What is "The View from the Front Porch" all about?

Welcome to the Front Porch!!!

The inspiration for the front porch began with the reflections of my own personal relationship with Jesus and how I desired to be his hands and feet each day.

Why the Front Porch?

I spend a lot of time on my front porch. I read, write and pray out there. I sit in my rocking chair next to my husband, or with my children in my lap and we enjoy the simple things. It is a peaceful, beautiful and reflective place for me, filled with the smells of jasmine and sights of my favorite flowers. The joy and peace I feel here often leads me into prayer.

One day the peacefulness of my front porch was interrupted on one side with the loud, highly inappropriate music of my next door neighbors teen sons. This went on for hours and was coupled with the unrelenting barking of the large dog of my neighbor on the other side. Both of these neighbors made my skin crawl with their goings on, and I felt the solace of my favorite place being ripped from me and my heart being hardened to someone I hardly knew.

Not long after that incident I found myself in sincere spiritual turmoil over my lack of compassion and love for my neighbors. I was pretty appalled by my thoughts. God calls us very simply to love our neighbors, whether they be courteous or not, clean or not, wealthy or not, or even nice. He calls us to love all people as our neighbors, regardless of how far from the comfort of our homes they may be. He certainly calls us to reach out to those, who are, often times, way out of our comfort zone. We have many examples from Jesus of exactly how we are to do this.

Sometimes in our everyday lives of being wives, mothers, business women, sisters and well-intentioned, but sinful disciples, the view of God's world and God's people is blocked. Our focus, sometimes out of survival, turns inward to the daily routine we face with our jobs and families. I am one of those people, well meaning, but with a large fence up around my life, unable or unwilling to peek above it, and heaven forbid actually open the gate and step into the unknown. I would like to believe that because I go on an occasional mission trip or participate in acts of service through my church, that makes it okay. God is clearly telling me it is not enough.

The challenges in my life have shown me first hand people who know what it means to step out of their world for God. They obeyed his call to them and they stepped out of their comfort zone and away from the focus of their own lives for me. He has shown me what it means to have random acts of kindness done simply to let another person know they are loved by God.

What would happen if we each walked out of our homes each day with the intention to find at least one person, that day, that God meant for us to be Christ for? What if it was their moment of desperation and he knew our hearts were willing and open to his call? What kind of impact could that have? I hope this blog will serve as a place where we can find this out, at least from our earthly view. We won't know the full impact until we see God, but I'm okay with that.

God has put it heavy on my heart that it is now time to use the lessons learned from the challenges in my life and to join with other women who feel the same call in their hearts. I know God has exactly the people in mind he wants to see this blog. What is the view from your front porch? Are you like me and feel happy and content with your view and annoyed when the outside world comes in, and in any number of ways, messes with you view? Do you feel God telling you to you pull out some binoculars and look a little farther; that there is life beyond what you can see?

The content of this blog will be focused on practical ways that we, in the many different places and seasons of our lives, can take steps to reach out for Jesus in every aspect of our lives. We can be his hands and feet each day, without compromising our families; in fact, we all know that when we allow ourselves to be working disciples for God and focused on his plan, he blesses you in ways you could not have imagined.

If you feel called by God to look outside of your own life and step into the water and walk towards Jesus, so that he can use you to bless someone else, then this is the blog for you.

Each week we will write using God's word, personal reflections, as well as the contributions from readers and inspiring stories from around our world. Some will challenge you(and myself) to serve the Lord that week in a specific way and other times just hopefully inspire and encourage you to be Jesus for someone. You will get to know the other "sisters" sitting on the front porch and we hope to get to know all of you who share in this same desire to honor God each day with real intention.

God works in the biggest ways and the very smallest. He is looking for willing hearts ready to carry his message. This is inspired because of the people and things God has done in my life, and it is quite possible that you will be the inspiration for someone else.

I know God has a detailed plan for exactly how he will touch each of you and there for all the people you will come in contact with. We hope you will return and share your stories of the ways you served him with intention. I hope that we can hold each other accountable and inspire each other as well.

There is a stirring here; I believe, and as I shared in my bio, it doesn't matter your age, health, or physical state, if your heart is right with God, you are able to do good work for him. Even if your own life is in complete disarray, God can still use you for someone who needs you. I truly believe that turning outward when times are tough makes the joy in your own lives so much easier to see.

Please post or email your ideas, thoughts, inspiring stories and challenges and each week I will choose one and we will see where God leads. You can email these to TheFrontPorch@Live.com

We all have different lives and the view looks different from each of our front porches, but when we come together, we have a much larger view of God's world than we do on our own.

Ladies, it is time to get excited! God is using you for his glory.

Sweet Blessings,

Laurie