What are you grateful this season? G.K. Chesterton famously said about Christmas gifts: “Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?” This was a great year filled with a lot of incredible blessings both in our personal lives and in ministry. Needless to say, personally perhaps none was greater than the purchase of a new place and the move to it.
Yes, there were a lot of challenges associated with the remodeling project that should have neither taken as long as it did nor cost us as much as it did. But through it all we learnt that for a believer, even our hardships and difficulties in life are often associated with our tremendous blessings. Take another example from a life of a parent. It is challenging to raise kids. At times it may be heartbreaking and at other times it is just plain draining. Yet what a great blessing it is to be a father or a mother! What a tremendous source of joy! So going back to the question at the top of this letter – what is one thing you are most grateful for this season?
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
P.S. Feel free to use the attached postcard if you'd like as your own unique Thanksgiving eCard this year. You can use it as an image or as a downloadable PDF file.
THREE THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
Please join us in praying for God:
- To bring peace to Ukraine and Russia. Moreover, ask God to use this conflict by bringing reconciliation and revival to both countries.
- To bless our Advent season. This year our sermon series will be dedicated to the second coming of Jesus. We will look forward towards the return of the King and will draw parallels with His first coming. Christmas is a great season for outreach and it would be wonderful to see many new people come to church and put their faith in Christ during this season.
- To provide the necessary resources for us to finish up remodeling our new place. We have moved in, but could not install a coat closet in the entryway, book shelves, or shelves in the closet.
