The Lord is turning my mind increasingly to the importance - and power - of blessing others.
I have written about this in an earlier post. But I have just finished reading about a powerful example of a blessing place in Wales - Ffald-y-Brenin in Pembrokeshire. The book, The Grace Outpouring, is inspiring.
The author, Roy Godwin, and his wife Daphne direct a retreat house where miracles happen routinely. There are miracles of people finding faith in God, of emotional healing, of physical healing.
Early on in their time as directors, the Godwins began blessing people who visited the retreat centre. The first time came after a couple of strangers dropped in to ask what the retreat centre was all about. After a cup of tea, the Godwins took them on a tour of the grounds, ending at the chapel.
The couple seemed touched by the presence of God so Roy Godwin offered to pray a blessing on them. They agreed and he prayed:
"I bless you in the name of Jesus to know God, his purpose for your life, and his blessings on you and your family and the situations of your life. Amen."
"They started to weep," Godwin writes. "The sense of the presence of God seemed tangible. I quietly let myself out of the chapel so they wouldn't be embarrassed by my presence. It was time to let God do what he wanted to do with that couple."
They came to him afterwards to say how grateful they were for this experience of God and he shared with them the good news of Jesus before they left.
In the following days, there were many more of these unusual and unexpected visits from people drawn inexplicably to Ffald-y-Brenin for life-changing blessings. And over the years, there have been miracles.
Godwin puts this all down to God's grace.
"God's desire to bless is absolutely outrageous," he writes. "Nothing can stop him. He has set himself with immovable intent to bless mankind. His longing is that Jesus shall have many brothers and sisters."
He notes that Jesus did not dwell on someone's sin before healing that person. He poured his grace out first, sometimes telling people to sin no more after healing them.
He suggests that Christians often focus on convincing people they are sinners before extending God's grace to them in love, hospitality and prayer.
He notes that God asked Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this blessing (Numbers 6:22-27):
"May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you peace."
And God followed that up by promising to bless the people when Aaron and his sons blessed them in his name. That is a great promise.
For me, it calls for a change in the way I look at people and the way I think. It calls for a change of heart from critical and judgemental to loving and grace-giving.
It might even be revolutionary.
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