+you're the yellow bird I've been waiting on

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." -James 5:16 (NIV)

Our spirits are made to be tenderly cared for. I would have never said this a year ago or even a couple of months ago. Devon and I have a new church home where we have been going for almost half a year now. Growing up I was a part of a church who cared about my intellectual knowledge of the Bible. I memorized scripture and learned rationale and arguments that could prove why it is that I believe what I do. I enjoyed it, it suited my time in life well. However, never has it been clearer that in the care and maintenance of all that is intellectual, I have neglected the side of me that is the breath of my faith - the spiritual side. Being awakened to the spirit sounds catchy or mystical, but really it is the acknowledgement that every part of my day is a part of something much bigger than myself. Spiritual life for me begins in prayer life, an area where I've never been all too disciplined. Prayers that come from a real place from a person who believes in the power of the creator is a new thing for me. I won't say "sadly" because I just haven't been a part of a genuine community who believes it before. I will say I am counting my lucky stars to embrace it now.

"Show me a place where hope is young and a people who are not afraid to love." Church for me is now a place where there is real love and genuine commitment to relationships. I can't tell you what mission organization we support (but I know we do). I can't tell you what big name speakers are coming into town or a conference we're sponsoring. We are young. In more ways than one. We are a young congregation - we are newly graduated, newly married, newly parents and we're growing. We are journeying through pre-marital counseling and growing through Financial Peace University, with a group to support us through it.  We are uncertain of so many things, but we knew we needed roots.

"This is a call to all the dead and disappointed
The ones who feel like they are done
This is a word to all the ones who feel forgotten
But you are not -
Oh, you are not.

We're alive, alive, alive we're singin'
We're alive, alive, alive and we're shaken,
We're alive, alive, alive, alive in You

We are soaked in all the grace that we've been given
Unchained from all that we have done
Your mercy's rising like the sun on the horizon
We're coming home"