Story at a women’s ministry devotion

I attend a small church in Western Sydney, which is mostly made up of Anglo-Australians. We have a monthly women’s ministry afternoon gathering, which is usually attended by ten to 15 women aged from early 30s to late 60s/early 70s.

I was asked to share a devotion at our recent meeting. This was the first time for me, as I’m relatively new to the church. I decided to tell the stories of the blind beggar and Zaccheus, at the end of Luke 18 and start of Luke 19. We were also packing gifts and useful items into shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

As I told the story to around a dozen women, they listened attentively. I only asked one question: what did you like about the story or what surprised you? Several of the ladies offered insightful observations and, as always with storytelling, there were things they saw in the story that I had never thought of before. We had some good discussion about the contrast between the crowd’s response to Jesus showing mercy to the blind beggar, and their response to Jesus showing mercy to Zaccheus.

It was encouraging! We all need Jesus no matter who we are, and Jesus will pay attention and show mercy to us as we seek him.

This was a good thing to reflect on as we packed 29 shoeboxes to send to children living in poverty overseas. We need Jesus as much as they do.