Redemption Groups - Week 2: In Our Suffering God Is Near

Last week after we told our stories, we were warned that this week we were going to switch gears, pick up shovels and start digging. Scary, huh?Despite the change in objective (the digging), I was looking forward to the group time, since I was a little more familiar with the girls and the format. I thought all week about things to say and bring up. I wanted to talk about how hard it was to remember things I have been trying to forget and to constantly recall the gospel that I am prone to forget. I stored up a lot of juicy introspection for the group. On a side note, I wish I would not of done that. In my effort to save up things for the group time I neglected to let my city group or my friends know what was going on in my life. In doing that, I did not love them well, and I wasn’t allowing them to love me or serve me. I budgeted my burdens instead of surrendering them.The topic of discussion this week was God’s nearness in our suffering. We began with a couple songs, then the teaching, and then we broke up into groups. In our group time we discussed our sufferings and where we saw God in those awful times. And frankly, this week I left frustrated.  A few of us discussed how our view of God affected our worship and our response to Him. It was frustrating for me because there wasn’t any immediate resolution. It’s messy. It was frustrating for me because we each had a different view of who God is, even though He is only one way.  It was frustrating for me because we are all fighting to get to a place where we believe that God is who he says He is. So I left frustrated, went to bed frustrated, talked to God frustrated, and I woke up grateful.I am so very grateful that who God is, his unchanging character, is not dependent on my understanding of who he is.Ultimately, the purpose of this blog is to bring glory to the God for the good work He is/will be doing in me and others (Psalm 107).  This blog will do that by broadly sharing my thoughts and feelings about the entire process each week, with no identifying information about others or myself.  The hope is that it will help inform others of what to expect and calm their nerves about actually going through redemption groups themselves.For more information on Redemption Groups go here.