Somebody's Been Sitting in My Pew!

Someone was in our normal pew this morning when we got to church. So we sat in front of our neighbors instead of behind them like we usually do. It felt really funny to me. I couldn’t quite get settled and it wasn’t because I had an extra kid with me that had spent the night with Baylor. I was frustrated that out of all the pews these folks had selected ours. We LOVE that spot! It is right underneath the angel that says “honor thy father and mother”.
As I sat there for the first 10-15 min I couldn’t help myself. The folks in our pew were loud and I couldn’t concentrate. It was frustrating. But then my friend Angie came and I realized we were closer to her and I could hear our Pastor and could glance back and see the whole congregation instead of being in the thick of folks sitting around us.
It got a little easier and before the end of service I actually liked this new seating arrangement. It made me think of all the other things I had been avoiding that would require some uncomfortable change. Thinking about it through the day I kept wondering how I could have been so upset in the first 10 min and completely comfortable by the end of the hour?
Change is frustrating, giving up bad habits and vices are hard. Giving up control and allowing God to have the reins is even harder on us for a little while, but then it gets easy. My husband believes immensely in the power of positive thinking and speaking fortune into your life, it really works. When we allow negative thinking of “we can’t” do something to creep in we speak our own fate.
Oddly enough the sermon today was about being able to do all things through Christ, and yes we can do all things through Christ. When you feel whole because you are confident you are making good choices, practicing humility and leading with a servants heart you show God you are ready to take on more. You are ready for the challenges and possess the patience to see things through not on your time but on His time!
It may be uncomfortable and completely out of your element to change what has been “you” for so long. You know it has to change before you can progress to the next level. Whether that is completing a degree, getting serious about a passion, making a marriage work…just do it already! The benefit and life long reward is so worth it. We have to do the work though!! And nothing worth having is easily obtained. I am thankful that my Dad instilled that in me. Haven’t always paid attention to it, have often taken the easy way. But I’ve achieved some may-jur things these last 5 years and am down right proud of them. But just like many of my previous diets, I have hit a plateau. That damn fork again!!!
Watching comedian Steve Harvey’s testimony on TBN the other night ( a replay we had previously seen) the words stuck with me…I use to live for fun and now I live for joy (not exact but a good summary). Bayne and I talked about how we were transitioning from just having fun with our life to now really experiencing JOY! It was a little like that pew the first few years but now it is full of joy and we are ready to push for more of it!
As we keep talking about having this 3^rd baby we discuss the comments other people have made to us. We know we will probably be broke-ER, we will be less likely to go on a vacation, we will be chaos to be around for sure…but anything is uncomfortable in the beginning, just like that pew.