Celebrations Galore

Last weekend, we headed up to Indiana for a long weekend full of celebrations.  The fun began with a surprise welcome at the airport when I landed.  I miss my small group girls like crazy and seeing them all lined up for me with these homemade signs made me weepy.  I love these ladies!  #lylas

community

We are all about the Indianapolis Colts in our house.  Since the boys in blue were going head-to-head with the Patriots (boo!) last weekend, we were stoked to watch the game.  We threw together a last-minute watching party for our small group, and had a blast.

As our small group friends filled our living room, catching up with each other and occasionally yelling at the TV (touchdown!), I thought about how close we have grown to these folks in the last year.  How they went from simply other members of our church to dear, precious friends.  And I thought that this is what small group is all about - community.

Yes, studying scripture together is important.  And praying for each other is crucial.  But when you really break it down, our small group truly thrives because we are all friends.  We share life together.  We laugh and cry and pray together.  Together, we created a christocentric community and we love each other as  brothers and sisters in Christ.  And we occasionally watch an exciting (albeit depressing) football game together. 

(photo courtesy of my friend abby)

Even though the Colts lost :(, it was a great evening.  And I am thankful to be in a community group (the "official" name for small groups at our church) that really is a true community. 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

-Eccl. 4:9-12 (esv) 

the thankful project day 17: a room

{Linking up with Kenzie at Chasing Happy}

November 17th: A Room.

Each Sunday, we drive downtown to attend our church.  In the church sanctuary, we meet up with friends who have become family.  We sing and worship the Lord.  We learn about His word.  We read Scripture.  We partake in communion.  We make new friends, and celebrate life's milestones with them.  We make plans to grab lunch after the service with our awesome small group.  We feel God's presence fill the room.  A lot of wonderful things happen in that sanctuary - which is why I picked it as the room I am thankful for today.  

Our sanctuary at Christmas time - via redeemindy.org

My faith has grown so much in the times I have spent in this room, and I absolutely love it.  I am so thankful for all that I get to experience in it every week.

the chili-serving miracle of 2013

It's Friday!  If you are new to my blog, welcome!  Please feel free to stick around for a while and check out a little more about me here.  I don't know about you, but I can't believe we're almost halfway through October already.  I'm linking up with Lauren for five silver linings from this week:

1.  I'm working my way through my Fall To-Do's and am going to cross one off of the list this weekend - visiting an apple orchard and pumpkin patch with a good friend.  We're going to head out to my hometown and hopefully will find some apple cider while we're there - another one to cross of my list!

2.  I'm still on a high from our trip to Wheaton for the hubby's class reunion (you can read about it here).

 3.  This little pup was so worn out from her weekend at the boarding kennel.  She loves it there and always comes home exhausted from playing.  So much for feeling guilty about leaving the dog behind!

4.  Our small group spent yesterday evening serving a potato bar to a local inner-city high school football team.  I was in charge of serving chili and somehow managed to not spill it all over myself - which is a miracle, let me tell you.  It was a blast! 

5.  Speaking of my small group, after the Chili-Serving Miracle of 2013 we all went out for dinner and stuffed our faces with pizza.  YUM.  I am so thankful to have such great friends. 

 

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!