Series Introduction

My name is Guan, and for most of my life, I have wrestled with depression. That might seem a strange way to start a series of Bible studies, but when you’re in the darkness—of physical or mental anguish, of relationship breakdown, of loneliness or grief—it can be hard to see what God is saying to you in his word. Can he speak to us in when our joy is overshadowed by our suffering? Can the God of light lend us a lantern to lead us out of the darkness?  

Reflection:

You are made in the image of God.

It is a phrase that we hear over and over again, and so we might lose the wonder of that statement. It’s saying that the God of creation, who was there at the start of all things and will be there at the end, the God of infinite knowledge and power, reached down to shape you in a womb. He cared enough about you that he made you, and made you to bear his image.

In the darkness, our grip can loosen on the pieces of our purpose, or our value, or our identity. We might ask the big, deep questions, wondering whether we truly matter. And whatever other answers come from the love around us, it might start with this: “You are loved, valued, precious—for you are made in the image of God.”

How has God made you to be?

Prayer:

Dear God, you made me, and you love me. Help me to rest in the abundance of that love.  In the name of my Lord Jesus,  Amen.