Happy Valentine's Day

Karis 5 months

Valentine Family

Since we have been married, Steve and I enjoy writing a Valentine letter (instead of a Christmas letter). We have always picked a word that we feel has been relevant for our past year as our guide of what to write about.  GRACE is our word choice this Valentine's day.  Enjoy!

G-Grace. This could easily be described as the one word that we base our lives around. Grace is a Greek word which if transliterated into English, would be Karis. God has shown us much grace by sending his son to be sin on our behalf and save us from our sin. We also see God’s grace in the day to day life experiences. One of those ways was by gracing us with our daughter in August, whom we named Karis because we wanted to give her a name that would reflect what God was doing in our lives. Jenny has picked a favorite hymn of ours to sing to Karis on a nightly basis as part of a bed time routine. It would be our hope that Karis will know the meaning of her name one day and understand that it is because of God’s grace to us that we can be reconciled to him and that she would embrace the truth of the Gospel. The words to this hymn are as follows, Grace Greater than our Sin, “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. Refrain: Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin! 2. Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss; grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. 3. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, brighter than snow you may be today. 4. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see his face, will you this moment his grace receive?”

R-Reformed Theological Seminary has been Steve’s home away from home for the past year and a half. Since accepting the full time (temporary) role at Converge Worldwide in January, he has stepped back from his full time studies at RTS. He is currently taking online classes as time allows and will plan to resume his full time student status this fall.

A-Adjusting to life as parents has been an amazing journey! We have greatly enjoyed being parents and could not be more thankful to God that He saw fit for us to become parents this year. Jenny took a 3 month maternity leave in order to recover from the c-section delivery and also help take care of Karis. She went back to work in November and is adjusting to her new role(s) of working mom/wife. This has been an area of struggle for her but she feels so blessed to have the opportunity to continue work with the Converge Worldwide missionaries on a daily basis as well as take care of her home and family. Steve absolutely loves being a daddy! He has looked forward to this for a long time and finds that Karis melts his heart more and more with each passing day.

C- Community is just another way that we are experiencing God’s grace. We feel very blessed with the community of friends He has developed around us in Orlando. As we have battled through the ups and downs of the past year and a half since moving to Florida, we have received a great amount of encouragement and support not only through our church small group relationships but also the many financial/prayer supporters of our ministry. The Bible calls us to be committed to community and for good reason. Our faith is to be very personal but never private and we are thankful for the grace that God has shown us through our growing community.

E- Enjoying life. Every morning we wake up, we make a concerted effort to praise God for the truth of His Gospel. The Gospel that tells us that we have a God who is fully satisfied with us because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel that frees us from trying pretend to be something we are not because we know our true identity and sufficiency is in Christ. The Gospel that keeps us from having to perform in order to earn God’s favor because Christ has earned God’s favor on our behalf. The Gospel that gives hope through suffering, knowing that anything that comes our way must first past through the hands of our great God who loves us more than we can imagine. The Gospel is that Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God and there is no greater news! It is because of the Gospel that we can freely and truly find great joy in this life no matter what happens.

Sufficient in Christ,

Steve and Jenny Valentine

PS.  Karis really enjoyed getting to open her Valentine's gift this morning, pictures to come!