Slideshow image

I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.

Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.

Psalm 139:13

This week I'm away at a course in which we are exploring how uniquely and wonderfully we are all made. I wish I could say that I've always believed this to be true about myself, but there have been times I've really struggled with this reality. I've felt, "If only I could be like that guy . . .," or "If only I had the talent of her . . ." that things would be better for me. Even when I've accepted how I'm wired, there are days that I wonder just how wonderful his works really are. I'm being reminded that our uniqueness really is wonderful and special. I'm being reminded that I'm healthiest and my contribution is greatest when I embrace my identity in the love Jesus freely gives me and pursue my contribution in ways that fit with how he has made me.

But this isn't just true for me.

For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body-so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, "Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body," in spite of this it still belongs to the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body," in spite of this it still belongs to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-20)

YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made. YOU are uniquely created and gifted to thrive. It is my desire that Covenant will be a place where everyone has the opportunity to discover and learn to live as the best possible version of themselves. I want YOU to live as the best possible version of who God created YOU to be!

Our efforts to help you do that take a number of different forms. We pray that our Sunday gatherings help to ground you in who God is and how he sees you. We long for our house churches to be a place where you can unpack what it means to live the way of Jesus well in the world. The Emotionally Healthy Course we've begun introducing is designed to help you work through some false messages from your past, to discover your identity as a deeply loved child of God, and to start you down the road of living in loving union with Jesus. We currently have four people at Covenant training as coaches who will be equipped to walk alongside individuals as they discern realities of life, both inside and outside the walls of the church. I am learning to walk people a deep assessment of how people are gifted and wired so that they know and embrace their own uniqueness more fully.

Because helping people discover their uniqueness often involves one on one or small group journeys with people, it will take time for all of these opportunities to be accessible to everyone at Covenant. But I believe they are important and worth pursuing because you are important. We will thrive together most fully when we each thrive in the ways God has uniquely wired and gifted us.

I am thankful for you. I am thankful for the uniqueness that God has formed in you. YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made!!