I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. —Psalm 143:5–6
I love hearing God Stories and I’m always amazed when I hear from people how He has worked personally in their life. There are as many different ways that God reaches out to us as there are people.
But there are some commonalities.
I met with a friend recently, who I’ll call Carla. She shared that although she had grown up in church, she ditched her faith in her high school/college days. Years later, she was at a job where one of her co-workers invited her to church.
During this time she had been going through some depression and had tried self-medicating, but nothing worked—the depression came back. Even though her co-worker invited her, she thought “I know what church is like, and that’s not what I need.” But this friend continued to invite her. Finally, she went.
She told me that as she sat there, God’s spirit washed over her and she felt the stress melt away as God spoke directly to her. She said “With tears in my eyes, I realized that this is what I had been missing.” Now, she wanted to know more about her Heavenly Father who had pursued her even into adulthood. Now she wants to use her gifts to serve him and worships at CenterPoint regularly.
All because a friend invited her to church. King David wrote:
I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works
and think about what you have done.
I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. —Psalm 143:5–6
“I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.” A perfect description. There is a thirst that only He can quench. There is a hunger that only He can satisfy. That is why we worship. In his presence is fullness of joy.
And though every story is different, the commonality is God’s people reaching out to lead their friends to “springs of living water.” That is why the church exists: To be a place of hope, help and healing.
I hope you can join us this Sunday at CenterPoint, 10AM PST. Whether you are with us onsite, or online it will be a great time of worship and hearing from God’s Word. Here is our FB page link.
See you then.
Bill Herried is a pastor in Tacoma, Washington and is married to the most extraordinary woman on the planet. Together they have 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren. He has been the lead pastor at CenterPoint Christian Fellowship in Tacoma since 2006. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, and Master of Divinity from Corban University in Salem, Oregon—and he loves a good biryani.
Image by iqbal nuril anwar from Pixabay
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