Feb. 25 – Claudia’s Story

Lent is a time to remember and reflect.  So we’ve asked a number of people to share their stories with us.  Today, we hear from Claudia Nauman, Chair of our Deacon team…

Paul and I arrived at Libertyville Covenant Church in 1991, both from denominations other than the Covenant. We knew no one nor anything about the Covenant, but we saw a loving group of people sharing life as a healthy Christian family. The following year we became members. I came to the Covenant as a Catholic, intimidated to be amidst those who loved and knew the Bible, for I knew next to nothing. Every Bible study that was offered at church I attended, and every opportunity to soak in more about our Triune God became a place for me to sit and learn. I am thankful that I found people in our church who were interested in walking the Christian walk, and I casually looked to a few of them to mentor me in the ways of the Bible. They taught me that disciplined studying and reading of the Bible is an expression of my love for God, and that He’s always there for me. They also taught me about prayer, both the simple act and the profound triune mystery attached to it.

In 1992 I began to read through the entire Bible for the very first time, and it was exciting but really hard.  I needed some sense of familiarity, one day while commuting downtown, and turned to one of the few OT passages I knew: Psalm 23 and across from it I spied Psalm 27, which spoke to my heart, and past hurts, and became my very first memory verse: The Lord is my light and salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? My being held that verse ever so closely, leaning on it to help me to break dependence on pains of the past and uncertainties of my future.

24 years later I know that verse, though I’m in a different time and a different space in life.  I’ve walked, ran, and at times hid  from my God of Psalm 27, but His promise to be my light, strength, and salvation has never changed. I, however, have. I’m His. Forever.

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Feb. 24 – A Cry for Deliverance

A Prayer of the Puritans: “A Cry for Deliverance”

Save me entirely from sin.
I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another,
but I pant and pine for likeness to Thyself.
I am Thy child and should bear Thy image,
Enable me to recognize my death unto sin;
When it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice.
Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin.
Grant me to walk as Christ walked,
to live in the newness of His life,
the life of love,
the life of faith,
the life of holiness.
I abhor my body of death, its indolence, envy, meanness, pride.
Forgive, and kill these vices,
have mercy on my unbelief,
on my corrupt and wandering heart.
When Thy blessings come I begin to idolize them,
and set my affection on some beloved object –
children, friends, wealth, honor;
Cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity;
close my heart to all but Thee.
Sin is my greatest curse;
Let Thy victory be apparent to my consciousness, and displayed in my life.
Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned,
childlike in my trust of Thee,
to love Thee with soul, body, mind, strength,
to love my fellow man as I love myself,
to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts,
slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners,
to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips.
Fill me with grace daily,
that my life be a fountain of sweet water.

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Feb. 23 – Bruce’s Story

Lent is a time to remember and reflect.  So we’ve asked a number of people to share their stories with us.  Today, we hear from Bruce Thorson, a member of our Deacon team…

I was raised in a Christian home – Christian in the sense that we went to church.  Christian in the sense that we said grace at meals. We believed in God.  But I’m not sure growing up that I ever really heard or at least understood the message of God’s love in a way that I could relate to personally.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I came into a personal relationship with Christ through the work of Campus Crusade for Christ. A friend of mine had come to faith and was meeting with the Crusade students and it seemed to me something was different about him. He had changed – and he had a new and hopeful outlook on life. A new joy in his heart. I met some of the other students in Crusade and they had the same thing.  They were different and I wanted what they had.  They told me in a way that I could relate to personally of God’s love and plan for my life. I surrendered to God’s love and asked Jesus into my heart.

It wasn’t long before I noticed a change in my own life and heart. A new quality of love and a desire to talk about God’s love to others.

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Feb. 22 – The Burden and Joy of Confession

Why is confession so hard for us?  Often we will sit for days, knowing that we need to confess but unwilling to do it. At other times, we will go for years pretending that all is fine rather than take that step of confessing to another what we have done.  But sitting with unconfessed sin increases our stress, steeps us in guilt, and leads to other unhealthy behaviors.  So why is confession so hard for us?

All sin harms not only ourselves but others, not matter how “personal” or “secret” that sin is.  Maybe we fear the response of the one receiving our confession.  “I’m so sorry I hurt you,” could lead to forgiveness and the restoration or strengthening of the relationship, but it can also lead to a poisonous outburst and the end of the relationship, and we can’t know which.  And so rather than facing the possibility of attack and separation, we move on with a wounded relationship devoid of life and joy.

Or perhaps we fear what the other may ask of us as payment for our sin.  Whether that punishment is public shaming, (“You will admit to my family what you have done!”) or simply a shift in power (“Yes, I was unfair, but it was nothing compared to what you did to me!”), fear grows in the face of unknown punishments.

And so we justify our sins, or ignore them, or simply live with them, suffering the soul-eating consequences of our decision.  Until we are willing to hear once again the promises of scripture in Psalm 103…

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

When we confess our sins to God, we don’t need to fear the dissolution of our relationship with Him.  On the contrary, we know that confession restores our relationship which is broken by sin.  Our confession strengthens our relationship with God, making it stronger than it was.

When we confess our sins to God, we don’t need to fear repercussions from Him.  Sin has a cost, but He has already paid it through Jesus Christ His Son.  Our confession allows us to live in gratitude and thankfulness rather than guilt and fear.

And confessing our sins to God makes it much easier to confess our sins to one another.  This lent, spend some time in prayer, asking God to reveal the sins we commit.  And then confess them to Him.  Your faith, your relationship with God, and your contentment in life will be the stronger for it.

Walking this journey with you,
Pastor Steve

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Feb. 19 – Merileen’s Story

Lent is a time to remember and reflect.  So we’ve asked a number of people to share their stories with us.  Today, we hear from Merileen Thorson, a member of our Deacon team…

I heard the Gospel presented many times growing up. Billy Graham Crusades on television…Youth for Christ rallies…church services…Bible camp. Growing up in a Christian home, there were many chances to hear and respond to the salvation message. It seemed if the church doors were open, we were there. And if an invitation to accept Christ was given, I was ready. It wasn’t until I was in high school that the passage in Revelation 3:20 registered for me, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I WILL come in…” Somehow I had missed that assurance.

Moving on to college years, I had opportunities to grow and learn what the decision to follow Jesus I had made so many times as a young person really meant. It did not mean there would not be challenges or difficulties, but it meant there was Someone to walk with me.

The words of the old hymn, “Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me And that Thou bidst me come to Thee

Oh Lamb of God I come, I come” remind me of a decision that has directed my life.

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