Love goes round

Last night I was able to speak at UCR's AACF. SUPER blessed. God was doing some pretty sweet things.

One thing that blessed me was a sister I met afterward. Before the message, we prayed that God would speak to anyone who was in need of the message of forgiveness. I spoke on Matthew 18, the parable of the unmerciful servant. After the sermon, a sister came up to me and shared what was going on her life. She had JUST (hours earlier) arrived from the Midwest in the midst of tests and deadlines for her doctorate program. Even still, she just had to spontaneously get away, partly because of an overwhelming situation where six people were affected by a wrong she had committed. So she flew out to CA.

When she came up to me, she started off by saying "Now I know exactly why God had me come out here". It was a message of forgiveness she needed to hear. God was reminding her of the riches of God's mercy and forgiveness through Christ on the cross.

I noticed something in the message yesterday that I didn't explicitly say, but it's so clear. When God's love and forgiveness comes down to us, it causes us to love and forgive others. When we love by forgiving others, love and praise goes back up to God. Now THAT's a beautiful cycle.