Post by richshelpmeet on Nov 12, 2010 23:32:56 GMT -5
Hello all. I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. My name is Ellen and I am married to Rich. We have been following along and reading here for a while now. We have been married for over 20 years now! We have one daughter. She is a real blessing for us because we were told we'd probably never have any children.
Rich and I met, married and lived our lives without Christ. We were not raised in homes where The Lord was professed. We neither attended church growing up, nor in our first years of marriage. At the time The Lord began calling us, I was making a one hour drive (one way) to work. To pass the time, I found myself tuning in to a Christian radio station and listening to several half hour sermons. Soon, Richard and I began to share these sermons...that led us to a church in a nearby town. We attended there for a time, then made a commitment to God, acknowledging Christ as our Savior. It was at this time that we were told that we would probably not have children.
As we grew in our faith, we began to see this church practice things that we did not see in scripture. Also, shortly before we left this church, we had a nephew that needed to come and live with us for a time. He was struggling in public school and was running with the wrong crowd. During that time we let him decide where he wanted to go to school. He asked us to homeschool him. At first, we thought..."Oh no! Only religious zealots do that!" But he insisted, so we decided to research it. I spent a better part of the summer reading everything I could get my hands on. The idea of homeschooling was growing on us. We really liked the part that WE could control my nephew's new peer group! The church that we were attending had no other homeschoolers and they all kind of thought we were odd to consider it! That coming school year we homeschooled him to help him catch up. During this journey, we met several other homeschooling families and their children from our area. We joined up with a local (then on the conservative side) homeschooling group. We were very impressed with the maturity and integrity of these other students. The respect they showed each other and parents really impressed us. We did not see kids like this in our extended family or our church. We loved how involved the other parents were in their children's daily lives. I remember one day in December of that school year, Rich and I were sitting together at an event for the parents and kids. We both decided right then and there that IF God ever saw fit to give us children, we would consider NO other choice but to homeschool........9 and a half months later, here came our daughter! God knew what He was waiting for!
During this time, we grew apart from our church. Either we became more conservative, or they became more liberal. Maybe both things happened together. We left there and ended up in only our 2nd church ever. This next church was kind of like a conservative Mennonite church, but nondenominational. Most all who attended here were from the Conservative Mennonite or were those who'd recently left the Amish faith. It was almost like a "one room schoolhouse" atmosphere. The church was small, but the fellowship was great. You didn't get "lost" here. All members of the family worshipped together. Having our daughter stay with us during worship IS important to us. (Something else our other church found "odd" about us. We feel children's church, in our experience teaches our daughter that you have to be entertained to seek God.) This church also is where I came to learn about the covering. Most ladies here (probably 95%) covered. There were all sorts of coverings. And of course ladies wore dresses. Rich and I began to study the covering. I remember once again, delving in and reading everything I could. I read things for and against covering. I remember eventually seeing that there were such "holes" in the articles against covering that you could drive a truck through! We read and studied and prayed. Must have been about 4 weeks..then one night after not being able to sleep...I remember reading again. Then it hit me about 2am. I was convinced! I could not wait to practice this tradition. I wanted to call the Pastor's wife right then and there to get one!
Well, I have been covering for 5 years now. Put it on and never looked back. I, quite honestly, would feel very immodest without it. Our family members and secular aquaintances have very little trouble with it. Mostly it bothered Christian friends that we had outside of our church.
In our new church, after a couple of years, it began to grow and grow. Cliques began to develop. Many left. Some stayed, the coverings flew off, and the jeans came in. We no longer felt comfortable here. We left looking for a new church home but have yet to find it. We only found more of the same infighting that we left, or other things we were not comfortable with. We are currently home-churching alone right now, but that is Ok, we know God has a plan and will lead us when it is His time. And right now, Rich does not trust churches and is disillusioned by what has happened in the two we attended.
But for now, we are grateful to have found this site as it seems like home to us right now.
I hope this is not too much! We are happy to be here and to "meet" all of you!
Rich and I met, married and lived our lives without Christ. We were not raised in homes where The Lord was professed. We neither attended church growing up, nor in our first years of marriage. At the time The Lord began calling us, I was making a one hour drive (one way) to work. To pass the time, I found myself tuning in to a Christian radio station and listening to several half hour sermons. Soon, Richard and I began to share these sermons...that led us to a church in a nearby town. We attended there for a time, then made a commitment to God, acknowledging Christ as our Savior. It was at this time that we were told that we would probably not have children.
As we grew in our faith, we began to see this church practice things that we did not see in scripture. Also, shortly before we left this church, we had a nephew that needed to come and live with us for a time. He was struggling in public school and was running with the wrong crowd. During that time we let him decide where he wanted to go to school. He asked us to homeschool him. At first, we thought..."Oh no! Only religious zealots do that!" But he insisted, so we decided to research it. I spent a better part of the summer reading everything I could get my hands on. The idea of homeschooling was growing on us. We really liked the part that WE could control my nephew's new peer group! The church that we were attending had no other homeschoolers and they all kind of thought we were odd to consider it! That coming school year we homeschooled him to help him catch up. During this journey, we met several other homeschooling families and their children from our area. We joined up with a local (then on the conservative side) homeschooling group. We were very impressed with the maturity and integrity of these other students. The respect they showed each other and parents really impressed us. We did not see kids like this in our extended family or our church. We loved how involved the other parents were in their children's daily lives. I remember one day in December of that school year, Rich and I were sitting together at an event for the parents and kids. We both decided right then and there that IF God ever saw fit to give us children, we would consider NO other choice but to homeschool........9 and a half months later, here came our daughter! God knew what He was waiting for!
During this time, we grew apart from our church. Either we became more conservative, or they became more liberal. Maybe both things happened together. We left there and ended up in only our 2nd church ever. This next church was kind of like a conservative Mennonite church, but nondenominational. Most all who attended here were from the Conservative Mennonite or were those who'd recently left the Amish faith. It was almost like a "one room schoolhouse" atmosphere. The church was small, but the fellowship was great. You didn't get "lost" here. All members of the family worshipped together. Having our daughter stay with us during worship IS important to us. (Something else our other church found "odd" about us. We feel children's church, in our experience teaches our daughter that you have to be entertained to seek God.) This church also is where I came to learn about the covering. Most ladies here (probably 95%) covered. There were all sorts of coverings. And of course ladies wore dresses. Rich and I began to study the covering. I remember once again, delving in and reading everything I could. I read things for and against covering. I remember eventually seeing that there were such "holes" in the articles against covering that you could drive a truck through! We read and studied and prayed. Must have been about 4 weeks..then one night after not being able to sleep...I remember reading again. Then it hit me about 2am. I was convinced! I could not wait to practice this tradition. I wanted to call the Pastor's wife right then and there to get one!
Well, I have been covering for 5 years now. Put it on and never looked back. I, quite honestly, would feel very immodest without it. Our family members and secular aquaintances have very little trouble with it. Mostly it bothered Christian friends that we had outside of our church.
In our new church, after a couple of years, it began to grow and grow. Cliques began to develop. Many left. Some stayed, the coverings flew off, and the jeans came in. We no longer felt comfortable here. We left looking for a new church home but have yet to find it. We only found more of the same infighting that we left, or other things we were not comfortable with. We are currently home-churching alone right now, but that is Ok, we know God has a plan and will lead us when it is His time. And right now, Rich does not trust churches and is disillusioned by what has happened in the two we attended.
But for now, we are grateful to have found this site as it seems like home to us right now.
I hope this is not too much! We are happy to be here and to "meet" all of you!
On those occasions, we might run to a different area to get what we need. Sounds like you are familiar with our town! 
And we were SO ready for spring! I came across some pictures I took in 2007, April 17...They were SNOW PICTURES from our property! Yuk. But it was beautiful. 
I guess we'll take whatever weather The Lord sees fit to send us!