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Hello Hope Podcast listeners.
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We live in a fast-paced world where new material and ideas are thrown at you 24-7.
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Some of you told us this and said I want to listen to everything, but it's hard to catch up.
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Well, we're here to help.
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We desire to be a place that is grateful for and respectful of your precious time, and so to serve you best, we will every so often be resharing past episodes that we call Second Listen, because we think they are worth taking a second to replay.
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Even if you are an every week listener, we think having a second listen to these episodes will make an impact on your weekend life, and if you have heard this one but are behind on new episodes, now is a great time to catch up on any others you have missed.
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Thank you, and here we go.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope Podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope.
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Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online.
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We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.
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Welcome to Hope.
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Welcome.
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My name is Heather Mandela.
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I am one of the pastors here at Hope and I am excited to be talking to you today about small groups.
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We have been talking about our Worship Plus Two and last episode Pastor Rick spoke to Kelly and Bill Walenda about volunteering, and this episode I am excited to be talking to Jeff Macarella and Lauren Grace Bond about small groups.
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So welcome guys, we're glad you're here, thank you.
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So I want to start just by letting everybody get to meet you a little bit.
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So tell me a little bit about yourselves.
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Who are you and how did you end up here at Hope?
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Hi, I'm Lauren Grace Bond, and my husband Ken and I have nine children.
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The oldest is 37 and the youngest is almost 15.
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And when he was in preschool he attended Hope.
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Yes, he did.
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That's how we got to know Hope.
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We were at another church at the time, but this was my church away from church.
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I did all the extras here, and then my two granddaughters also attended kindergarten here.
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It was a family affair.
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Oh, yeah, yep.
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Very nice.
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Jeff Macarella, married to Courtney.
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We have two daughters, tess and Sloan, six and three.
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Our older one, tess, came to preschool here as well and that's kind of how we were first introduced, I guess, officially here.
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But Kelly and Bill Olenda also were another connection that we had here to Hope and we just absolutely love it here.
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And, yeah, our daughter was the first one to kind of tip us off to come here and born and raised in the area.
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So, yeah, excited to do this podcast.
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That's great and we love that both of you are here with us, and I want to pause for just one second and say that I think it's really cool.
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You guys really don't have any connection outside of the fact that I asked you to come here and do this with me and you don't know each other particularly well, but both of you came to Hope through Tomorrow's Hope Preschool, which I just think is a really really cool thing, and I just wanted to make note of that.
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So welcome, we're glad that you are both here with us today.
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We here at Hope believe that small groups is kind of like where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
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Right, it's where we start to wrestle with and apply the things that we are learning and hearing at worship, the things that we're hearing in the Bible, and figuring out what it looks like to walk with Jesus in our everyday lives.
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And so, just like Jesus spent his time with the 12 disciples and he sent the disciples out to meet others in groups of two, and all of that tells us and speaks to the importance of doing life together, and we really believe that that's how God designed us, and small groups is one of the ways that we get to do life together here at Hope.
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So I want you guys to share, though, why small groups are important to you.
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What is it that you like about small groups?
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Why do you do them?
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So what appeals to you about small groups, lauren?
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I love small groups because they connect me with the people in the church.
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It's hard when people are in and out, and here at Hope there's multiple services.
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It's just a great opportunity to get to know people.
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I enjoy serving as a small group leader and I enjoy the ministry that goes on.
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You know the chit chat before and after praying for people in the group.
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It's just very powerful.
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Agreed, Jeff, tell me how did you get connected into small
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groups?
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So Courtney sort of gave me the nudge.
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Now I don't know if she wanted me to get out of the house on Thursdays but okay.
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So regardless it was the right decision and Bill.
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Valenda also kind of pulled me along a little bit too.
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So a little tongue in cheek there with Courtney and Bill, but you kind of have that nudge.
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So I went and I started doing it.
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I figured, what do I have to lose?
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I very much so recall what Pastor Rick said a handful of months ago now it's like live your Mondays like Sundays, and that's that's easy to do in the moment when you're sitting there Sunday listening to the message, and then you can apply that on Monday.
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But it tends to get a little bit harder on Tuesday, wednesday, thursday.
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So I just figured okay, jeff, go buy a Bible.
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I bought one, had a little bit of a commitment with God and said okay, I bought your book, so I'm going to come on Thursdays and show up, so you're committed.
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Now I got to figure it out, figure it out Right.
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So it's just very fulfilling when you go there.
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You leave there, as Lauren was saying, the relationships that you do tend to build and listening to people.
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It's just, it's fantastic, really is.
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I'm glad to hear it.
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And that does lead us right into what my next question is, which you know what do you get out of it?
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You know you spoke a little bit about fulfillment relationship.
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Tell me, jeff.
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Because it's worth it right.
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It gives you opportunity to listen to what others are thinking, what they've been through, gives you perspectives and, like Pastor Jeff said, we're all disciples of Christ and we can all go spread the word.
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So in order to spread the word, you got to be pretty savvy with what that word is, though, as well.
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So really commit yourselves to your faith, not just show up on Sunday and take that into Monday and then think you're doing pretty okay.
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So I get a lot of fulfillment out of it listening to folks.
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Hopefully, if I do share what I share, folks are taken at the heart and I think everybody can learn from one another.
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So the fulfillment I get leaving there Thursday nights just sets the tone for the weekend.
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You can go into Friday, Saturday, Sunday with that reaffirmed.
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You know what it means to be a Christ follower, so it's phenomenal.
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That's great.
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So now I love that you talk about it giving you that boost to get you through the rest right, like so that midweek, or that partly through the week, when you start to feel the demands of life catching up on you, becomes the spot that you can kind of get refilled to make it through.
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Absolutely, because there's a lot of stuff out there with work or personal relationships that can strain that.
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It's hard For sure, and so I think small group helps you be that vision and that beacon of okay, get back to center, don't lose sight of what you were just learned or listened to on Sunday.
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So it kind of gives you okay, what port am I going to?
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And I'm still heading to the right port.
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So that's what it gives me.
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And hopefully you know help others along the way with listening to them and what they share in the small group as well.
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Yeah, well, thanks for that, lauren.
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Tell us, tell me, what is it that you like about small groups?
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Why is it so important to you?
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I like the accountability.
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If you just attend church on Sunday, you can come and go and nobody knows what's going on in your life, what things you're working on to be more like Jesus.
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So that's an important aspect and I think, also being the hands and feet and heart of Jesus to each other, showing each other love, compassion, empathy when people are struggling, being in listening ear for each other.
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I just think that's so important and for me personally that happens a lot more in small group.
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It happens on Sunday and especially if you see people you know I try to introduce myself to people I don't know, but small group is really the best place to be sharing this on that kind of a level.
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Yeah, to be able to wrestle with some of those questions that are hard or that you're not sure what that looks like in your own life, right?
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Yeah, definitely.
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So now, for those who may not have been in a small group before, tell me they might be a little nervous.
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Maybe they feel like, well, I don't know anything, how can I go to a small group, do you?
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Do you have to know something?
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Is this something that they need to be doing before they can go to small group for the first time?
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I know I'm throwing this question at you cold, sorry.
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I can see the panicked look on both of your faces.
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In your experiences.
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Are there prerequisites to small groups, lauren?
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How about you?
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I think it depends on the small group.
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My group I'm having now Bible and Prayer 101, that's the whole point.
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People in my last small group said, oh, I don't want to Bible study because I don't read the Bible and I'm afraid to read the Bible and I don't pray out loud, I'm afraid to pray out loud.
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And I said well, would you like us to have a group where you learn about the Bible and learn how to read it and you learn how to pray out loud?
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And they said yes.
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So, they overcame their fear.
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We'll see how it goes as we go along.
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But yeah, and then other groups might be on a higher level, but it's very easy by reading the description or talking to the leader, you can really find the group that's right for you.
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Excellent, Jeff.
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How about you?
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Was that one of your concerns?
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Yeah, just I think you have to get over that.
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What is this all about?
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Like, what is small group?
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You hear folks talk about it and Pastor Jeff gets up there and he's like everybody should do small group and you're like, okay, but what does that?
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what does that mean?
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What does?
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that entail.
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You know homework, you know all that stuff.
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So I think if you are somewhat inclined or intrigued, follow the nudge that you're getting and get ahead and sign up for one.
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And if you go for one session, it's what?
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Two hours, an hour and a half of your life?
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And if you don't like it, you don't like it.
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Try another group, you know, just don't give up on the first shot.
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So it might be not now but not forever.
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So follow the nudge that you're getting, from whomever it is, and go ahead and try it out.
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And if you don't like it, okay, so be it.
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But I strongly feel that you'll like it and push yourself.
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I like to say you got to be comfortable, being uncomfortable on certain times, and I think small group is that avenue, and then the doors get open from there and then there's there's a lot of good things that come out of small
group for the group and the relationships, for the church, the community, and icing on the cake is that you benefit from it as well yeah, when you're willing to take that chance, right, yeah, no, I agree, and I think it's one of the things that we try really hard at.
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Hope to do is is have a variety entryways.
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So if you're not sure, you've never done it before, there are lots of non-threatening, not scary, no major requirements.
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You know that kind of a thing.
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And then, if you've been doing this for a little while and you're looking to dive even deeper, there are studies that will do that for you as well, and so it is about finding that right fit, and nothing is forever.
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We don't chain you into a group and say that they're your best friends for the rest of your life.
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You find where you fit, excellent, very good.
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So I want to talk a little bit about hope, because that is one of the themes of this podcast is where we find hope.
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So I want to ask each of you right now in your lives, where are you finding hope, jeff?
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Where are you finding hope?
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I find it everywhere.
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I think a lot of the times I see it through my girls and Courtney just little things that they do because we come here and we're very much so a part of the community and it's important to us as well.
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So we try to teach some of the stuff that we learn here and we teach it at home and we reinforce it and it's just nice to see how the hope comes through in your children.
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But I also do travel quite a bit for work and there are a lot of bad behaviors out there.
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But if you want to see the good ones and you focus on the good ones I'm a huge fan of, if you want to focus on it, you want to see it, you'll see it Subtle things, little things and then you can carry that on as well.
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I try to do that when I travel as much as I can, so you see hope where you want to see it and it's always there.
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It's just are you looking and are you allowing yourself to see the hope that's out there?
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And if you do, it's there.
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Focus on the positive.
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Positivity is contagious.
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So you can see hope all the time if you're looking for it.
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I love that At Vacation Bible School we teach the kids their God sightings.
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So where did you see God today?
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And it may be from someone holding that door open to something really profound, where God speaks to your heart, but you can find him if you're looking.
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So, lauren Grace, tell me, where are you finding hope today?
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I'm finding hope today in the character of God.
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I'm finding hope in his sovereignty, that anything that comes into my life he is allowing in his goodness, that he's working all things together for good for me and in his love.
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And when I love and accept myself as he loves and accepts me, it's easier for me to love and accept others.
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Yes, that brings me hope, thank you, for me to love and accept others.
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Yes, that brings me hope, thank you.
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We hope that this has brought all of you out there hope as well.
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If you are not currently in a small group and you are thinking about it, I want to encourage you.
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You can check out our webpage, meethopeorg slash small groups.
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Feel free to shoot me an email, give a yell at any point in time.
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I'd love to help you find that perfect place to connect both with God and with others as you grow deeper in your relationships.
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We hope you have a fantastic week.
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Thank you both for joining us today.
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Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope.
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If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand.
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If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand.
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You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.