Blessings to you from Minnesota! I am here visiting my son Ben, who is in college, and Ross and I are in the hotel, relaxing.
It has been a great way to start a trip, pulling away from McDonald's in Waterloo with our breakfasts, I grab Ross' hands and we pray quick for a safe trip. A direct, sincere prayer to our Lord to look after us. And then we were off. I like my new life in Christ this way! Lots of prayer. And my kids seem to be absorbing all of this. Praise you Lord! Bless my children and grandchildren. I am now determined to be a walking-in-Jesus-skin- person (so they say at church).
Being in Minnesota is interesting when you have lived here before. I moved here in 1998. I lived in a quaint, tourist town called Lanesboro. What a delight. Bicycle trails and small town living. And I mean small town. If you needed a pair of shoes or a birthday gift last minute, forget it. And if it was an icy or snowy winter, you didn't get out of town for days. Rochester was the nearest town of much significance, and that was 55 minutes away. I raised some eyebrows when I would go to Cresco or Decorah (Oh, they just don't like Iowa like they like Minnesota up here) to get my groceries at Fareway or Walmart.
With so many wonderful things about this town of Lanesboro was also the church suppers and community activities. The churches really provide social time, along with worship. I so looked forward to coffee after church (I was a stay at home mom for the time I lived up north). I also had some moms that I met for coffee (with our babies along). I did also participate in a multi-church sponsored Bible study. We studied Ecclesiastes.
One thing I especially loved was our Catholic church. It was on a high hill. It was St. Patricks. And Father Tom was the most awesome priest I had yet met. I had just become Catholic a few months before we moved up north. And this priest was around my age. He stated he was a garbage truck driver prior. He states he was the hyper type (like me). And he never had silence around him to be able to think straight, let alone let the Holy Spirit try to have a conversation with him. But one day his radio broke in his garbage truck. And God gave him a clear message in that truck that day that he needed to join the religious life. Boom. And that is the journey he set out on. Under orders. Loving orders. (Yes, we can always have free choice).
Father Tom had supper at our house a few times. Unfortunately, he had a horrible cat allergy. So, I would clean, clean before he came and he would take a Benadryl. But, he would have to leave after about a good hour, maybe hour and a half. Father Tom also baptized my Ross. I cried, it was such a great time in my life. I had another miracle child to enjoy in my life. Three wonderful gifts of children for me. I am so fortunate to have them in my life.
Along with Father Tom (who related well with my older two children--he was so "cool" with the teens and adolescents), I had a few ladies at church that shared very intimate spiritual things with me. I can't say how lucky I have been in my life to have had people share "religious" things with me. Things that sometimes you know if you share with the wrong person, they will simply assume you are a little crackers.
Rose was one person that shared with me. She was a seasoned lady, very wise. She was in her 70's. She invited me over for coffee. She belonged to our Catholic church. She was a widow. I believe she personally blessed my Ross the day he was baptized. She was extremely spiritual and what a relief to find someone else like me in this way. Maybe that is why she was comfortable sharing. This is her story: One Sunday she took communion. And she took the bread and wine as she did every Sunday. And you can trust this woman was as Godly as they come. She stated that on one instance, the wine truly was consecrated for her. It did not taste of grapes, but of blood. She said it was a beautiful gift to have that happen to her. She felt safe in sharing that with me!
Another lady, (I am embarraced, I don't remember her name off the bat), was such a colorful person. Beautiful 70 year old or so. She wore hats to church. Fancy hats. Now, remember this is a town of 600, and this town of 600 had about 5 churches, so that means only about 50 people went to our church. She told me once that in the altar area of the church, one Sunday it was filled with heavenly angels for her eyes only. She was just in awe of it. She felt safe enough to share that with me as well. And I only lived there for 2 years! What joy for me.
I am aware that my posts may point to opinions about different types of churches. I really want to stay away from that. At the time of a large conversion in my spiritual life, I happened to be going through a 7 month intense Catholic RCIA program. We had one sponsor there that spoke prayers, almost constantly, in a hushed voice. I never had the nerve to ask her if that was what she was doing, but I just assumed, to be on the positive side of things, that was what she was doing. This RCIA program got us reading out of the Bible. And it really taught us alot about the Catholic church now. Any question you had, they found an answer. And at any time, they told you if you were not ready to move forward, that was perfectly fine. The last thing they wanted was someone to convert and regret it. The door was always open to step away if necessary.
I also want to point out, as I have in previous posts, that some people appear to have multiple conversions in their lifetime. I had a big one in 1998 and then a bigger one (Holy Spirit drenched) this past year and a half. Praise you Lord for that big wakeup call! I can say that my conversion in '98 was unfortunately one where I looked outward at others' sins a little too much. I did look inward also, but I think I was being too judgemental overall. I think I was walking the walk as a married woman, a very "busy" religious person, a stay-at-home-mom. I really couldn't screw up much there. I was doing healthy reading, keeping my kids as safe as possible from the outside forces and being there every minute that they were not in school. Our social time did not include bars or alcohol or unhealthy behaviors. We really were living a good clean life. But, I still was worshiping other things more than our God above. You can really easily miss the mark of the personal relationship with Jesus Christ when you think you are living a good life. And you don't go deeper to get that. You think you are all set.
I cannot say that I can call myself a Catholic any longer. I have a girlfriend who put it nicely. She states that she told her daughter, who is trying to find a church, that "If they don't walk in with their Bibles to church, walk right back out and find another church". I can say I truly appreciate that thinking. We are not opening our Bibles in many churches. We are not openly praying and being enthusiastic about it, and only getting enthusiastic about only getting in and out of there in less than 55 minutes. I can say I have attended a couple of churches in Cedar Falls that go well over 55 minutes and no one is hurrying to leave. It's almost like you just got started. Now, that's worship. I hope your church is like that!
I have to share one more story about churches: For over 2 1/2 years I attended a church in Independence. I went maybe once or twice a month. I never had one time in that period of 2 1/2 years have a parishiner come up to me and ask me my name or introduce themself. I told my girlfriend and her boyfriend who belong to this church about this and my disappointment in the church. They defended it nicely and bless them because they only know this type of church. (this is all I ever knew prior to attending Heartland Vineyard for the first time in 1996). Their excuse was acceptable. But, I found a yearning in my heart for a different place to praise God and to let my deep thinking and deep loving be put to good use. I guess I outgrew that type of drive-thru worship. I knew I wasn't fooling God. He was getting a little disappointed in my "putting my time in with him on Sundays".
Thank you for letting me share with you. I hope you find it helpful for someone to be genuine with you. Someone who has decided that maybe the only way for someone else to go deeper in their relationship with the Lord is to be bare bones about it. It sure helps me!
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