Before heading to church, our devotional time was spent reading and reflect on a portion of Max Lucado's "Traveling Light", the Burden of Discontent. We discussed the importance of developing spirits of contentment as Christians and sharing ways we each felt God calling us to allow Him to free us from areas of discontentment and envy in our lives. Together, we pondered how choosing to live with greater contentment in God could help us:
1. Delight in the gifts He's already given each of us more fully.
2. Grow in our generosity and our willingness to share both our material resources and our kindness with others according to their needs more freely.
After sharing a meal with several people experiencing homelessness we met near our hotel last night as we shared in our blog post from yesterday, these ideas felt particularly impactful. We invite you to reflect on them with us and see how God might be speaking to your heart through them as well.
Once we arrived at Hopeville, our team assisted in preparing for and cleaning up after their church service. We participated in the weeks Wins and Prayer requests with Hopeville right before service. Hopeville's clear passion for God and their humble-yet-exceptional love for people made quite an impression on us. We especially appreciated the following points of our time with Hopeville:
1. We found Hopeville's members remarkably welcoming, loving, supportive, and full of faith and hope.
2. Recalling how God speaks of His heart for unity among people of all walks or life throughout Scripture, it encouraged us to see the diversity of Hopeville's members and their heart to worship as one.
3. Hopeville clearly has a heart to bless the community, making $10 donations to the Stadium School for any first-time guests who'd record their attendance and offering sign language classes to attendees so that they could better connect with people with hearing impairments locally.
4. So many of Hopeville's members showed beautifully generous spirits, and we found it notably sweet how they gifted all first-time guests-- including each of us on our team-- with a sizeable bag of Fisher's Popcorn (perhaps particularly as Marylanders).
Carl, Hopeville's student pastor, preached this week's sermon on Psalm 119:45-47 as part of a sermon series their church has been doing on the book of Psalms, and he reflected on how the Psalm can teach us three main points: (1) the nature of God's character, (2) how can we be in relationship with God and one another, and (3) the importance and benefits of spending time in God's word. He also encouraged us to find ways to make time for God through our everyday lives.
Once we finished our time at Hopeville, we returned to Mountain and concluded our trip. Before we parted ways, we prayed God would help us grow in our contentment in Him, care for others, and our sense of both His love for us and willingness to share His love with others as He'd lead us.
We thank Him for such a rich time in countless ways!
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