Don’t get nervous. This isn’t the bait and switch, where the blog about living more simply, turns into a Christian crusade. This is just a little story about me.

I am not going to preach to you, or try to make you believe in God the way I do, or at all, if you don’t.

I was baptized in the Episcopalian church, grew up in that church, got married in that church and baptized my own daughter there. I haven’t always been a church every Sunday girl, but I’ve been to a lot of church services over the course of my life. I have amazing memories about the church I grew up in.

In my life, I have attended church for the following reasons:

• because my parents wanted me to
• because my life was a mess
• because my life was wonderful
• because I thought I should
• because it became a habit
• because I wanted my daughter to know God

While I have had many God moments, most of them did not happen in church. In fact, it recently dawned on me that the way I was experiencing church was getting in the way of me connecting with God. I spent so much time going through the motions, and perfecting the rituals, that I forgot to really understand the bible or get to know God.

The more clutter I clear out, the more meetings I cancel, and the simpler my life becomes, the closer to God I get. Not only that, but some of my favorite bloggers have a deep connection with God. I didn’t read their blogs looking for God, but that is exactly what I found.

I long for the connection that Joshua Becker has with God.

I crave the conviction that Tracie Stier-Johnson has when she talks about how God is working in her life.

They’ve both brought me closer to God.

Why I don’t want to go to church

• I search out the simple and am not finding it in church politics.
• I know too much about church and not enough about the Bible.
• While I am there, I am usually thinking about not being there.

Why I want go to church

• I want to learn about the Bible.
• I want to meet other people that want to learn.
• I want to work with a local church to give back.

There is so much that I don’t know about God and The Bible. (For instance, I didn’t even know if I should capitalize The Bible) With all that I don’t know, of this I am certain;

• I don’t have to be anywhere special to thank God
• God loves me and hears my prayers
• I have more growing to do in my spirituality and relationship with God
• I’ve witnessed people with a great love for God, and that always makes me want to express my love.

I used to think I was supposed to pray a certain way, but now, I know that getting to God can be done any day in my own simple way.