Day 20 - God delivers
Scripture focus: "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.'" John 16:12-15 (The Message)
"It's interesting that your devotional today mentions the Biggest Loser and how it's essentially a physical act of healing, public confession because that's exactly what showing up at church has been for me as it required me to be honest and public with my shameful secrets - a process I would like to continue in getting to know people there better and being more honest. I felt the weight of the world come off my shoulders almost immediately and met Jesus in a big way - it's like a loving community is the antidote to shame and being in a place where it's OK to be openly fearful or hurting is so healing."
At NSC, we experience this same kind of relief. My husband Pete loves his Sunday morning men's study group. One Sunday a young man showed up from a local treatment facility to attend the men's meeting. Pete walked up, and said, "Hey, I'm Pete."
The young man, shaking and fearful, raised a sweaty palm for the traditional manly handshake and replied, "Hi. I'm very very anxious."
Soon others joined Pete in reassuring our anxious new visitor. Pete felt that the words that touched him the most were the ones spoken by guys who were also in this same facility, just a little further along in their walk. They explained how fearful and anxious they felt in the early days of detox. Some even confessed to feeling anxious even in the moment of sharing.
The Spirit of truth works in community. He can work in isolation too. After all, God can do what God wants! But there's something very profoundly beautiful about not feeling alone in one's suffering. Straight up testimonies of lost/found/fine are good. But I prefer the ones that say, lost/found/freaked out but somewhat relieved/wonder what God's going to do next....
More on what God is doing in the UK tomorrow.
Recommended reading: Acts 13-15
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