In the sunrise of my life I attended an inner healing retreat. This weekend trip would serve as a life changing fork in the road as I engaged in the work of forgiveness. After this spiritually marking experience I emerged with a newfound sense of inner freedom that, in hindsight, I attribute to a much needed release of resentment and bitterness. I walked into the Dallas airport to fly home as a free woman and I felt a strange urge to change my seat. I had no idea that a last minute upgrade would land me next to a woman who was reading the same book I was reading at the time.
We casually glanced at each other in disbelief and struck up one of the most unforced conversations of my life. Within a matter of minutes my new friend, Dawn, wasn’t just reading the same book I was reading. She was reading my mail. At the time, I was a deep intellectual who preferred rigorous theological study over the possibility of being surprised by God in real time. But 20 minutes into my talk with Dawn and I knew God had come close in the form of a perfect stranger with a verifiable prophetic gifting.
Over the next hour she began to announce details of my life with stunning accuracy. She spoke hope over the burning questions of my heart with beautiful, Spirit-led authority. I left that experience believing God had orchestrated this encounter. This would prove true when the events she foretold came to fruition a year later. “God knows everybody,” I said to myself. In His sovereignty, He places the right people in our paths at the right time because, in the words of Martin Smith, “there is a ALWAYS a bigger story at stake.”
When God writes people into the story of our lives there is always a bigger story at stake. I would submit to you that this story is a story of God’s love and His ultimate plan to redeem humanity. As I sat in the presence of God through the form of a new friend I realized something: Heaven moves at the speed of relationships.
Adam was given Eve as a spouse.
David was given Jonathan as a friend.
Paul was given to Timothy as a mentor.
I was given Dawn as a signal fire of hope.
Human hearts and hands are the very conduits through which God’s love and His kingdom comes here on earth as it is in Heaven. As we reflect on the bigger story God is writing through one another, I encourage you to consider the activity of God present in your own communal experiences.
Take some time in silence and solitude to work through the following relational inventory:
1. Make a list of your covenant connections, the people God has brought to your life as an integral part of your story.
2. How can you be more intentional about cultivating health and connectivity in these
relationships?
3. Is there someone on this list God is prompting you to collaborate with to further His
kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven?
4. Is there anyone God has placed in your life that you need to forgive, have a healing
conversation with, and/or be more intentional about pursuing?
5. Are there any relational connections God is asking you to lay down in obedience?
6. Who are you most grateful for and how can you communicate your thankfulness?
Take some time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal wisdom and truth to you in light of these questions. Thank Him for the gift of these covenant connections.
God’s greater story of redemption takes place through our hands and feet. In this spirit, may we move through this season grounded in gratitude and the truth of 1 Peter 4:8-10: “Above all, show sincere love to each other, because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins. Open your homes to each other without complaining. And serve each other according to the gift each person has received, as good managers of God’s diverse gifts.”
In His love,
Tanya
|
|
