As a Christian, I very often talk about the blessings of God and the wonderful things He has done for our family.  I am not ashamed of the goodness of God in our lives and love to share this with people around me.

But there have been times when I have been told that I live in another world, ie not reality!  This statement really upset me a while ago when someone very dear to me accused me of the same thing, making me feel that I was a little weird and question some of the statements I had made.   After some real soul searching and thought about my life and how God has lead me through the years, I came to the conclusion that:  YES, they are right!!! I DO live in another world!!

I absolutely live in a different world, a world where there is hope, love, peace, assurance and goodness in EVERY situation.  I live in a world where God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are my best friends and care about what happens in my world.  It may not always be sunshine and roses because I have issues to deal with in my world too, but the outcome is always to my benefit and the peace I have leaning on God is worth more than anything else.  “God always makes everything work for good for those who trust Him” - Romans 8:28

On the one hand with all our traditions and manmade reasoning, we (human beings) have separated what we term “God” or church from “real everyday life”.  We have been taught and had demonstrated that church is spiritual and that this spiritual stuff only happens in certain places, like special buildings or gatherings on Sundays.  We are taught that there is certain behavior that goes along with these times and if we don’t conform to that, we are upsetting God and not getting or limiting His favor in our lives.  Many times, joy has been removed from these meetings and in some cases joy evaporates when so-called “spiritual” people visit with us in our homes or at our fun times like parties and picnics.

Then, on the other hand we have “real” life that involves things like windsurfing, kite flying, snowboarding, snowmobiles, picnics, fishing, movies, biking, motorcycles, sports or whatever you can think of that is fun times with family and friends.  Somehow through the years we have been taught that this life is “outside” church or God or spirituality. 

I have battled to make sense out of this because shouldn’t everything that pertains to my life involve God?  He is the creator, not me.  It’s HIS life IN me that gives me passion and love for certain things.  Why then would I want to separate myself into compartments?  It just doesn’t make sense, yet that is what we have tried to do.  We separate our lives into certain life and spiritual segments and then we can’t understand why we feel so disjointed and unhappy. 

There have been times when I have absolutely preferred going away for a weekend rather than being in church because I have more fun outside of church than in church where I often feel I don’t measure up to someone else’s standards.

I heard a preacher call this full, complete life in God, “The Great Dance” and I love the idea.   The illustration he used was of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in a circle, living in absolute harmony and peace, full of happiness and goodness of life.  Then they decided to share this wonderful, all encompassing LIFE with other created beings – MAN and creation.  Jesus (the Son) was the “gate” by which this sharing of life came to mankind.  In the “dance”, they opened their arms and said:  “Come, share LIFE with us.  Enjoy our life.  Enjoy your existence.  Enjoy being part of a precious family!”  What pleasure God took in making this happen! 

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Ephesians 1:4 (MSG)

This was the plan from the foundation of the world.  Its not a repair job because someone messed up.  God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit wanted us to share in THEIR life from the very beginning.  And it’s easy to take hold of and believe that we are part of this wonderful, amazing family.  Knowing that we belong, that we “fit”, gives us an awesome sense of self-worth and feeling of acceptance.

Let’s take this message to everyone.  No one has been left out.  No one has been excluded.  Telling people how bad they are has never helped anyone.  Telling someone good news makes them feel valuable and wanted and guess what?  They start to change into the person they are declared to be! News is something that has happened … not something that needs to be done to make it happen! Good news sets us FREE to feel alive and happy, to enjoy every aspect of life and rest, knowing that we are not under investigation all the time and that God is part of what we are doing all the time. 

For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]. Ephesians 2:10 (AMP)

Let the great AWAKENING start with YOU.  Right where we are.  Your world, your everyday situations need this awakening to the life of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.