Saturday, January 31, 2026

Love Like Christ: The Love That Began at the Cross”

Able by Grace Ministries Valentine’s Sermon

“Love Like Christ: The Love That Began at the Cross”

Key Scriptures:
Ephesians 5:2 • Ephesians 5:25 • John 15:13 • 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 • Proverbs 3:5–6 • Psalm 127:1

Opening: Redefining Valentine’s Day

When people hear Valentine’s Day, most immediately think of chocolate, candy, roses, fancy dinners, and Hallmark cards—some sweet, some a little corny.

But Valentine’s Day was never meant to be about what we buy.

It was meant to be about how we love.

Before culture commercialized Valentine’s Day, it was rooted in faith, sacrifice, and Christ-centered devotion.

The True Origin of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day traces back to Saint Valentine, a Christian believer who lived during a time when Christian marriage was forbidden by the Roman government.

Valentine believed love was God-ordained, not culture-controlled. He secretly performed Christian marriages, honoring covenant love centered on Christ.

For that obedience, Valentine was imprisoned and eventually martyred.

So Valentine’s Day is not rooted in romance—it is rooted in sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

What Does It Mean to Love Like Christ?

We often say “love like Christ,” but what does that actually mean?

To love like Christ means:

  • Loving without conditions

  • Serving without keeping score

  • Choosing sacrifice over comfort

  • Seeing people as worthy, not as burdens

“Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.” (Ephesians 5:2)

Jesus did not love when it was easy.
He loved when it was costly.

He loved the overlooked.
He loved the outcast.
He loved disabled people—not as projects, but as people.

To love like Christ is to love with dignity, patience, and grace.

Love Begins Before Romance

Before romantic love, Scripture calls us to love:

  • Our parents

  • Our families

  • Our friends

  • Our church family

Romantic love does not replace these relationships—it reflects Christ within them.

As we mature, love may turn toward courtship and dating, but God’s standard for love never changes.

Christ-Centered Courtship

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25)

This verse is not only for marriage—it is the model.

We are not called to look for someone who simply loves us.

We are called to look for someone who loves Christ, prays with us, and loves others the way Christ loves the church.

Dating With a Disability: God Still Writes the Story

Dating with a disability can come with real challenges:

  • Being misunderstood

  • Being underestimated

  • Being overlooked

But disability does not disqualify anyone from love.

Jesus never excluded disabled people—He welcomed them, honored them, and revealed God’s glory through them.

When we allow Christ to write the story with us, He leads us in love marked by grace, patience, and purpose.

Our Story: Friendship, Prayer, and God’s Timing

Cody and I didn’t meet through dating apps or romance.

Almost 11 years ago, we met in a Facebook group, after I published an article about disability and intimacy during my disability activism and journalism days. I’m not focused on activism in the same way anymore—I’m more ministry now—but God used that season.

Cody read that article—and instead of judgment, he responded with respect, faith, and kindness.

What began as a conversation became a friendship.

There was no pressure. No expectations. Just encouragement grounded in Christ.

Even back then—without realizing it—we were praying for each other.
Not to end up together.
But because that’s what believers do.

Three years ago, God shifted the season.

Friendship turned into courtship, but Christ never left the center.

That’s how you know a love story is God-written:
It doesn’t rush.
It doesn’t force.
It grows in prayer.



10 Biblical Things to Look for in a Christ-Centered Partner

  1. Someone who prays with you

  2. Someone who loves Christ first

  3. Someone who respects your disability

  4. Someone who is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4)

  5. Someone who walks beside you

  6. Someone who encourages your faith

  7. Someone who loves others well

  8. Someone who understands covenant over convenience

  9. Someone who honors both independence and support needs

  10. Someone who lets God lead the relationship (Psalm 127:1)

Love Like Christ Through Story, Books, and Conversation

At Able by Grace Ministries, we don’t just preach these truths—we live them. One way God has called me to share His love is through stories and conversations that point hearts back to Christ.

🎧 Podcast

Faith Over Fried Chicken (Spotify)
https://open.spotify.com/show/2nF61IfAmvC9m5Xnn4Ohb7?si=16cfe9f7727f4835

📚 Books (Faith-Filled, Disability-Inclusive Love Stories)

These stories don’t replace Scripture—they exist to point hearts back to Jesus, and to remind readers that God’s love includes every person and every body.

The Power of Christ’s Love Through Us

Christ’s love transforms hearts, churches, relationships, and futures.

Whether you are single, waiting, dating, engaged, married, disabled, healing, or hopeful—you are deeply loved by God.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for Your love—the love that is patient, sacrificial, and unchanging. Thank You for reminding us that true love did not begin with a card or a gift, but at the cross, where Your Son laid down His life for us.

Teach us how to love like Christ. Help us love with grace when it is hard, patience when it is slow, and faith when the future feels uncertain.

For those who are single and waiting, remind them they are not forgotten.
For those dating or courting, help them keep You at the center.
For those married, strengthen their covenant.

For those navigating love with a disability, remind them they are wonderfully made, fully seen, and deeply valued by You.

Write our love stories according to Your perfect will.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

at No comments:

Sunday, January 11, 2026

A Hallelujah Through the Fire

A Hallelujah Through the Fire

A Monthly Sermon for Able by Grace Ministries

Sermon Inspiration

This sermon of inspiration for today and this month comes from the song Hallelujah by Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll.

I’m listening to this song as I write this message — and I’ve been thinking about it for weeks and weeks.

Not casually.
Not in passing.

But deeply.

Because this song doesn’t come from a place of easy faith.
It comes from lived faith.

What This Song Is Really Saying

When the song talks about having been “through hell and high water,” it’s not poetic exaggeration — it’s testimony.

It’s the voice of someone who has:

  • struggled

  • fallen

  • questioned

  • survived

And still chooses to lift a hallelujah — not because life is perfect, but because God is present.

That’s the kind of praise Scripture talks about.

Isaiah 43:2 says:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.”

Notice God doesn’t say if you go through the waters.
He says when.

And for many of us in the disability community, those waters came early.

Why This Song Hits Different for Us

For us, “hell and high water” looked like:

  • doctors’ rooms

  • chronic pain

  • being misunderstood

  • being prayed over instead of walked with

  • smiling on the outside while hurting on the inside

Some of us learned how to praise God while hurting — not after the pain ended.

And that’s why this song matters.

Because it reminds us:

Praise doesn’t cancel pain —
it coexists with it.

Psalm 34:19 tells us:

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Not few.
Many.

My Hallelujah Didn’t Come Easy (My Testimony)

I want to be transparent with you today.

In 2018, I went through one of the darkest seasons of my life.

On the outside, I was smiling.
I was writing.
I was functioning.

But on the inside, I was battling depression so deep that I didn’t want to live anymore.

That year:

  • I went through a painful breakup

  • I almost got sued by a publishing company for writing that was rightfully mine

  • and I was told I would never make it in the industry I loved most — writing

And that sentence nearly broke me.

Because writing wasn’t just a dream.
It was my calling.

I questioned everything — except God.

I stayed.

Even when staying hurt.

The Ring of Fire

Looking back now, I understand something I couldn’t see then.

God wasn’t punishing me.

He was refining me.

Isaiah 48:10 says:

“I have refined you in the furnace of affliction.”

That fire burned away:

  • fear

  • doubt

  • approval-seeking

  • insecurity

And it shaped obedience.

Fast Forward — Look What God Did

Fast forward to today.

I am:

  • a minister

  • an Amazon best-selling author

  • a woman who no longer questions God’s faithfulness

I don’t question Him anymore.

I thank Him.

Because that fire led me to:

  • my career

  • my calling

  • my voice

  • my fiancé, Cody

  • and a life that is beautiful — not because it’s easy, but because it’s God’s way

Even my body is not forgotten.

After years of being dismissed, God led me to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in cerebral palsy — a reminder that God cares about physical healing too, not just spiritual survival.

A Word for Anyone in the Fire Right Now

So hear me clearly:

👉 Don’t let this hell get you down.
👉 Don’t let the noise pull you away from Jesus Christ — our one and only Savior.
👉 Don’t let depression win.

Let Jesus win — right alongside you.

Your hallelujah doesn’t have to be loud.
It just has to be honest.

And one day, you’ll look back and realize:

The fire didn’t end you.
The water didn’t drown you.
It prepared you.

Closing Prayer

Lord,
We bring You the hallelujahs that were born in pain.
We thank You for meeting us in the fire and carrying us through the water.
Teach us to praise You not only for what You’ve done —
but for who You are.

And when we don’t have strength,
be our strength.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

at No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)

Love Like Christ: The Love That Began at the Cross”

Able by Grace Ministries Valentine’s Sermon “Love Like Christ: The Love That Began at the Cross” Key Scriptures: Ephesians 5:2 • Ephesians 5...