Willow Bend is my church family and serving with you is my joy.
We are all individuals and therefore we all have opinions, expectations, personal histories and our own lives to live. Behind all our individualities, however, there is a core of our humanity that is much the same.
Do you remember the story where Jesus healed the leper by touching him? It's very likely that leper hadn't been touched by a human in years because he was an outcast, unclean. Can you imagine what that must have felt like? To live your life, day in and day out, and never feel the compassionate touch of a friend? Whether someone's pain is their fault or not, to be IN pain physically or emotionally and be pushed aside as insignificant is brutal.
Unfortunately, I fear we all can relate to that leper. I bet everyone reading this email has experienced feelings of abandonment, being cast out, ignored, even considered unclean. I know I have and to be honest, sometimes I was the one doing the pushing. What;s amazing is that as I look back and replay these moments and seasons in my life, I can see specific times when God heard my cry (or yell) and reached out to touch me. There are a couple times when it felt like He stopped the whole world to focus all of His attention on me. I know He didn't, but that's how He made me feel.
Important.
Valuable.
Clean.
Can you imagine how it must have felt to have the first compassionate touch in years be the touch of Jesus? A touch that would heal you... completely?
I wonder how many people might visit Willow Bend feeling like that leper?
I wonder if there might be some in our church family who feel like that leper?
As we go about our lives, we have the amazing blessing of being the compassionate hand of Jesus to those who come across our paths. Watch and listen.
My life was greatly impacted by someone who took the time to stop and touch me. His name is Jesus.
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