January 2023 – Week 1

Welcome to our Grace Challenge for this year and thank you for your willingness to embark with me and many others on a new journey. I am very aware that we all find ourselves at different places and in different seasons, having different priorities and trusting God for vastly different breakthroughs and answers. Yet, as believing women we should all have this one thing in common – a desire to know Him better and love Him more. How this plays itself out in our lives will be according to our season and our Creator’s intimate knowledge of us, for does He not have the road map of our lives, and is He not uniquely acquainted with the blueprints of our divine design? 

This year we will concentrate on the wisdom literature of the Bible, with special emphasis on the Book of Proverbs as it covers all aspects of our life, not only life in the church. Jam-packed with wise sayings and brimming with good old-fashioned common sense, we will take a fresh look at how we can live our Christian testimony in the street, the office, the shop, next to the sports field, and at home. 

Like in any of the other Bible books, the theme of redemption and the story of salvation lies at the heart of Proverbs, as it stresses throughout that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! 

While it tells us of the sort of life we are saved for, it also reminds us about the sort of life we have been saved from. Thus, it paints a vivid picture of the kind of life we are saved to and for – as David Pawson, a beloved Bible teacher, so succinctly puts it. 

It is Paul that reminds us in his letter to the Colossians that in Christ Himself are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! If we believe this to be true, then I can confidently announce that it is Wisdom that enables us to arrive at the end of a year pleased with everything that has been accomplished! 

Finally, it is my prayer that as we journey together, we will journey closer to God than we ever thought possible, for it is grace that once again leads the way.