Amazing Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Dec 28th 2025

A Winter’s Prayer

Lord of Light and Winter Peace,

As the cold settles over the earth and snow quiets the world around us, still our hearts in Your presence.

Teach us to see Your beauty in every frosted branch, Your faithfulness in every sunrise that breaks through the long nights.

In this season of rest, renew our strength.

In this season of stillness, deepen our trust.

In this season of waiting, anchor our hope in Christ alone.

Warm our fellowship with kindness,

Brighten our worship with gratitude,

And guide our steps into the New Year with courage, compassion, and joy.

May Your Spirit cover our church family like fresh snow —

pure, gentle, and full of quiet wonder.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

---

Encouraging Quotes for the New Year

1. “God’s tomorrow is always bigger than our yesterday.”
2. “When we step into a new year with Christ, we never step alone.”
3. “Fresh starts are God’s specialty — He delights in making all things new.”
4. “Faith grows strongest when we walk into the unknown holding God’s hand.”
5. “A new year is not a reset of time, but a renewal of trust.”
6. “Where God leads, hope follows.”
7. “Every sunrise of the new year whispers the same truth: God is faithful.”

---

 

“The Snowplow and the Streetlight”

Years ago in a small Midwestern town, a pastor walked outside early on New Year’s morning. Snow had fallen heavily overnight, covering everything in a thick white blanket. The streets were silent, untouched, and still.

But as he stood there, he noticed something beautiful.

A single streetlight glowed warmly at the end of the road, and beneath it, a snowplow had carved a clean, straight path through the deep snow. The rest of the neighborhood remained buried, but that one illuminated path was clear, open, and ready for travel.

Later that morning, the pastor shared this with his congregation:

“The New Year is like that untouched snow — unknown, untraveled, and sometimes overwhelming. But God is like the streetlight, shining ahead. And His Word is the plow that clears the way. We don’t need to see the whole road. We only need to walk the path He has already prepared.”

That simple picture stayed with the church for years.

Every winter, whenever the snow fell, people remembered:

God always makes a way forward — even when the year ahead feels deep and uncertain.

---

 Short Bible Lesson: “Snow and the God Who Makes Us New”

Theme: Snow teaches us about God’s cleansing, renewing, and transforming work.

1. Snow Reminds Us of God’s Cleansing Power

Snow covers the dullness of winter with pure white beauty.

Scripture uses this image to describe forgiveness:

• “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” — Isaiah 1:18

God doesn’t just dust us off — He makes us new.

2. Snow Falls Quietly, Like God’s Gentle Work in Us

Snow rarely arrives with noise. It settles softly, quietly transforming the world.

God often works the same way:

• “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10

Transformation doesn’t always come with fireworks.

Sometimes it comes in quiet obedience, small steps, and whispered prayers.

3. Snow Reflects Light — We Are Called to Do the Same

Fresh snow glows brightly because it reflects nearly all the light that touches it.

Jesus calls us to reflect His light:

• “Let your light shine before others…” — Matthew 5:16

A snowy field doesn’t create light — it reflects it.

So do we.

4. Snowfall Is Seasonal — So Are Our Lives

Winter doesn’t last forever.

Neither do the hard seasons we walk through.

• “For everything there is a season…” — Ecclesiastes 3:1

God is faithful in every season — planting, pruning, waiting, and renewing.

---

 Amazing Grace Baptist Church Bulletin ©2025

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Freely Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At "treasurebox18@yahoo.com" All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include Site Name And Link Back To This Blog. Thank-You.Images are not all Christian, but put here for the purposes of doing good works of faith, family and country.

All Wrapped Up And Wounded

All Wrapped Up And Wounded

This will be the first year in the seven years of tending my gardens here,  that I have had several big spiders building beautiful webs.  I'm not sure what kind of spiders they are , so I've been very  cautious around them.

Though I  think spiders are highly interesting I would not want to be bit by one of them.  A grass spider looks like a brown recluse, so because I cannot tell the difference between the two,  I had to make a decision to kill any spiders that resemble a brown recluse.  I have never been afraid of spiders but have always been interested in learning about them.  God made them and I'm sure there are many things we could still learn and may even find uses for them that have never been  thought of.  Hopefully never the type of discoveries that cause regular people to turn into villains that resemble them.  

Some spiders are very poisonous and a bite can turn into a serious wound or even kill a person.  So if a spider happens to be on my person, better believe there will be a reaction. 

I think of the time our family was visiting my mother's home.  I was getting into the bathtub and when I sat down a giant spider jumped onto me and  I started screaming  and water was flying everywhere.  Don't worry I got out alive and unbitten, but the bathroom  was soaked  with water.  My husband managed to come in and kill the thing.  Since then I have been more cautious before getting into the bath tub while visiting my mother.

I love the different patterns of the webs the spider weaves.  They are especially beautiful in the morning light with a small amount of dew on the threads.  Some webs are more sticky than other webs.  It depends on the kind of spider the web belongs to.  I have watched  a  spider spin her web,  she stays busy until her masterpiece is done.  Then she sets in the middle and awaits for some unexpecting  fly or other insect to get caught into her sticky web.  Then she will run to wrap it up in her silky threads and there it is in a tomb of silk awaiting to be eaten. 

The creepiest thing about  some spiders is that they don't like to eat the crunchy outside part of it's prey.  It likes to suck all the tender juices out of it's victims body and leaves the crunchy part like some people like to leave the crust on their bread.

I'm  reminded of sin when I think of a spider.  She spins a web that traps her victim and the only way out of her trap is by some miracle.  That's why we should never mess with sin.   If you start messing  with its threads,  you're  going to get stuck and it will suck you dry of your spiritual health and abilities.  You will be wounded and possibly not survive but will be all wrapped up in a life of sin.  A life in which  you may never find a way out of . All wrapped up and wounded.

If you have found yourself all wrapped  up in the trap Satan has spun for you and you cannot find a way out... your miracle lives.  Jesus is the miracle you need.  Christ has set many free from the bonds of sin.  God's desire for you is for you to be free from sins hold on your life and be transformed in your heart.  He has provided the way through Calvary.  He will bind your wounds. His Word is the doctor of your soul.  If you have wandered away repent and return to the arms of the Savior through repentance and re-dedication of your life to God.  God is the God of second chances and will be joyous at your return and will welcome you as did the father of the prodigal Son.  He never stopped loving him and never stopped wanting him to return home.

Luke.9:11

 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

Susan Y Nikitenko

September 10th, 2014

Devotional 

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Freely Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At "treasurebox18@yahoo.com" All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include Site Name And Link Back To This Blog. Thank-You.