God equips all of us with a variety of gifts and talents, skills and abilities, starting at birth and continuing through our lives. When our spirits are truly in tune with God’s Spirit, God gives us the provisions necessary to fulfill God’s call on our lives – individually and corporately. God wants to use us – to be co-workers with us – to share the Good News of God’s love with more and more of our community.

Today’s Scripture readings revolve around the theme of how God rescues us and to what God rescues us. Think about how God has rescued you in the past and what you may need God to rescue you from today. Through our faith, we are rescued from feeling hopeless… We are rescued from being helpless… And we are rescued into God’s waiting, comforting, healing, and guiding arms.

All of today’s verses talk about different ways that God is present in our lives starting before we are even born (Isaiah 46:3-4). God is so “present” that Jesus says God knows exactly “what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Your homework this week is to actively look for hints of God’s presence in your life. the more we can sense God’s presence, the more we can give thanks for it and share it.

This week’s theme is You Are Embraced. Our verses speak of affection, a concern, a bond that many parents will tell you they never understood until they had children of their own. They speak about God’s endless and infatuating love for us. This week we see how God is present with us in every facet of our lives, with every step we take, with every breath we breathe. We hear how God loves us more perfectly than even the best human parent. That is good news indeed!

The space in your mind and in your soul is precious. There is nothing more precious, nothing more valuable than God’s Spirit within us. Let’s all spend a little time reviewing our physical, emotional, and spiritual inventories so that we can separate our baggage from our luggage and free up some space for God to pour His priceless wisdom, grace, mercy, and peace into us. In doing so, we’ll make room for the Kingdom of God both in us and around us!

Know that you – each one of you – are more beautiful and more diverse than all the flowers in the world. You are all precious creations of an infinitely loving and insanely creative God. Repeat after me: I am a unique and precious child of the Living God created in God’s loving image. Step into each day knowing that you are special, you are unique, and you are loved.

Every day is an opportunity for us to demonstrate – through our words and actions, through how we live our lives – to the people around us how good the Good News of God’s love is.
Today’s Scripture reading tells us that we can trust God to show us how we can share God’s love with ourselves and with others. Every morning this week, start your day with this simple prayer: “Lord, show me an opportunity to share your love with someone and give me the courage to do so.”
That, friends, is how we’ll change the world!

This week we saw how Mary was able to move into her future with peace and confidence because she knew who she was and whose she was. Like Mary, God is calling all of us, each one of us, by name to be an active part in our community’s future. And we can do this with the confidence of knowing that nothing, including death, can separate us from God’s loving presence. And that is the Good News of Easter!

Today’s Scripture calls us into being participants with God in the lives of our family, friends, and our community. We must examine where and how we believe God is leading us to actively bring healing and “Kingdom of Heaven” moments to our communities. At times, this will be hard work, with obvious risks, and a complete dependence on God so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us.