Transitions

Alright, well, our scripture reading today can be found in Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 1 through 9.

If you don't have a Bible with you, you have those few Bibles right in front of you.

As a matter of fact, if you don't have a Bible, feel free to take that as your own, bring it home, and that's our gift to you.

But we'll be reading Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 through 9.

Joshua 1:1–9

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore arise.

Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you or forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may go and have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that was written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Today we have the pleasure of having our message brought to us by Neil Closter.

Am I saying that right?

Neil, come on up here.

We're glad to welcome Neil.

He has served at churches as far as Iowa and California, and most recently in Fargo.

Um he's a family man, and we're blessed to have him with us today.

And I'll let you take over from here, all right?

All right, sounds good.

Ladies and gentlemen, Neil.

Thanks, Greg.

Just a smattering of applause.

That's impressive.

Well, um, the road between Fargo and uh Grand Forks has become familiar this week.

My son is a freshman at Cheyenne High School in West Fargo, and uh let's see, Tuesday night we played uh Red River, Wednesday night or Thursday night we played Central.

So if we've been up and down that road three times now in this week, so it's good to be back.

And last time I was here, it's been a couple years since I've been up here at Faith, and uh happy to have the opportunity to be back again.

Of course, a lot has changed in two years, not just in my life, but your lives as well, I imagine.

Some of you perhaps are new to faith in the last two years, some of you are perhaps new to North Dakota in the last few years, some from who knows where, to up here into the Northland, right?

So life is filled with transitions.

And last time I was here, I was the pastor of student ministries at Bethel Church in Fargo.

And uh in September of last year, I resigned from that role and began a journey that I find myself on today.

It's not really the journey I imagined it would be on, but of course, ministry has never been the journey I imagined it would be on.

Back in 1995, I had my first youth ministry position in Boone, Iowa.

And uh it was a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.

I went there right after college, and it was a small country church.

I'd interned at a large church in Omaha, a church of 2500, and then went to a church of 250 people, seven miles from any of the towns.

And that was a huge transition, as I suppose you can imagine, just the difference between a city church and a country church.

2,500 and 250.

And after serving there a few years, I went off to seminary, and after seminary, I went to California from the Midwest.

I grew up in Nebraska, graduated high school in Iowa, knew nothing but the Midwest, and then I was called to California, the land of fruits and nuts.

And was in Morgan Hill, California for five years.

And it was there that, you know, I vividly remember, you know, you think of those Burning Bush moments in your lives, and there was a Burning Bush moment while I was there where I'd gone to a beach.

I was actually in youth ministry then, and I'd gone to, it's called Sunset Cliffs down in San Diego.

Our students were visiting, or I was visiting down there considering a uh conference that we would send our students to to teach them how to share their faith.

And so I was visiting that, and I went out to a place called Sunset Cliffs.

I later came to know because I ended up there too.

But there was this cliff that wrapped around, and and from the parking lot, it wrapped around across the ocean.

And my in my mind, I was younger then, I imagined jumping to the cliff on the other side.

Even then, I know I couldn't have cleared it, so I had enough sense not to do it, but I imagined making that leap.

And I thought, wouldn't that be cool?

And then that night, as I was sitting in the chapel listening to the speaker, he said these words, and I still remember, God is calling you to jump.

And instantly that cliff came to my mind.

So I went out and I jumped and I fell sh- No, that didn't happen, but but I I knew that God was calling me to jump.

I didn't know in, out, over what God was calling me to jump to, but in time, as I returned back to Morgan Hill and the church there, soon after discovered, as the pastor revealed, that he was moving to a church down in Southern California in Carlsbad.

And again, God brought me to this position, in, over, out, up.

And Pastor Charlie, he was a senior pastor of Morgan Hill, asked me that day to come into his office and he asked me, would you consider being the interim pastor when I leave?

At that point, it's really not that many years ago, but at that point I felt like if I crossed that bridge into a senior pastor interim, then there was no going back to youth ministry, and I felt like God hadn't released me yet.

So at that point I said no.

And of all the decisions I think that I've ever made in ministry, there's that one that I said, what if I had actually taken that position?

Well, don't get me wrong, I've certainly enjoyed the journey that God has had me on and have no doubt that this is the path that He He led me to, but it was a really good ministry in Morgan Hill.

And so still I told him no.

And so he left the church, and then a short time after I jumped and went to a church in San Diego.

I know, suffering for Jesus.

And uh was there for five years, and then 2008 hit, and with that came the economic crunch, and the church was forced into some financial decisions, some hard financial decisions, and I was asked for my resignation because we had to make cutbacks.

And so God, in his sense of humor, well, for eight months I worked as a service tech with a medical, my brother's company, uh servicing tech um surgical equipment, lights, tables, sterilizers, things like that.

And uh eight months later, and that was in Omaha, so I came back to Omaha and then eventually God called me to Fargo.

They told me it was just like San Diego.

They lied.

And then I served there for three years, and again God said it's time for another transition.

And so here we are on this journey.

Nearly a year and a half after that moment, and I'm sitting there, okay, God, where is this journey taking me?

And we've all had those places where we imagine our lives will take us.

In fact, what's the Proverbs say?

We all know in Proverbs 69, we make our own plans, but God directs our paths.

And those are minor transitions.

A year ago, on February 12th, I opened my Facebook account.

And there in my Facebook account was a word from a student.

The student is the son of the pastor in Morgan Hill.

It was because I was uh a teaching assistant while I was in seminary, and the student was in a class and his he introduced me to his dad that got me to Morgan Hill.

And on his Facebook post a year ago on February 12th, it says, I'm sorry to say my dad has passed away.

He was 60 years old.

The week before he had played 18 holes of golf.

A very healthy man, but he contracted H1N1.

And a week later had passed away.

And I thought, I I hadn't seen any of the previous posts.

I'm like, really?

No, I must have read that wrong, but it was true, he had passed away.

And that's much more difficult transition, isn't it?

And whether it's a job change, location change, career change, the death of a loved one, we all go through transitions.

And they're hard.

I don't care.

You know, some sometimes they're very optimistic, but they're always very hard.

You can ask my wife, she'll tell you because, you know, because then you gotta find it, somebody, a new hairdresser, a new dentist, a new doc, you know, all these things that come with the transition, and that can be very difficult.

And those are just the minor pains, but transition can be very hard.

And that's what I want to talk about this morning is the reality of transition.

And we're gonna look at Joshua chapter one as we consider that.

And the first truth this morning is this God has been preparing you.

When you encounter transition, you need to know this.

God has been preparing you.

As we turn to Joshua in chapter one, and we read it just a second ago, it says this after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of none, Moses is a now, maybe it's the American thing, I don't know.

But when I grew up, I remember stories about once upon a time, or in the beginning, and there was always this optimistic hope that was out there.

But in this story, this book of Joshua that we have in the Bible, what's it start with?

After the death of Moses.

I'm like, come on, is this really how you want to start a book?

I mean, it's not really kind of going turn to like like a page turner.

It's not thrilling, it's not adventurous, it's not hopeful, it's death.

And yet, this is how, in God's sovereignty, he chose to start this book.

And I've always found it rather interesting, but then you have to consider what is the, you know, it follows after Deuteronomy.

And as you look back at the previous life of Moses, you begin to understand a few things, put a few things together.

Because this ending is not just an ending, but this ending is actually a beginning.

God had promised to take Israel into a land flowing with milk and honey.

The land of Canaan, right?

But because of the sin of the nation of Israel, they were left wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

After Moses had sent twelve spies, you'll remember he sent the twelve spies into the land.

Ten of them came back, and they came back with a negative report, but there were two who came back with a positive report and says, God has given us this land.

And those two people were who?

Joshua and Caleb.

And because of the people's, the Israelites' willingness to pursue or to run in fear and pursue the tins report instead of the twos, and trust God's faithfulness, they were left to wander in the wilderness.

And so for 40 years they would wander.

And with this moment now in sight, now Moses is dead.

Well, there's another piece in there we have to talk about before we get to why this is so significant.

Because in the book of Numbers we learn that Moses, because he failed to uphold God's holiness, was also left out of the promised land.

Moses had struck a rock instead of speaking to the rock.

That seems silly, just out of context, doesn't it?

But here's what had happened.

Not that this was such a strange thing in and of itself, but previously in Numbers, God had told Moses, he said, strike this rock and water will flow out, because the people were grumbling, if you recall.

And so through that action, they provided water.

But then a little bit later, the grumbling rises again.

And this time, as they're grumbling, what happens is God tells Moses something different.

He doesn't say strike the rock, he says, speak to the rock, and water will come.

But Moses was used to the way things had been.

This is the way we've always done it.

You know, remember last time the success we had and how we were able to take care of all these people?

So he relied on that which he knew and he struck the rock.

Instead of choosing to show God's holiness, he depended on what had always been.

He tried a proven method, striking the rock.

And he relied on past experience, but God said, Don't strike it, speak to it.

And as a result, Moses' disobedience to God resulted in him being left out of the promise.

He says, God says to Moses, Because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites, you will see the land only from a distance.

You will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.

And now we turn to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Moses, God's servant, is dead.

And what that means for the Israelites is that the generation who was left in the wilderness to wander has all passed away.

The leader who had struck the rock rather than speaking to the rock has now passed away.

And now they're ready for the next phase of entering into the land.

The promised land that they had been promised when they left out of slavery was now theirs to be taken.

God had been preparing these people for this transition.

There had been a spy named Joshua who knew the land.

In this place, it's interesting too, I think, if you look here.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aid.

Maybe your verse says Moses' servant.

This was who he was, this was his identity.

Because over the years he had been Moses' right-hand man.

The title servant of the Lord, or Moses was known as the servant of the Lord, but Joshua was known as a servant of Moses.

This close proximity since the time of the Exodus gave him a special perspective on things.

At one point in Exodus 24, we read that Joshua accompanied Moses to the top of Mount Sinai where Moses received the law.

At another place, Joshua had been placed in charge of the Israelite army in the battle with the Amalekites, and because he had spied out the land, he was well acquainted with what lied ahead.

And in Numbers 27, we see that Joshua, even before the death of Moses, was commissioned to be the one who would lead the Israelites into the promised land.

You see, all along God had been preparing Joshua for this moment.

God had been constantly at work behind the scenes to help him to know the place, the people, and the processes that needed to happen for him to overtake this land.

And for the Israelites, what seemed like an ending was in fact a new beginning.

It was an opportunity now to realize the promise that had been made 40 years previous.

You know, here's kind of the thing with the American way is 40 years is way too long to wait, isn't it?

We are not a crock pot bunch.

Well, maybe on Sunday mornings we are because it's sitting at home and it's easier to put something in the crock pot and it's there when you get home.

But typically we like microwaves, right?

We like things quick.

Now, last Easter, I think it was last Easter, my stepdad bought me a um Traeger smoker grill.

Anybody in here have a Traeger Smoker grill?

Well, anybody have a smoker?

Smoking takes time, right?

My uh father-in-law got a Traeger smoker last Christmas.

Uh and um here was the thing is he hates it because it's too much work, it takes too much time.

It's like, I can't ever get anything cooked on there.

Where well you have to take, you have to smoke it, you have to, there's a time when you can turn it up and grill it, but smoking takes time.

He couldn't understand why his ribs were so tough because he tried to cook them in just a few hours instead of low and slow, right?

This is the way we are.

40 years later is a promise, and by then we're all checked out.

But God had been preparing this people for 40 years, and now we come to this place that Moses is dead, and we need to remember that God is watching you and God is watching me, God was watching Joshua, God was watching those people, and he knew the moment.

And when transitions come, we need to be mindful that God has got something bigger than just a quick fix in place.

He has a bigger picture in mind, and for this it was entering in to take the promised land.

Second truth is this there is a promised land ahead.

Don't lose sight of that.

That's very important because they had been wandering in a wilderness, eating manna and some quail and a few things here and there that God provided.

But their life was, you know, remember at one point they said, no, let's go back to Egypt.

At least there we had food to eat.

They forget that they were in slavery, but now they're ready to enter into the promised land.

And in verses 2 through 4, it says this Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now then you and all these people, get ready.

You hear that anticipation?

I think it's really there.

Get ready.

Are you ready?

Get ready because you are about to cross the Jordan into the land I am about to give you to the Israelites.

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I have promised to Moses.

There's this anticipation of the promised land ahead.

This is what we have been waiting for for 40 years, and now here it is, our chance to enter into that promised land.

It's important to remember that this wasn't about just Joshua.

God hadn't been just preparing an individual, Joshua.

And we like to do that in our own lives too, says, oh, it's about me.

I can be a Joshua.

But Joshua, this moment's not about Joshua, but about the promise that God had made to the Israelites and they were about to enter in.

It's not simply about realizing one's potential, it's about realizing God's promises.

See, God is not a God who plays hide and seek.

We kind of think he's hidden in a fog bank sometimes, and we're not certain what to do, where to go, how we're going to get there.

And there are plenty of times when we sit there and wondering and wonder, God, what are you doing?

I know I have for the last year and a half saying, God, I don't understand, but where is it you're taking me?

What is it we're doing?

For the Israelites, the what and when was easy.

Enter the promised land, do it now.

Now, the how was going to be very difficult, wasn't it?

There were giants in the land, you'll recall.

They would have to march around walls, they would have to engage, you know, get some people.

Well, some of them would have to be circumcised, they would circumcise others.

There would be wars, full-on battles.

It wasn't going to be easy to enter the promised land, but the promised land was guaranteed to be theirs.

The how-to's may change from circumstance to circumstance, but the promise will come true.

The promise was a land flowing with milk and honey.

Wait a minute.

Wait.

There's wars and battles and walls.

And we want that instant gratification.

But here's the thing is there may be some battles to fight.

But how do you engage in those battles?

Is you've got to keep in mind the vision that God had put there.

A land flowing with milk and honey.

The vision was that they would all, for us, is we will all be made new, right?

This world that is around us in Revelation is told that there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

There will be no more sin.

There will be no more death.

There will be no more tears, no more crying.

And that's the vision, the hope that we have through for have for us.

In Hebrews, you will remember that faith is assurance of things what?

Hope for.

The promise of things not yet seen.

And for the Israelites going into this promised land, there was hope because they knew the potential that was there.

It wasn't a realized potential, but it laid before them.

There was a promise yet before them.

There was a promise yet before us of the full realization.

Of God's promises to us.

But even in that, we have the reality today that there is a peace that comes because he walks with us.

You know, Paul says in Philippians, I have not yet attained it, but I press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

It's this idea of straining forward, pressing ahead.

It's not guaranteed to be an easy, you know, go lucky life.

It's a battle, a war, the Bible paints for us, but there's this promise.

In fact, Jesus says, in this world you will what?

Have much trouble.

But in the end, we know that there is a better place.

We know that there is a promise that lies before us.

Now, of course, I can imagine for the Israelites at this moment.

Moses is dead, and here stands Joshua, and they've encountered Joshua before.

But there are certainly a few that are saying, I just can't imagine life without Moses.

He's led us so far.

He's taken us this far.

And now, who's this new guy?

How will we ever move forward without him?

Moving forward is hard, especially when we focus on our loss instead of the vision ahead.

When we encounter transition, it's easy to get stuck on the loss that we've experienced instead of willing to move ahead into the promised land that God has before us.

And here's my challenge in this portion is that we need to lean forward into God's promises instead of falling back into the way things were.

In fact, we do realize throughout the rest of the book of Joshua, there are times when, well, you can't do this like Moses did.

You got, in fact, it says in Joshua later on in chapter one that says, We will follow you only if God is with you, just as he was with his servant Moses.

In other words, prove it, Joshua.

Unfortunately, God does.

He splits the Jordan for him.

Kind of a reminiscent event that turns back to when Moses split the Red Sea.

So God proved himself faithful.

And we begin to see this unfold in the third truth, and that's this God is with you.

In John chapter 1, or in Joshua chapter 1, verse 33 through 5.

John 1 · chapter mention

You know, I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country to the great sea on the west.

No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Can you imagine the challenges that Joshua faced?

They were no small challenges, but there's the promise that remains.

I am with you.

People may say, well, you're no Moses.

You don't do it the way we've done it in the past.

But the key is it's not about Joshua, it's about God.

And God is still with the people of Israel and their leader now, Joshua.

You know, it's interesting how a lot of times we want things to be like they were.

Remember the good old days?

You know, back when we were a Christian nation and morals were taught in school.

And we knew the right things to do when we did the right things to do.

You know, back in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s.

What we forget sometimes is at that same period there was some of the greatest bigotry, sexism, uh, discrimination in our nation's history.

Take a bigger picture.

You know, the United States has been around for approximately 239 years as a nation.

Christianity has been around for almost 2,000 years since Christ has died.

And we got this little glimpse of the American way, and we say, why can't things be like they were back 20, 30 years ago?

The bigger picture is Christianity is not just this one little piece, it's so much bigger.

And that's our fourth truth, is there's a bigger story than this one that we're caught up in.

See, in Joshua chapter 1, 6, it says, be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

It's not, this isn't for you.

This is what I swore to your forefathers.

It's for generations that are experienced the fulfillment now.

This is something so much bigger than just you.

Our faith is so much bigger than the American faith that we have right now.

It's part of a story that goes back to the beginning of time.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And we know that in the beginning, God created sin came into the world.

Because of sin, we were separated.

In the end, we will be fully redeemed when Christ comes down again.

We establish, God establishes a new heaven and new earth, and then there will be full redemption.

We're part of this big story, and this world wants to say everybody has their own little story.

That's great, but those stories, each of his stories, fit into his story.

We're part of something bigger than ourselves.

We need to put things into perspective.

We're part of this grand story.

It starts within the beginning, ends with, amen, come, Lord Jesus.

When we face transitions, it's just one small piece and a greater picture, in a greater story.

This transition of Moses' death, and now the people entering into the land of promise was not just a moment in time, but part of a promise that had been made to the forefathers.

In fact, later, as they crossed the Jordan River, what did they do?

They take up some big stones and they put them down and they take 12 stones and they erect them, creating an altar.

And these are called stones of remembrance.

Why?

So when people see it, their children see it, and the generations to come see it, they can say, this is the day that God took us across the Jordan.

So it's not just generations past, but generations yet to come that the story needs to be a part of.

You see, God gives us and gave them a vision for something so much bigger than themselves.

When we encounter transition, we've got to be part seeing the big picture that God has for us.

The fifth truth is this: God calls you and me to move.

In Joshua chapter 1, verses 7 through 9, it says, Be strong, be very courageous.

Joshua 1:7–9

Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth.

Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

In times of transition, it's easy to become terrified.

It's easy to become discouraged.

We can be overwhelmed by loss and by change.

But God says this be strong and courageous.

And he doesn't just say it once, does he?

It's like, get this through your head, be strong and courageous.

This is hard, I know, and it's scary, I know, and it's easy to get discouraged, I know.

You think God is just making up these ideas about being, you know, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged?

No, he's addressing the real feelings of Joshua in this moment because I guarantee you that Joshua is both afraid and discouraged.

It doesn't tell us really why.

We can speculate.

Obviously, he's seen the giants in the land, yet he came back with the report and says, No, I have no, God will take care of them, right?

So I don't think it's even the fears of what's in the land.

I think his fear is the fear of the mantle of leadership that's put on his shoulders in this moment.

The discouragement that comes is as naysayers may say, you've never done it this way.

Moses never did it this way.

And wondering why can't it be like it was?

But he says to them, God says to Joshua, be strong and courageous.

The source of courage is not this internal, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

You know that story of the little engine that could?

I think I can't, it's a lie.

You can't.

But God can.

Our source of strength does not come from within and trying to have the power of positive thinking.

Our source of strength comes without, keeping our eyes focused on God.

Our courage comes from God, our strength comes from God.

We need to turn to Him in the midst of these times.

I am always with you, He says.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Matthew 28.

You will make disciples, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And what's he say?

And I will be with you always.

See, we are we're not in this alone.

God calls us to move, but not to move by ourselves.

God calls us to move, but with him at our sides.

The message of hope that has been passed down to us from generation to generation that impacts the lives of those who have come before, that I pray will impact the lives of those who come after us, is a message that God has empowered us to share.

Those transitions that we experience today in our lives are part of the story that God will use as his testimony of faithfulness.

If you do look back, look back to the moments where God has established those stones of remembrance in your life.

Oh, I remember when God did this, I remember when God did that.

Let me tell you about the time that God did this and the transitions that you experience now will be a story for later that you say, remember that time of transition, that time of change, that time of loss.

God showed up.

He's been faithful in the past, he will be faithful in the future.

I just want to look at one last verse here in Joshua.

And it's Joshua chapter 24, verse 29.

Joshua 24:29

After these things, getting to the end of the book of Joshua, after these things, Joshua, son of Nud, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.

Just as the book begins, the book ends with death.

In the beginning of the book, Moses, God's servant, is dead.

Transitions are a part of our lives.

And they always will be.

And we have a choice to make.

Will we lean forward into those transitions and trust God to take us forward into the promised land?

Throughout Joshua's life, the most common title that he had was this Moses' aid, Moses' servant.

And now at the end of his life, if you look in that verse, what's it say?

Joshua, son of none, the servant of the Lord.

It's his identity has been changed.

He's no longer the servant of Moses.

He is the servant of the Lord.

The way we respond to the transitions in our lives, when we own the calling of God that He's placed on our lives, we no longer become the servant of man, we become the servant of the Lord.

Joshua could have frozen in fear and discouragement at the death of Moses.

If he had, perhaps his identity may have never been more than Moses' aid.

Instead, he trusted God and he moved forward.

Here's what God is calling us to do is to move forward in our transition.

It may be a career change, it may be a life situation, it may be the loss of a loved one.

And we want to remember the good things that God has done, but we don't want to settle there.

We want to move forward to what God has called us all to next.

Each of us has a story that's unfolding into God's greater story.

Live it out.

Be strong and be courageous.

Can we pray?

God in heaven, we thank you that we're not in this thing alone, trying to figure it out, trying to make our way, because we know that you're there with us.

And there may be times when things aren't clear.

When it seems that you're hidden, but we know, Lord, that the reality is this, that you're still there, you still care, you still have a story that's being written, one that's greater than ourselves.

May our lives be a testimony to those who come.

May we be a continuing testimony to the promises you've made to our forefathers of your grace and goodness in our lives.

May we lean forward into what you have for us instead of falling back into what was, falling back into fear and discouragement.

Let us trust in you and be strong and courageous.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.