Good morning, family.
I keep coming back to Monday night. The hands. The names spoken. Jep and I called each of you up, one by one, and spoke the blessings from Session 5 over you. Then the room opened and you added a word for one another. Nobody had to make anything up. The words were given to us. We gave them to each other. The Lord met us in it.
Monday is coming. Don't let the week swallow what you carried home. The work doesn't stop because the cohort finished. He doesn't stop when we get off our knees. He keeps going. So do we.
Here are the four blessings from Session 5, written in first person. Find the one that was spoken over you. Speak it back to yourself every morning this week. If more than one fits, take more than one. Two minutes. Spoken, not silent.
If you came in heavy:
The Lord has seen every tear I have cried. I came in carrying a weight that would crush most people. I leave still carrying it, but no longer alone. The Lord is rebuilding what was broken in me. He is making me into someone I have never had to be before, and that person is going to be beautiful. I am loved not because of what I did for anyone. I am loved because I am God's child. I am sent.
If you came in stuck in a story:
The Lord has walked with me through every part of my story. He saw it. He was there. He is writing a new chapter that does not erase the old one but does not end it either. I am more than what happened to me. I am a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away. The new has come. I am sent.
If you came in already hungry for the work:
The Lord has given me hunger. I have pursued Him into places most people will not go. I leave that room not as a student but as a teacher. The framework is in me. The Spirit is in me. I am called to carry what I have received to others. I will go and do it. I am sent.
If you came in reluctantly:
I walked into that room at cost. Nobody dragged me. I chose this. That choice is itself a declaration. I am not someone who pretends. I am someone who looked at what was true and said yes. The Lord sees me. The work has begun. I keep walking. I am sent.
Love you all. Proud to walk with you.