Growing to the Love the Church, Part 2

During this time in my life, I was living at home and substitute teaching, preparing to come to graduate school at Wheaton College. Armed with a new-found desire to love what Jesus loves, I started looking on-line for churches in the Wheaton area. I knew that I desperately needed a local church that was doctrinally sound and Gospel-centered. In my on-line searching, I came across a church that was a part of Sovereign Grace Ministries that looked to be about a 1/2 hour from where I'd be going to school. I was so excited by the thought of being a committed part of a church that loved the Gospel and sought to apply it to daily life. So, I began praying that the Lord would lead me to the church that He wanted me to be a part of.

I moved to Wheaton and several days later, flew to the New Attitude conference in Kentucky with my life-long friend, Jessy. The Lord completely revolutionized my life through that conference. Not only did I meet my husband while I was there, I was spurred on to grow in loving the local church. This love for the church that God had been forming in my heart was shared by thousands worshiping around me. The Lord used New Attitude to ignite that fire that He had started in my heart for the church.

A part of that fuel was several messages that were given at previous NA conferences. (You can get those messages for free on the Sovereign Grace Resource Library.) The Lord used Josh Harris' messages entitled, "Commitment to the Church" and "Married to the Church" to help me form a picture about what practically loving the church can look like. I began to see that if I was to love the church the way that Christ does, I was going to need to be committed.

*Side note: if you are a single person or a young married couple, please check out NA's website and consider praying to see if the Lord would have you go to the conference this year and benefit. Josh & I, along with others from our church are looking forward to going. I guarantee that you will not regret it if you go!