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This Wednesday at Christ Church
Quicklinks: Menu | Classes | eDevotion Wednesday Night Dinner, 5:00 - 7:00 PM (back to top) Wednesday night dinner will resume in the fall.
Wednesday Night Classes, 7:00 - 8:00 PM (back to top) Wednesday night classes will resume at a later date.
eDevotion (back to top) Love Heals Sunday's Faith Forum guest, Becca Stevens is one of the most courageous, loving people I have ever known. In her book, "Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth Telling" she shares a very painful chapter in her life in which she experienced abuse. She shares how some years later that same experience shaped her life - directing her out of awareness of her pain to love and provide opportunities for women who had also experienced a similar brutality. Becca went on to found Magdalene, a residential program for women who have survived lives of extreme hardship, addiction, and life on the street. Out of Magdalene, she created Thistle Farms, an economic empowerment ministry that allows women to reclaim their dignity and provide a livelihood for themselves and their families. On the subject of suffering Becca writes: "Suffering is like hard, dry ground. Though wholly a part of God's green earth, the seeds below the surface need tenacious strength and determination to push through and grow in parched land. Such hard, dry ground requires grace like water poured over it. Suffering is hard ground, but it can become the richest soil through attention and nurturing. Suffering invites us to acknowledge the pain before us and pay attention to the needs in front of us." Each of us has known our own hardships and disappointments. Many of us are still on our path towards healing and understanding. I know I am. But I am so very grateful to Becca for her witness that pain and suffering need not be the final word. "Healing is grounded in four of love's basic axioms: love is eternal, love is sufficient, love is God unfolding in our lives, and love is not concerned with dogma so much as it is a dogged determination to bloom and speak. In fields of lavender, thistle, and lemongrass, I have found love's roots, and I try to nurture them and share their harvest with fellow travelers. The axioms of love are written into the fabric of creation, so it is right that in that fabric we find the gifts we need to heal one another." May this be our prayer - that we too will know the healing power of God's love and be able to share the fruits of our healing with others as Becca has done with such love and grace. In Christ,
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