Last night was my last night at Catalyst as a leader, at least for the summer. A couple of people knew and offered their encouragement, which was extremely nice. With everything that was going on last night, it spoke volumes that people would take the time to offer kind and supportive words to me.
During worship, we sang a song that Mark Thomas had written while him and his beautiful wife were going through a super tough time of loss. I don’t remember the name of the song but the chorus goes something like this (I don’t remember exactly, but Kimmie helped me to remember this much):
It’s your love that rescued me
It’s your love that set me free
It’s your love that made a way
And it’s your love I will proclaim
I was singing and doing a pretty good job of keeping my mind and heart focused on God. When we sang through the chorus the first time I felt how moving it was just to think about God’s amazing love He has for us and how He’s rescued us from an eternity in Hell. But the second time we sang through it, it brought me to tears. God showed me a picture of a time in my life when I was questioning everything including if I wanted to remain a Christian. I just couldn’t seem to shake off the temptations and the desires to sin and make bad choices. I felt completely lost and all alone. But God showed me that I was on a path that once I made it through that rough time it brought me closer to Him. (I’m tearing up as I write this, thinking about what a wonderful and loving God we serve.) He never left me and he made a way for me when all I wanted to do was deny Him. And even though I still struggle with thoughts of shame about that time, last night I felt that He truly wanted to set me free with His love.
Wow…wow….thanks for sharing this. This is why we do what we do.
How are you doing? Just thought I’d check in since I don’t get to see you much anymore!