Miriam Thurlow writes

Part of living the Jesus way is about developing our sense of defined belonging, and on Sunday I shared a bit about how an important part of belonging is knowing your story. Not just growing in self-awareness (although this is good too) but knowing the bigger story of God’s great love. And knowing that it isn’t just the story of some people, but that we can all say ‘this is my story’ because we each have a role to play in it.

Knowing this bigger story we are a part of as God’s children is a part of belonging because we know who we are and whose we are. This shared sense of belonging in God’s family is our starting point for building relationships. It’s not about trading or comparing stories to see how different we are, or even how similar we are, but delighting in being a part of the same big story of being loved by God.

God’s great love story with His people is our story, our shared story, which helps us know we belong to God’s family and belong to each other. And knowing we belong is only the start, we are called to show others they can belong too, that it can be their story as well, not just ours.

Let’s be confident in knowing God’s story is our story. Let’s be bold in sharing our story with others. Let’s be generous in how we welcome people and show them God’s great love story could also be their story

Miriam