Let the Redeemed of the Lord tell their story

Hello Refuge Family,
What a week it’s been! I know that many of us have been inconvenienced (to put it mildly) and probably felt a lot of anxiety and uncertainty this last week. But now looking back and hearing the stats about how everything went down, we have a lot to be thankful for. Starting with the way everything was handled by our local government and first responders, to those who opened their homes and shared their tables, to the sparing of thousands of homes and lives!

It reminds me of some of the circumstance in Psalm 107. It's a Psalm of testimony. It’s a retelling of all the ways and different circumstances that the LORD redeemed his people. “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.”(NIV)

Another translation puts it this way:

"Say thank you to the Lord for being so good, for always being so loving and kind. Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.” (The Living Bible)

Each story ends with this eruption of praise, "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind." Consider the events of these past two weeks, I think the most appropriate thing for us to do as a church is not to just jump back into life and back into our teaching series. Rather, we ought to pause and collectively say thank you to the LORD for his mercy and kindness, for his unfailing love. Thank him for sparing our city, Thank him for sparing lives.

This Sunday we invite you to join your church family in a time of praise, worship, prayer, and sharing of scripture. Come share a verse or Psalm of thanksgiving and praise! Maybe something that you’ve been meditating on that has kept you thankful and grounded in the Lord. Come tell your story of how God has delivered you and give thanks to his name!

- Char (on behalf of the elder team)