Dear Friends,
Trusting Jesus and experiencing God is how we are changed.
Changed for the better. Forever. Faith in Jesus restores us to God, heralding peace and grace and hope.
I’ve been mulling this over and given the news reports, I can’t fathom how humans have managed to deserve such a gift, such a blessing.
The very nature and concept of grace is sometimes beyond my comprehension. And yet evidence of its existence and impact is all around, hiding in plain sight, if we choose to look.
Perhaps we should talk about it, notice or look for evidence of it more than we do.
Whilst the news being piped to us brings wave upon wave of sorrow and anxiety, locally and in our local sphere/pool what I have experienced is quite different. I wonder what you have experienced this week?
What have you seen and felt?
Is it different or the same?
How much (of either) is of our making and doing?
Our hours and encounters give us opportunity to witness God’s goodness and grace. As receivers and instigators both.
This week I have been lucky to see goodness and grace being shared in a myriad of quietly loud ways.
Quiet because on each occasion it was gentle and given without ceremony or fuss, loud because it was impactful, generous and memorable for the person on the receiving end.
Will you think me greedy if I say I want more of this.
I want a chain reaction that moves out from the centre like a pebble being dropped into water.
Be the change you wish to see comes to mind.
So dear reader, whilst I will keep a weather eye out on the horizon (my prayers too) I will also endeavour to notice goodness and grace in my own back yard. I will continue to try to be the change I want to see… that Jesus calls me to be. To create small ripples in the pond, hoping that they travel out. Knowing and trusting that whatever I give, God can use.
In the doing I hope I will experience more of God and will be changed in the process…hang on, I feel an infinity loop vibe coming on again. I wonder if that’s the point.
Love, Julia
Julia Jones, Churchwarden