When it became apparent that the Covid-19 pandemic would linger for a year or more, my wife and I and two other couples decided that we all needed some sort of midweek connection point. Each couple had shifted to working at home while homeschooling, and each of our oldest children are navigating the middle school years.
So began the PSG, or Parent Support Group — the rawest, most vulnerable, real, and life-giving iteration of Christian community in my adult life.
Most Wednesday evenings, our kids — who, thankfully, all get along wonderfully — play or watch movies, while we six parents alternatively laugh until we’re breathless, cry over life’s hardships, and share with quivering voices some of our deepest hurts and most entrenched weaknesses.
The depth of our vulnerability with one another is a rough-hewn, informal expression of James 5:16. The word “confession” can conjure up images of a solemn, private conversation with a priest or pastor or an admission of guilt after being caught red-handed by an angry parent. It doesn’t often evoke the environment the PSG has created: a picture of safety, laughter, and even eagerness to profess our brokenness.
We reveal our ugliest parts to one another because we’re assured that we’re loved and accepted. That abundant grace will be extended, softening our hearts for the truth we need in order to change and grow.
And this is the beauty James 5:16 conveys: confessing our flaws and faults and sins to trusted brothers and sisters in Christ allows them to manifest God’s grace and truth to us in the flesh. The ethereal becomes tangible. And we walk the hard road of transformation, arm in arm together.
_Heavenly Father, I admit that there are flaws and hurts and sins for which I need tangible healing, an application of your amazing and eternal grace. Please lead me to a trusted friend, or group, with whom I can be raw and vulnerable, and give me the courage to reveal these deep wounds that I might experience your healing. In Jesus’ name, amen. _
Throughout This Day: Continue to ask God to lead you to one or two trusted friends who will express God’s grace in all the areas of life where you need to hear it reaffirmed.
Photo Credit: Chichi Onyekanne on Unsplash