Helping Others Find Hope and Healing (Hope and Healing - Week 13)

What if being fully known and still fully loved could transform your entire life? In a powerful encounter at a well, a Samaritan woman discovered this radical truth through Jesus—and couldn't help but share it. Pastor Shawn explores how this woman, caught in her shame, experienced such overwhelming grace that she ran to tell the very people she'd been avoiding. Through personal stories of his own journey from childhood shoplifting to pastoral ministry, Shawn reveals how God's mercy frees us from hiding and empowers us to share our stories. Ready to experience the freedom of being fully known yet fully loved? This message will show you how grace received becomes grace shared. Don't miss this transformative conclusion to our Hope and Healing series.

Transcript

Good morning everybody. I am continually impressed by our next gen ministry. Our students, our kids, what a blessing they are. Can we praise God for them? Awesome.

And cold chills. Savio prayed over me this morning. Just what a blessing. Hey, have you ever been caught, just red handed, been busted for something, just. There is no way that you are going to be able to work your way out of that.

For me, this happened when I was 10 or 11 years old. I had been out playing with some friends that day and we went into a Hook's drugstore. Anybody remember Hook's Drugstore? It was in. The one that was in Cicero, was a little bit away from our house.

But we'd been out, you know, riding our bikes all day because you could do that back in the 80s. And we got out to Hooks and we went, I don't know, we were gonna get something to drink or whatever. And as I was walking past, past the cologne aisle I saw a little bottle of Stetson. And I like, I don't know if there was, you know, someone that I was trying to impress. I don't know what it was, but I wanted that bottle of cologne.

But I didn't have any way of paying for that bottle of cologne and so I just kind of grabbed it. This was before, you know, they locked all those things behind glass, which they do now. I think I might be the reason for that. I'm sorry, but. But I grabbed that little bottle of cologne and I put it in my pocket and I walked out.

And later on that night we were actually setting up for Christmas. Putting up the tree, getting out all the ornaments. And my parents discovered this bottle of cologne and they started asking me questions that I had no answers for. When did you get this? How did you pay for it?

I was caught. I was busted red handed. And my dad did the best thing that he could have done for me in that moment. He put me in the car and he drove me back to Hooks and he made me tell the cashier what I had done. And then he paid for that bottle of cologne for me.

Hi, my name is Sean. I have a new life in Christ. And I struggle with people pleasing perfectionism. And I used to struggle with stealing but the Lord has fortunately changed me on that. I do currently struggle with bronchitis and so forgive me if I go into a little bit of a coughing fit.

I'm praying that I don't. And Matt, Maggie, I may need you to bring my water up if I do. Okay, thank you. Wonderful. But have you ever been in that place like where you were just busted, you were caught absolutely red handed.

That phrase, caught red handed, it comes from 15th century Scotland. It was, it was used for people that were literally caught with blood on their hands, like from a murder or from poaching. When you're in that place, there is no way of getting out of it. You are undeniably guilty. You have been found out, you have been fully exposed.

And if you've ever been in that place, the last thing that you want to do is call attention to it. Like what you want to do is, is deny it. You want to hide from it, you want to minimize it, you want to deflect. Or you go into trying to change the subject, you get defensive. You may ask the person who caught you, hey, can we not talk about this anymore?

We just want it to go away. Can we keep this between us? Like nobody else needs to, to know about this. We just want it to go away. We don't want anyone else to know.

And I think the reason why is because through experience, that if people really knew us, they wouldn't really love us. We've learned from experience. Maybe you have been caught. Maybe somebody learned something about you, or you did something and it caused a break in relationship. And what we have experienced, many of us, is that if people knew the real us, then they don't really love us.

Or we feel like they don't really love us and it makes us afraid. And so when we're busted, we just want it to all be over as soon as we possibly can. We don't want to do anything else to draw attention to it. Which is why I'm so amazed by the account that we're looking at today in scripture. We looked at the first part of this woman's story, the woman at the well, back in week five of this series.

It's been about a couple of months ago, and I just want to catch you up on the context of her story and what's going on in our text today. Jesus meets this woman at the well in Samaria. And right off the bat, there's all kinds of differences between them. And I mean, there's the cultural difference of Jesus being a Jew and her being a Samaritan and all of the kind of tension that existed between these two cultures that was dated back hundreds of years. There was the difference.

Jesus being a man, her being a woman. And just in that society didn't really interact with one another. There was also a difference just even in who they were. I mean, she clearly had some things going on in her life. And Jesus was becoming a well respected rabbi that people were looking up to and, and starting to follow.

And so these, these two people in this moment could not be any more different than what they were. And yet they converge here in this space at this well. And the context of the story says that it was about noon, which teaches us a little bit about what's going on here. This isn't the typical time when people would come and collect water. And so there's probably a reason why she didn't want to be around everybody else in the, in the morning when they would have been there.

There's some hurt in her life, there's some pain in her life. There's some things that she's probably a little embarrassed by and ashamed of, and she doesn't want to see the look in other people's eyes that remind her of that shame. So she comes at noon and Jesus strikes up a conversation with her, which is, which is a little surprising to her to begin with. But then he takes that conversation to a place that may have felt very uncomfortable to her. He starts to take the conversation and points out that she had had five husbands and the man that she was currently with was not her husband.

She's probably just trying to survive. She's doing whatever it is that she can to make it. But I imagine that her situation in life is kind of that point of shame for her.

It's that thing that she doesn't want other people to shine a light on. And here is Jesus, like turning the light right on it and putting it in her face. Instead of feeling shame and rejection from Jesus, just like she had probably experienced from every other person in her life, she experiences something completely different. Look at verse 28. If you have your Bibles open, we'll have the words up on the screen.

It says then leaving her water jar, like, this is the reason why she came to the well that day. She left it there, she had completely forgotten about it. Leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? Like, what kind of grace leaves you feeling fully known, fully seen, fully exposed in who you are, and yet makes you feel fully loved?

What kind of grace makes you run back to the very people who have probably judged you and looked down on you and, and say, hey, come and see the man that told me everything I've ever done. He knows what you guys know, but he treated me differently. What kind of grace makes you say hey, you've got to come and meet him. And the only explanation for a response like that is the kind of love and grace that we experience in Jesus.

The only explanation for a response like that is that she experienced something different in Jesus than she had ever experienced in her life and she wanted to tell others about it. And when you experience that kind of grace and love, you can't help but share it with others. Grace received becomes grace shared. When you experience God's grace, man, you want to share it with others. And we don't have to have all of the answers.

This woman certainly did not. She did not have her life fully put back together. But when you truly experience the grace of Jesus in your life, there is something about that grace that you want others to experience it too. You want other people to find what you have found. It's why evangelism has been described as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread is someone who is hungry in their soul.

They were looking for something meaningful and substantive. And when they find it in Jesus, the bread of life, they want to share it with others. And I think that that's what this woman in the account is doing. She knows that she's not perfect, and she hasn't even pretended that she is perfect. But she also knows that the people in her town that have been judging her for all of her adult life, they're not perfect either.

They may not know it, but she knows it. And she wants them to find the grace and the love and the mercy that she has found in Jesus. And so she says, come and see, and maybe you can experience this too. This has been the mission and the message of the church from day one, and it continues even today. Let's check out this video of a couple of our young adults and just the ministry that they had with a friend in helping her find Jesus.

At Sherwood Oaks, we value telling life changing faith stories. So today we're going to hear a story that truly changed someone's life. Evie and Brayden. So for you guys, one of the things you were able to share your faith with Caitlin, how did you do that? How did you bring up faith in the conversation?

What types of questions or opportunities did you take to share Jesus with? Kaitlyn? We talk about this idea in our campus ministry of sharing Jesus early and often. And so just being like, my life is about Jesus and that's what I'm gonna share. We've just grown so much over the last four years that we wanted to share that with other people and just bring other People into that.

I know you invited Caitlin to be part of small group. Did you invite her to come to church with you? I did. For her to be able to come here and see, like, oh, there's all these people who believe this, so that's cool for her to get to meet our people and be so integrated in our church now. Why is it important for you guys to share your faith?

When you care about someone, it's like you know the truth that it's like Jesus is the way not just to heaven, but to peace and joy and love and that he is love and all these things. And it's like you meet someone and instantly Caitlin and I are a lot alike. And I want her to know this and just experience this the same way I did. I want her to be able to live in that same freedom that we've gotten, to live in heartbreak. And like, the world against me was like my identity and everything always goes wrong for me.

It was just like really resonated that, like, okay, maybe I can find a new identity. And like, honestly, I've gone the complete opposite way. So literally, like, what's else to lose? Like, might as well have fun with these people and do what they do and see if it works for me. It's definitely been a life changing experience.

I have hope and joy and peace. I feel like I can definitely love other people way better and easier now. Filling myself up with Jesus allows me to be pouring out into other people. Looking back on my past self, it was just like I was just so sad and like heartbroken that it just like, I don't know, I just couldn't do anything for anyone. So what is the advice that you would give to people when they think, all right, there's somebody in my life that I think should know Jesus.

I want to make sure they know the truth. What do you do with that? What are the next steps you take? If you really ask God for opportunities to share the gospel, like, he's going to answer that prayer and you have to be ready to say, this is why I believe what I believe. It's like, just start in small ways and like, how can you build on that?

And it's like, maybe there's a fun event at church and invite someone to that. That's a part of your life. Being present in big moments is one thing. Just showing up for people when they need help, whether that's being a shoulder cry on or a helping hand, is is a huge part of that. And I think that's a big thing that we focused on is just doing life with other people.

And life is good things. And it's also hard things. As someone that was on the receiving end of people that were sharing Jesus with you, what advice would you give others that are trying to share Jesus with people? Evie would text me throughout the week and just be, like, constantly pursuing me. And then B, man, like, the more that I got to know him, he would also jump into that of like, oh, do you need help doing this?

Like, just randomly. I think that was extreme for me just because I don't think I had been pursued like that in my life before. They're just pursuing you because they want to be your friend. And if you do what Evie said, like sharing Jesus first. So everything that she did was associated with him.

So, like, the pursuing me and general care for me was like, it is different. It's a good word. Pursue. Yeah. Thank you for sharing your stories today.

I'm so excited for you. I'm glad we got to hear about your decision to follow Jesus. And Evie and Brayden, thank you for sharing. Keep up the good work of sharing the gospel.

What a great video. I love that so much. Your story is pretty incredible. Well, we are in our last week of our series, Hope and Healing. And over the last three months, we have been looking at the 12 steps of recovery.

And there are a few foundational things that we believe here at Sherwood. Oh, number one, we believe that we are all one of those people. We are all one of those people who have some kind of hurt, hang up or habit in our life. And maybe it was something from our past, maybe it's something that we continue to go through today, but we are all one of those people with some junk in our lives. And the only way that we can find hope and healing from that is through Jesus.

And so we want to help people find and follow him. And the 12 steps of recovery, when you look at them, they're not just steps to help somebody get sober, to help somebody get clean. They're rooted in the gospel. And so the 12 steps of recovery are actually kind of discipleship steps. It's how we follow Jesus.

We admit that we are powerless and we cannot do life on our own. We admit that there are things that we have done that we need forgiveness from. We do an inventory of the sin that is lived or still living in our life, and we give it over to Jesus. We ask for forgiveness from those that we've hurt. We make amends.

We forgive those who have hurt us. I mean, these are steps of following Jesus. As we come to the end of our series today, both Maggie and Matt have. Have helped preach through this series. And.

And. And I just want to. I want to ask you a quick question as we get started. You know, whenever the hardest part about writing a sermon is not coming up with something to say, it's trying to discern what not to say and figuring out what not to say. And so every week, there are things that are just left on the cutting room floor that just don't have time to say, or it doesn't, you know, perfectly fit in to drive home the message.

So on the weeks that you guys have preached, is there something in your sermon that got left on the cutting room floor that you want to share with us this morning? Sure. I wish I would have been able to talk a little more about Jairus, and I'll give a quick recap. The story that I was able to share on was Mark, chapter five. It was the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and she was seeking Jesus.

She was seeking healing. But Jairus, the story of Jairus, kind of sandwiched this story of the woman who was bleeding. He stopped Jesus. He's a respected religious leader. He stopped Jesus and said, jesus, my daughter is sick.

She needs healed. Will you come heal her? So they're traveling to go see Jairus and his daughter. When we see in scripture this whole scenario with this woman, right? And so there's this interruption, the pause.

Jesus gives the woman the attention she needs. He heals her. It changes her life. But we never really got to talk about the end of the story. Yeah.

And there's a lot that happens there with Jairus, because then by the time they make it to Jairus's daughter, she had passed away. And so in our human mind, like, the way we would think is that this delay, this interruption from the woman who was bleeding, actually made things worse. Right. So it made things worse for Jairus and for his daughter. But that's in our own human thinking, because Jesus knew what was happening, and he had it all figured out, just like he always does, that delay.

Instead of Jairus able to experience healing for his daughter, that delay allowed Jairus to not only to experience the healing of the woman that was bleeding, he got to experience resurrection of his daughter. And so we didn't get to talk about that, about how we feel like we interrupt Jesus, but really, Jesus's timing is perfect. We're never an interruption, and there's always something happening that he's got at hand. He knows the rest of the story. And delays for him are actually just beautiful time delays for us are actually beautiful timing for him.

Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Thanks for sharing that. Matt, how about you? In the first place sermon, I think of the series, Sean made a statement.

He said, healing begins where pretending ends. And that just struck me. I actually had a sign made, one of those, a frame signs and what I left on the floor, so to speak. I used that for one sermon. But I got tired of carrying the sign around.

But I just. That line is so. To me, it's like the overarching theme of this whole series, that healing begins when we stop pretending. And I think for Maggie and Sean and I, when we share some of the things we've shared that were things that were like, stellar. It was our realization that sometimes when we stopped pretending we were better than we were and stopped pretending we didn't have issues is when healing has.

We've seen that healing in our lives. So that statement just to me is like the frame of the whole picture of the whole series. Yeah, man, I appreciate you sharing that. I think for me, I actually had something included in two different stories sermons in this series that I end up cutting. And poor boy made the graphic for it twice.

And I didn't end up using it. But it's this idea that, you know, oftentimes we. We use the words mercy and grace as synonyms. And we think about God's mercy and his grace as like a package deal that they come together and they. And they do, but they're two very different things that make up that package.

And so God's mercy, what the word mercy means is that we don't get what we deserve. And so what we deserve because of our sin, because of our failures and our past and all of those things that bring us shame, what we deserve is God's wrath and punishment. But we don't get that because of mercy. We don't get what we deserve. But then it's even better because not only do we not get what we deserve, we get his grace, which is getting something that we don't deserve.

We get God's love, love and compassion and his forgiveness. And so, like, that's why we can live in freedom of what we have been forgiven from. Because those things don't define us anymore. We don't have to pretend anymore because we won't get what we deserve. And we get so much more than what we do deserve in God's love and grace and mercy.

And so, Matt, you had mentioned in you preached, we had a little Bit of a weird week in this series where we had to cancel in person gatherings because of snow. And you said something in your sermon that morning that was recorded. Remind us of what it was? Yeah. I commented that early in the few weeks before, Sean had shared some stuff he had not just Stetson cologne stuff and stuff he was not.

He was ashamed about. Maggie had shared stuff and I'd shared stuff. So I made the comment, what kind of people does this church hire anyway? Like, what they know what they're getting into. And then it's like, no, but they hire people that are broken but have experienced the healing of Jesus in our lives.

Yeah. And so how have. How have you taken that grace that you've received in Jesus, that mercy? And how has that, like, inspired your ministry and calling?

I got a literal phone call into ministry. I was. Ministry was nowhere on my radar. A little literal phone call to come work at this church at a, you know, different role. And I've kind of had several roles.

And since then, I feel like God has taken all the lanes in my life. The lane of calling me into this role and me saying yes, and the continual working he's done in my soul to find that peace and grace in him. And just everything has emerged to where I just feel this urgency and this kind of overwhelming need to make sure that other people experience grace. It is just so freeing. And I want to just share quickly about our church and the leaders and the elders here as something so special.

Matt, you talk about, who does this church hire? I went back to get my master's in 2019 for ministry leadership, Indiana Wesleyan. And part of that process was to write, they called it a letter of intent, where I had to tell them why I was coming back to school, what I wanted to do with this whole process. And I wrote out my whole story. I mean, everything that I shared in my sermon, lots of things.

And I sent it to a few elders, and I said, I need you to know this about me. And the grace that I received from the elders was beautiful. And so I just feel like they do such a good job of living out what Jesus does, of being a place, a church, creating a space in our church where we can all show up exactly how we are, knowing that God can use us no matter how broken we have been. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, Matt, how about for you?

I remember my first week as a pastor, like 35 years ago. I remember somebody wanted to have lunch with me, the guy named Tim. Nobody would know him. And we sat down at Mother Bear's Pizza. And I had never met him.

And he just says, I've lived a gay lifestyle. I want to get out of it. Can you help me? And I'm just like, whoa, welcome to Bloomington. Wow.

But knowing my own sexual brokenness and how God had showed me great kindness through that, it didn't shock me because I thought nothing. I'm not shocked by what I can do. So it was a really. It was an opportunity for me to be very kind and graceful to him, showing him the kindness and grace of Jesus. Because I thought, we're all broken.

And because I had seen the kindness and healing of Jesus in my life in that area, in the area of sexuality, it was just like, I'm not gonna act like I'm shocked or surprised. And it was. And that's. God's used that a lot in my life toward other people and all kinds of brokenness issues for people. When I see my own brokenness and the grace and the kindness of God showed me, it becomes God's healing.

Through me, through Maggie or through Sean, we can bring the healing of Jesus because we've seen that in our own lives. Yeah. Yeah. I think about in my office, you know, I've got a couch, and I meet with people there. And, you know, sometimes it's just we're planning or we're talking about life, and then sometimes there are some things that are shared there.

I think if you were to put. Pull back kind of the spiritual curtain and see the pile of stuff that has just been dropped on that couch, it would be shocking. But it's not shocking because I know the pile that's in my seat. Right. Like, I know what I have been forgiven from.

And so nobody can share something to me or nobody has yet that's made me think less of them. That if anything, in fact, I usually tell people when they share something with me that makes me think more of you, not less of you, that you had the courage to be able to say that. Because now we can deal with it. It's on the table. We can deal with it, and we can point and find God's mercy and grace.

Because that's what I found, and that's my story. Step 12 in recovery. We can put it up on the screen here. It's regeneration. Because of our new life in Christ, we carry God's message of reconciliation to others and live out these principles in every part of our lives.

And I think this is the step that we see the woman at the well take. And it's the step that we're encouraged to take of this mercy and grace that we've received, and we experience it, but then we share it with others, and we help them experience it too. And so what would you say to the person in here that maybe feels like they've got a story, but they're a little afraid to share it, or they don't feel like they have the right words or their life is all put together? What would you say to the person this morning, I think of the woman in that Mark chapter 5 story who had been bleeding for 12 years, and how she reached out to the hem of Jesus garment for healing. That is not theologically sound.

Right. Because his robe is not have superpowers. Right. But she had the idea right in that she just needs to reach for Jesus. And so I.

That's my encouragement to everyone, is you don't have to be theologically sound in everything. You just need to reach for Jesus. And that's what you need to share with others. And he will fill the gaps. You do not have to have it all figured out.

You don't have to be. You don't have to have all the scriptures memorized. You don't have to know. They answered all the questions. I have so, so many questions.

Right. But it's just being able to point people to Jesus because of what he's done in your own life. And we all have a story to share. It just. You just have to be directionally right, like, pointed towards Jesus is all you need.

And he will fill in the gaps. Yeah. One of my favorite stories of evangelism in the Gospels is from this man who was born blind. In John, chapter nine, Jesus heals him and then just kind of leaves. And the Pharisees who want to trap Jesus, they.

They come to this man and they're asking him all kinds of questions. Who did this? How did he do this? Where did he go? And the man is exasperated.

He's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And then finally he gets to the point where he says, listen, guys, all I know is I once was blind, but now I see. All I know is that this is who I was, but this is who I am now.

And it's because of Jesus. And I don't know why you're wanting to go after him or you want to follow him too. Like, he just. Just starts sharing what he knows about Jesus, which is the story of what he had done in his life. And I think that is a picture of what evangelism is Matt, how about for you?

What would you say? I think, too. You think about this woman at the. Well, she didn't wake up that morning thinking, today I'm going to share the gospel with people. She didn't.

And I would. I would. Most of my experiences when I talk to people about Jesus were unplanned. It comes up and all of a sudden you realize, oh, this is just an opportunity to talk about Jesus. So it doesn't feel forced even.

I teach a class at IU for teachers. And one day I was telling the story of when I cheated in a seminary assignment because I was talking about the psychology of cheating. And so. And then I told him. I told I wouldn't have gotten caught, but I told the professor anyway.

And one of the students raised their hand and said, well, if you weren't going to get caught, why'd you tell the professor? So there was a moment. It was a moment for me. Cause I thought, okay. And I just said, because Jesus wouldn't let me not tell him.

And so I didn't expect that. I didn't have it in my notes for the day. Talk about Jesus in class, you know, so you don't know when those opportunities come up, or somebody might ask you something. And even if you share a small part of your story about Jesus, that may be what Jesus. Like I said, the woman in the well, she wasn't expecting to do that.

So you don't need an outline in your head. You need the experience of Jesus in your heart. And it'll show up in those moments. I think one of the things that maybe keeps some of us silent is we're afraid of what others will think. Just about our past, about our story.

I've had people even say, man, I love how honest you guys have been on stage, preaching through this series. I don't think I could ever do something like that. And I just want them to experience that grace. That is, there's freedom in the grace that we find that we don't want to, like, brag about our past, but we don't have to hide it either, because it illustrates the grace that we've received in Christ. And I think one of the things that people are afraid of, that we're afraid of, that makes us be silent about that, is that we don't want to be seen as hypocrites.

And I think you're only a hypocrite if you pretend to be someone that you're not. Honesty kills hypocrisy. Honesty kills hypocrisy. Like I can be blamed and accused of being a lot of things, but I feel like, you know, between struggle with people pleasing and alcohol that I've shared on stage and my stuff with anxiety and panic and everything, you can blame me and accuse me of being a lot of things. I don't think a hypocrite would be one of them.

Those things don't have power over me. I don't care, like, yes, that's in my past or that's who I am, but Jesus has rescued and saved me, and I want other people to experience that as well. And so when we live a life of freedom, man, God's grace just flows through us, and we get to pour it out and share it with others. Guys, thank you for joining us on stage today. Really appreciate you all.

So here's how I want to close in the little bit of time that we have left. The woman comes, she has this encounter with Jesus. She runs back, she tells everybody. And this is what we read in verse 39. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

He told me everything I ever did. And we read in verse 42, they said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. She had a story. She shared it with others.

She said, come and see, and maybe you can find it too. And the truth is, you have a story as well. Is it gonna stay with you or are you gonna share it with others? Jesus is inviting us to take this grace and this mercy and let it flow through us into the lives of so that they can find it in their life, too. Step 12.

Because of our new life in Christ, we carry God's message of reconciliation out into this world. And Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 5, 21 what that message of reconciliation is. It's this. That he made him who knew no sin had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Mercy and grace.

We don't get what we deserve. Because of his mercy and because of his grace, we get so much more. So much more. And this week, Holy Week, man, this is what we remember. That Jesus took on our sin and the punishment that we deserve on the cross.

Palm Sunday today is about remembering Jesus Christ riding into Jerusalem. Holy Week, everything that he went through leading up to the cross on Good Friday and the resurrection on Sunday. Mercy and grace on full display. And May we allow that to be on full display in our life too. And maybe you're here today and you feel like the woman at the well when she met Jesus.

You are fully known, but you're not sure if you're full, fully loved. And you are living a life that is hiding. Right now. I just want to invite you to run to Jesus. He knows you already.

He knows you better than you know yourself. And he loves you still the same. You can hide from people, but you don't have to hide from Jesus. And if you are tired of running, if you're tired of hiding, we're going to have people with lanyards on around the room that love to meet with you, talk with you, pray with you. You and help you find hope and healing in Jesus.

We're going to come to a time of communion now. We've got some boxes on the front and in the back of the room. And the reason that we can be fully known and fully loved is because. Because God did for us what we could not do for ourself. Through Jesus.

We remember what Jesus did on the cross as we take these elements, as we take the bread and we drink the cup, we remember his body that was given and his blood that was shed. And so as we come into this moment, may we thank him for the mercy and grace that we've received. And may we just pray. God, who do you want me this week to share that with? Jesus, thank you for how you love us, for your tenderness and your kindness.

And may we take that and. And not just store it and keep it to ourselves, but may it be on full display in our lives to our where others see it and they are drawn to you because of the work that you have done in our life. May we be open. May we live lives of integrity and may we stop pretending because that is the place where transformation and healing can begin. And may we find that in you.

In Jesus name, amen.