When You Feel Abandoned By God |05.05.24| Doubting God pt.6
Matthew 27:45-46, Psalm 22
Pastor Drew Williams
Last week, I don’t know if you were here, but we had the incredible opportunity to baptize four teens and two students into the family of God. It was an incredible, incredible celebration. I loved last week.(…) One of my favorite parts about last week is that these teenagers and these students, their main connection to our church isn’t our Sunday morning experience. Their main connection isn’t Pastor Eric or myself or these sermons. Their main connection to our church is through either our Tuesday morning fellowship at Christian Athletes Bible Study, our Wednesday night youth group, or our Sunday morning kids church. So can we give a round of applause for Mike Schneiderbauer, our teens director, and Megan Williams, our kids director, and all of their incredible volunteers who week after week pour into this next generation, pour into the youth. It’s because of their tireless activity that these teens and these kids are coming into new life of Jesus. And I loved last week. I love seeing that. We’ve actually had some people asking questions since last week about when are you gonna do that again? I didn’t have a chance, I’m interested. And so for anyone who’s been interested in being baptized maybe for the first time or reaffirming your baptism, if you were baptized as an infant, go ahead and talk to me and Pastor Eric. We’re trying to organize another time to do that, not wait a whole other year, but organize another time to do that coming up soon. So talk to us about that and we’ll give you the information for that. But I loved last week because it’s so incredible to see people receive the grace of Jesus Christ and accept his salvation and step into new life as part of the family of God. It’s an incredible thing for us to witness it too because it reminds us of how we are part of a bigger family, the family of God as well. And it’s an incredible thing to be part of God’s family, to be learning together, picking each other up along the journey.
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But the hard truth is that not everyone always feels that way. Sometimes when you’re going through a really hard season,
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it doesn’t feel like you’re part of a family.
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You feel alone.
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And it’s easy to feel alone when you’re going through a hard season because everyone else around you seems to be experiencing it differently than you.
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They all get to seem that they’re able to move forward even while we feel stuck.
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I remember when my dad died suddenly four years ago. It felt like all the air was just sucked out of my whole life.(…) And even though we had supportive friends and our family was there for us,(…) everyone else eventually got to return to their normal routines.(…) But for me, there’s no going back to whatever normal was.
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It was different for me. And you know what I mean if you’ve ever lost a loved one or if you’ve ever gone through a divorce,(…) it is so difficult and the people who are close to you try to be supportive, but they can’t fully understand the pain that you’re going through. And you know what I mean if you’ve ever lost a job. You feel betrayed, you feel hurt, abandoned, alone, and unsure what your next step is. And you know what I mean if you’ve ever had a falling out with a family member or a close friend.(…) But once was comfortable and secure(…) has now been pulled out from under you.
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And everyone around you, they don’t get it.(…) It’s easy to feel alone when you’re going through a hard season.(…) And those first few days after my dad passed, I remember just walking around like I was in a fog. Like I was in a daze, not sure what day it was or where I was going.(…) It actually reminds me a lot of(…) when my oldest daughter was born.
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Emmy, she was a great baby, but Megan and I were brand new parents and the baby was not sleeping. And so I would wander around the house doing my patented bounce, shush, swing with a butt pat. You know the move?(…) And just try and wander around the house in a daze, in a fog.(…) And I remember during those times that music was very comforting to me. Not listening to music, but actually recalling songs and tunes from the deep parts of my memory. And so I would just be making a circuit in the dark in the middle of the night through the house when she wasn’t sleeping with my shush pat swing with a butt pat bounce(…) and humming tunes that came to my head.(…) And he walks with me and he talks with me And he tells me I am his own
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Bless the Lord oh my soul
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Oh my soul
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I actually did a lot of the same when my dad died.(…) I would be in the backyard watching any play(…) and I’d have tunes come to my head and I’d be humming to myself or singing to myself songs that gave me comfort.(…) Songs that proclaimed truth.
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Songs that reminded me of a time when life wasn’t so chaotic or hard.
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And I think songs are a gift from God. Music has the power to comfort us, to teach us, to remind us, to connect us with something outside of ourselves. And that’s so important when you’re going through a hard season because it’s so easy to feel alone.
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Well, today we’re finishing up a series on doubt and faith. And we’re gonna be talking about what to do when you feel abandoned by God. Because it’s easy to feel alone when we’re going through a hard season.(…) And that doesn’t just include the people who are around us who are able to move forward even while we feel stuck. Sometimes we can also start to feel like God himself has abandoned us.
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Why would he let this happen?
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Why can’t I feel connected to him anymore? Why have you abandoned me, God?
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But the good news is that Jesus has experienced those exact same feelings. And he gives us a model to follow for when we’re feeling abandoned and alone. And we see it in Matthew chapter 27, and you don’t have to open there, I’ll put it on the screen because in just a few moments, we’re all gonna be reading a different passage together. But in Matthew chapter 27,(…) we see Jesus on the cross at his moment of deepest, darkest despair, abandonment, pain.
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He feels abandoned by the crowd who used to follow him around all the time, but once he’s not doing stuff for them anymore, seemed to find a different place to be. He feels abandoned by his closest friends and followers who are with him through thick and thin, no matter what,(…) until the arresting mob shows up and they all scatter.
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He feels abandoned by his people group, his religious group who put him on trial(…) for proclaiming differing beliefs.
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And he’s in his darkest of places. And this is in Matthew 27, and the darkness manifests across all creation because darkness covers the land for three hours and everyone knows something is happening. And finally, in a loud voice, Jesus cries out, Eli, Eli, lemme sabachthani.(…) My God, my God.
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Why have you forsaken me?
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Why have you abandoned me?
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I grew up learning that this was the point when God removed his presence from Jesus because this was where Jesus was taking on all of our sin for our sake and God couldn’t be connected to our sin.(…) But as I’ve grown and studied more, I’m not sure that that’s right.(…) I don’t know for sure.
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I have some questions, because for one, Jesus is God.
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And being separated even for a moment doesn’t seem to line up with what the rest of scripture says about God the Father and Jesus’ Son and the Holy Spirit.(…) And for two, if God couldn’t be connected to our sin,(…) well then how did he enter into our sinful world as Jesus?
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How did he heal sickness and disease by touching people? How does he send his spirit to be in us? People who are still battling with sin.
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See, I’m more convinced to say that if we say God can’t do something, that sounds like we’re not talking about the real God.(…) And so why would Jesus say, why have you forsaken me on the cross? What was he getting at?(…) Well, I’ve got a theory, and I can’t prove it because I wasn’t there to listen, but I’ve got a theory that Jesus was singing a song.(…) I think he was singing an old Jewish prayer song from the Jewish book of prayers, the Psalms. Because I’m thinking that if Jesus really is God and he’s up on the cross and the sky turns dark and all attention is on him, they know something is happening, I think he’s doing something on purpose to teach us something. I think he’s trying to help us learn how to handle deep darkness and pain and abandonment. And so he starts singing a song. He only gets out the first line,(…) but that’s all you need with songs that are really familiar, right? All you have to do is start singing,(…) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that
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And immediately everyone’s humming the tune, you’re recalling all the rest of the words, right? First line and then the whole song is opened up and you’re thinking of the last time you sang that song, whether it’s at a funeral service for a loved one or maybe a poignant moment in a movie that you love or that person in your family that used to sing it all the time.(…) And the first line has immediately brought to mind all the tunes and the words and you’re there again. And so Jesus, he sings the first line of a familiar song and everyone listening is immediately humming along the tune thinking of the rest of the words.(…) And if you’re like me though, you don’t know the rest of the words of this song. And so we get to read it together. So open up your Bibles to Psalm 22.(…) Psalm 22, if you’re using the Black Seatback Bible in front of you, it’s on page 389 in the Old Testament. But the book of Psalms is this Jewish prayer book. And Psalm 22 was written by David. And so we get to see just what Jesus was trying to bring to mind for those with him, what he’s trying to bring to mind for us(…) who are in hard seasons. And so let’s read together from Psalm 22. It reads, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer and by night, but find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried and were saved. In you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, not a human, scorned by others, despised by the people. All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they shake their heads, commit your cause to the Lord, let him deliver, let him rescue the one in whom he delights.
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Yet it was you who took me from the womb. You kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from birth. And since my mother bore me, you have been my God.
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Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls encircle me. Strong bulls of the shawns surround me. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion.
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I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it’s melted within my breast. My mouth is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs are all around me. A company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among themselves. And for my clothing they cast lots.
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But you, oh Lord, do not be far away. Oh, my help come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion, from the horns of the wild oxen. You have rescued me. And I will tell of your names, my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation. I will praise you, you who fear the Lord. Praise him, all you authoring of Jacob. Glorify him. Stand in all of him, all you authoring of Israel. For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted. He did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation.(…) My vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever.(…) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord. And he rules over the nations. To him indeed shall all who sleep in the earth bow down. Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust. And I shall live for him.
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Posterity will serve him. Future generations will be told about the Lord and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying he has done it.(…) Beloved, this is the word of the Lord.(…) Thanks be to God.(…) Now, I don’t know, but you might have never read that before. Psalm 22 is definitely not as famous as the one that comes right after it, Psalm 23. But this one is also a Psalm of David. The young shepherd who led Israel to victory and eventually became their king, who was constantly on the run from his enemies and definitely had more than one season of darkness and despair.
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This is the song that Jesus sings because I think it has something to teach us about how to respond when we feel abandoned, even if we feel abandoned by God. And so it starts with that line that Jesus says on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s a declaration of despair.(…) It’s a true crying out to the Lord. It’s a lament of a person at the end of their rope. And now we can see why this hasn’t been turned into a top 10 worship song for all of our churches to sing, right? It starts kind of on a sad note and yet he keeps going and he says, “Yet you are holy, “and you are ancestors trusted.” It’s a reminder to look back at what God has done. Point to the times when God was present in the lives of others.(…) Look back to how God has been there for our family or for our community, for our church. Look back at the times when he has rescued.
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But I am a worm.(…) I don’t feel rescued right now. I know that God has been there in the past, but right now for me, I am in the middle of mockery. I’m in the middle of abandonment. Right now I’m in the middle of legal woes. There’s judgment on every side for me.
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And I imagine Jesus on the cross.
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I imagine him, he’s sleep deprived because he’s been up all night being put on trial and wrongfully accused.(…) And then he was beaten and then he was whipped and tortured. And then he was nailed to a cross naked and shamefully lifted up in front of everyone to slowly die of asphyxiation.
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And then he recalls a song(…) that he probably learned as a young boy.
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It’s a song about feeling abandoned, feeling alone. It’s a song about remembering that God is holy and has proven his character as a rescuer,(…) even if I don’t feel it right now.(…) And the others who were listening,(…) who knew the song from a young age as well, I wonder if they realized that that song that was written 1000 years earlier by King David, did they realize the prophecies in that song that were coming true right in front of them? Did you all notice it as well when we were reading through it, right?(…) It’s in verse eight.
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The mockers in the Psalm are saying, “Commit your cause to the Lord, let him deliver. “Let him rescue the one in whom he delights.” And back in our original passage in Matthew 27, it’s up on the screens, we see the chief priests and the religious elders mocking Jesus and saying, “He trusting God “will let God deliver him now if he wants to.”
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See, Jesus starts singing a song that was written 1000 years before that prophesies his death on a cross. And it’s amazing, but the Psalm continues actually with the next step in our process, I think, for how we deal with these feelings of mockery and abandonment. Verse nine talks about how after you’ve lamented out loud about your despair, you look back at what God has done in the lives of others, but you also look back to what God has been present in your life.
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So when you feel abandoned, when you feel alone, look back to how God has been present. And then it continues in verse 14 with more prophecy about what actually happened to Jesus. It says, “His bones were all out of joint.” And that was very common if you were nailed to a cross to hang by your wrists and flung up into the air. And then it says, “His heart felt melted like wax.” And I’m sure for David, when he was writing this Psalm, it was a metaphor about how he felt, but for Jesus,
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it’s true.
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John’s gospel tells us that after Jesus had died, the soldiers stabbed him in the side to make sure.
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And at once, blood and water came out as if melted from the heart. And this is a verifiable medical phenomenon where the cavity around the lungs and heart fills with fluid, and that’s what we see. But Psalm 22 isn’t done yet with prophecy because verse 15 of Psalm 22 talks about a dry mouth leading to death. And John 19, which is on the screens right now, it’s John’s perspective of Jesus’s death. We see Jesus asking for a drink right before declaring, “It is finished,” and then dying.
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And then Psalm 22 continues verses 16 to 18, talking about how the evildoers have bound his hands and feet, and then they divide his clothes and gamble for them by casting lots. Here on the screen again, we see in Matthew 27, that exact thing happening. They’re gambling for the bloody pieces of rags that had been on his body.(…) See, Jesus’s detractors wanted to make him seem weak. They wanted to mock him. They wanted to destroy him and his following so completely that it would never come back.
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But Jesus wasn’t weak.(…) He knew all along where his journey was headed.(…) He had told his followers multiple times how it would play out. And here he is on the cross at his darkest moment.(…) And he’s singing a song that actually prophesies about the things that were happening.(…) He’s not weak. He’s fully in control. And he’s showing his followers that he knew what would happen.(…) And he still went through with it for them, for you.
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Why?
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Well, I think defeating death and proving that he can forgive our sins and invite us into true life, that’s a really good reason. But I also think that he’s using this moment to teach us how to process the dark times in our life. Because even if he knew what would happen, even if he was willingly enduring it, his followers, his closest friends,(…) they were watching it all unfold in front of them in a horror.
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They were probably watching and saying, why won’t someone stop this? Why would God allow his Messiah, his Savior that he sent to us, to be beaten and killed in this way?(…) They were standing and watching the whole thing happen. This movement of joy and hope and life that they had given the last three years of their lives to, what they had put all their hope in. And they were watching it up on the cross, die before them.
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And they probably felt alone.
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Because it’s easy to feel alone(…) when you’re going through a hard season because everyone else is experiencing it different than you are and they get to move on, but we feel stuck.
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But that’s the brilliance of what Jesus is doing here.(…) Moments before he willingly gives up his life, moments before he breathes his final breath,
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he musters up the last shred of strength he has to remind them of a song,
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a song that validates the feeling of despair and abandonment. You’re allowed to feel that. And when you do, lament before the Lord, name the grief and hurt that you’re experiencing.
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Then look back at what God has proven his character to be through his presence with others and in your own life. And the next step for us is to lift up God’s goodness and presence to others. We continue in verse 19 of Psalm 22. It says, “But you, O Lord, do not be far away. “O my help come quickly to my aid.”
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Jesus helps us see that we can call out to God because of who he is. God’s very character is a rescuer, a savior.
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Call out that God has rescued others, how he’s given comfort to others, how he’s helped others be sustained and move forward. Proclaim those truths and then ask him, “Please be that for me.”
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And then the Psalm continues in verse 22 with an invitation to share our story with others because sharing our story is part of the process of how God heals us. When we share with others what we’ve experienced about how God was with us through the process, it strengthens our hearts, it strengthens our faith(…) and it strengthens the heart and faith of those we tell.
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And maybe you’re listening right now and maybe this is describing your season. You’ve been through a hard dark season before but you’re not in one right now. And maybe God is inviting you today to share your story with someone else. Maybe God is inviting you to witness to how God was present with you by telling your life group or by telling a family member or sharing your story with me so that I can tell more people. But God is maybe inviting you today to share that story because when we hear about how God has been at work, whether it’s in the life of someone else,(…) whether it’s in the river basin of the Amazon jungle,(…) when we hear how God is at work,(…) it causes our faith to grow.
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But if you are currently in a hard season, I want you to know that Jesus is inviting you to lament to God, name your grief and despair. He’s inviting you to look back at how God has been at work around you and in you. He’s inviting you to lift up the character of God who is a rescuer and ask him to be a rescuer for you. Because when we do that, when we engage in that habit, we get to see the prophecy that’s in verses 27 to 29 come true. Where more and more of the people of the earth turn to the Lord. Where whole families will worship him. Where nations will worship him. And then we get to be a part of that family of God. The church who tell future generations about who God is. We get to be the ones who talk about the goodness and his grace and his deliverance to future generations. Saying that he has done it.(…) It is finished.
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And after he rose from the dead,(…) beating death, proving he is God,(…) Jesus promised to never leave us alone. I will be with you always,(…) even to the end of the age.
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So even if you’re in the middle of a hard season of darkness right now, Jesus is with you.
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Jesus is always with you.(…) He has experienced the same hurt that you’ve experienced.
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And he can show you a way forward.
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And chances are he’s worked in the life of someone who’s sitting near you right now. Chances are God has called you to be a part of this church in this season of your life, because he’s preparing you to meet someone or a few people who can help you along this journey, who can help carry you and pick you up along the process.(…) Because he loves you.(…) Because he loves you so much that he came as Jesus into this broken world.
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Because he loves you so much that he sent his very spirit to be with us now. And I know that sometimes it can feel like we’re abandoned by God.(…) But God has promised to never leave us alone.(…) He’s promised to be with us always.
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So don’t let the enemy keep you alone.(…) Lament to God by naming your grief. Look back at what God has done.(…) Lift up his character as a prayer for your current situation. And link together with others in the family because we’re here to help each other grow and move forward. We’re here to help each other be transformed by Jesus. Together for others.
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Isn’t that good news?
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Amen.