Reading for Week Six:
Chapters Ten and Eleven

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: TESTIMONY

At the end of this week you’ll be reflecting on the wounds of Jesus and the story his wounds tell. Prayerfully consider your own story. In what ways have your wounds become opportunities for Jesus to reveal his presence, healing, and glory? How have (or might) your wounds serve as a testimony to others about who Jesus is and what he has done for you?

Write a brief testimony about one particular area of wounding that you’re ready to explore or share. Then prayerfully consider who you might share this story with. If you’re studying with a group, commit to sharing parts of your stories during your meeting this week.

Week Six: Day One

CHAPTER TEN: ALL (PP. 230-240)

Scripture Meditation: Colossians 1:9-14

Read the verses slowly, receiving them as prayer. Which petitions or declarations are you most in need of hearing and believing today?

For Reflection and Journaling

1. What epitaph would you want inscribed on your gravestone? Why? What reminders do you hope to leave behind for loved ones?

</p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_38" title="38"/>2. Are there any regrets that still pursue or haunt you? Any “I told you so” voices in your head? Offer these to God in prayer.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">3. What does baptism mean to you? How might you regularly practice remembering your baptism? How might this discipline strengthen and form your faith?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">4. Why is Charissa agitated by the peeling bark on the tree? Does that image reveal anything to you? Speak to God about what you see.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form></div></div></div><!--@@niv1--><div class="niv1" id="niv1-034"><h2 class="int_niv1" epub:type="title">Week Six: Day Two</h2><figure class="figbas" id="P2h"><div class="imagelarge"><img alt="Illustration" class="imagelarge" src="images/P2.jpg"/></div></figure><div class="niv2" id="niv2-035"><h3 class="int_niv2" epub:type="title">C<small>HAPTER</small> T<small>EN:</small> <i>A</i><small><i>LL</i> (PP. 241-254)</small></h3><div class="niv3" id="niv3-045"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">Scripture Meditation: Colossians 3:12-14</h4><p class="txt_courant_ssalinea">Read the verses slowly and prayerfully. Which instructions are particularly challenging for you? Why? Speak to God about what you notice.</p></div><div class="niv3" id="niv3-046"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_39" title="39"/><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">For Reflection and Journaling</h4><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">1. What do you notice about Mara’s interactions with Tiffany, Tom, and Brian at the Easter brunch? Have you ever acted on similar impulses? What was the result?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">2. What narratives have you clung to that have justified your anger or resentment toward others? What would help you move toward compassion? To give up the desire to punish or get even? Speak to God about what you notice.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">3. What wounds continue to be tapped within you? What needs to be healed? Offer them to God in prayer.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">4. How free are you in expressing your disappointments to God? Is there anything your soul is longing to express right now? Pray for courage, then have an honest conversation with God.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_40" title="40"/>5. Are there any relationships that need mending in your life? Any opportunities to move forward in the process of forgiveness and reconciliation? Speak with God about next steps.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form></div></div></div><!--@@niv1--><div class="niv1" id="niv1-035"><h2 class="int_niv1" epub:type="title">Week Six: Day Three</h2><figure class="figbas" id="P2i"><div class="imagelarge"><img alt="Illustration" class="imagelarge" src="images/P2.jpg"/></div></figure><div class="niv2" id="niv2-036"><h3 class="int_niv2" epub:type="title">C<small>HAPTER</small> E<small>LEVEN:</small> <i>H</i><small><i>ANNAH, </i></small><i>C</i><small><i>HARISSA, AND </i></small><i>M</i><small><i>ARA</i> (PP. 255-264)</small></h3><div class="niv3" id="niv3-047"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">Scripture Meditation: Romans 12:4-8</h4><p class="txt_courant_ssalinea">Read the passage slowly and prayerfully, listening for words or phrases that catch your attention and call you to respond.</p></div><div class="niv3" id="niv3-048"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">For Reflection and Journaling</h4><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">1. Who has God called you to be? What particular gifts has God given you? Are you in a season of opportunities to use these gifts or a season of waiting for opportunities? Have a conversation with God about this, offering your joy, frustration, weariness, or confusion.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">2. Who has affirmed God’s gifts and call in your life? Spend time thanking God for those who have recognized your gifts and encouraged you to use them.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_41" title="41"/>3. Which are easier for you to name: losses or resurrections? Do you tend to be a sunset person or a sunrise person? Why? What would it mean for you to live well with both postures?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">4. When do you tend to be driven by the needs of your ego rather than the call of love? Speak to God about any patterns you discern.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form></div></div></div><!--@@niv1--><div class="niv1" id="niv1-036"><h2 class="int_niv1" epub:type="title">Week Six: Day Four</h2><figure class="figbas" id="P2j"><div class="imagelarge"><img alt="Illustration" class="imagelarge" src="images/P2.jpg"/></div></figure><div class="niv2" id="niv2-037"><h3 class="int_niv2" epub:type="title">C<small>HAPTER</small> E<small>LEVEN:</small> <i>C</i><small><i>HARISSA AND </i></small><i>H</i><small><i>ANNAH</i> (PP. 265-270)</small></h3><div class="niv3" id="niv3-049"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">Scripture Meditation: Psalm 90:12</h4><p class="txt_courant_ssalinea">What does it mean for you to number your days? How does numbering them affect the way you live today? The choices you make?</p></div><div class="niv3" id="niv3-050"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">For Reflection and Journaling</h4><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">1. Have you ever been stripped of productivity and forced to rest? What was that season like for you? What fruit do you glimpse because of it?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_42" title="42"/>2. What temptations, compulsions, or idolatries regularly surface for you? What helps you to see them? Offer what you notice to God.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">3. What circumstances is God using right now to help shape you into Christlikeness? Who helps you to see how God is at work in the midst of everything?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">4. What are God’s current invitations to you? What does it mean for you to yield to them?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form></div></div></div><!--@@niv1--><div class="niv1" id="niv1-037"><h2 class="int_niv1" epub:type="title">Week Six: Day Five</h2><figure class="figbas" id="P2k"><div class="imagelarge"><img alt="Illustration" class="imagelarge" src="images/P2.jpg"/></div></figure><div class="niv2" id="niv2-038"><h3 class="int_niv2" epub:type="title">C<small>HAPTER</small> E<small>LEVEN:</small> <i>M</i><small><i>ARA AND </i></small><i>H</i><small><i>ANNAH </i>(PP. 271-281)</small></h3><div class="niv3" id="niv3-051"><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">Scripture Meditation: John 20:19-29</h4><p class="txt_courant_ssalinea">Enter the story with your imagination as either Thomas or one of the other disciples. What thoughts or emotions are stirred for you? Offer what you notice to God in prayer.</p></div><div class="niv3" id="niv3-052"><span epub:type="pagebreak" id="page_43" title="43"/><h4 class="int_niv3" epub:type="title">For Reflection and Journaling</h4><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">1. What does Mara begin to see about Brian and her relationship with him? Do any of her insights resonate with your own experience? In what ways?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">2. What does it mean to you to know that the Wounded One is now the Resurrected One? What does it mean that the Resurrected One is still the Wounded One? What do the wounds of Jesus reveal to you?</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form><div class="lettre"><p class="txt_courant_justif retrait_gauche">3. What new things are being birthed in you, for you, and through you? Spend time naming and celebrating these things.</p></div><form action="traitement.php" method="post" name="response"> <p><label/><br/><textarea name="response"/></p> </form></div></div></div><!--@@niv1--><div class="niv1" id="niv1-038"><h2 class="int_niv1" epub:type="title">Week Six: Day Six</h2><figure class="figbas" id="P2l"><div class="imagelarge"><img alt="Illustration" class="imagelarge" src="images/P2.jpg"/></div></figure><div class="niv2" id="niv2-039"><h3 class="int_niv2" epub:type="title">R<small>EVIEW</small></h3><p class="txt_courant_ssalinea">Return to any questions you didn’t have time to address, or work on your testimony about meeting the wounded Jesus in the midst of  your own woundedness.</p></div></div><!--@@niv1--></div></section></body></html>