By Pastor Mark Woodward
Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston
(and Lenora)
Even since the days of the pandemic, I have been very careful with taking needed precautions with regard to COVID-19. Well…it finally caught up with me early in January 2025. I was fully vaccinated so I am thankful the symptoms were mild. However, they were not enjoyable! I drank considerable amounts of hot tea, rested and in general was quite lazy as I recuperated from the illness.
During my time of recuperation, I did some reading of excellent devotional books, listened to beautiful Christian music and spent some time reflecting on God’s goodness and God’s amazing love expressed in Jesus. One of the songs I listened to was performed by Sister Luv from Spring Valley. A line in the song said “Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe and he paid a debt I couldn’t pay.” (Something like that!)
It really made me stop and think about the blessings Jesus brings into our lives – about the incredible love God has for us in the life and ministry of Jesus. It was kind of a God moment for me when I stopped to really consider the blessings I have from Jesus. As I listened to Sister Luv sing the song on my cd player, it became a “God moment” for me and I was deeply touched by all that God does in my life.
My days recovering from COVID became blessed days as I read, thought, rested and prayed. It became a Holy Moment to spend more time in prayer reflecting on all that God was doing in my life. I tried to take a potentially negative experience and allow something good to come from it.
We are in the midst of a Minnesota winter and chances most likely are that many of us will experience the maladies of the season: flu, colds, COVID, and all kinds of winter illnesses… In fact, I just learned today of a variety of schools that are experiencing high sickness rates among their students and staff.
So… if you find yourself ill with some kind of winter sickness maybe it can become a time to wrap up in a warm blanket, drink some hot tea, listen to some beautiful music and spend some time in prayer thinking about all of the blessings we share in God’s redeeming love. God Moments are happening all the time…
I am better now and I am thankful for the expressions of kindness and love that surrounded me during my time of convalescing. And most of all I am thankful for Holy Moments thinking about all God does in my life…
“Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe and he paid a debt I couldn’t pay…”
I hope you have a beautiful day today and please know just how much you are loved!
Your friend,
Pastor Mark Woodward
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