Raquel: The Soul Speaks
April 22, 2024Baking Ministry Lunch and Learn
April 22, 2024In prayer, we journey forward to our origin.
James Finley
During the season of Lent, we remember how Jesus walked out into the desert and prayed for forty days and forty nights. Jesus did this right after his baptism because he knew that he must know himself and master the landscape of his own mind before he could minister to anyone else.
It is imperative for all of us, as followers of Jesus, to do as he has done. We must know ourselves. We must know the places where we are broken as well as our great strengths and gifts. And we must be willing to speak about ourselves with openness and, yes, even with vulnerability.
To pray is to encounter yourself raw. In order to move past self-criticism and distraction, one of the key elements of prayer is forgiving yourself. We have to learn what it looks like when the devil comes and tries to tempt us. And how do we love ourselves even as we are tempted and learn to say no as Jesus did.
Sharing our lives with trusted fellow disciples along the way can be a key element to experiencing the love and forgiveness of God. Jesus shared his wounds with his disciples when he rose from the dead. We too are called not only to identify our brokenness but to openly talk about it with people who we love and trust. This is only of the crucial components of sacred relationships.
I pray that, in this Lenten season, you may dare to be vulnerable with the people you love.
May God bless you.
In Christ’s love,
Kate+