specific answer to prayer: elevation church

next month, will mark our two year anniversary of our first sunday at elevation church. words can not express how grateful we are for our church. elevation was a complete answer to our prayers. we had to begin "church shopping" on mother's day 2007 after leaving the church we attended for six years. the pain that we endured while we were in the midst of leaving was unbearable at the time. we experienced a major loss in so many ways. needless to say it was hard to think about looking for a new church. but we did immediately after leaving the old church. i was very worried about finding a new church. i was worried about finding one that felt like home, one that the kids would be comfortable in and one that would preach God's word with no fluff and no apologies.

we prayed that our transition to finding a new church would be smooth. we prayed for the kids to adjust and do well. i was very nervous about taking them to different nurseries and kids' programs. how would they do, how would they feel. we prayed we would feel comfortable. we prayed for a place where we could heal from what we had been through. we prayed for a church where we could grow in Christ. it would have been very very easy for us to put going to church on hold. we were really in a rough spot. and we didn't know how to go about looking for a church. but we knew we had to get back out there right away. we made a list of five local churches that we think we would like. we decided to begin the process the sunday after leaving our old church. no breaks or time off from going to church.

on our first sunday visiting churches, we chose to go to elevation church. honestly, i only remember a few things about our very first sunday. i remember it was mother's day. i remember being greeted by a lot of friendly people. i remember it taking awhile to get our children signed up to go into ekidz, but i didn't mind. i remember being in awe of the worship experience - it rained on the stage as people were getting baptized by the hundreds. yes, we experienced spontaneous baptisms during the series they called deep. i remember loving the music and the teaching. i remember josh saying, "mom, this is the best church i have ever been to!". i remember thinking is this our church home? could we have found it this easily?

God answered our prayers!!! we continued going to elevation for a few more sundays and decided that it was our church home. we never made it anywhere else to visit. God called us to our church home right away. He made it so easy for us to find a church home.

we know that God has called us to elevation! we have seen God move in so many ways through our church and in our lives. God has healed us from the pain we endured from our old church through the trust and belief we have in our new church. God has grown us so much through elevation and through our pastor's teaching. we have been given a very special way to serve at elevation. God has blessed us with a church home and we wouldn't want to experience God in any other place. He is clearly at work, elevation is growing and there is huge life changing events happening and people far from God are being filled with life in Christ....

....and the best is yet to come!!!