Grace Beyond GraceBeyondBrochure-Celebrate-Dec2017-web | Page 7

ALL THINGS FOR GOOD The tapestry today continues to be intricately formed into the very fabric of our lives by our loving Fa- ther, as He who began a good work in us promises to see it through to completion. Each of us have one, a story, beautifully hand-woven on our hearts by the aut hor of our faith journey. What is our response to His master- piece? Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts! Psalm 96:8 The definition of ascribe is to attri- bute a work of text or work of art to a particular person... because God alone is author and artisan, our story is HIS story. The further we journey toward home, the more we are made aware of the depth of our own sin, but greater still our Lord’s amazing grace that spanned the mighty gulf. We continually find ourselves back at the foot of the cross — Calvary, a place of redemption, forgiveness, freedom and transformation… the abundant life! The way of the cross leads home, and as we sojourn together Jon and I are grateful for our earthly Calvary home, Christ’s church in this place. Here God has spurred us on not only in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but in growth of His grace. God’s grace. Immeasurable Grace. Grace Beyond. Nate & Sheri Schmidt Some time in the middle of the construction phases of Grace Be- yond, I (Nate) was involved in an auto-related accident. At the time, I really couldn’t see any good com- ing from it. I’d re-injured a knee that had just been surgically re- paired five months prior. Why had this happened, God? Why now... and why to me? It even happened immediately after I was involved in ministry at church as well! Weeks went by following the inci- dent, and God started to demon- strate His grace. The medical costs for treatment were covered completely by our auto insurance. I ended up not requiring further surgery to the knee after all. Physi- cal therapy, and time, would prove to be sufficient. This accident had happened early in the insurance year, plus the costs were such that most of our deductible was actually getting met. Another member of our family needed a medical proce- dure done sometime soon, and it had only been able to be partially completed during the year prior, which at the time had been a big disappointment. We’d been trying to figure out when to finish it, and now seemed to be the time. Fur- ther, when our teenage son went to the dentist, he was told his wisdom teeth were severely impacted and all four would need to be extracted. As it “just so happened” with these not being a routine extraction, it put them over into the medical part of our plan instead of dental. Yep, minimal cost to us here as well. As I started totaling what the out of pockets costs for these two proce- dures would be, I realized that not only were we blessed with having to pay very little expense for each of them, but this alone was far more than what we’d originally pledged to Grace Beyond! There are no accidents with God. And He does indeed cause all things to work together for good. But then we realized something. To Him be the glory both now and forever. 7