Merry Christmas from Gracethrufaith 2022!  

We made it through another year, GTF fam! And I’m praying the Lord holds you close and blesses you abundantly this Christmas season. I pray that all the encouragement you’ve given, the prayers you’ve prayed, and all the seed you’ve sown is measured back to you, overflowing and uncontainable. I’m so grateful the Lord has brought us together, whether you’ve been here for decades or just found us! You are one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given me. Thank you for being here. I cannot express enough how grateful I am for you. Thank you for joining us in giving the Lord’s love and provision to those in need.

This is the eighth Christmas letter I’ve written to you since Jack went to be with Jesus. I’m filled with awe, and I’m so humbled that the Lord continues to sustain and grow the ministry Jack and I began 23 years ago. I know he’d be proud of all we’ve continued to do together, carrying on his legacy! It’s a formidable task, and I’m so glad I get to do it with you! 

Jack loved Bible number symbolism, and 8 is the number of new beginnings. As I pray about this next year, hope and excitement rise up within me. Perhaps the things we’ve been praying and waiting for will find their completion next year. I hope and pray it is so! But above all, I want God’s will in God’s timing.

This year we’ve been through mighty ups and downs with the health and well-being of those we serve.  We have stood with Shanthi, Roopa, Laxmi, Jaqui, and others facing scary health problems.  We’ve stood with our Prayer House village in India in faith through persecution, harassment, floods, evacuations, and pending evictions. And they remain in their huts still! Joel, his family, and their tribe went far away for work and we’ve been praying for their safety and safe return each day. We have prayed and fasted together. We stand in the gap between what is and what God wills. Thank you for standing with us! Life in God’s Kingdom is never dull. 

We’ve had more persecution and interference this year than ever before. Your prayer is vital for all we do. Thank you so much for praying with us and for us. Your prayers are so needed and so appreciated! 

I pray our increased need for prayer is just the interference that comes before a great move of God. Jack said as Christians, we can be sure of two things: battles and victories. Lord, please bring on the victories coming from these battles!   

Coming out of the stress and upheaval of the last few years has been tough for us all. It’s often on the other side of a crisis that we face what the stress has done to our mental and physical health. Uncertainty and upheaval take their toll. I’ve seen it in those we serve, and I experience it myself. Many of you know I tend to get debilitating migraines (thank you for praying!). They tend to track with the weather but seem even more affected by stress. The more I try to push through it, the worse it gets. And that’s been a holy lesson I have learned way too late in life, not to push things or myself too hard, so I make sure to not get ahead of what God wants me to do. It forces me to keep even closer to the Lord, and it’s a constant reminder that God’s work is not meant to be done in my strength. Perhaps that’s a message for you too. ♥

I pray that this coming year will be one filled with love and grace for you. I pray this will be a year of growth and transformation with the Lord and for your heart to know, above all, the great love He has for you. I pray that you will experience in many tangible ways this love you cannot earn and cannot lose. 

All we do together is made possible by your prayers and generosity. Thank you! The need in our communities and our need for prayer are great, but our God is greater. Please continue to pray for us, this ministry, our volunteers, and those we serve.

I pray the Lord blesses you abundantly beyond all you can ask for or imagine, now and in the New Year!

With much love and gratitude,         

♥Samantha