The Emotional Health of a Church

Daniel Arroyo Jr.

Pastoral Reflections • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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It’s been a year since we launched Encounter Church.

And what a year it has been.

I want to be frank with all of you.

It hasn’t been the easiest.

But,

together,

we have survived.

I look at the future with optimism.

I do not believe Encounter Church will be known as a church that just survives.

But I believe that Encounter Church will be known as a church that thrives,

because God is building his church,

through all of us.

I am so thankful for all of you guys.

Thank you for taking a leap of faith.

We are moving,

slowly but surely.

we are making progress.

I have seen profound growth in all of you,

and I am excited to see how much more each of you will grow with Jesus.

During the month of August,

as I have been saying,

we’ll be just hearing a pastor’s heartbeat,

as I have sought the face of the Lord and interacted with other brothers and sisters.

Today I want to talk about the emotional health of a church.

the emotional health of a church

Before we begin,

let’s read Matthew 11:30 in the CSB

Jesus is speaking...

Matthew 11:30 (CSB)

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The Message Paraphrase says it this way:

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 11

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly

Let’s pray.

...

I start with a question:

What do you think about your emotions?

...

Our emotions are so often overlooked in Christendom.

Generally,

this is how it looks like.

This Christian faith.

Draw the following:

You meet Jesus,

fall in love with him and believe in him.

You realize that Jesus wants us to live in community.

What typically happens,

you take attending church seriously // draw

Then you have things to check off.

Am I being the church by connecting with people,

do I serve?

Do I give?

And hopefully through this,

you make an impact.//draw

This is the traditional way of making an impact.

But here’s a transformative way,

a better way.

//draw

We meet Jesus still.

That’s super important.

Watch the series the Chosen if you want to learn more about Jesus,

or read the Bible,

or we could get some tea (I’ve been drinking some iced tea recently) and we could talk about Jesus.

...

We also need to be in community.

This is important.

The Bible says,

Hebrews 10:25 CSB

not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

But I think it changes here.

The Transformative approach doesn’t get into a checklist of things that you need to do.

The Transformative approach is deeper.

It’s like dealing with the things under what is visible (iceberg).

I did not come up with this model,

I borrowed it from a pastor in New York.

...

Only after we deal with the deep things within us,

our emotions,

our relationships,

then we make an impact.

So many jump from attending church,

meeting with Jesus,

to making an impact without dealing with the faults within us.

We just hide our emotions,

or slide it under the rug.

And sure,

we make an impact,

but our messy emotions get in the way,

if we don’t deal with them,

and these emotions will limit us,

and can bring harm if they remain unchecked.

Jesus wants us to live freely and lightly.

However, if we don’t deal with our emotions,

we will be bound and feel the weight.

While you might be able to make an impact,

your lack of emotional health will affect areas that matter,

like your marriage,

your family,

your work,

and your own well-being.

Christian spirituality,

without dealing with your emotions,

can be deadly.

It can hurt your,

the people around you,

and your relationship with God.

...

Here’s an interesting story that the pastor of New York shared.

Two people visited his church.

They wanted to talk to the pastor.

The pastor—he was exhausted.

But he cared about the ministry,

and he didn’t want the visitors to think bad of him.

Like,

the pastor thought about what the visitors would say if he just sent them home.

So after, their three services,

the pastor went out to have lunch with the visitors.

And the pastor took his wife with them.

She was tired.

But she agreed because she wants to be a “good pastor’s wife.”

They had lunch at the pastor’s house.

One of the visitors,

John,

began talking,

and talking, and talking during lunch.

The other visitor,

John’s wife,

Susan,

said nothing.

The pastor and his wife,

would look at each other,

giving glances,

like man, how much longer is John going to talk and talk and talk.

But the pastor couldn’t interrupt him.

John was talking with such intensity about God, his life, his new opportunities at work.

And the pastor was just thinking,

“Oh God, I want to be loving and kind, but how much is enough?”

He pretended to listen.

And he became angry.

Then he became guilty about his anger.

He wanted John and Susan to think of him and his wife as hospitable and gracious hosts.

But it was a lot,

especially after a long day.

Then the pastor and his wife had some time alone.

John had to make a phone call and Susan went to the restroom.

The pastor’s wife told the pastor,

and the name of the pastor is Pete.

She said,

“Pete, I can’t believe you did this! I haven’t seen you. The kids haven’t seen you.”

And Pete, the pastor,

just put his head down,

and slumped his shoulders,

Hoping that his humility would evoke mercy.

But it didn’t.

Susan and John returned to the kitchen table.

John continued talking.

The pastor hated sitting at that kitchen table.

Then John said,

“I hope I’m not talking too much.”

Pete responded,

“No of course not. It’s great having you here.”

Pete’s wife stayed quiet.

Pete didn’t want to look at her.

Another hour passed,

then the pastor’s wife, whose name is Geri btw,

she blurted.

“I haven’t heard from Faith in a while.”

Faith was their three-year-old daughter.

John continued talking as if Geri didn’t say anything.

Pete and Geri, the pastor and the wife,

exchanged glances again and again,

and continued to pretend listening,

occasionally stretching their necks to look outside the room.

...

Pete convinced himself that everything was fine.

But Geri began to look very upset.

She was worried about Faith.

The house was... too quiet.

John, he continued talking.

...

Then,

finally,

Geri excused herself with an annoyed tone:

“I have to go and check on our daughter.”

She went to the basement,

no Faith.

The bedrooms.

No Faith.

The living and dining rooms.

No Faith.

Frantically,

Geri went to Pete, saying

“Pete, I can’t find her. She’s not here!”

Then the horror gripped both of them.

they thought the unthinkable:

the pool!

They had a three-foot-high pool in the backyard.

They ran to the backyard,

and saw Faith,

in the middle of the pool,

their three-year-old daughter,

naked, barely standing on her tiptoes with water up to her chin//show with hands.

Almost to her mouth.

Somehow,

Faith was able to make it in the pool,

and keep herself from drowning by standing on her tiptoes for who knows how long.

If she wasn’t on her tiptoes,

Pete and Geri would have been burying their daughter.

Pete and Geri were shaken up when this took place.

...

For days,

they were just in shock.

But the sad truth is,

nothing changed within Pete and Geri.

They did ministry as usual,

and suffered more pain and horrors.

How could it be,

that the pastor and his wife could have been so negligent?

...

Now the pastor looks back,

and he is embarrassed at how disingenuous and immature he acted with the visitors, John and Susan.

And how he acted with God and himself.

John was not the problem.

...

Pete,

the pastor was the problem.

...

Externally,

he appeared kind,

gracious,

and patient,

but inwardly,

below the surface, (point to iceberg)

---

he wasn’t kind,

he wasn’t gracious,

he wasn’t patient.

All he wanted was to present a polished image of a good Christian.

He wasn’t being sincere,

he was just thinking.

...

“I hope I’m a good-enough Christian.

Will this couple like us?

Will they think we are okay?

Will John give a good report of his visit to my pastor friend?”

...

The pastor admitted this.

“Pretending was safer than honesty and vulnerability.”

...

Maybe we like this traditional approach better

because it doesn’t deal with all of our junk.

But it is harmful,

if we don’t deal with the deep internal wounds and sin patterns.

If you don’t deal with your emotions,

you will be stuck at an immature level of spiritual and emotional development.

And you might hurt others.

...

To be honest,

it is very likely that if you haven’t dealt with your emotions,

you’re probably emotionally unhealthy.

Sadly

It is very unlikely,

that you grew up in a family that was emotionally whole or mature.

And maybe you have recognized this.

...

And maybe you believed that once you followed Jesus,

this emotional junk has been dealt with.

After all,

2 Corinthians 5:17 says

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

And certainly, Christ immediately changes things.

...

But we also know,

as we see with the disciples of Christ,

it takes time to grow as the person God has called us to be.

I am still in a process.

...

My family,

my parents,

they were the best,

and still are.

But I know they come from emotional unhealthiness,

which was inherited,

and I inherited some unhealthy practices.

But we need to deal with this type of stuff.

I don’t know what your story is,

but identify where you need to grow.

...

My family and I left the church when I was seven.

We came back to it when I was 15, 16,

And that’s when I became a Christian by God’s grace.

I immediately wanted to follow Christ,

and let everyone know that I am a Christian.

I prayed as much as I could pray.

I read as much as I could read.

I served as much as I could serve.

I told people about Jesus as much as I could.

Andrea and Oscar could attest to that.

Um,

I attended all the events I could attend.

I gave all I could give.

I attended Bible college for a year.

Then went to Liberty for three.

Then my masters for another three years.

And I noticed that for the most part,

my critical spirit,

my emotions,

were rarely touched.

...

Yes, I was passionate,

bold,

but I lacked understanding and compassion.

Somewhat arrogant.

Fortunately for the last,

three to two years,

I’ve been focusing on my emotional health.

There’s still a lot for me to grow.

And with full-time teaching and school it’s hard to grow.

But if I’m honest,

my emotional health remained largely untouched,

despite all the Sunday school classes I attended,

the small groups I grew up in,

and the church leadership I was a part of.

In fact,

my emotions seemed to be more of a secular thing,

than a church/spiritual thing.

...

Things needed to change in my life.

...

We tell ourselves,

you know what will change it.

More Bible studies will change it.

Or,

more community events.

Or,

more prayer.

Or understanding the authority of Jesus,

of the name of Jesus

That’ll do it.

Or worship will do it.

Or helping the poor.

Or hearing God’s voice.

Or understanding the Gospel more.

And while everything I just said should be part of your spiritual journey,

there is still something missing.

If we just focus on community life,

on worship,

we might just be adding to layers, (point to iceberg)

without dealing with the internal.

We need to deal with the roots.

We need to experience what Jesus said,

We need to live freely and lightly in every area.

...

Be honest.

Do you feel that way?

Do you feel the easy yoke of Christ,

and his light burden?

Or do you feel exhausted,

and in need of a break?

We need to experience this freedom in all areas of who we are.

We are social,

intellectual,

spiritual,

physical,

and emotional beings.

And the gospel reaches every area.

...

It’s easy to see your social or physical development.

But you can hide whether you have developed emotionally.

And because you hide it,

you might think it’s not necessary to deal with your emotions.

But it’s necessary.

...

With the rest of our time together,

I want us to explore the top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality.

Using God to Run from God

The Christian who hides in endless responsibilities to not deal with the emotional side of the soul is using God to run from God.

Oh,

I have to do this “God-activity” and not help my family,

or deal with my problems.

When you use God to run away from him,

you might do God’s work to satisfy yourself.

You might pray about doing your will instead of God’s will.

Demonstrating Christian behaviors is so important because you want people to think well of you.

You think about theological points so much so that you don’t deal with your emotional issues.

You use the Bible to judge and devalue others.

You compete with others, so you exaggerate your accomplishments for God.

You use Scripture to justify the sinful parts of your family relationships, cultural values, and national policies,

instead of evaluating them under God’s lordship.

You hide behind God talk,

trying to hide your inner cracks.

You’re selective with what biblical truths you apply in your life.

...

Here’s an example of someone who uses God to run from God:

Say there’s a person named John.

John uses God to validate his strong opinions on issues ranging from the appropriate length of women’s skirts in church to political candidates

to gender roles to his inability

to negotiate issues with fellow non-Christian managers at work.

He does not listen to or check out the innumerable assumptions he makes about others.

He jumps to conclusions.

And sadly,

his friends, family, and coworkers find him unsafe and condescending.

John then goes on to convince himself he is doing God’s work by misapplying selected verses of Scripture.

“Of course that person hates me,”

He tells himself.

“All those who desire to be godly will suffer persecution.”

But the honesty is that he lacks emotional maturity.

That’s why he is suffering.

And now he is using God to run from God,

from having him deal with his junk.

...

Another symptom is

2. Ignoring Anger, Sadness, and Fear

It’s a very common belief in the Christian world that we should avoid anger,

sadness,

and fear.

So when we feel these emotions,

we feel like something is wrong with our spiritual life.

If we are angry,

then we’re dangerous and unloving.

If we’re sad,

then we have lacked faith in the promises of God.

And of course we are not supposed to fear.

But if we grew up with this mentality,

we begin to believe that all feelings are unreliable and should not be trusted.

While it is true that some Christians live in the extreme of following their feelings in an unhealthy way,

it is more common to see Christians who believe they do not have permission to admit their feelings or express them openly.

It’s hard to express feelings of fear, sadness, shame, anger, hurt and pain.

But here’s something to consider:

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature Chapter 1: The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality: Something Is Desperately Wrong

how can we listen to what God is saying and evaluate what is going on inside when we cut ourselves off from our emotions?

(repeat)

To feel is to be human.

To ignore our feelings is to ignore something of what it means to be an image-bearer—to be a human.

God gave us feelings.

To cut them off is to cut out one of our senses.

It’s like saying my sense of taste tasted something so I’m going to cut off my tongue.

So you cut it off.

That is what happens when you don’t let yourself be sad.

As Christians, we usually follow this model: draw train.

We live from facts, we say.

What does God say.

Then we live it.

Then we believe it - faith.

Then our feelings follow.

Unfortunately, this way neglects the significance of our feelings.

See what you are feeling.

Feel your emotions.

3. Dying to the Wrong Things

An old Christian leader said,

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

But it is true that at the same time,

Jesus said,

Luke 9:23 (CSB)

“If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Sadly,

people have misinterpreted this verse to say:

The more miserable you are,

the more you suffer,

then the more God loves you.

But Jesus doesn’t want you to die to everything.

We die to the sinful parts,

such as defensiveness,

detachment from others,

arrogance,

stubbornness,

hypocrisy,

judgmentalism,

a lack of vulnerability,

and the obvious sins like murdering and lying.

We die to those sins.

But we don’t die to those good things.

To the healthy desires and pleasures of life--

to friendship,

joy,

art,

music,

beauty,

recreation,

laughter,

and nature.

We don’t die to these things.

God plants desires in our hearts so we will nurture and enjoy them.

These desires and passions could be invitations from God,

gifts from him.

And sadly,

some of us feel guilty unwrapping these presents.

...

Maybe you have been asked,

Tell me about your wishes, hopes, and dreams

And you’re just speechless,

you think

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature (Chapter 1: The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality: Something Is Desperately Wrong)

Isn’t my only wish, hope, and dream supposed to be to serve Jesus?

Not exactly.

God never tells us to annihilate the self.

Instead,

God wants us to be more ourselves.

He wants us to be our truer self,

the people he created us to be.

He wants us to blossom.

Accept your likes.

And stop killing things you don’t need to kill.

4. Denying the Impact of the Past on the Present.

In Christ,

our sins are wiped away.

Yes.

The old has gone,

the new is here.

Yes.

It’s a miracle.

Our sins are wiped,

we have a new identity,

a new future,

a new life.

Yes.

It’s great news.

But the past could still influence you.

Your life choices,

your actions,

they still have an effect.

And sometimes,

to move forward,

you need to break or understand the past,

because those strongholds can prevent you from loving yourself and others as God has designed.

5. Dividing Life into “Secular” and “Sacred” Compartments

People tend to live compartmentalized (com·part·men·tal·ized), double lives.

Here’s a story about Frank, and maybe you could relate.

Frank attends church.

Sings about God’s love.

...

On the way home,

he pronounces the death penalty over another driver.

For Frank,

Sunday church is for God.

Monday to Saturday is for work.

...

Another example:

Jane yells at her husband.

Tells him that he is not a good leader for the children.

He walks away deflated and crushed.

She walks away with the belief that she has fought valiantly in God’s name.

...

Ken has a disciplined devotional time with God each day before going to work,

but then does not think of God’s presence with him all through the day at work or when he returns home to his wife and children.

...

Judith cries during songs about the love and grace of God at her church.

But she regularly complains and blames others for the difficulties and trials in her life.

...

It is so easy to compartmentalize God.

Determining what activities are Christian activities that we need check off,

these usually consist of the church and spiritual disciples.

But the truth is that God should be involved in every aspect.

How we navigate our marriages,

discipline our children,

spend our money,

enjoy our recreation,

or even study for exams.

Accord to Gallup polls and sociologists,

one of the greatest scandals of our time is that

evangelical Christians [like us] are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered and sexually immoral as the world in general

The statistics hurt:

Ron Sider, in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, summarizes the level of our compartmentalization: “Whether the issue is marriage and sexuality or money and care for the poor, evangelicals today are living scandalously unbiblical lives. . . . The data suggest that in many crucial areas evangelicals are not living any differently from their unbelieving neighbors.

you don’t need statistics to know how true this is.

And this is part of the reason why people drop out of the church:

They see that

There is no difference between those in the church and those outside of the church.

When we compartmentalize our life,

we miss out on the genuine joy of life with Jesus Christ--

a life that he promises.

Maybe you’re suffering in a particular area because you haven’t given that part to God.

...

6. Doing for God Instead of Being with God

In America,

we value productivity and getting things done.

Praying and enjoying God for no other reason than to delight in him seems crazy.

...

We think,

there is too much to be done.

Too many people are lost.

The world is in deep trouble.

We need to preach the good news of Jesus.

Just being in God’s presence,

no way.

That’s a luxury.

...

As I was growing in my Christian faith,

I heard about Christians monks who lived in monasteries,

just praying.

And I wondered whether they were really Christians since they were not in the real world.

But to be honest,

they were enjoying God’s presence.

And now I envy them.

...

We have biases.

We think that:

Doing lots of work for God is a sure sign of a growing spirituality.

It is all up to you. And you’ll never finish while you’re alive on earth.

God can’t move unless you pray.

You are responsible for sharing Christ around you at all times or people will go to hell.

Things will fall apart if you don’t persevere and hold things together.

...

Are these things wrong?

Not necessarily.

But work for God that does not come from a nourished, deep, interior life with God will eventually be contaminated

by other things such as ego,

power,

needing approval from others,

and buying into the wrong ideas of success and the mistaken belief that we can’t fail.

We do things for the wrong reasons,

and we become “human doings” instead of being “human beings.”

...

We cannot give what we do not possess.

Doing for God in a way that is proportionate to our being with God is the only pathway to a pure heart and seeing God.

7. Spiritualizing Away Conflict

We don’t like conflict.

But conflict is everywhere.

It’s in school,

at home,

at our workplaces.

It happens in marriages,

with our parents,

friends.

But unfortunately,

when conflict arises,

Christians sweep the conflict under the rug,

and just follow Jesus.

That is why there are so many instances of unresolved conflicts within churches.

We just put it to the side.

I’ve done it.

And it can create damage.

Instead of dealing with the conflict we say one thing to people’s faces and then another behind their backs,

we make promises that we have no intentions of keeping

then we

Blame• Attack• Give people the silent treatment• Become sarcastic• Give in because we are afraid of not being liked• “Leak” our anger through Tweets or social media• Tell only half the truth because we can’t bear to hurt a friend’s feelings• Say yes when we mean no• Avoid and withdraw and cut off• Find an outside person with whom we can share in order to ease our anxiety

Jesus teaches us that healthy Christians do not avoid conflict.

Jesus’ life was full of conflict.

He regularly confronted conflict with the religious leaders, the crowds, the disciples, even his own family.

Out of a desire to bring true peace, Jesus disrupted the false peace all around him. He refused to spiritualize conflict avoidance.

8. Covering Over Brokenness, Weakness, and Failure

There’s a pressure that we have to present an image of ourselves that is strong and spiritually “together.”

We feel guilty for not measuring up,

for not making the grade.

We forget that none of us are perfect.

We forget that we are all sinners.

We forget that David, one of God’s most beloved friends,

committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband.

That is part of David’s story.

This colossal failure was part of the king’s story.

And everyone would know about it.

Another man,

Paul,

we know about him.

His failures.

He persecuted Christians.

He was broken.

The Bible does not ignore the flaws and weaknesses of its heroes.

Moses was a murderer. Hosea’s wife was a prostitute. Peter rebuked God! Noah got drunk. Jonah was a racist. Jacob was a liar. John Mark deserted Paul. Elijah burned out. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Thomas doubted. Moses had a temper. Timothy had ulcers. And all these people send the same message: that every human being on earth, regardless of their gifts and strengths, is weak, vulnerable, and dependent on God and others.

...

You might look at people who you admire,

whether its in the arts,

sports,

leadership,

politics,

business,

academics,

parenting,

or church,

and you wonder if they escaped the brokenness that plagues the rest of us.

But they haven’t.

We are all deeply flawed and broken.

There are no exceptions.

...

9. Living without Limits

You might think,

Good Christians constantly give and tend to the needs of others.

Good Christians don’t say no to opportunities to help or to requests for help because that would be selfish.

Some Christians are selfish.

They believe in God and Jesus Christ,

but live their lives as if God doesn’t exist.

They don’t think or care about loving and serving others outside of their families and friends.

That is a tragedy.

But there are a lot of Christians who carry guilt for never doing enough.

They say,

“I spent hours on the phone listening to him and it still wasn’t enough.

It makes me want to run away.”

This guilt often leads to discouragement.

But we need to understand that we have limits

that we are humans.

that we are not God.

We cannot serve everyone in need.

Jesus modeled this for us as a human being.

He did not heal every sick person in Palestine.

He did not raise every dead person.

He did not feed all the hungry beggars or set up job development centers for the poor of Jerusalem.

He didn’t do it,

and we shouldn’t feel like we have to.

This causes us to feel frantic, exhausted, overloaded, and hurried.

You need to love yourself to love others.

Recognize your limits.

It’s good to have self-care.

Self-care is taking care of yourself.

And it’s not selfish,

because when you care for yourself,

you can care for others.

...

The last symptom of unhealthy emotional spirituality:

10. Judging Other People’s Spiritual Journey

One Christian monk said,

“You must die to your neighbor and never judge them in any way whatever.

If you are occupied with your own faults,

you have no time to see those of your neighbor.”

You know,

you might think that it’s always your responsibility to correct people who in error or in sin.

I’ve felt that way,

and therefore I feel guilty if I see something questionable and did not point it out.

This was especially true when I was in high school.

We feel like we have to fix the problems of others.

We think we got it, and they don’t.

We think we are right and others are not.

And sadly it becomes

an “us versus them”

type of thing.

You know who always thought they were right in Jesus’ day?

The Pharisees did,

and they thought that the sinners,

tax collectors,

and prostitutes were inferior to them,

and yet Jesus came to the sinners,

tax collectors,

and prostitutes.

It’s unfortunate that we turn our differences into moral superiority or virtues.

We judge people for their music (too soft or too loud).

We judge people for dressing up or dressing down,

for the movies they watch or the cars they buy or the games they play.

We say:

“Those artists and musicians. They’re so flaky.”

“Those scholars. They are so cerebral. They’re cold and heartless.”

“Men are idiots. They’re like kids.”

“Women are overly sensitive and emotional.”

“The rich are self-indulgent and selfish.”

“The poor are lazy.”

And don’t get me started with the denominations within Christianity.

We judge the Presbyterians for being too structured.

The Pentecostals for lacking structure.

The Episcopalians for their candles and written prayers,

The Catholics for their view of the Lord’s Supper,

and Orthodox Christians for their strange culture and love for icons.

...

Let others be others.

Of course if there is sin,

we should try to help as much as we can.

And we won’t affirm their sin.

But if they have different expressions,

let them express their faith.

And moreover,

focus on your own log.

Jesus said to take your log out first.

See your sin.

Before you try to help your brother or sister.

...

It is very likely that you have some these symptoms.

I have spent time on this,

because it’s important to identify that we are probably emotionally unhealthy.

We need healing in our emotional side.

Spend time this week thinking about the areas where you need healing.

And here are some tips,

talk about it with someone,

pray about it,

and make a plan to grow.

We are here to help out.

Let’s pray.

God, when I consider this message, the only thing I can say is, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Thank you that I stand before you in the righteousness of Jesus, in his perfect record and performance, not my own. I ask that you would not simply heal the symptoms of what is not right in my life, but that you would surgically remove all that is in me that does not belong to you. As I think about what I have read, Lord, pour light over the things that are hidden. May I see clearly as you hold me tenderly. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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