Female in Motion

(I'm the skinny brunette in the center, with her elbow on the table.) I grew up in a family that went to church every Sunday. I went through a confirmation class and joined Madison Avenue United Methodist Church in Derby, Kansas when I was 12. Active in church, choir, summer camp, youth group and fundraisers, I also sang solos in church beginning in high school. I served as both treasurer and president of our youth group. We attended youth activities in Wichita and the surrounding area. Before my junior year in high school, I applied to and was selected as a delegate from my church to attend the Kansas UMC METour (Mission Education Tour). Fifty girls from across Kansas were chosen to visit a number of UMC missions and report back to our individual churches the good work that Methodists were doing. We traveled to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. This trip changed the way I looked at the world around me. I didn’t realize that I had been so isolated. A...

Deuteronomy 7:6 (KJV) For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. As a young newlywed, I gave my husband a full account of all my daily activities when he arrived home. The Hubster called it my "status report." Somehow, I got it into my head that he would value me more as a wife if I did tons of chores. I realized a while back that I was doing this same thing with God. At the end of the day, I prayed my status report, telling Him about all the great things I did. Would He love me more if He heard all the good works I was doing? Sooooooooooooo wrong! My Gracious Redeemer already knew what I did all day, and He already loved and accepted me as His child. Have you ever done that with spiritual things? If you're running around the church organizing bake sales, directing the children's choir, leading the sewing circle, and disinfecting...