Story

When I was in graduate school, I took a week long intensive class that was essentially group therapy. Everyone in the class was split up into groups and for 5 days all day, we would learn how to counsel within a group setting. With this, everyone in the group had to in some way open up their lives in order to truly experience the group therapy setting. I was in the only group of the class that conisisted of all women! This was a sweet experience for me because slowly throughout the week, one by one, these women of all different ages and backgrounds, began to reveal their story and essentially revealed themselves. It was amazing to see how similar all of our lives were to some degree or another. Things that people were ashamed to speak about began opening up their lives because of the trust but also because of the relation. One person would reveal a dark secret, and soon after everyone in the group was willing to share things that were similar that were difficult to share at first because of the shame. James 5:16 says "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." Since that time, in that class this verse has been really powerful in my life. I truly believe there is a sense of healing that comes from confessing sin to one another. I remember sitting in that classroom and a woman broke out in tears. She had said that the things she had just talked about, she had been holding onto for over 20 years. She has never been able to talk about it with anyone. The shame of this particular sin had kept in her bondage for all that time. I could see the healing begin to take place in her heart and on her face when she was able to share this part of her life with these other women to whom a week before, never even met. I am reminded of this amazing power and the healing that comes from confession and telling my story. Last night in small group, it was my turn to tell "my story." There was one part I was going to leave out, out of shame, fear of being judged, fear of rejection, etc. but I decided that I was going to share it anyway by the leading of the Holy Spirit. It was truly amazing to see God work. One of the ladies said how grateful she was that I shared that part of my story ( that I was going to leave out) because that was apart of her story as well and she has never been able to tell anyone about it. It brought me to tears to once again see the beauty of God's hands working in my life and the lives of the people around me. It made me so grateful for my story and made me grateful that God is writing my story. He is writing the good, the bad, the ugly and even the shameful parts of my story. It reminded me once again God is ultimately writing a BIG story and I am just a small part of it. He is weaving my life into the lives of others and others into my life. It was beautiful to see that relation take place with this other woman. So many times, I feel like nobody else has ever experienced the degrees of sin that I have experienced and it is in moments of opening up my life to others, that I see that others have the same story as I do and I can be encouraged by that. It is in my moments of confession with one another, that I can truly begin to be healed. This is where I am at this morning, and I am very grateful to The Loving God!