Sunday afternoon I sat in our living room surrounded by family watching The Next Iron Chef on the Food Network. I looked around at each face and had a moment of realization that the Lord has blessed me. One of the six people there was my younger sister Monica. She’s been my family as long as I can remember. There was also Bobby, my husband, and our son Tyler. When I married Bobby I gained two brothers, Bill (middle left in the picture) and Ben (left). Last December Bill married Cory and now I have another sister! Writing that out sounds like a math equation but it’s not just all addition and multiplication the Lord is working through these brothers for His glory!

Ben is Bobby’s youngest brother and he has recently become a part of our ministry to high school students at Compass by leading worship on the weekends. He attends The Master’s College where he is studying political science but his heart is truly about the Lord’s work. I have been so encouraged how he drives an hour and half every Saturday to be a part of what God is doing here.

Bill is in the middle and he and his wife live 45 minutes from us. He works full-time as an accountant but his heart is for ministry. We were so blessed to have him come this weekend to teach the high school students from Ezekiel 14. He taught us what idolatry looks like in the heart and that we will be easily deceived by it. God opposes idolatry and calls the idolater to repent. I really liked how he said,

“Repentance is a radical change of heart that results in
a change in direction of a person’s life.”

Then he talked about the “God exchange” that needs to take place in our hearts where we put away idols and put on a whole-hearted love for God. It was a powerful message and I was so thankful that he was willing to be used as a mouthpiece for God’s Word.

Bobby is the oldest Blakey brother. Bill came down to teach because Bobby had the opportunity to preach in our main services this weekend. He continued his series in 1 Thessalonians picking up in chapter 2 verses 17-20. This passage spoke of the need for us to see each other (fellow Christians) as brothers and sisters in Christ. Too often people cruise in and out of church with no commitment but we need to stop being detached and instead be passionate about God’s people by investing in them and making them a priority in our lives.

Acts 2:42-47 gives a great description of how the church is family by telling of the interactions in the early church. Romans 12:10 gives us a very helpful prescription for how to develop this kind of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ–

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Honor one another above yourselves.

I am daily encouraged by Bobby in how seriously he takes God’s Word–for personal obedience and teaching to others, his passion for discipleship and counseling, and the discipline he has of praying for others.

Tyler, the littlest Blakey boy has some great examples to follow right here in his own family! Each of the Blakey brothers has an intense love for God, His Word and His people. But they weren’t just born this way. God has been working in them through His Word planted in their hearts as young children. This is motivating to me as a mom because it showed me that I need to be faithfully praying for Tyler’s salvation and diligently teaching him God’s Word.

I want to be like Timothy’s grandmother and mother were teaching Timothy Scripture and being an example of faith(2 Timothy 1:5) so that Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:19-10

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.“