By Grace
19th September 2004, 02:42 PM
I visited a new church today, since I'm still hoping I'll find a congregation where I can fellowship, even if they're not really Messianic. I had the hardest time getting there, though. The baby didn't sleep well for her nap, then woke up just before I left (I was leaving the girls with DH so I could focus on the visit and not be distracted). That made me late. I got caught behind a car doing 5-10 mph under the speed limit on a two-lane highway. After I got there, I felt more like I was just looking for faults rather than trying to find the good things. After the service, I talked with the pastor for a while and ended up feeling like he was drilling me, rather than being encouraging. I don't think he intended to come across this way, but we had to leave before we finished our conversation b/c everyone else was gone (very small congregation); we didn't get to come to any sort of agreement on what we were talking about. On my way home, I just felt frustrated, even though over all I felt like it was the best church in this area that I've visited. I enjoyed the singing, and the sermon was more inspirational than most that I've listened to around here. After the service, the lady sitting next to me asked to borrow my CJB so she could copy Stern's translation of a verse that she had heard about. I asked her if she had heard about Messianic Judaism, and she seemed somewhat familiar with the concept (which is a WHOLE lot more of a response than I've gotten from anyone else around here).
I can't quite figure out, though, if all the trouble I had today was G-d's message to me that this is not where He wants us, or if it was the enemy's attack in an effort to keep me from going where G-d wants. This church is affiliated with the Baptist Convention, but at least the people have heard of MJ and are at least somewhat tolerant of those beliefs and practices. They also suggested another congregation around the corner (which was not listed in the Yellow Pages so I didn't know it existed) that does supposedly have more of a MJ POV. Maybe I can visit there next week (they still meet on Sunday, though).
Anyway, just wondering if anyone has advice on how to discern when G-d is putting obstacles in your path to steer you in another direction, vs. when the enemy is putting obstacles in your path to keep you from going where G-d wants you to go. I've always had a hard time telling the difference.
TIA,
I can't quite figure out, though, if all the trouble I had today was G-d's message to me that this is not where He wants us, or if it was the enemy's attack in an effort to keep me from going where G-d wants. This church is affiliated with the Baptist Convention, but at least the people have heard of MJ and are at least somewhat tolerant of those beliefs and practices. They also suggested another congregation around the corner (which was not listed in the Yellow Pages so I didn't know it existed) that does supposedly have more of a MJ POV. Maybe I can visit there next week (they still meet on Sunday, though).
Anyway, just wondering if anyone has advice on how to discern when G-d is putting obstacles in your path to steer you in another direction, vs. when the enemy is putting obstacles in your path to keep you from going where G-d wants you to go. I've always had a hard time telling the difference.
TIA,