I grew up knowing how good God was, my parents taught me how to pray every night and every morning and I understood that everything I had was a result of his blessings. I remember I would always say to myself that just because I didn't go to church, that didn't mean that I didn't have a relationship with Christ, and in some sense that can be true. The problem with that was that even though I knew the goodness of the lord, and I accepted him as my savior, I never put him where he truly belonged, at the center of my life. It wasn't until God made an attempt to get my attention, that I made this realization.
In my 18 years of living in Florida my family hadn't attended church regularly. Humans as we are make excuses and the many years of attending random services and not exactly liking it, had reached it's limit. There are points in your life where you show up somewhere where you have no idea how you got there but there we were, on a Sunday morning "Welcome Home" said the signs and home is exactly where I was, we sat through the service and afterwards of one my mothers clients, who had previously suggested we go there, found us and surprised us with such a warm, tear filled embrace. In that exact moment, I knew that God had brought me to this church and that he wanted me there. I understood that there was so much more than just praying everyday, there was so much joy and happiness that I had never experienced and that I loved. In such a short amount of time my relationship with God had grown stronger and my ability to connect with him kept me wanting more and more of him. I've learned that coincidences don't exist, but God does exist. His grace, his direction has been so evident in my life in only a year and that's something that's impossible to ignore.
Now a couple of months after regular attendance at church, my family came across some unpredicted events and before I knew it I had been almost a month with out attending a service, let's just say that it was a good feeling. I felt disconnected, I realized that those little moments I dedicated to Jesus through out my day began to decrease. I wasn't as happy, and to be more dramatic, I felt myself slipping. Mind you, it had only been three weeks, but they were enough to have me running back to my "Home" I realized how flawed I really was it's too easy for me to get distracted, to forget. Church is a weekly refreshment. I also realize that in order to continue to be on the right path with God I must attend regularly and how much I depended on my church to keep my relationship with God intact. I don't see this as a weakness, instead It's a reminder of how minute I am compared to my God, I am a flawed vessel in which he utilizes and in fact Jesus brought me to church, so why would he ever want me to leave? With this said I relate it to this particular verse that i stumbled upon it rings clear and true
"The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence" Ephesians 1:23
