Redemption Groups - Week 5: Psalms

Part of the redemption group process is writing a personal psalm. The leaders have encouraged us work on this from the beginning of Redemption Groups. Writing my psalm was a pretty neat opportunity to express back to God the revelation and conviction He has provided over the past few weeks. And I had plenty to write about and rejoice in.After the time of teaching we broke into groups, and, as usual, I was surprised to see how much I share in common with the other participants, how similar our sins and our responses to sin are. I consistently find myself thinking “well I do that too” and looking up to see the other participants nod in agreement. It really got me thinking about how big God really is. In a room of 7 people we all, at some point, have neglected Him or rejected Him. He has shouldered more betrayal than I could ever imagine and at the hands of people who profess to love him, including myself. What is amazing is the fact that Christ still never turns away. He chose me anyway and will abandon me never. It’s incredible.  And in the midst of all of this I saw my personal psalm mirroring the confessions of another group member. After I read my psalm aloud I felt really humbled to know that the God of the Universe used me, in spite of me. It reminded me of Genesis 50:20 where God turns evil intentions into good. He revealed to me the wicked pride in my heart, gave me words to express my repentance, and used those words to comfort one of his other children.It’s incredible; He is incredible.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