Many times, I find myself running with my own ideas and my own agenda, resulting in anxiety and exhaustion. And, I discover, once again, I have lost sight that what we are doing is from God. It is then that I seek God, empty-handed and realizing I have nothing of my own to bring to Him, just my broken and empty heart. 

My question for you this Lent season is this: are there parts of your story you have never been able to share or confess? Certainly, opening your heart to God is the key, but God also uses his people to listen to our stories of pain, hurt, and even sin. It is in these confessions that we see powerful healing.  Jesus longs to meet you there.

Let us also choose to believe that we can change because Jesus really is alive to help us. Our perspective on ourselves, others, and life itself changes forever because of this resurrection hope.

Lent is a penitential season, a time to remind ourselves of the unpleasant truth: without God, we would only be curved in on ourselves and would be seeking to crush others in pursuit of our own gratification.  

A Christian is a person who has light to see what there needs to be less of and what there needs to be more of in his or her life.  This leads to a life of confession, in which you see your sins and your failings, and you keep bringing them under the blood of Christ.

As David wrote in the psalms, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him."

This Week in Native American News (2/16/18): Re-renaming Mountains and the State of Indian Nations

Often, we are battered and bruised by the wiles of the enemy. We are sifted and shaken. We start to wonder if our faith is real. We feel dry, alone, empty, and dejected. That is when we most need to be reassured of God's love through His Word and encouragement and by the prayers of others. We need to be reminded Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. We need to be able to repent and hear our sins are forgiven. We need the constant fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We need the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

We have read of the miracles Jesus performed and His amazing aptitude for theology and parables, but those are just more embellishments to the big story. Other men even died claiming to be the Messiah. 

But it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross for our sins, conquered death and the devil, and rose again. It is in his final acts on earth that we receive our true gift: forgiveness and life eternal.

1 John 4:21 tells us, “whoever loves God must also love his brother.” But that isn’t what Native peoples were taught. The boarding school experience, that resulted in rampant historic trauma, addiction, and social suffering, seems an odd way to say, “I love you, brother.”