Back to the flock

As I was on my mission to pick up several of our older saints, I noticed walking down the road a woman who I hadn't seen in quite some time. Cecilia had been a regular at Grace Baptist Church from the time we got here in late 2007. She expressed a commitment to the Lord and a preoccupation for those who didn't know Christ. So it was a great surprise for us to see her go off the deep end into sin and leave her kids and town behind. Her testimony to her family, co-workers and the same brothers and sisters at the church was greatly tarnished. We hadn't heard from her in months, maybe about a year. For that reason I wasn't sure just where she was headed this past Sunday. Turns out that she was on her way to the church.
When Cecilia arrived we were just preparing to start the service, and she took her seat and participated along with the rest of us in our singing of songs unto the Lord. I shared the Word from 1st Peter 2:13-17 and focused on the importance of first submitting ourselves to the Lord and attempting to do all that we do to honor Him. After the message and several songs, I opened it up for prayer requests and/or testimonies. Following several others, Cecilia took the opportunity to recognize her sin before the Lord and to apologize for how she had hurt the family of faith at GBC. Through tears she mentioned how she had been back in town for a couple of weeks but was ashamed to come and face those whom she had let down so much. We, as a church, were able to affirm our love to her and encourage her to keep her eyes on the Lord and seek to walk in the ways of righteousness. It was a time of great rejoicing. Please pray for Cecilia and her family, that the grace of God would shine forth in their lives.
Of course Luke chapter 15 comes to mind, but I also think of James 5:19-20, where this "one amongst us who had departed from the truth has come back and the One (the Holy Spirit in this case) who made the sinner return from her erroneous way has saved a soul from death and covered a multitude of sins." Glory to God!