Careless Words.
My careless words have hurt a lot of people. I was under a lot of conviction yesterday. And that's ok. Recently, our youngest has gotten in the habit of hiding her eyes from us when she's feeling guilty or ashamed. We're trying to teach her what I'm still learning myself: When conviction causes us to hide we're letting sin win. Instead, the conviction that the truth of the law brings is intended to drive us to grace.
Going with our family to the Lord's Table. That grace was something I got to experience as I got to walk with Katelyn through the communion line for the first time in a while. I take it most Sundays, but I don't get to the table with our church family. It was a special moment of God's grace to me through you. Thank you CCC! Why we would want God's face to shine on us.
Yesterday I closed with the high priestly blessing from Numbers 6: “May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’ This morning in my discipleship group reading I read this from Psalm 67:
May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. (Ps 67:1–2.)
I realized that where I read that blessing with selfish motives - wanting grace and blessing - that blessing serves a purpose in God's mission too! The Psalmist asks for God's face to shine on him so that God's ways and his salvation would be known among the nations! Lord, shine bright on us today - not for us, but so that we might reflect you.
A BIG week of opportunities to serve!
At the end of this week's gathering we're going to pray over people headed to GAP, people serving at Touched Twice, and then we'll all be prepping for Love Shelbyville day on March 24! Touched Twice is still in need of shepherds if you want to shine bright there: https://www.shelbytouchedtwice.com/volunteer-sign-up/ You can also start checking out the groups for Love Shelbyville (including some new ones that Katie will be giving us info about soon!): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CACA62BAB9-love2#/