It is always good to be home.  I only have two more of these reviews to do next week and then they are done for this school year.  I enjoy the work, but it does take me away from other work I also enjoy.  I suppose I’m lucky to have these opportunities where I get to work with areas I enjoy and have enjoyed all of my adult years.

Last night our recovery group leaders met for our 4th time going through the material helping us know how to be sensitive and effective leaders as we begin the efforts to branch into additional recovery areas.  Each time I come home from one of these I thank God for the opportunity to be connected with this.  Not only does it help me personally, but it also helps me realize much more fully that the work is God’s Work and I’ve been asked to help.  The stress/anxiety of doing this does come and go, but I am quickly able to surrender it as part of old me.

God is really wanting me to Embrace the Cross.  I said a couple days ago what the line in the movie, I Can Only Imagine, said about not running from the pain of our past, but to embrace it.  God is replacing the image of embracing the pain with embracing the cross.  The cross is where the pain of sin, along with the sin itself, is buried.  It has taken me a lifetime to get to this mile marker but now that I am here I want to only be obedient to this command.  I look forward to all that God will place in my life helping me use this embrace for His Honor and Glory.

Easter is coming and almost here.  What God is showing me in His recent work is exactly what Christ came and did for each one of God’s kids.  Our assignment is clear–Embrace Christ’s work on the Cross and help others come to this reality in their own walk.  Christ is wanting to break every chain that binds us–He didn’t make any exceptions.  He wants to do this for everyone.  Praise His Holy Name!