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For those who don't know me personally, I've been attending a great Church that has evolved beyond the legalistic mindset of it's Baptist birthplace for a little over 4 yrs now. We have a great balance of worship and Word. My own Church history involves a lifetime of influence from over 10 denominations, so plenty to draw from. Those denominational categories include the following, in general chronological order as some of them overlap, particularly in earlier years -- Low Episcopal, Baptist (4 different Churches including school K-12), Congregational (VBS one Summer), the "group with no name" my great-uncle was a traveling "preacher" with a group patterned after the Sending of the 72 in the NT. They had annual tent meetings for each region which my parents and I attended in order to visit him; although he and his ministry partners were sometimes able to join us for Thanksgiving. Overlapping much of this into adulthood, was a Summer only Church my mother played at (thus some of the variety because we went where she played) this was Dutch Reformed. From 1982, when the Episcopal closed and into early adulthood, there was Methodist. My parents and I also attended the occasional Midnight Mass, and I attended a couple of Sunday mornings with an aunt. While away at school, I was introduced to Assembly of God by an ex-boyfriend with whom I later reconnected and am still friends with. Also, one of my teachers set me up with a correspondence course from her Seventh Day Adventist Church. By the time I came home, mom was playing at a Presbyterian Church where I joined the Choir for a year. By this time, I was married and when we moved out of the house permanently, we tried looking for another Baptist Church and tried 2 places that simply didn't fit for us. I ended up back at the same Methodist Church until we moved again. Once again, the search for a new "home" brought me to a small place which may have been Baptist (not entirely sure) and then to a Baptist which my husband never actually attended at this point. Then other family members discovered a Word of Faith Church and I was there for the better part of the next 11 yrs. During this time, since my Church had been part of the then brand new Christians United for Israel organization, I attended the local Temple a couple of times, just out of curiosity and new experience. By the end of those 11 yrs, I was divorced and started going to a Church of God where I knew someone attended. I was there for about a year before being invited to another place by a friend at the time. That was just a couple of weeks and I'm not sure what the official designation even was, but they had a worship team and seemed like solid preaching. After this, I ended up walking to the nearest Protestant Church there was and spent most of the next 5 yrs at a 3Cs Congregational. Finally, I tried a former school friend's Acts 29 Church for a week before coming "full circle" back to the Church building where I had gone to school. I've mentioned on other blog posts about this being a "non-dom", and the preaching and direction we're headed definitely is; but the official connection is still Conservative Baptist. To cap all of this off, I have an uncle who's a JW!! So, yeah... That being said, I'm still learning all the time and know when to look things up.
I've been amicably divorced since 2010 after 3 kids and one granddaughter. I have possession of the family cat and a great new relationship with a neighbor in my apartment building. (friends for over a year, dating since mid-May) Just friends again as of Dec. 30, 2021.
I realized I haven't told you about the inspiration behind the tattoo in my logo. (typing on Feb. 13, 2022) My Infinity Cross and iris design is my my own creation, taken from internet images and combined. My original idea was to have the stem weave through the Cross, but settled on it running down as it was easier. This concept was/is based on the idea of being in Christ and how He sees us as being in Him. I was also remembering a song to this effect, written by a Special Guest at one of my former Churches. I got the tattoo in April of 2017 after a period of "going through the motions" of Church while my life was a bit messy. It serves as both a reminder to me to behave better, (results have varied) but it also serves as a silent witness to others when my sleeves allow for it. I'm posting the link to the video below.
Just as an official disclaimer, I don't own rights to any of the music shared on my site.
God Bless and Enjoy!!
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