Reflect on a time of suffering in your own life. What role did community play in the midst of trial, either in sharing your burden or compounding your pain? As you remember the experience, what can you give God thanks for? What still needs to be grieved or forgiven? Write about the sorrow or wound, and offer it to God.

Think about a time when you witnessed Christlike community. What did it look like? Or, if you have not seen the body of Christ functioning like Christ, what do you imagine it would look like? Where might God call you to offer ministry of his presence to others? What gifts of listening, compassion, or service has God given you to share?

Spiritual Practice: Worship

Is weekly worship with a group of believers an important part of your life with God? Spend time thinking about motivation and desire. If you have avoided worshiping in community, talk with God about the reasons why?


Spiritual Practice: Daily Review

Look back over your day as a way of discerning God’s presence in the midst of ordinary life, or as a way of glimpsing the ways God is being born in the midst of mess. Journal your insights each day.

reflections taken from Two Steps Forward: A Story of Persevering in Hope by Sharon Garlough Brown