What do you think of when you hear the words “Life Group”? When I hear Life Group, I think of people gathering together to share their lives with each other in love and truth. More importantly, I think of women with a commonality, gathering together to minister to each other’s lives with Christ’s love. It’s important for women to be able to have a safe, loving environment in which to gather. God wants us to gather in fellowship to minister to one another; to lift each other up.
There have been many women who have gone through If Not For Grace Ministries, whether it was for a Her Choice to Heal class, Reconciliation Weekend, Aftercare Bible Study and quite possibly all of them. These are all great tools for post-abortive women to find healing through Christ’s love, but we also need to share our lives with one another. This is the purpose of “Life Group”. It is the perfect opportunity to be authentic with every part of your life and to feel safe doing so. Life Group is a tool for you to live out the abundant life Christ desires each of us to have. So we invite you to come and share your lives with us every third Thursday of the month.
- Jennifer Weld
If you would like more information about our Life Group, please email Jennifer at jweld@infg.org.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” I John 1:7 (KJV)
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt 18:20 (KJV)
Last year at this time, I started my healing journey as a post-abortive. I was scared and didn’t know what to expect. I felt it was enough for me to just make it through the Her Choice to Heal classes. Every time the Reconciliation Weekend was mentioned in class or out of class, it automatically went in the “There’s no way I’m doing that!!!!” file. I wouldn’t think about it; I wouldn’t pray about it; I wouldn’t even consider it. I WAS NOT GOING THERE.
finally felt free from the past and was actually looking forward to what He would do in me in the future. I know fear has a way of gripping you and not letting go. Just being obedient to God and making yourself go through the process of healing without holding back, is well worth the joy you experience when you come out on the other side. There is a hope that is far more than just going through the motions of life, but actually living life, FULLY.
The receiving of W2’s is an annual January occurrence in the majority of U.S. households. Calculators are retrieved from kitchen junk drawers and tabulations computed – net income, gross income, daycare costs, medical expenses, charitable donations. The list varies from house to house, but the act of tabulating the family’s income and expenses is a universally daunting task. An inner curiosity emerges as eraser shavings are brushed aside. The final feeling is.…
Isaiah 61:1-3 is the foundational Scripture for If Not For Grace Ministries. In it, the words can describe a woman or man who is struggling from the choice of abortion—afflicted, brokenhearted, captive, imprisoned, mourning, grieving, in despair. The sentiment “I know God has forgiven me but I just can’t forgive myself” is an example of this for many of the women who are seeking help. God has established INFG for the purpose of ministering to them with the good news of complete forgiveness and freedom. He has given us the vision “to enable post-abortive women, men and families to live authentic, abundant lives.”
As I’ve anticipated this New Year, never before have I felt such resolve in my heart to depend upon Jesus for the Vision and Mission for this ministry. For it is only through dependence, we can achieve the victorious, abundant blessings He has in store for His people through INFG. This deeper dependence on Jesus motivates me to fully embrace “immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine” in 2012. In a recent Team Leader meeting, we opened with an intro question, “using the 1st letter of your last name, choose a word that describes you and think of an example.” I chose “determined,” because of its association with the word purpose. God has a much more significant purpose for us and it is this place of abundant (plentiful, rich, ample, lavish) living! It brought me back to a verse that was a theme for us as a Team a few years ago: “[for my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly],” (AMP). This is our foundation because our work at INFG springs up out of ministering to Him! We have so many wonderful goals to accomplish this year, but none so important as knowing Him more intimately. Our two vision words for 2012 are: Faith and Empowerment. Faith–the kind of faith that is risky, that involves stepping out and perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses; and Empowerment—equipping our leaders and enabling the post-abortive to live authentic, abundant lives; mobilizing them for Kingdom expanding work. I love the part in the book “The Normal Christian Life,” by Watchman Nee, that says “Mary gave it all up for Him, nothing in reserve for a future day.” She lavished all she had and on resurrection day she had no regrets of her extravagant act.” We pray that our Board, Staff, Team and Volunteers might impart the very Presence of God to those He brings to INFG. His light in us will create a hunger for Him, so they may be restored and set free to walk in the fullness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” We want to be the vessels He will reveal himself through to those He gives us divine appointments with in this generation.