On Sunday, we will continue our Lent series on “Broken and Restored” which will focus on what it means to repent and find spiritual renewal in that process of working towards forgiveness. Last week, Pastor Tim talked through Step 1: Naming and Owning Harm. The process has to start with us and starts with looking from within and doing a personal inventory of where our actions have hurt others. This week, we will lean into what it means to “Step into Change.” Change is one of the hardest disciplines and seasons that people can undergo (just ask anyone who has tried to ‘change’ a bad habit over the lenten season). But change doesn’t have to be scary, and we need to accept it won’t happen overnight. Change is a process, that starts first with… trust. What and who do we put our trust in, when the change we need to see, feels too big, too hard, or out of our control? 

We start with trusting that God carries us through the process of reorienting ourselves towards the change we seek. It is a submission of our need to control and handing it first, to God, who is the ultimate authority and guide. 

Many prophets and spiritual leaders have been called to lean into change when the challenge felt impossible. Yet, God was at work in them through the process of trusting that God would keep the promises set forth for them. So, too, in this season, we are called to let go, and let God lead. 

I look forward to sharing a faithful message of God with you on Sunday as we look at the story of Father Abraham, through the teachings of the Apostle Paul, in Romans 4:1-5, 13-17. Come to worship, open to how God may be calling you to think about the following questions:

1. Where is God calling you to name the harm that has affected your life?
2. Where is God calling you to submit and trust in a power greater than yourself, found in God’s power alone?
3. What stands in the way? Where is your resentment and where do you need to forgive (yourself or others)? What is the next (right) step you can take to lean in, and let God take control?