Monday morning...already?

What a weekend! What a week! Last week was pretty crazy but I got a lot of stuff accomplished like finally organizing and cleaning my office! Which is really hard when you don't have any bookshelves or file cabinets, but thanks to the suggestion of Kristen, I bought some baskets and neatly organized papers and books in them and it actually looks quite decent. It sure is nice not having boxes piled up in our office anymore, that's for sure.

Alex has applied for a business loan so he can work from home and be his own boss, which he is very good at. We are very confident that he is going to get it. It will be so great for both of us.

Saturday, Alex and I just hung out being goofy and watched some funny, yet painful episodes of Curb your enthusiasm, but it was good to have a day just to ourselves, even though we would have loved to hang out with others.

Sunday was very busy, church was really good and afterwards we went to a birthday lunch for my friend Hannah, that was fun. Her mom asked me to be in charge of the birthday decor, it's much harder at a restaurant than it would be at someone's home but I did what I could;). I ate so much at the luncheon I had to take a nap when I got home. A few hours later we went over to David and Christin's house for dinner, which was a blast. Alex is so obsessed with baby's it cracks me up. Anytime he saw their 8 month old, he automatically snatched him up so he could hold him before anyone else, it really is quite a site;).

I'm loving the cold weather, I'm just really hoping it stays cooler, My basil temperature has risen and I can't handle the heat any longer. Plus I love fall/winter. Oh it's going to be such a great winter! It rained for a few minutes on Saturday and it put a smile on my face, I love the rain. We need more of it!

Well, that's all for now.

Dream House

This is the house Alex and I would love to have, it is perfect in every way...except the price. There is one option for us to buy the house and that's if one of them goes into foreclosure. One of these houses is already for sale by owner because they couldn't afford the house anymore.

This is a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with a huge kitchen and 2 seating rooms and a fireplace. It also has a large backyard. The inside is absolutely beautiful. High ceilings, beautiful lighting fixtures, soft carpet, it even has a laundry room...specifically for laundry, with a hook up and a sink and lots of cabinets. I think this room could make me enjoy laundry...;)

In the master bathroom there is a make up vanity built in with a curling iron holder built in the table! And it has a jacuzzi style tub and two sinks and a huge walk in closet that could be a little bedroom, actually I think it may be the same size as our second bedroom in our apartment. It's huge. I love it! We are absolutely drooling over this house. We have been to see these houses at least a dozen times. Sometimes when we have nothing else to do, we'll just come over here to see the house. They have a model open so you can look inside anytime and I love being inside there.

Back to Blogging

Well this is my first attempt back at blogging. I know I haven't blogged in a long time but hopefully I can do it a little more regularly now.

In case some of you don't know, I am 5 months pregnant.;) We are having a little girl March 10th.
Her name is Alexandria Victoria Branning. Alex and I are so happy!

God has really been teaching Alex and I alot throughout this process. It is amazing to see so many things through different eyes.

I don't have a whole lot to say today but I just wanted to jump back in there, hopefully more to come soon. I definitely have the time.

Things I miss...

The streets of Evanston....

The peace that comes when I am walking along Lake Michigan...

Becoming lost in a sea of people who I don't know and not feeling alone.

The ease of finding a job.

Singing

The gospel choir

Having a pet in the house

My crappy little house on Wesley and my room with no closet...

Walking everywhere (being able to walk everwhere)

The air is different there

The plethera of cute, original, little boutiques.

The people.

The oppertunities.

I'm still adjusting to this change and every once in a while I miss it there so bad I don't know what to do with myself. Things are so different now, not that they are bad but defenitly different. I LOVE being married but it is different and sometimes it's hard not to think of all the freedom you had when you were single. And I will never stop being thankful for the years I spent in Chicago. They truly were wonderful. I was so blessed to be bale to spend my growing years there learning, healing and becoming who I am now. Most of the things I do today, I've learned those things in the the years spent there. So here I am in a different place still learning, still growing, still trying to figure out what my purpose is here.

To all my peeps in Evanston/Chicago; I miss you sooo much! I hope you are all doing well and that God blesss your socks off!

Women in the Chruch

In Christianity women have often been denied the more prominent spiritual roles in the Church, and have been largely assigned 'jobs' said to be an extension of what has often been their home life (E.g. Putting out flowers, cleaning, teaching children in Sunday School). Critics of the way women have been treated by the Church over the years point towards its patriarchal structure, and argue that it is institution which has been set up and led my men, and primarily for men. As such, many women believe it is time for the Church to revise its structures, and in doing so change the way it treats women. However, there are others who argue that the Church should not bow to the 'whims' of society, and that women are only being treated as the Scripture specifically says they should be. They also argue that the Bible teaches that men and women are spiritually equal, but that they are assigned different roles in the Christian community.

A third group could be said to represent the middle ground between these two positions. These would argue that the Bible only appears to be denying women full equality in Church matters. They would argue that certain key passages (such as 1 Timothy 2:11-15) which appear to prohibit women from being church leaders, need to be looked at in the social and cultural contexts they were first written in. It is when we re-think them in the light of why they were written (and who for), that we can understand their true meaning for us today.

"A women should learn in quietness and full submission.I do not permit a women to teach or have authority over a man.; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was the one decieved; it was the women who was decieved and became a sinner. But women will be saved through child bearing-if they continue in faith, love, holiness, and propriety." - 1 Timothy 2:11-15

The of course later in Corinthians Paul wrote:
"For God is not a God of disorder and peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak but remain in submission, as the law says. If they want to enquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a women to speak in church." - 1 Corinthians 14:33-35

At first glance these latter teachings attributed to Paul seem to present a view of women that is 'out of touch' with the modern mindset. However, we should bear in mind that Paul was writing to specific churches, at a specific time, and in response to some specific questions they were asking.

Finally, we should note that Paul wrote elsewhere that all men and women are equal, especially in spiritual matters:

"There is neither greek, nor jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

Something to think about: Does Paul contradict himself in what he teaches about the role of men and women in the Church?

At the time Jesus lived, society had a generally negative attitude towards women. Both Jews and Greeks believed the 'work' of women should be limited to the domestic roles of wife and mother, with the former holding that the female gender were responsible for most (if not all) sin - especially sexual temptation!

However, despite this we need only take a quick glance in the Gospels to see that Jesus had a very positive attitude towards women. He accepted and affirmed women who were neglected by society, and declared them person's of value. Jesus healed women who were considered ritually unclean, and forgave those guilty of even sexual sin. Jesus also taught women, and counted them amongst his closest followers/disciples, and in his teachings they are often used as examples of people living a true life of faith. Although women were not generally educated at the time Jesus lived, he allowed them to sit at his feet (the traditional posture of a disciple - Luke 10:38-42), and taught them. We should also note that it was women (including a reformed prostitute Mary Magdalene), who first witnessed and told the twelve male disciples about the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul's letters to the young churches in Asia Minor were written in response to real issues they were facing, and questions they were asking. When Paul writes about women in his letters, he is first and foremost responding to questions being asked by church leaders, about their role and place in the new movement. Remember, up until this time society had held largely negative attitudes towards women. Roman law gave man complete authority over his wife, and a woman's quiet submission was considered her greatest virtue. Most men married when they were in their thirties, and usually to girls in their teens. As such their wives would be less intellectually challenging for them, and this mainly because women were largely uneducated. The new Christian faith liberated both men and women, and 'in Christ' they were now equal with men! These were exciting times for women who became Christians, and Paul needed to work out how to include them as member's of the church , in a way that benefited everyone.

The Apostle Paul was giving instructions to the Church which, although on the surface it looked like it denied women the right to teach and have spiritual leadership in the Church, may in fact have been intended to empower women and give them a status previously denied to them by society. For instance, although women were not highly regarded by men at the time, Paul taught that they were equal to men (Galatians 3:28). Furthermore, far from denying women the right to have spiritual leadership per se, Paul was simply asking women to learn about the Scriptures before they began teaching others (1 Timothy 2:11-15).

To support this reading of Paul we should note that elsewhere in the New Testament, he acknowledges that women were already having a spiritual input into 'services'. In a letter to the church at Corinth he wrote, 'And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head...' (1 Corinthians 11:5 - he also says exactly the same about men in verse 4!). Notice he does not say women should not prophesy (or preach/teach) in Church services, but just that they should do so in a certain way. Thus Paul acknowledged and allowed women to exercise spiritual leadership in Church, despite some passages implying he did not.

Furthermore, if women are not to meant to even speak in church but are to ask their husbands if they do not understand something (1 Corinthians 14:33-35), what happens about single women? 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 makes no mention of single women and does not account for their needs, so this too suggests that it cannot be taken to be a teaching about all women.

Finally, if 1 Timothy 2:11-15 is assumed to be universal, then what do we make of verse 15 which says that women will be saved through having children ('But women will be saved through childbearing - if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety')? Although some take the verse to be speaking of Mary the Mother of Jesus, the verb for childbearing here is plural, and implies many children (or women gen. having children). This raises the problem for women who have no children, or cannot have children. If 1 Timothy 2:11-15 has universal meaning, then it suggests that women who cannot have children, cannot be saved? This seems odd, for Galatians 3:28 says that all men and women are equal in the Lord, implying that salvation is not restricted to men only. So 1 Timothy 2:15 seems not to refer to all women, but only the women under Timothy's care (or in his 'church'), and as such sets out advice applicable for a specific time rather than all churches everywhere. This would also seem to suggest that verses 11-14 must also be read similarly.

My veiw on this topic is not a hard headed one but the same of which I look at most of these contriversial topics, I'm going to serve how I feel God is calling me to serve, now God has not called me to be a Pastor, nor do I have any desire to be one so this isn't really an issue for me. But I've sat through a sermon from a Pastors wife once that had to have been the most powerful sermon I've ever heard and defenitly was a life changing message for me.

But the things I do believe are these, Women should have there own ministry with a woman leader, Women should be able to lead worship or lead a choir, and their are a few others I feel strongly about. Women happen to be the most poweful prayer intercessors, I think partly having to do with our role in marriage, we have to pray for our husbands constantly.

Personally, this is a touchy subject for me. Part of me wants to get all huff and puff about my rights as a women and I'm strong and independent but I also am currently a housewife who's goal is to be a stay at home mom. This doesn't mean I don't want to be involved in ministry though. In fact I know for a fact that God has called my husband and I to a great ministry and I can't wait to see that in full bloom. So here are some of my thoughts, done by research. Please comment, I would love to hear others opinions, women and men alike.

Our livingroom

Ok! I finally got rid of most of the purple. Our living room is no longer under construction;). Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Trust!

I just wanted to say a few words about trust. Alex and I just went through a period in our lives were we could do nothing but trust God and pray.
God provided. Like he always does. Alot of people get confused about trust, their first thought is usually, "well, I can't just sit around and wait for something to happen, I have to go make it happen."

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding."

I take this verse to literally mean, trust even if it's not logical to YOU. There are so many people, friends and family, who right now, are worried about what is going to heppen to them, will they get that job, will they be fed, will they have gas money, will they be able to pay rent. It is so easy to get caught up into the worry storm. I read a great sign one day, "If you are worrying, you are not praying." So true, but even sometimes our prayers can be full of worry.

When we cry out to God for help, we are told to release our burdens to him, not just say, "Hey God, please help me, but I'm gonna hold
on to this just in case you can't do it." Now that is not trusting God.

I just want to share with you a few verses that really stood out to me regarding trust and God's will for us.

Deutoronomy 9:22 "You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Messah and Kibroth Hattaavah. And the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Branea, he said, "Go up and take possession of the land I have given you." But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not TRUST him or obey him."

Now this passage to me, looking at the whole chapter and in context seems to suggest that because Israel did not trust God they disobeyed and there for they were not blessed as they might have been. I mean God gave them land to take possession of and they did not trust him enough to just go there and follow him. i.e. trust=blessings

2Kings 18:5 "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook."

Job 31:24 "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,..." (read the whole chapter, it'll rock your socks off!)

Psalm 9:9-11 "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done."

Praise God! We serve a wonderful Father who will never forsake us and is our provider.

Psalm 22:4 and 5 " In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

"Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all the joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

And this is my prayer for you, all of you who are having a difficult time with placing your trust in God. Be encouraged, place your trust in God, give him all your worries, your cares, and your burdens. He wants to carry them for you.

Side note: Don't be confused, this is not me saying don't care about what happens to, obviously action is involved but if you are not fully trusting the Lord, how are you expected to hear his instruction, don't be like the israelites.