Shehawk and JimBetrayed62, thank you both for your kind messages. I realized I brace myself when opening SI, and to find unexpected kindness is sweet.
I’ve been praying to see more of God’s love in the world, to know him better. I think - I’m able to appreciate beauty, and to be grateful for comfortable and comforting blessings, but now if I want to know him better, it’s to see how gracefully, cleverly, and lovingly he manages pain, destruction, and death. So you have to see those things first, which can be jarring, before you see the beauty of his love. And look here! A concrete example. I was discouraged by the pain and destruction of people who participate in SI, and I was shown the gentle way he worked through you. A small moment to treasure.
JimBetrayed62, I pray with Psalm 67 every week for one of my Bible study groups (usually on Wednesdays). It is from that numbers passage! It felt wonderful to have the same words applied to me that I use for others. Thank you.
God, this week I am giving thanks that you are at work in the hardest and most difficult places of human experience, up to and including death. I believe you can bring good from anything, and ask that you bring your attention and care to all of the people of SI, and especially the guilty ones. Please, help them not feel oppressed by their shame or guilt, and able to look squarely at what they have done and be eager to help those hurt by it, knowing that they are still loved and cherished.
And I ask that you bring special attention to Shehawk and JimBetrayed62, that you continue to strengthen their faith and work in their lives in whatever way is needed.
I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living
Wait on the Lord
Be strong and let your heart take courage
Wait, I say, on the Lord
(Ps 27)
[This message edited by Pippin at 4:25 PM, Thursday, January 16th]