is no “average Joe” as the saying goes. Joe took an early retirement as a Math teacher and felt led to find a new job. He also wanted to find more time to serve his church, so he took up the opening as one of our church custodians. What a great lesson in humbleness and humility.

After Tracey and I married, we moved to another town. We struggled with the difficulties of being in a new place, and at the same time, we began to contend with infertility. On top of all that, we had a hard time finding a church. We desperately needed a touch from God.

Church has always been my second home. Having grown up as a pastor’s kid, I’ve developed a love for the body of Christ and its leadership. As a 25-year-old, I’m now involved in a 10-month-old church start in my city. I couldn’t be more excited about what God is doing in our community through the leadership and its faithful gathering.

In October of last year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Doctors said I would need surgery, chemo, and radiation, so I knew I had a tough road ahead. I began to seek the Lord as to how I would get through this, glorifying Him all the while. I knew that it would be important to plant myself in His presence, in His Word, and in His house.

There seems to be a general fascination about the end of the world, maybe now more than ever before. It’s certainly an interesting time to go to the movies. Maybe an even more interesting time to go to church.

Sure, there’s no place like home. But you can make new memories with your family of friends. The first time we spent Thanksgiving away from home, my brother and I started planning the menu weeks before. We needed to buy a turkey, obviously, but how big? What brand was best? How do you make gravy that isn’t lumpy? There were many serious and overwhelming questions that only one person could answer: our mother.

God’s been teaching me a lot about grace in the past few weeks. Like many of you, I’ve been tricked into setting impossibly high standards for myself, resulting in an overwhelming and ongoing sense of failure. In this mind-set, I never allowed myself to receive God’s grace because, of course, I wasn’t good enough for it yet. It sounds like a personal problem, I know. However, God has shown me clearly that if I don’t receive His grace for myself, I lose the ability to give grace to others. Ouch. I was OK hurting myself, but I never meant to hurt anyone else …

As we mark the one year anniversary of the election of the first African American president of the United States, here is a brief report of what happened during President Obama’s trip to Africa in July. Regardless of political leanings, the election and trip remain significant historical moments for our nation.

Now that you’re thinking of all those people you wish to thank, here are additional ways to show appreciation. And anytime you say “thanks,” be sure to tell that person specifically what it is you appreciate about him or her.