I enjoyed the Easter service at our church. We had what is called "Cardboard Testimonies"– on one side of the cardboard was a reality in their lives, and the back side was what the Lord had done in His mercy and grace. (Click on the link to see another church that did this, to give you an idea of what I experienced.) Different members of our church community shared- most of whom I knew in one way or another. I knew the personal testimonies of a few deeply, and still it brought tears to my eyes to see them witness to God's goodness- and others, it was such an amazing thing to see revealed how truly God had transformed lives- things you would never have imagined. By the time it was done, there were few dry eyes left in the house, I can tell you. I couldn't help but think of the wider community of believers as I watched this- stretching across both home and abroad, from tip of hemisphere to tip of hemisphere. I thought of stories I knew through blogging- stories of loss, reconciliation, restoration, triumph, brokenness, healing…what a testimony to God's amazing mercy and grace resides in the Body! Why do we not tell these stories more often, why do we not share the glory of God's movement in our lives every chance we get? I thought of my own story of this year- from loss and death of a child, from sickness into health, to the miracle of the heart beating beneath my own. Truly, we serve an amazing and gracious God. I feel so blessed to be a part of the global body of Christ. I know when I am falling, hands will reach out in prayer and fellowship to carry me, just I have reached out to them in their times of need. I was so profoundly reminded that we serve a Living, risen God, who lives and moves and breathes through His Spirit within believer's hearts. He is not dead, He is not deaf, He is not mute. He lives, He hears, He speaks. Praise be to the Gracious and Holy God!