We have curated 12 passages to memorize this year which are connected to our 2023 rallying cry, "We are humble before and joyful in Jesus!" Let's treasure God's word in our hearts each month.
January
James 4:10 – Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
We are here to make disciples and plant churches by proclaiming and displaying the grace of God to sinners and sufferers. After seeking the Lord we’ve discerned our rallying cry for 2023 is not a new project or hill to charge, but a focus on being:
We are humble before & joyful in Jesus!
The road to how we got here is a long one. When you walk into Grace Church and see us with our five teenage boys, with a happy marriage, and the Aledo life it is hard to see where we came from.
We are thrilled to be a part of Grace Church and serve the children and families of Aledo. Our hope and prayer is to see families discipled and formed into the image of Christ so that the next generation of saints may know, trust, and love our good and gracious God.
It was this physical health, and spiritual growth, that led me to move my family to Fort Worth in 2019. I had been wanting to move for awhile, but during this time I felt the Spirit nudging me to make the move sooner than later. I was so excited about the new challenges ahead, but I never imagined how much my life would actually change.
In September of 2020 several leaders at Grace felt the same stirring from the Spirit. How can we fight against the never-ending stream of media that is discipling our people? Do we want Netflix, the news media, and Facebook to dwell richly in the hearts of God’s people? No! We want Colossians 3:16 to be true of us, “Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts”.
Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son, is the Beloved of the Father, the Song of the angels, the Logic of creation, the great Mystery of godliness, the bottomless Spring of life, comfort and joy. We were made to find our satisfaction, our heart’s rest, in him. Quite simply, this book will be about enjoying him, reveling in his all-sufficiency for us, and considering all that he is: how he reveals such an unexpectedly kind God, how he makes, defines—how he is—the good news, and how he not only gives shape to but is himself the shape of the Christian life.
I’d be lying if I said I’m completely healed. My body is still broken, I’m currently amid more health issues. My heart is still grieved, I cry a lot over those two babies I lost. But God has shown me many things during these trials. He has grown me immeasurably. He IS sovereign over my life. He IS Lord over our family. He is the HEALER of my body. He does see me. He has shown me that I cannot rely on my own strength. God and God alone sustains me. Only He can restore the brightness in my eyes.
In my years as a follower of Christ, I often looked at the ministry of healing suspiciously. Healing was a show put on for televangelists or stories that were told to make a person sound impressive. Maybe, God would grant this for really sick people - the type of requests that make the top of your bible study prayer list; maybe cancer or a car accident. However, last year my entire view on healing, and the power of the Holy Spirit was made alive.
A heavy “A-frame” medal ladder at full extension blew over and struck me across the top of my head just as I bent over to move a child sandbox. For thirty minutes I had been walking the yard with a fertilizer spreader. The blow was serious: 14 staples and three months of headache, sleepiness, lethargy, inability to concentrate and sensitivity to light/loud noises.
