Life Lessons.

Lance and I have been attending a Christian young married couples small group through our church for almost a year. Each week, we meet at our church's youth pastor's home to enjoy fellowship and learn more about Jesus and his work in our lives.

We began with the Fireproof marriage project. It was wonderful! It was about 8 weeks long and it was such a great study on marriage, our relationship as a couple with Jesus, and overcoming life's obstacles while keeping a healthy marriage. We loved it!

For the last 3 months, we have been working on Pastor Mark Dri*scoll's Vintage Jesus. I have really enjoyed learning more about the life of Jesus and about his hand in my life today. At each session, I feel like I'm hearing something I need to hear that week and it inspires me to build my relationship with Jesus because he really is present in my life all of the time.

Last night we learned about Worship. In the beginning, Pastor Driscoll asks what it is that we live for? What is it that we make sacrifices for on a daily basis? It was a good question, because the truth is, we do that with so many other things, at the expense of devoting that time, energy, and worship to the Lord. We learned that it is so easy for us as humans to get caught up in the "worship" of so many things (both good and bad things!) like our spouses, children, jobs, money, food, etc. But there was one thing in particular that really struck a chord with me... Worshipping peoples' opinions.

It made me think about how many times I've worried about what someone thought about me, about something I said, or about something I did. I have spent many hours worrying about what someone else might "think" and it's exhausting. But hearing those words last night gave me a brand new perspective on it. When I spend time worshipping others' opinions, I am sacrificing time that I could be using to worship the only opinion that actually matters.. Jesus' opinion.

That message was so powerful and I truly want to begin applying that to my life. I am going to make a conscious effort to live like the woman Jesus wants me to be on a daily basis and that includes putting my worship of him at the forefront of my mind. I know that that is what he want from us, and in doing that my life will become more joyful and fulfilled!

On that note, I hope everyone is having a great Monday and has a great week!