Grace
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.” – Ephesians 2:8
Grace: “God’s unmerited favor. That is, grace is God doing good for us that we do not deserve. In the Bible, grace and mercy are like two heads of the same coin. Mercy is God withholding judgment or evil that I deserve; grace is God giving me blessing or good that I do not deserve. Because of God’s mercy, I do not receive the judgment of God against my sins; because of God’s grace, I receive eternal life and a promise of heaven though I do not deserve them. Both mercy and grace come to me though the Lord Jesus Christ.”
This definition take from http://www.learnthebible.org/what-is-grace.html
Reason Chosen: It is Easter week, and I needed to celebrate all God has done for us by sending Jesus to the cross for our sins. So hard to conceptualize the free gift God has given us…not by works we do for Him but because of our faith in Him. I want my children to experience the same grace – through God and through me. Faith hasn’t come easy to me. I did grow up in Christian home and followed Christ at a young age, but when I started to think about it and challenge it, none of it made sense to me, and I turned away for a bit. The whole thought of someone raising from the dead…never seen it…probably didn’t happen. All the claims of the Bible didn’t add up to me. After trying to make my own way, it came up extremely short. So, I decided to start looking into Christianity more through the study of apologetics, which is using logic and reason to explain religion. The cross and resurrection did not come up short. My head could finally match what my heart was telling me. I found comfort in the proofs of the Bible being accurate and historic. I found comfort in the internal and external support of all that is written in the Word of God. The fact that the disciples went from hiding away in fear to 10 out of 12 dying a martyrs death was good evidence that they believed their Savior had risen again. The amount of Biblical prophecies written hundreds of years before that would predict just what would happen to Jesus. Just look at Isaiah 53. That represents a fraction of the prophecies. Since I found Jesus’ death and resurrection to be true, grace has transformed my life. Why wouldn’t I pass along the greatest gift in the world down to my children. There’s no way I could withhold it from them. If this has struck an interest, please find some solid apologetic books. “More than a Carpenter,” by Josh McDowell is a pretty simple read. “A Case for Christ,” by Lee Strobel is another good place to start. There are many more that go more in depth, but these are good starters.
Word Ring
At the beginning of each week, the craft will be exactly the same because we will simply be adding a new word to our already established word ring.
Materials Needed
* Stock Card Paper (I had a whole stack like this – found at any craft store)
* Assorted Sticker Letters (I just bought a bunch on clearance at Michael’s)
* Binder Clips (Craft Store)
* Paper Cutter or Scissors
* Hole Punch
The girls chose a paper style they thought would look good with the letters they chose. We then helped them sound out “helpful.” They took turns finding the letters we needed and sticking them on the paper…they’re kids – the letters will not be stuck on perfect. I then cut the paper to the same size as the paper from last week. We punched a hole in the corner and stuck it on our binding clip. Each week, a new word will be added to the clip in similar fashion. I then wrote the Bible verse on the back. If your kids are older, have them do it themselves. We’ll spend this week learning the word, meaning and memorizing the scripture.
