Josh Hatcher is the Communications Director at Open Arms Community Church. He is married to Pastor Zoe Hatcher, and leads the Tribe of Lions Microchurch for men. He also is the founder of Manlihood.com
This winter, Open Arms Community Church is offering a simple outreach called Warm It Forward â Bradford.
We are collecting new or gently used winter clothingâincluding hats, gloves, scarves, and similar itemsâand placing them on a clothesline outside the church so anyone who needs them can take what they need.
Warm It Forward launches on Sunday, January 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM and will continue every Sunday throughout the winter months as long as items are available.
How to participate: Donations can be dropped off in the laundry basket in the Youth Room at Open Arms Community Church, located at 71 Congress Street in Bradford, PA.
If you have questions, please contact Lisa Braund at lisab@oachurch.com.
Journey to Salvation explores Godâs redemptive story and His invitation to new life. Each week, we walk through Scripture to understand salvation, grace, and transformation.
đď¸ Sunday Mornings đ Open Arms Community Church
In Journey to Salvation â Part 3: A Desert in Bloom, Pastor Shawn Pierce speaks to a reality many people quietly live withâspiritual dryness, burnout, and the feeling of being stuck in the same place despite wanting more from God. This message reminds us that Jesus does not merely help us survive hard seasons. He restores what has been worn down and brings life back to places that feel empty.
What follows is an invitation to slow down, reflect, and allow God to meet you honestly where you are.
Recognizing the Desert
When most people think of a desert, they picture heat, dryness, and endless stretches of land with no relief in sight. A desert is a place of exhaustion. A place where survival feels uncertain.
Spiritually, deserts look very similar.
There are seasons where we feel like we are crawling instead of walkingâgiving everything we have just to make it through the day. We search for something that promises relief, something that looks like an oasis. For a moment, it feels refreshing. Then it disappears.
False hope always does.
And when it does, weâre often left more tired, more discouraged, and more dehydrated than before.
How Burnout Takes Hold
Itâs easy to assume burnout comes from doing too much. But spiritual burnout doesnât come from activity aloneâit comes from striving without surrender.
One thing goes wrong. Then another. Then another. Before we realize it, weâre stuck. The harder we fight to fix everything ourselves, the deeper we sink.
This is what spiritual quicksand looks like.
Burnout is not just exhausting. Itâs dangerous. It slowly convinces us that dryness is normal, that weariness is permanent, and that restoration is for someone else.
But the desert was never meant to be our home.
There Was Always Another Option
The most powerful realization in moments like these is simple: there was always another option.
Jesus.
God did not design our lives to be fueled by pride, self-reliance, or endless striving. That path leads to exhaustion. Jesus did not come to lead us into desertsâHe came to lead us out.
And He doesnât only offer escape. He offers restoration.
Godâs Promise: The Desert Will Bloom
Scripture speaks directly to this promise in a powerful and hope-filled passage.
đ Isaiah 35:1â10 (NLT)
1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. 4 Say to those with fearful hearts, âBe strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.â
5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. 6 The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
This is not a promise of temporary relief. This is transformation.
Fear is a liar. Doubt is a liar. When Godâs presence enters an impossible place, the desert responds.
When Faithful People Doubt
Doubt is not a sign of failure. Even faithful people wrestle with questions in hard seasons.
John the Baptist was chosen by God to prepare the way for Jesus. He preached boldly and lived faithfully. Yet while sitting in prison, he found himself asking the same question many of us ask when life feels confusing and painful.
đ Matthew 11:2â10 (NLT)
2 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples
The God Who Restores What Felt Lost
Johnâs doubt didnât offend Jesus. Jesus didnât rebuke him, shame him, or question his faith.
Instead, Jesus answered with evidence of His goodness:
âGo back and tell John what you have seen and heard.â
The blind see. The lame walk. The deaf hear. The dead rise. The Good News is preached.
In other words:
âJohn, look at the fruit. I am exactly who you hoped I was.â
This is what God does for us in our desert seasons too. He brings to mind every moment Heâs moved, every prayer Heâs answered, every time He has shown His faithfulness.
Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is pause and ask ourselves:
Where have I already seen God move? What has He already brought me through? What desert has He already led me out of?
Because remembrance is often the beginning of restoration.
Why We Dry Out Spiritually
There are seasonsâespecially around the holidaysâwhen life is loud, hurried, nonstop. Schedules stack up. Expectations grow. Pressures increase.
And slowly, without even noticing, we start to dry out.
Not because we donât love God. Not because weâve walked away intentionally. But because weâve let everything else get louder than His voice.
Burnout doesnât come from doing too much. Burnout comes from doing too much without Jesus.
He is the oasis. He is the water. He is the rest. He is the restoration.
And He isnât interested in just part of your heart. He doesnât want leftovers or the Sunday-morning-only version of you.
He wants the whole heart â the one He died to redeem.
The Desert Is Not Your End
Here is the truth every weary heart needs:
The desert is not your end. The quicksand is not your grave. Your story is not over.
Jesus is still the God who restores.
Where Jesus is:
the desert blooms
the wasteland rejoices
the broken are restored
He brings water back to dry places. He opens eyes that couldnât see. He strengthens weak knees and tired hands. He fills mouths with singing and hearts with joy.
And He does it for one reason:
Because He loves you â and He has no intention of leaving you where you are.
The Heart of God for You
Whether youâve walked with Jesus for years, are new to faith, have wandered far, or feel unsure what to believe…
You need to know this:
God has a plan for your life â a plan to grow you, shape you, restore you, and bring you into a life that is more fruitful and joyful than anything you imagined.
Jesus doesnât just talk about hope. He embodies it.
He doesnât just promise change. He brings it.
He doesnât just speak life. He is life.
And He asks for your heart because He gave all of His.
Arms stretched wide on the cross, bearing what we deserved, offering what we could never earn.
You Donât Have to Die in the Desert
Hear this clearly:
You donât have to die in the desert. You donât have to drown in the quicksand. You donât have to fall for another mirage.
Jesus is the oasis that never disappears. He is the water that never runs dry. He is the strength that never fails. He is the Highway of Holiness that leads us safely home.
If you are in a desert right now, you are exactly where God can begin His greatest work.
If you feel empty â He is ready to fill you. If you feel broken â He is ready to rebuild you. If you feel tired â He is ready to carry you. If you feel lost â He knows the way. Because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Restoration Begins With Surrender
Restoration isnât just possible. Itâs promised. Itâs available. And it starts with surrender.
Real surrender begins with repentance â not as punishment, but as opening the door to restoration.
God is calling you. Not tomorrow. Not later. Now.
If you sense Him drawing you⌠If your heart feels stirred⌠If thereâs a tug in your spirit you canât ignoreâŚ
Go be with Him.
Come to the altar. Go to the prayer area. Ask someone to pray with you. Kneel. Stand. Lift your hands. Sit in silence.
It doesnât matter how you respond â only that you donât miss Him.
Because the God who makes deserts bloom is here. Working. Restoring. Calling you home.
Final Scripture of Promise
đ Psalm 107:35 (NLT)
He turns the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs.
This is His heart. This is His promise. This is your invitation.
Itâs always the loudest and ugliest that get the most attention. Thatâs true in politics, online arguments â and itâs especially true when people talk about churches. The online space is filled with commentators who call out celebrity pastors and their $6,000 sneakers and private jets.
âTax the churches!â they say. Or âReligion is just a business.â or âChurches are always asking for money!â
Believe me, I get the cynicism. A small number of celebrity pastors have abused their influence, and their scandals spread far and wide. But those headlinesâshocking as they may beâdonât reflect what churches actually look like in places like Bradford.
What most people donât see is that the average church in America is not a 5,000 seat media production powerhouse. The reality is much more humble: the median church is about sixty-five people in weekly attendance. A church that reaches 200 in attendance is in the top 10% of churches in America. That means the outlying massive megachurches with their television ministries that are asking you to send them âseed moneyâ are a very small representation of what the church looks like.
A median salary for most pastors in the U.S. is around $45,000 to $55,000 a yearâand many make far less, often working two jobs just to support their families. These arenât CEOs of corporations. Theyâre community members who work long hours like everyone else, the same people who stand with you on your best days and in your hardest moments.
Most churches donât have endowments or outside fundingâquite the opposite. They survive almost entirely on the generosity of the people who attend and the community that believes their presence matters.
Lately Iâve welcomed a lot of young adults into the faith, and their questions remind me how much we take for granted. One asked me, âWhere does the church get the money to do all this? Does the government help?â He couldnât believe it when I told him the truth: most of what we do is funded entirely by the generosity of the people who sit in our chairs each weekâpeople who give because they love God and love their neighbors, not because anyone twists their arm.
Iâve seen this firsthand at Open Arms Community Church here in Bradford. Weâre not a megachurch, not a corporation â weâre a local congregation made up of ordinary people trying to make a difference in the place we all call home.
Living in McKean County is certainly a haven in comparison to other parts of the country where crime and crisis run rampant. Weâre relatively safe if you compare the statistics to Philadelphia, for example. But weâve seen some headlines this past year that have rocked us â so many stories of violence, child abuse, overdose deaths, and families falling apart under the weight of addiction and crisis. No child dreams of growing up to land in prison. No newlywed couple stands at the altar planning for alcoholism or domestic abuse. No teenager imagines their adult life beginning and ending with an overdose. People donât choose these endings because they want them; they arrive there through layers of trauma, hopelessness, and despair that build slowly over time.
And that is precisely why the presence of a healthy church in a community matters. Churches arenât just places for religious ritual; at their best, they are places where someone finds help before the crisis becomes the headline. They are spaces where people talk through their wounds instead of acting out of them. A church is where friendships provide accountability before someone makes the decision they canât take back. Itâs where a struggling parent learns skills that bring stability back into a chaotic home, and where an addict finds support through the long journey toward freedom â not judgment. Itâs the quiet work of a volunteer talking a teenager out of a terrible decision at 10PM on a school night â work that never shows up on the front page but absolutely changes the outcome.
Much of what churches do is preventative work youâll never see on the news. Itâs not flashy. It doesnât trend. It happens quietly, behind the scenes, in living rooms, over cups of coffee, in late-night phone calls, in hospital waiting rooms, and in the small, consistent moments where one life influences another. It is the kind of work that reduces despair long before despair becomes destructive. And it is the kind of work that no government program nor nonprofit model can fully replicate, because it depends on relationship, community, and the belief that every person â every single one â is worth fighting for.
People say the church only wants money. But what the church really wants is fewer funerals, fewer broken homes, fewer kids lost to despair, fewer headlines that break our hearts.
So yes, churches ask for support. But not because pastors are living the high life, and not because churches are sitting on piles of cash. Churches ask for support because the work of helping a community heal takes resources: buildings that stay open, staff who can give their time, meals that need to be purchased, programs that need materials, and a hundred other practical needs that make compassionate work possible. The church isnât asking for money to prop up an institution. Itâs asking for partnership to strengthen a community.
A better question to ask might be this: what would happen to a town like Bradford if the churches disappeared? What would happen to the families in crisis, the kids who need mentors, the elderly who are lonely, the people battling addiction, the ones on the edge of despair?
Itâs not just the organization doing the work. Itâs the people, and the church is the vehicle that allows them to get connected to relationships where people can help each other. Letâs ask the question: If you were in trouble at 11PM, who would you call for help? Many people donât have someone. But if youâre in a good church, you are in a network of people who have your back.
The church isnât perfect. No human institution is. But despite its imperfections, it remains one of the last places still committed to stepping into the darkest parts of peopleâs lives with hope, compassion, and the stubborn belief that redemption is possible. Not for money. Not for prestige. But because we love the place we live, and we refuse to give up on the people who call it home.
If our community is ever going to turn the tide on the despair captured in our headlines, weâre going to need strong families, safe kids, supportive friendships, open doors, listening ears, and the kind of hope that grows in relationship, not isolation. The church is one of the few institutions still fighting for all of that. And for that reason alone, itâs worth supporting.
December 2 is Giving Tuesday. Iâm asking that even if you arenât a part of a local church, that you consider giving to support one. You can give to any of the churches in our community and I know it will make a difference.
If you arenât sure which church to choose, let me humbly recommend that you give to our Local Impact Fund at Open Arms Community Church. The vision at Open Arms is âRestored Lives in Christâ and âTransformed Community for Godâs Gloryâ. Weâre in the fight to make peopleâs lives better, to make our community better.
Do As I Do, Part 8 Open Arms Community Church â Bradford, PA
We live in a world full of shifting opinions, unstable foundations, and fragile faith. We scroll, listen, read, and reactâbut often we build on sand without realizing it.
In this weekâs message, Donât Just Read the Bible â Build Your Life on It, Pastor Zoe reminds us that the strength of our faith doesnât depend on how much we knowâit depends on what weâre standing on.
Because when life gets dark, when the winds pick up, when everything you trusted starts shaking⌠only one foundation will hold: the Word of God, hidden in your heart and lived out in your life.
We often treat Scripture like a book to read, not a life to build. But Psalm 119 says something deeper:
Psalm 119:9â16 (NIV) 9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
Pastor Zoe shared that the word âhiddenâ doesnât mean concealedâit means stored, treasured, kept safe. You donât wait for the storm to start building the foundation. You lay it now.
đĄ When the Lights Go Out
A little girl once got scared when the power went out at home. Her parents told her to grab the lantern from the closet. She didnât panicâshe walked straight to it.
Why? Because she already knew where it was before it got dark.
Thatâs what it means to hide Godâs Word in your heart. When life goes dark, you donât have to fumble for faithâyou already know where to find the light.
âYour word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.â â Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
𧹠Building on the Rock
Jesus told a story that gets right to the point:
Matthew 7:24â27 (NIV) 24 âTherefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.â
The difference between the wise builder and the foolish one wasnât knowledgeâit was obedience. Both heard the Word. Only one did something with it.
When we hear without doing, our lives lean like the Tower of Pisaâtilted by time, weakened by shifting ground. But when we hear and do, when we build on the Word, we stand firm no matter what hits.
đ The Word That Breathes
Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:14â17 (NIV) 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Word of God isnât just ink on paperâitâs breath. Every verse carries the breath of God Himself. When you read it, it reads you. When you apply it, it forms you. When you obey it, it builds you.
âIs not my word like fire,â declares the Lord, âand like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?â â Jeremiah 23:29 (NIV)
đ Renewing Your Mind
Faith that lasts begins with a renewed mind:
Romans 12:1â2 (NIV) 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of Godâs mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Godâthis is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Godâs will isâhis good, pleasing and perfect will.
Transformation happens when we stop conforming to the noise of culture and start conforming to the voice of Scripture.
The Word doesnât just inform your lifeâit forms it.
đ¨ Putting It into Practice
The Bible is clear: itâs not enough to read or even memorize Scripture if we never live it out.
Start small.
Open your Bible every day, even for five minutes.
Pick one verse and ask, âWhat will I do with this?â
Write it down. Pray it back.
Practice it this week until it sticks.
As Pastor Zoe said:
âThe goal of reading Scripture isnât to finish itâitâs to let it finish you.â
⨠A Life That Doesnât Fall
When your foundation is Scripture, you donât just survive stormsâyou grow stronger through them. The winds may shake your house, but theyâll never move the Rock beneath it.
âHeaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.â â Matthew 24:35 (NIV)
Donât just read the Bible. Build your life on it.
My wife listens to a podcast every morning by JD Walt called âThe Wake-Up Callâ. I have listened alongside her on occasion, and I had the privilege of briefly bumping shoulders with JD at the New Room Conference last year.
I decided to start listening for myself as Iâm on a quest for a bit of a mental and spiritual reset. Too much scrolling on my phone has my dopamine levels all out of whack. The current climate on social media has turned toxic, and so my options are watching people I love argue with each other, or the âbrain rotâ content that occasionally makes you chuckle, but definitely doesnât build your soul.
This morningâs episode resonated deeply with me, for a few reasons. Iâll start with the end of the podcast first. At the end of each episode JD sings a hymn. Todayâs hymn was what he called âThe Baptist Fight Songâ and while growing up in an old fashioned Baptist Church, Iâve never heard that phrase, but before he said the title, I knew he meant âJust As I Am.â
I was driving while listening, and that song broke open my tear ducts. Iâm sure I was all over the road this morning, wiping tears from my eyes as I was transported back to my childhood and teenage years, standing up at the end of sermon, listening to Mrs. Florence Sinsabaugh in her finest polyester dress, as she let the foot pedals on the organ swell, and both hands holding out the long chords, while Judy Youngblood accentuated with the piano. Pastor H.D. Youngblood would lead us in singing, waving his hand to keep the time, and between verses, heâd call us home. Rarely did anyone go up to the altar. But with every head bowed, and every eye closed, hands were raised to pledge commitment to Jesus.
We didnât applaud much in the Baptist Church, but inside out hearts, we were cheering when Pastor would say, âI see that hand, Thank You Lord.â
Weâd usually sing verses 1, 2, and 5, and there was usually an instrumental verse in there too.
1.
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidâst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
2.
Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot;
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
3.
Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt;
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
4.
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
5.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
6.
Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
And I was reminded of another very personal story, that has echoed deeply in my family lore. My maternal grandfather was a bad man. The best thing he had ever done was to abandon his family. That may sound like a bad thing, but the truth is, abandoning them was the best thing. I wonât get into telling the story that really belongs to my mother and her siblings. Iâll just say he was a bad man.
Abandoned, my grandmother turned to Jesus, and paved the way for her family. They met Jesus, many of them probably hearing Pastor Youngblood sing Just As I Am, and our familyâs direction was changed.
At some point, my grandfather had stumbled into a church, probably drunk. He told the story, âIf that preacher would have sang one more verse of Just As I Am, Iâd have walked up to that altar.â – But of course he didnât.
Years later, after leaving a lifetime of pain and struggle in his wake, my grandfather called my grandmother. âDeanie, Iâm dying. I have cancer. Would you come out and see me?â
The story I remember is that he was found laying on the ground with a pile of cigarette butts on one side, and a pile of beer cans on the other. The cancer had eaten through most of him, and he was on his way out of this world.
My grandmother went out, and invited the rest of the family.
They didnât go because they wanted to be with him. They went because they had a mission, to introduce Grandpa Dave to grace. To plead for his soul to be saved.
They preached the gospel, sang songs, and Uncle Mike started playing Just As I Am. When he got to the end of the song, the old man said, âKeep playing.â Grandpa Dave prayed, probably for the first time in his life. He asked for forgiveness for his sins. And in the remaining few days of his life, there was a change. Tiny fruits of the Spirit growing in the small window he had left.
Just as he was. Without a plea, except that Jesus’ blood was shed for him.
â———–
The podcast episode was centered around this thought. A woman told JD in conversation, âI donât want you to think Iâm not a good person.â
JDâs response, âYouâre not a good person. And Iâm not a good person.â
This truth is one we need to grasp fully.
I see it echoed on the social media feed that Iâm trying to ignore right now.
Virtue signalling.
Folks pointing fingers at the âevilâ they see on the other side.
âThose folks are violating what the Bible clearly commands!â
âThose folks are bigots and hypocrites!â
With the inference that âIâm better.â
We post things on the internet, and say things in conversation because we want others to think we are good people.
âIâm a good person. I donât condone sin.â âIâm a good person. I hate racism.â âIâm a good person. I love America.â âIâm a good person. I challenge broken systems!â
âIâm a good person. I want justice!â âIâm a good person. I stand with So and So!â
Donât get me wrong, a lot of these might be good things, to stand up for the oppressed, to long for justice, to support your country, to stand for truth and righteousness.
But the thing is, none of us are good people.
Thatâs whatâs so hard for people to accept. Thatâs whatâs so scandalous about the gospel.
We donât earn right standing with God by your good deeds.
We donât deserve to be seen as heroes and martyrs and virtuous.
When Jesus delivered the sermon on the mount, and he said this:
âYou have heard that our ancestors were told, âYou must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you are even angry with someone,you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[e] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[f] you are in danger of the fires of hell.â -Matthew 5
Iâd encourage you to read that whole passage. If I paraphrase what heâs saying,, âYou guys are missing the point. In order to earn Godâs favor, you have to be better than the commands. The commands say âDonât murder.â But if you hate someone in your heart or call them an idiot, youâre just as bad. If you lust after a woman, itâs just as bad as having sex with her.â
Heâs making a point and establishing his authority, and emphasizng that all of us are not good people.
Paul reiterates it:
âFor all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Godâ – Romans 3:23
This is the beauty of it.
He paid the cost for us.
âHe himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sinsâand not only our sins but the sins of all the world.â – 1 John 2:2
We arenât good people. We are all sinners, and all of us are short of Godâs expectations. And even if we kept the commandments in practice, weâd break them in our hearts.
But thank God!
âBut God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.â âRomans 5:8
He meets us just as we are, and He makes up for what we lack, so that we can be right with him.
Sometimes, we who He has redeemed forget where we came from. We forget that weâre only right with God because of what Jesus did. Weâre not good people. Weâre His people. He paid for us. He bought us with His suffering on the cross.
Anything good in us is because God put it there. Even before we knew Him, the good in us was the reflection of His image in us, because He made us. And now that we have surrendered to Him, the good is not because of us. Itâs because of Him.
Let us never forget that.
written by
Josh Hatcher
Josh Hatcher is the Communications Director at Open Arms Community Church. He is married to Pastor Zoe Hatcher, and leads the Tribe of Lions Microchurch for men. He also is the founder of Manlihood.com
The Least of These Riders is a motorcycle microchurch focused on serving others and living out faith on mission. This group combines brotherhood, service, and outreach to those often overlooked.
Maybe youâve been feeling it latelyâ that tug in your heart. You canât quite explain it, but you know God is calling you deeper. Or maybe youâve been away from Him for a long time, and something in you is saying, âItâs time to come home.â
I know that feeling. Iâve been there. And I want to tell you my story.
I Thought I Knew Him
I grew up in a Christian home. My parents had both walked away from destructive paths and found hope in Jesus.Before I was born, my dad had been an alcoholic and a violent man, but when he met Christ, he never drank again and became known for his kindness. My mom broke free from a similar cycle and chose a new life.
From the time I was in utero, I was in church. I loved church. Sweet and kind people. Warm and inviting organ music. Cookies with the cream in the middle and kool aid. Wooden toys and Jesus coloring pages. Songs and sermons that sweetly comforted me and snuck into my heart. We called all of the older people âGrandpaâ and âGrandmaâ as though they were our own family.
I remember being very young, and lying to my mother. I think it may be the first time she recognized that her sweet little boy could sin. She told me how to pray to invite Jesus into my heart. I would like to think that I was sincere, but Iâd find a deeper truth later.
I was baptized as a child shortly after that. I believed in God, I loved Jesus, but looking back, I realize I mostly went through the motions because I wanted to make my parents proud. It was meaningful in its own way, but my heart was still empty. I knew about Jesus â but I didnât know Him.
The Breaking Point
By the time I was in eighth grade, the loneliness and brokenness had piled up. I was bullied. I felt unwanted. I was angry at myself, at others, and at the world. I carried dark thoughts â thoughts I acted on in ways Iâm not proud of, and thoughts I almost acted on in ways I might not have survived.
I decided I was going to end my life. I had every intention of cutting my wrists. But in the middle of those thoughts, a fear gripped me:
What if I donât really know Him? If I die, will I be in hell? Will I be separated from Him forever?
I knew God was real. But I realized maybe I wasnât in Christ.
The Night Everything Changed
That night – and in the days that followed – I wrestled with God. I came to a point where I got down on my knees, literally, and told Him I was done running.
I asked Him to forgive me. I told Him I accepted what Jesus had done for me when He died on the cross – that His death paid the price for my sin. I chose to follow Him, to serve Him as my Good King.
And something happened. I canât explain it any other way – but it was like I stepped out of the darkness into the light.
Peace settled in. Joy I had never known before came alive in me. It didnât mean I never struggled again, but it meant I never struggled alone.
I told the Pastor at our little country church I wanted to be baptized. He smiled. He had dunked me several years before. But he knew that there had been a change in me. The first time, it was just a bath. This time, it was a commitment – a public declaration of what God had done for me.
Why Iâm Telling You This
Hereâs the thing: this isnât about religion. Itâs not about rules. Itâs about a relationship with the One who made you, who loves you, and who gave His life for you.
Jesus isnât just an inspiring teacher. He is God in the flesh. He died to pay for your sin, and He rose again so you could have real life – both now and forever.
And Heâs calling you. Whether youâve never known Him, or youâve been away for years, Heâs saying, Come home.
This Is Your Moment
You donât have to have it all together. You donât have to clean yourself up first.
All you have to do is turn to Him. Tell Him you believe. Ask Him to forgive you. Trust Him to lead you. He will meet you right where you are.
There are seasons when something inside of us feels⌠off. You might feel tired, numb, angry, or overwhelmedâand you canât quite explain why. Maybe youâve wrestled with anxiety or addiction. Maybe you feel like youâre stuck in patterns you should have broken by now. Or maybeâif youâre honestâit just feels like some part of your soul has gone cold.
You’re not alone.
But more importantlyâyouâre not without hope.
God specializes in resurrection.
Heâs not just in the business of saving your soul for eternityâHe wants to heal you here and now, breathe life into the parts of you that feel dead, and restore you from the inside out.
Why Do I Still Feel Broken?
We often try to deal with our emotional pain by managing symptoms. We work harder, eat more, scroll endlessly, escape into porn or alcohol, or throw ourselves into church work while feeling spiritually hollow.
But the problem is deeper than behavior.
In Soul Care, Rob Reimer writes:
âYou canât build a healthy soul on a foundation of lies. The foundation must be truth.â
That truth doesnât come from self-help clichĂŠs. It comes from Jesusâthe One who said, âThen you will know the truth, and the truth will set you freeâ (John 8:32, NLT).
Your behaviors are the fruit, not the root. If you want real healing, you have to get to the rootâand let Jesus and the Holy Spirit do what only they can do.
How Do I Begin Inner Healing?
Healing isnât about striving harder or checking off a spiritual to-do list. Itâs about surrendering to the processâled by the Holy Spirit, anchored in the Word, and walked out in community.
Hereâs how that journey can start.
1. Take Ownership (Confess and Come Clean)
We love to blame others or minimize our own dysfunction. But healing starts with confessionâraw honesty before God and others.
âGod desires truth in the inward parts.â â Psalm 51:6 (KJV)
You may not be responsible for what happened to youâbut you are responsible for how you respond now.
âThe Holy Spirit will not heal what you pretend is not there.â â Rob Reimer, Soul Care
Start by naming it. The sin. The wound. The shame. The fear. You canât fix what you wonât face. But once you name it, you disarm its power.
2. Tell Yourself the Truth (Renew Your Mind)
The lies we believe about ourselves often started in childhood pain and trauma. âIâm not wanted.â âIâm a burden.â âI always mess things up.â These lies arenât harmlessâthey become the lens through which we see the world.
âOur lives are shaped by the stories we tell ourselvesâand many of those stories are lies.â â John Eldredge, Get Your Life Back
The Bible calls us to âbe transformed by the renewing of your mindâ (Romans 12:2, NLT). This means replacing toxic beliefs with the truth of Godâs Word.
As Dallas Willard put it:
âYou are what you do with your mind.â
So speak truth out loud:
âI am a child of God.â (John 1:12)
âI am not condemned.â (Romans 8:1)
âI have a sound mind.â (2 Timothy 1:7)
Renewal is warfareâand the battlefield is your thought life.
3. Dig Deep (Let the Holy Spirit Heal the Root)
This is the messy part. This is where most people stopâbecause it gets uncomfortable. But this is where the real work of healing happens.
âFreedom comes when we confess the truth, forgive the offender, and break agreement with the lie.â â Rob Reimer, Soul Care
Let the Holy Spirit guide you through these questions:
When was the first time I felt this way? Ask God to show you. He will. And it may surprise you.
What lie did I believe in that moment? That Iâm not safe? Not valuable? Unwanted?
What is the truth, Jesus? Ask Him to speak. Then speak that truth out loud until it becomes part of you.
Did I make a vow I need to break? âIâll never trust anyone again.â âI have to take care of myself.â Break those vows in Jesusâ name. Let Him rewire your inner world.
As Henry Cloud says:
âWe change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.â
Let the Holy Spirit go to the roots. Invite Him into the places youâve been too afraid to go.
4. Build New Habits (Walk in the Spirit, Not the Flesh)
You canât experience spiritual freedom while continuing to feed the same old flesh patterns. That means you may need to change your inputs, adjust your schedule, or set new boundaries.
âSpiritual formation is not a passive process. It requires engagement and discipline.â â Dallas Willard
Weâre not talking about white-knuckled willpower. Weâre talking about forming new pathwaysâled by the Spirit.
Try this:
Worship first before you check your phone.
Fast from media that pulls you into comparison or lust.
Build margin in your week for reflection and prayer.
Sabbath without guiltâGod designed you to rest.
âSince we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spiritâs leading in every part of our lives.â â Galatians 5:25 (NLT)
Freedom isnât just about saying ânoâ to sin. Itâs about saying âyesâ to life with God.
5. Donât Do It Alone (Let the Body of Christ Walk With You)
You were never meant to heal in isolation.
âHealing happens in the context of safe, grace-filled relationships.â â Rob Reimer, Soul Care
We say it all the time at Open Arms: church isnât a serviceâitâs a family. And families carry each otherâs burdens.
If you’re waiting to feel “ready,” youâll wait forever. Start where you are.
âConfess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.â â James 5:16 (NLT)
Let God Breathe Life Into You
Maybe you’re tired of pretending you’re fine. Maybe youâve been busy doing âChristian thingsâ but feel spiritually hollow. Maybe, like the Pharisees Jesus rebuked, youâve been focusing on performance while your soul quietly withers.
âWoe to you… you are like whitewashed tombsâbeautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead peopleâs bones.â â Matthew 23:27 (NLT)
To the people that reject Christ, thatâs self-condemnation. But to those of us willing to hear, itâs invitation. Jesus isnât condemning us for being dry bones. He speaks life into them.
In Ezekiel 37, God took a valley full of dead bones and brought them back to life. How? Through His Word, through His breath, and through His Spirit.
âI will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.â â Ezekiel 37:6 (NLT)
Thatâs His promise for you, too. You donât have to stay stuck. You donât have to keep numbing out. Let Jesus put you back together. Let Him breathe on you again.
đŁ Are You Ready to Come Back to Life?
It wonât happen overnight. But it starts with one step:
One truth spoken.
One wound confessed.
One lie broken.
One invitation to the Holy Spirit.
And then another. And another.
đĽ Join the Journey
Come walk it out with us. Open Arms Community Church meets Sunday mornings at 71 Congress Street in Bradford, PA. And our network of microchurches meets throughout the week in homes, coffee shops, and honest spaces all over the region.
What is Freely Given is a Narcotics Anonymous group that meets at Open Arms Community Church. This group provides a safe, confidential space for recovery, healing, and support.
đď¸ Sundays â° 5PM đ Open Arms Community Church
