Verse to Consider: 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing”
Greetings
Hello new and faithful readers! We apologize for the late update. We broke our agreement to give an update every month, seeing that it has now been about 2 since our last post. Given the craziness of travel and the Christmas holiday, I pray you will forgive us. 🙂
Thankfulness
Concerning the title of this blog post, I will first say that these past few months have served as a personal reminder of all we have to give thanks for:
For our beautiful son, Benaiah who has been both the greatest trial and greatest joy of our lives. (He’s doing awesome by the way).
For the ability to see family and celebrate our Savior together over Christmas.
We’re thankful for being able to take part in the marriage of one of our staff members and friends. And also for the addition of two new and amazing staff members, welcome Kristi Marsh and Morgan Phaneuf! (Pictures in that order.)
We’re thankful for the gift of serving in a community of dedicated Jesus followers, and to see God actively working through the teaching of His Word. (One of the ways we were especially blessed this semester was through having Dr. Joseph Okello give us a special lecture on the book of Job, thanks to our friendship with Asbury Theological Seminary. So awesome!)
I also had the awesome opportunity to teach through the book of Ecclesiastes, what a beautiful heart-wrencher!
We started our New Testament semester in January and it has been so exciting! Our students are amazing and it’s been so refreshing to walk with them through the Gospels and the book of Acts, which we’re studying currently. As we look at the first new covenant believers, the missional journeys of the apostle Paul, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, I’ve been struck with the depth of significance the gospel carried for these people and the cost that came with it.
Where the Jews looked for a conquering king that would lead them into glorious victory against the Roman oppressors, they found a suffering servant-king. When they looked for a God that demanded perfection, they found only grace and a love for all people. In the beginning of Acts, this starting group of 120, imperfect, followers in Jerusalem explodes in a way that it has no business doing throughout the books of Acts. We see thousands of people flock to the message of grace, giving everything they hold dear in this life just to know this man named Jesus: the unclean Roman gentile, the sick and lame, the rich and powerful, and even a murdering persecutor like Saul.
I’m so thankful to know this Jesus. I’m so thankful that the gospel is for each and every person, no matter where they’re at in life. And we’re so thankful that our job everyday is to study and teach others about this man Jesus, through His words. Lastly, we’re thankful for you! If you are reading this, you are important to us and have been a tremendous encouragement to our souls in this mission of ours. Whether you have given to us financially, prayed for us faithfully, or simply invited us over for a meal, you have allowed us to pursue our dream. For this, we are so grateful.
A Call to Prayer
And this leads us to our call to prayer. Over the course of the last year, we have been unable to increase our monthly income to a sustainable place, and if something doesn’t change soon, it will no longer be possible for us to continue our work here. We truly believe that God has called us to help others know and experience the Bible in a life-transforming way. We are praying that God will establish this calling on our lives through an increase in His provision! That being said, we wanted to ask you, all of our supporters, to join us in prayer as we seek God in this need.
In order for our family to work full time in this ministry and live a healthy lifestyle, we need our total monthly income to reach a minimum of $3000. We are currently living off half of this. Please pray that God would bring us the necessary donors to help us reach our goal. We also ask for your prayers to help us continue living faithfully with the calling God has placed on our lives.
If you would like to become a financial partner in this mission, please click here! to reach our donate page. If you’re new to this blog or our mission, we’d love to tell you all about it. You can find our information on our “Contact Us” page above, or click here! to read more about Emmaus Ministries.
Thank you all for your love and support,
– The McRae Family
The McRae Family 