“All the lonely people, where do they all come from?”
This is a line from an old song which points out that every person on earth is broken. There may be different levels of brokenness, but broken just the same. Here are a few examples:
A wife left to fend for her two kids recently heard that her estranged husband is siring a child with another woman.
A middle child is hurting because she can’t seem to please her parents no matter how good she performs.
A young man is reeling from the effects of cyber-bullying.
A young woman never saw her real father and was abandoned by her mother at a young age.
A young woman who is struggling to forgive herself.
These are real people with varying degrees of hurts. The pain is real. It cannot be erased, or so we think. Thank God that He desires to heal us. He wants us to realize that Jesus’ death on the cross was intended to restore, to heal, and to mend everything that is broken. With Jesus, there is a change so great that the past becomes unrecognizable.
After the 2-day Encounter God Retreat, almost all of the participants could not wait to stand up and testify about the breakthrough that they have experienced when they allowed God to move in their lives. The once bitter tears were replaced by joyful ones. “Everything started to make sense,” shared Daryl, one of the participants.
The most striking revelation for them was the truth that they are already forgiven. Because of that, it became easy for them to forgive and let go of all the hurts, pain, and bitterness that had taken root in their hearts.
Anyone who encounters God will never be the same again.
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| Tim Warden never tires of sharing the love of Jesus to those who have yet to hear about it. |
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| Sweetly broken |
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| His presence was palpable. There was not a dry eye in the room. |
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| Jesus’ victory over death and sin will forever be celebrated. It is finished! |
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| This batch of Encounter participants will never be the same again. |