The GT Weekend! ~ Wilderness Week 1

The GT Weekend!
At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!
Worship Through Journaling
Worship Through Journaling
1) We began our Journey Into Wilderness with an easily forgotten Old Testament wanderer, Cain. Perhaps you’ve never read his story, or maybe you only think of him as the murderer who jealously killed his own brother. Maybe, like me, you’ve never considered how your wilderness may have reflections of Cain’s wanderings. Remembering that every story in the whole of Scripture is meant to point toward the grander narrative of the Lord Jesus’ rescue for sinners and His magnificent love for them, how can you see God’s gracious love toward both Cain and Abel? (read their full story in Genesis 4) We may want to excuse ourselves from the wrecking shame and damage of sin, by claiming we’ve never done “that”, where “that” is our “unthinkable deed”. In doing this, however, we easily gloss over our other sins. None of us can be excused from the deadly price tag of sin. All sin breaks relationship, no matter how large or small. As you reflect on Cain’s story this weekend, ask the Lord to convict you of sin. Then take the next step and bravely confess that sin to another fellow believer and ask them to hold you accountable in not choosing that sin.
2) On Wednesday, Paula provided us with comparison between our lives and embroidery work. The backside is a seeming disarray of crisscrossed, zig-zagging threads jumbled, cut, and tied in a ridiculous maze. Only when flipping over the final product can we make out the lovely scene produced by the apparent tangling of threads. What scenes of your life feel, or have felt, chaotic, mismatched, and meaningless? As you reflect on these, what emotions are the strongest? Put names to them and think about the pains involved in those scenarios. Considering Job’s losses in the areas of health, friendships, wealth, respect, and family, which ones most closely connect with your story? Job’s pain ran deeper than he ever anticipated, as evidenced by his desire for death and his wish to have never been born. Still, he refused to curse God, and insisted the Lord was sovereign and good. What truths will you adamantly cling to as you re-frame your wilderness season? Are these truths reliable? How do you know? Spend time in this weekend reading Job 38-42 and glean stabilizing truths!
3) “If I become a Christian, my life should be easy, successful, and enjoyable.” This is an easy misconception to fall into, but we only need to briefly read Scripture to understand that belief system isn’t supported by biblical teaching. If Christ Jesus, as God the Son, entered the Wilderness, was persecuted, threatened, disowned, mocked, ridiculed, and torturously killed, why would His followers expect to be treated royally with a life of ease? Why would anyone decide to commit their lives to following this kind of Savior? Have you asked yourself this question? Amazingly, our reasons for why we follow are layered into Jesus’ wilderness experience. He holds all authority. Though He took on human flesh, and chose humanity, He still retained His deity. At any point during His wilderness Jesus could have ended Satan’s attacks and sent him packing. But He didn’t. He chose suffering again and again, so He could be our personal Savior. The God who holds all authority also loves with empathetic compassion having lived humanity like us, but was without sin, unlike us. In incredible love, He did what we could not accomplish on our own, and He holds out this gift freely for all. Yes, following this Savior is worth everything.
Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Job 23:10-12 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!
Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept to His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commands from His lips; I have treasured the words from His mouth more than my daily food.
Prayer Journal
Lord Jesus, I am a mess. My heart loves myself. My circumstances are a swirling mess of puzzle pieces. I get lost in alternating waves of doubt and trust for You. My faith is weak. This pressing on all sides wears me thin. Still, in all of this, Your Word says I am known. My ways are known by You. My brokenness, my weariness, my doubts, fears, and desperate places as I wander this wilderness are all known by You. Lord, my God, my only Hope in life or death, You promise to bring me forth through all of this as pure gold. Lord, what a breathtaking wonder! What an astounding, attentive, loving Sovereign! My Jesus, remind me of this truth when I’m tempted to only fix my attention on my surroundings. You are worthy of my constant praise! May my heart learn to worship and trust You alone in this process of refinement!
Worship Through Community
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Worship Through Prayer
