Do you pray for peace in the Middle East?

Among your thoughts and prayers every day, do you pray for peace? Do you pray for peace within? Do you pray for peace among your warring familial tribes (i.e., Aunt Bessie and Cousin Bertha)? Do you pray for peace around the world? Do you pray for peace in the Middle East? I don't.

I pray for peace within all the souls that need it, my own included. I pray for peace "around the world." But I don't specifically pray for peace in the Middle East. I have a hard time with that one. I would love for there to be peace in that part of the world. But I feel that I would be a hypocrite if I prayed for it. I admit, I have read very little of the Bible so far (I'm working on that). But I have read Revelations. And have discussed it with others.

So how can I pray for peace when it is already written that none is coming? Should I still pray for it? Should I preface my prayers with a "I know this isn't going to happen, but..." or a "If there can't be peace in the Middle East, could you at least give peace to the people that live there that don't have anything to do with all this war?" (Sure. What's that? One or two people. All this warring is about religion. Who doesn't have a stake in that?) Or maybe I should pray for the righteous in the Middle East to keep a staunchness of faith in their soul, that they will get through this and be greatly rewarded in the end?

So, should I pray for peace in the Middle East, but with stipulations?

What's Coming Up

I've finally decided to make it a point to write more in my blog. I went through so much with the breast cancer and only posted a portion of it. Kinda left ya hangin', huh? Sorry!

So, this is what's coming up. And, yes, it may take me days, weeks, or even months to catch up. But hopefully I will!

• The "rest" of the cancer story, up through chemo and such
• The next step - my reconstruction
• Two steps forward, one step back: my "emergency" surgery that pushed my reconstruction back a month
• "Questioning my faith..." A completely different (and positive) topic that will be refreshing after all the cancer yuck.
• My new business venture; my next BIG IDEA!!!
• And, of course, writings on my family and friends and such

Of course, now that you know I'm back, I'm sure you all will be glued to the computer, just waiting for my next brilliant post. Because it is really all about me, you know! :-) Ah, blogs...such a genius invention where one gets to write about whatever one wants, which for most people, myself included, is themselves...

Please do keep in mind that I am being sarcastic. As one of my friends told me long ago - "The world doesn't really revolve around you. You're just dizzy." Alright, already. (But, it really does revolve around me. ME ME ME.)

I look forward to seeing comments!

Questioning my faith...

Ok. We have finally got back to church. Good grief. We took off about 6 months. We were either out of town or sick or lazy - "well, we haven't been there in this long", or "we'll go next week." At last we pulled ourselves back out of that slump and are back. What church, did I hear you ask? The Family Bible Church in Marshall, Michigan. I couldn't believe how much I had missed it after we went back a few Sundays ago. (And then, of course, I got sick, so I wound up missing even more...)

This church is awesome. The people in it are REAL. I went to Lutheran churches for years and never got the spiritual uplift from it that I do here. Not to knock Lutherans, but this church - my church - is so open. It's not ritualistic like other churches I've attended. (I'm not talking about sacrifices, mind you.) Everything is not rote. It is new and fresh every Sunday. And, as I mentioned, the people are great. No Sunday-Morning-Christians. Everybody accepted us immediately. No questions. No hesitation. No one looks like they think they are better than you because they have a fur coat that they show off every Sunday...have the front pew every week...etc., etc. My very first impression was that these people were all like me and my family - your every-day-hard-working-learning-about-the-Lord-and-leaning-on-faith kind of people. They all seem to know you - and, most importantly, accept you. It was amazing to find a whole church family that truly "walked the talk."

Anyway...I can go on and on about FBC. And I really do need to, as I never properly thanked Paster Gerten and all the countless others that prayed for me and made food for me and came to see me when I was going through my breast cancer. But that's another post - that whole topic deserves more than one paragraph!

On to the main point of this post: Does the title of this post make you wonder? I praise the church that I attend, but I question my faith??? It's not how it looks. Think positive. I have no questions in my belief that my Lord is my Saviour. But I do have questions about faith. I didn't grow up "in the church." I am still new to so very much in the Bible. I have not read it seven times, like my husband. I have not even completely read it once!

So I want to learn more about faith. FBC is quite a ways away from us, so it makes it harder to get together with others in the Small Group sessions. Getting three kids and a husband out the door in time for any kind of Bible Study just isn't feasible that early on Sunday morning. (Yes - excuses, all.) But I still wanted to learn more. Phil teaches me a ton, but I want to hear from others, too. So I came up with the idea of putting my questions on my blog. (Surely I'm not the only one in the world with these questions...maybe the information I post will help others?!?) I've talked with FBC's Associate Pastor, Kris Tarkiewicz, and he said he would look in on my befuddled writings now and again to help me make sense of things. Well, Kris, the adventure has begun!

The next time you see my posts, check for a "Questioning my faith..." label if you are interested in keeping track. It could be quite interesting. I come up with such varied questions and thoughts that I even surprise myself, sometimes...