So God Made a Mother is Here! 🎉
SearchSearch
SearchSearch

Faith

The Most Important Part of Knowing God isn’t Church

  • 3  Minute Read
Image via Ginger Hughes

Church is important, but it’s not the most important.

Missions are critical, but they aren’t the most critical.

Bible studies are essential, but they aren’t the most essential.

Good works are imperative, but they aren’t the most imperative.

Sometimes I think we inadvertently boil our Christianity down to a list of things we can check off. Did I attend church this week? Check. Did I do something good for my neighbors? Check. Did I go to Bible Study or small group? Check, check! And all of these things are good. All of these are ways we can honor God, learn more about our faith, and serve others, which are key components to our life of faith.

But I have one question: do you enjoy God?

Do you enjoy your relationship with the Father?

It’s so easy for us to have a knowledge of God without really knowing Him. It’s easy for us to claim the name of Christian without ever fully living into the freedom and abundance Christ offers.

Years ago, not long after my husband had accepted the position of Senior Minister at a church in South Georgia, an older and much wiser couple invited us to dinner one night. After a feast of fried fish, we sat outside talking and laughing as the sun was setting. This was well before we had kids so you can imagine the serene scene—crickets chirping, pink sky fading to lavender, and good company. After a few minutes, my new friend (who is also a minister’s wife) said to me, “Ginger if I can share one thing with you . . . one thing that’s more important than all the rest, it would be this: enjoy God.”

Two words. Two words that in all my years of attending church, I’d never heard. Two words, that in over a decade now, I have yet to forget.

Enjoy God.

That’s what I want, friends. I don’t want to simply know about the Almighty; I want a relationship with Him. I don’t want to simply claim Jesus as Lord; I want to walk with Him. I don’t want my faith to be something I only walk out on Sunday, but on every day of the week . . . the hard days and the easy ones.

I want to enjoy God . . . to enjoy His presence and to seek it daily. To enjoy His word, and to read it—applying its principles in my life. To enjoy talking with Him and listening for His direction and assurances. To enjoy the incredible fact that we have a God who loves us no matter where we’ve been, where we are, or where we will go.

I don’t want to just go to church. I don’t want to “read a verse a day to keep the devil away”. I don’t want to sing hymns with my lips and never feel them in my heart. I don’t want my children seeing me going through the motions of Christianity; I want them to see a mama who LOVES God.

What a shame it would be to live this life knowing God, but never truly enjoying Him.

Enjoy God.

That’s what I want, friends. And that’s what I want for you, as well.

Originally published on No Mama’s Perfect

 

You may also like:

I Don’t Want To Raise Church Kids, I Want To Raise Jesus Kids

God is For Me

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Her View Shop

So God Made A Mama Tee So God Made A Mama Tee

Ginger Hughes profile image Articles by Ginger Hughes

Ginger Hughes

Ginger Hughes is the wife of a pastor, a mother to Ella and Elam, and a part-time accountant.  She is a Georgia native, but presently calls the foothills of North Carolina home.  She loves coffee, nature, and reading, but with two children under six, she struggles to find time in the day for any of the above!   She is a Christ follower and a fellow struggler on life’s journey who seeks to find joy in the everyday. Her passion for writing is fueled by the desire to offer encouragement, grace, and a deeper understanding that we are all God’s children, that we are not alone in our brokenness, and that we are all deeply loved.  You can read more of her writings at nomamasperfect.com. 

The Grace and Grief of Being a Medical Mama
In: Faith, Motherhood
Hospital bed and IV stand, black-and-white photo
by Neely Richer

Medical mama—this title and this view hit me. It hits me at different times and in different ways, but it hits me, hard.  Some days, I crumble with thankfulness that God has such a specific plan for my sweet, golden, middle daughter, that He would make ways where it feels there is no way.  There are other times when it hits me with anger and bitterness because I can’t figure out why, in a world full of medical interventions, this is our “fix.”  It hits me.  In the wee hours of another night in the hospital, it hits me that grace...

Keep Reading

I Buried My Heart with My Baby but God Brought Me Back to Life
In: Faith, Grief, Loss, Motherhood
Woman in a sweater standing outside looking at sunset
by Breanna Thompson

Recently, my world felt as if it were crashing around me. I was so angry I think my rage could have burned a small village. Unfortunately, that rage was directed at God though I knew that wasn’t what I needed to be directing toward Him. He owed me nothing then, and He owes me nothing now; however, my heart was shattered, and for a while, it seemed as if my faith was crumbling with it. I stopped going to church. I stopped praying. I stopped all positive feelings and allowed myself to succumb to the pain and the anger. When...

Keep Reading

Dear New Mom, God Is Only a Whisper Away
In: Baby, Faith, Motherhood
New mother holding baby on couch, eyes closed
by Kim Patton

While we were waiting to adopt, I would wake up in the middle of the night panicky. My mind would wander to the thought of suddenly having a baby. With groggy eyes and a cobwebbed mind, I would ask myself, “Could I get up right now to go soothe a crying baby?” And then the insecurities would flood me as I thought through the difficulty of dragging myself out of bed to give milk to a fussy newborn. I didn’t know if I could.  With each application sent to agencies and social workers, the possibility of adopting a baby became more...

Keep Reading

Dear Daughter, You Gave Me Purpose
In: Faith, Motherhood
Mother holding baby, color photo
by Jocelyn Hurt

Dear daughter, Before God knit you in my womb, I was wandering around aimlessly, searching for a purpose. I had changed my mind several times about what I wanted to do with my life. I felt so much pressure to figure out what I truly wanted. I rushed into career ideas, only to realize I wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of them. I started grad school, only to quit in three weeks. I was crushed and defeated. I begged God to show me His plan, to give me a purpose. I begged Him to give me something I...

Keep Reading

God Holds Her Every Step of the Way
In: Faith, Motherhood
Mother holding infant baby's feet, color photo
by Megan Kewaza

We were told she wouldn’t make it to 20 weeks. When she made it, we were told she wouldn’t survive to full-term. When she survived to full-term, we were told she wouldn’t grow properly. When she grew, she thrived. When she thrived, she confused the doctors. RELATED: Keep Fighting, Little Miracle When the doctors tried to find the science to explain away her defeating all the odds, I had the answers. God. Prayers. Miracles. At 10 weeks when I found out about her condition, I prayed. I gathered my prayer warriors, and we prayed. Ultrasound after ultrasound, the technician was...

Keep Reading

Your Marriage Can’t Sit in a Laundry Basket without Getting a Few Wrinkles
In: Faith, Marriage
Couple doing laundry in front of washing machine
by Christen McKey

Bring on the bottled scent of fresh mountain breeze and seaside lavender. I’ll happily perform the swivel dance of transferring clothes from washer to dryer. I’ll hang those darlings with delicate personalities to gently air dry. I don’t mind the doing part. I’ll do laundry ’til the cows come home. It’s the folding part that I tend to put off. The cows have come home and gone to pasture several times, and that basket of clothes is most likely still sitting there developing more wrinkles than a baby bulldog.  And don’t even get me started on ironing. Let’s just say...

Keep Reading

Overwhelmed Mama, Take a Moment to Sit at the Feet of Jesus
In: Faith, Motherhood
Woman sitting in hallway, black and white image
by Tynea Lewis

Mama friend, I know you’re exhausted. It feels like you have nothing left to give. You know you need to take a moment for yourself, but you don’t know how. I know it all feels endless—like it will never be any different. I know you long for a week, a day, or an hour to yourself but take this moment. Put the baby in the playpen. Tell the kids to play in their room. Sit down somewhere away from the dirty dishes in the sink and the pile of laundry that has been waiting to be folded for days. Step...

Keep Reading

The Ring Came from a Stranger from Heaven
In: Faith, Living
Large ring on woman's hand, color photo
by Lynette Mitchell

This ring is not much to look at now—a well-worn piece of turquoise costume jewelry, its cheap metal revealing its quality and insignificant cost. But the value of this ring, “The Ring,” rivals that of my diamond and gold wedding band. It is priceless. For me, it is tangible proof of how an unseen God orchestrates events, circumstances, and people to remind me that miracles do happen and that He hears me—especially when I hurt. I happened upon this precious keepsake at a time in my life when things seemed to be falling apart and when I was feeling very sorry...

Keep Reading

A Mother’s Day Kintsugi Birdhouse: Beauty from Brokenness
In: Faith, Motherhood
Broken birdhouse lying beneath tree, color photo
by Christen McKey

Seated at the sunroom breakfast table, mouth full of Special K, I glance out the row of windows. A flutter of gray-blue against white paint catches my eye. I quickly swallow. “Y’all, a bird just went inside the bluebird house!” We all stand in a row, mimicking the windows. Yes, my sleepy morning eyes did not deceive me. Tail feathers were protruding from the circular opening. At last, a bird had found its way to this little white house with a tin roof nailed to a lone holly tree in the middle of our backyard. This was not the original...

Keep Reading

A Mother Gives Everything for Always
In: Faith, Motherhood
Young girl kissing mother on cheek
by Amber  Palmer 

My eyes flickered open and closed as I lay on the hospital bed after giving birth to my first-born daughter. The lights above me felt painfully bright as my eyes fought hard to stay open. Almost lifeless, my body had never felt so depleted. I lay there in a dream-like state, watching the world go on in full speed around me while inside I was in slow motion, barely strong enough to partake in the joy of bringing my daughter into the world. I had given every last ounce of myself, poured out until there was not much left. My...

Keep Reading

Marriage

Want Your Husband to Know How You're Feeling? Tell Him.

Next Post

Dear Toddler, Sorry For All the Mama Drama

Toddler

Dear Toddler, Sorry For All the Mama Drama

You May Also Like

As a Mother, I Run To Jesus

Faith, Motherhood

As a Mother, I Run To Jesus

Beatitudes For Moms

Faith, Motherhood

Beatitudes For Moms

He Stopped Loving Me

Faith, Grief, Relationships

He Stopped Loving Me

God Gives You More Than You Can Handle So You Can Give it Back To Him

Faith, Grief, Motherhood

God Gives You More Than You Can Handle So You Can Give it Back To Him

Jesus Was Thinking of Me on That Cross

Faith

Jesus Was Thinking of Me on That Cross

A Mama Prays You Through it

Faith, Motherhood

A Mama Prays You Through it

To the Rest of the World I’m Too Heavy, But God Carries Me

Faith, Living, Motherhood

To the Rest of the World I’m Too Heavy, But God Carries Me

So You Have a Journaling Bible…

Faith, Inspiration

So You Have a Journaling Bible…