Little Wins and Big Love

Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
Psalm 74:20-21

We continue to open our doors on Thursdays for the cafe and Sundays for the worship service. It's encouraging to see God continue to draw unbelievers in, week after week. I'm learning to praise him for these "little wins" that are actually still miracles from his hand. As a team, we are building more friendships and getting to have more conversations about Jesus with these folks. One of the guys usually sits with us, and I often see him affected by the worship on Sundays. I believe he is close to the Kingdom. Today, a new woman came in and kept saying afterwards, "I found that singing quite powerful. That's really interesting." May they both soon be in the number of saints, praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This week, we ladies started a Bible study on Ruth, also using Paul Miller's book, A Loving Life. The older I get, the more I realize I have a long way to go to love like Jesus. As Miller says in the first chapter, "Suffering is the crucible for love. We don't learn how to love anywhere else. [Because the] great barrier to love is ego, the life of the self." It's when we are pressed by suffering and difficult relationships that we see the true character of our love for others. We see how anemic it is, how ugly our own hearts can actually be. And as we see our own unloveliness, we know more fully how steadfast and gracious Jesus' love is towards us. He sees that ugliness in us, too, but he is continually moving towards us, fighting for us to grow in loveliness and his likeness.

Already I've seen God use this study to challenge and start bearing fruit. Our little church family is certainly in a time of testing, where unity and love must be fought for by the power of the Spirit. Please keep praying for this study to be used by God to shape us into a community of women who are secure in God's love and so are free to love sacrificially and boldly. We also have one woman from the community joining us. I am not sure where she is with Jesus, but please pray for her, too.