Dear ones,

This last week was Spring Break for Caleb and Noah. We spent the last several days on a long-planned trip to Destin, Florida, where we spent our time basking in the sun, playing in the ocean, and building drip sand castles. While I love all seasons, the sunshine has stirred within me an impatient readiness for Spring. It has been an odd winter – warm days, thunderstorms, and flood threats. It has also been a long winter.

In many ways, Good Shepherd Church has navigated an odd and long winter. As a church, we have experienced losses in the pastoral staff that could have caused moments of disorientation for some. It would be understandable if an impatient readiness for spring has welled up within us – that is, a longing for flourishing, growth, and a brighter future.

I do believe that signs of spring are among us, Good Shepherd. I saw it the last two Sunday mornings through the vibrant worship, joy on your faces, and in the energetic fellowship. I saw Spring in the ways that so many of you lingered between and after services. I see Spring in our preschool that is bursting at the seams with children who are being taught how to love God through learning. I saw spring in a group of high school students who are pouring into junior high students at Thursday night FUEL. I saw spring when I had a conversation with a mom who started attending Good Shepherd Church because of the Disabilities Ministry – her gratitude for our church was contagious. I could go on. But the point is this –

Take heart, beloved; Spring is near.

Within the backdrop of scripture are stories of long winters – stories of wilderness wandering, desert experiences, long droughts, years of silence, decades of devastation, and valleys of dry bones. God never abandons God’s people in those spaces, but instead, God moves nearer. Not only that, but God always has a plan to redeem long winters and turn it into Spring –

wilderness wandering to promise land,

desert experiences to rescue,

long draughts to healing rains,

years of silence to a baby in a manger,

decades of devastation to restoration,

valleys of dry bones to dry bones dancing.

God was always near to us, too. God was never not working to restore our story – and God is never not working now. I have hope for the future. A readiness and excitement for our future together jolts me awake every morning. But here’s what I know –readiness alone isn’t enough.

Readiness for Spring isn’t enough if it’s not a readiness from our knees.

Good Shepherd Church, let us be a church that looks to the future from our knees. Let us be a church that fervently prays for the Spirit of God to lead us, guide our decisions, and stir within us a missional imagination for the future. Let us be a church that prays for those who aren’t here yet – that is those who are spiritually curious – those who don’t yet know King Jesus. May we pray that we can be a church that shines the hope and love of Jesus to a weary world.

Will you join me in prayer?

If you’ve made it this far in my letter to you, I invite you to join me in this daily prayer challenge. Will you pray this prayer with me for the next 90 days?

Dear God,

We thank you that you are a redemptive and merciful God. We thank you for the mountaintops and the valleys in the Good Shepherd story – we know that you have never wasted a moment of any of it.

God, we are ready for the future. Give us ears to hear the ways you are speaking to us. Give us eyes to see where you are leading us. Give us a mind to dream your dreams. Give us a heart that is linked to your heart.

God, we want to be a church that flourishes for your glory and your glory alone. We want to be a church that partners with you on mission. We want to be a church with a heart that beats for those that don’t yet know you. We want to be a church that moves towards those in the margins with the hope, love, and mercy of Jesus. We want to be a church that makes disciples who makes disciples who makes disciples. Give us your eyes, your heart, your mind that we may be your hands, your feet, and your mouth.

Lord, lead us into the future you desire for us. We are ready. We are open. We are surrendered.

Lord, have your way in us.

Amen.

Will you join me in praying this prayer for the next 90 days? You might be wondering, why 90 days? Because my first 90 days at Good Shepherd will be spent primarily listening, learning, and building relationships. From there, I pray that God would begin to give us a collective clarity for our mission and vision.

What if…just what if…we all prayed this prayer for 90 days. I can’t help but wonder what would happen.

From my heart,

Pastor Tara Beth Leach