COV LIFE BLOG

Grace Liberates Identity – Women’s Event Recap

Before Friday, April 22, I had never paid so much attention to the glorious, biblical word “my.”

I was among many CLC women, meeting in homes all over the Tampa Bay area. Together we watched a sermon by Paul Tripp called “Grace Liberates Our Identity.” With our Bibles open to Psalm 27, Tripp took time to explain what it means that God is “Light”, “Salvation” and “Stronghold” (from verse 1).

Then he paused and told us that he had just (intentionally) given us bad theology for leaving out a very important word that changes the whole meaning of the passage: “MY”. The Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my stronghold. The fact that God is all of these things for me redefines who I am!

Tripp continued to unpack Psalm 27 and other passages of scripture to help us further understand how personally God loves His people. I was challenged when he pointed out that David was going through a really heavy situation while writing this psalm. Yet he didn’t ask the Lord to zap him out of it, or to place him into a more desirable one. He simply wanted to gaze upon the Lord. He understood that meditating on God would remind him of who He was for him and grant his heart true freedom.

When the sermon ended, our group’s discussion flowed naturally about how freeing this good news is, and how we want our hearts’ desire to be that we gaze upon the Lord’s beauty.

This was one of our most well-attended events, as over fifty women gathered in five different homes. Even later it was incredible to discuss the impact of the evening with other women who weren’t in my group that night, but who experienced the same thing in someone else’s home. The ladies who met in St. Pete didn’t even have electricity that night, so they watched the entire sermon on an iPhone screen. How awesome, crazy and hilarious is that!?

I can’t wait for another dessert-with-simulcast-and-discussion night, either organized as a “women’s event” or just experienced organically among my friends. All of the sermons within this series are available online at no cost, and can be watched on your own time. Much thanks to everyone who came, hosted and led discussion. Nights like these remind me of how grateful I am for the culture of CLC, and in particular our women.

I hope the time together continues to impact the women who attended, as we go about our weeks and are tempted to view Scripture impersonally or irrelevant to our everyday identities.

As Tripp reminded us, “Enough of the meditation on all of your sin, weakness and failure! Enough of your meditation on all the brokenness of the people around you! Enough of your meditation on the fallenness of the world! It’s killing you. It’s destroying you. It’s an affection that deepens your amnesia. Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Let the glory of His grace wash over you again, and rise up”.

– Hope Henchey