From the Pastor

From Pastor Hayley | January 22, 2025

ChurchPastor's Blog

Church Family,

Something you should know about me is that I love a good hobby. I have always enjoyed making things with my hands, whether sewing or baking. I have recently taken up needlepoint after being persuaded by a few of my childhood friends.

At first, I did not like it. Stitch after stitch felt like doing the same thing over and over again, only to stitch a tiny part of the entire project. It wasn’t until I finished my first piece that I grew to love the craft.

Each tiny stitch was equally important to finish the picture. This is true for the habits we have in our lives too. Each habit that we have helps form what our lives look like. It is often the tiny daily habits that we often don’t even think about that form us the most.

This can be a good thing or a challenging thing. What are your habits? How are the things that you are doing over and over again that is shaping your lives? Are these habits shaping you more into the image of Christ or less?

This is why reading scripture over and over is so important. In our text this week, we will be looking at both a passage in Nehemiah and Luke. Both passages take place in a time of worship. Both passages have the word of God read to a group. Both passages show us the power of God’s word.

In Nehemiah 8:10, this word is spoken: “For this day is holy to our LORD, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

If we want to be people who find their strength in the joy of the Lord, we must create habits to experience that. We must be in the word, we must find ourselves in prayer, and we must be in a community of believers.

I hope you find yourself in the word this week and I sure hope to see you on Sunday!

Blessings,
Pastor Hayley