A Devotion for the Road Ahead

What great thing has God done in your life?

My guess is that you each have a story of God moving in your life. Something that has shaped your faith journey, or maybe even your call into disaster ministry.

But maybe you’ve forgotten how to tell the story. Or maybe you feel as if there’s no one new to share it with.

In the lectionary Scripture (Acts 16: 9-15) this week, we read about the apostle Paul. Paul went down to a river and in one day he recruited a woman who dedicated her life to God. Because of her financial generosity, the mission of the early church was grown and spread in extraordinary ways.

As people of the United Methodist Church and followers of John Wesley’s theology, we believe that God’s grace goes before us, preparing the way before we even take the next step.

God can use everything about us, our place in the world, our social location, our gifts and skills to connect us to others who need to hear the good news of life found in Christ.

The question for us is, are we looking?

Are we finding opportunities to tell of God’s great movement in our own lives? 

Do our hearts break for that which breaks God’s?

The book of Acts is the story of the early church who can’t help but tell the story of Jesus. As the early church mothers and fathers move through the world, they encounter every roadblock imaginable: unwelcoming communities, the threat of arrest and jail time, even death. And yet, the story continues. The movement of the church and of the resurrection story blazes on, story by story, life by life.

Christian blogger and pastor Matt Miofsky says, “Jesus is the sort of good news you can’t keep unless you give it away.” The gospel becomes most powerful in our lives when we share it, when we see it transform the lives of people around us.

As those who work closely with people who have experienced great trauma and loss, it is important that we tell our stories with care, using compassion and tact to navigate difficult and vulnerable conversations.

And yet in this work, we also have the great privilege of seeing the resurrection story of God blaze on despite every hindrance: case by case, community by community, God’s great going-aheadness continues.

May we be witnesses to the resurrection on whatever road we find ourselves. May the resurrection that God has done in our own life be the story we can’t wait to tell.  

With you on the journey,

Chaplain Amy