John Newton, the author of the great hymn “Amazing Grace,” was raised in London in the 1700’s. His father was a sea captain and his mother was a devout, God-fearing woman. Due to unfortunate circumstances, his mother passed away when he was only seven years old and his father did little to teach him right from wrong. As a young man, he joined a ship’s crew where life was hard and the conditions deplor-able. God seemed afar off. John found himself aboard a slave ship, the Greyhound, when a raging storm hit. The ship began to sink as he and the other crew members worked to keep it from going under. He began to think about the plight of his own life; what he had done, people he had misused, and the God he had scorned and run from. His mother’s teachings came to mind. He remembered that she had told him that God seeks to demonstrate His boundless grace and mercy to those who are lost. He prayed and lived through that storm. John’s life began to change. He married his sweetheart, Mary, and began to pastor a church, where he eventually penned the words to “Amazing Grace.” That hymn highlighted his intimate encounter with God. Later on, his eye-witness accounts were a catalyst for helping bring an end to the British slave trade.
As we begin to shift our focus to Easter, we all have our own stories of wrongdoing and redemption. Because of the Father’s unconditional love for us, He gave us Jesus. Jesus bore our sins on a rugged cross in order to save us and give us freedom that we all desperately need. Romans 3:24 reminds us that we have been justified by His grace through the redemption that only Christ Jesus could purchase for us. God’s extravagant grace reaches us where we are. That, my friend, is Amazing Grace!
Ministry at Project Bethany is well under way. All four mothers are studying this first quarter, and most have had exams and are doing well.
Each month, we have a theme. March was “Women of Influence.” We have touched on topics such as: identifying a woman who has positively influenced my life, recognizing my strengths and weaknesses in order to impact the lives of others, and how I can influence the lives of my children for good. These workshops have been invaluable in that the ladies are recognizing their value as women and daughters of God. They are learning to open up and share their experiences, and find God in it all. The ladies are beginning to feel that they are in a safe environment.
Continue to pray for them as they study and face new academic challenges. May they experience Christ in them in a greater way as they are stretched and uprooted from their comfort zones, so that they can become women of influence for His Kingdom’s sake!