Stories From Home: The Fish Bowl
We will be sharing a series of stories from the home gatherings taking place throughout the region. If you would like to get connected with one, visit https://www.thewellglobal.life/homegatherings
By Meredith Layton
The last two meetings (February) we have been focused on the love of the Father. I know, you’re thinking, well, that makes sense, it is the month of love. It’s funny how God does things like that when we didn’t plan for it. The interesting back story is that almost exactly a year ago (around Valentine’s Day) is when Scott and I knew that God was calling us to worship and pray on our property in an area Scott later named, “the fish bowl”. The year prior to that, it was the call to erect a cross at the edge of the property to begin to pray. Fast forwarding to what we are seeing God do in our home group, we are in awe. We started in January and we are already seeing such a beautiful tapestry of his love over the body of Christ, his bride, being woven. We haven’t even started meeting outside yet and the connections, freedom, and healing that we knew would begin to take place are beginning. Isaiah 61 calls us to “proclaim the good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow crowns of beauty instead of ashes and joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair, rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the devastated places, and renew the ruined cities. The Sovreign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
In our first meeting together in February, we discussed the history of the healing of a blind adopted daughter’s eyes by a prisoner as the true Valentine’s Day story. It gives a whole new twist to the day of LOVE. The Father’s love is a love that heals, sets prisoners free, that truly opens the eyes of the blind, and adopts us fully as sons and daughters into a loving family.
We talked about allowing that love to heal places that we may have kept hidden or not known we have had. We put on rose colored, heart shaped glasses to remind ourselves how God sees us and how we can view others through His glasses
Our meeting last night, followed up on the conversation of the Father’s love in the story of King David and his son, Absalom from Aimee Allen’s Sunday message (if you haven’t heard it, it’s excellent). The big takeaway for our group was the discussion around love and justice. How are we to respond in love when faced with injustice, betrayal, slander, hostility, anger, theft, etc? King David was a great earthly example. He lived in the space sandwiched between Saul and Absalom. David’s own father-in-law, Saul, tried to kill him and David had the opportunity to kill him, yet refused to do so out of honor for Saul’s anointing. Then, when David’s own son, Absalom, turned on him to kill him, he also extended mercy in that direction, though he did protect himself.
Wrapping up, our group is bonding around these conversations and prayers for each other about how to allow the Father’s love in us so fully that we have both the strength and the submission to not just love “like” Him, but to truly let His love flow through us to others.