Ashes

One of the greatest things God has given us, Wow, there are so many, and some may not even see this but I call it a clean slate.  A new day!  When you pray at night for God to take your problems and to work his miracles then when you sleep on it and get up in the morning, its like the old has been washed away and the new is fresh, covered with Jesus!

1 Corinthians 2:9

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

When we ask God to take our burdens we try to tell Him how to fix it.  But our little narrow minds try to hatch out a plan.  But in all truth, if we just pray God take our mess and make it beautiful He will do just that!  Far beyond anything imaginable!  He makes our ashes beautiful.  Every time He does this!  It amazes me everyday how I have ashes all around me.  Sometimes I stand right in the ashes occasionally while it’s still burning.  I hear Him say, stand there just a little longer. Even when I start to feel the anxiety creeping upon me, I hear Him say:

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!

During these times of standing in the ashes when my feet are burning He says to be thankful!  Sometimes I find that hard to do, but I am getting better.  Because I know without the embers burning making my feet hot, keeping me on my toes wanting to do His will, the devil would creep in.  There is no room in my life for the devil.  He repeatedly knocks on my door.  I look for Christ in every aspect of my life.  The devil uses the 3 D’s to keep us off track; distraction, deception, and discouragement!  If he gets just a tiny foothold in our life He can take over.  That’s why we have to constantly whisper that sweet name of Jesus!

2 Chronicles 15:2

The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with Him!  Whenever you look for Him, you will find Him, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 

The devil is tricky.  He uses things we are familiar with.  He uses things that we want to use.  He will take a memory or a friendship, whatever He needs to and then He will twist it!

Genesis 3:13

And the Lord God said to the woman “what is this you have done?”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

He makes it very easy for us.  Almost appealing!  But if we will step back from the temptation and look at the big picture we can tell Satan to crawl back under the rock he came from and go straight back to Hell! Because we know that he is not the one to stick beside us when we are in trouble.  That belongs to Christ Jesus!

Matthew 28:19-20

Go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

He is with us!  He is with you and He is with me!  No matter where I go, He goes before me!  He is there!  When I struggle, He is there.  When I am happy, He is there.  When I am sad, He is there.  And above all remember:

Luke 1:37

For nothing is impossible with God!

Just remember ever morning when you wake up, say, nothing is impossible with God!  I have a clean slate, it’s a new day!  Be sure you leave the previous days shattered pieces right there where you left them.  In the ash pile!  Because God has great things in store for the heap of ashes!

Hebrews 6:19-20

We, who are holding onto the hope of God’s salvation promises, have this hope as an anchor for my soul.  Firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.  He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Malchizedeck.

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Even when our situation appears to be impossible, our work is to “hope in God”. Our hope will not be in vain and in the Lords own timing help will come.                             George Mueller

So This Is Christmas

So this is Christmas! Delivering packages to children with eyes wide with wonder! Taking a meal to an elderly couple and staying to chat about the days events. Christmas caroling through the halls and shaking the hands of the ones that may have no "Christmas company"! Hugging the neck of the one who knows exactly how you feel because their circumstances are just like yours. Childrens Christmas plays, endless Cantata music, Candlelight services...everything Jesus! Thats what Christmas is. Not the presents, not the Christmas dinner, not the big sale at Kohls. Its about making sure your neighbors know when the doors are open to the church. If they can't get out then take Jesus to them. That could be in the form of a snow shovel with the muscle to go with it or it could be sitting beside them and sharing a cup of coffee while they tell you of their sadness and how Christmas brings many painful memories. Don't let the hussle and bussle of the next two days suck the Christmas joy from you! When you start to feel overwhelmed with the craziness of Christmas just STOP and step back. Christmas is going to come and go either way. Whether you bake 14 desserts or find that "perfect" gift, December 26 will arrive and I pray you can say, yes, I enjoyed every last minute of it. Remember Jesus was born to die! That should get more than just a mention on HIS day!

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

This Christmas, we can give the gift of God’s likeness through us. When our lives reflect the God who lives in us, we can be different from the world, and that difference can bless others with the transforming presence of His love and grace. —Joe Stowell
Merry Christmas!

Labor of Love

Labor of Love

What do you think of when you think of love? Is it sweaty palms, a flutter of your heart, a warm and fuzzy feeling? Or maybe it’s being sick at your stomach, ready to hurl? As I lay in bed unable to sleep, I listen to the song Labor of Love. It is all about Mary and Joseph and the Love they brought into our world so many years ago. It was all but warm and fuzzy!None of the circumstances were right to bring a baby into this world. It was cold, cobblestone floor, no relatives to support Mary or Joseph, no warm bed, just a shed, not really even a barn. For Mary it was a labor of love. In life we are too ready to give up when love becomes labor. We are all about warm and fuzzy.But real love, true love, is a full time job and its hard. It doesn’t happen overnight and it takes a lifetime to nurture and protect. Sometimes you have to labor.You have to do things you don’t want to do! You may say, but I didn’t sign up for that! Do you think Jesus signed up for the Cross? Wouldn’t He have rather said let’s do a warm and fuzzy? But no, He did the ultimate Labor Of Love. He died for us!None of His life from beginning to end was without labor but it was full of love.And through His brief stay here on earth, He showed us how to love. Gave us examples. This is how you do it! Not by warm and fuzzys but by laboring! We have to act! Our actions are to speak louder than our words! If we love someone then do something about it, don’t just speak it. Shovel their drive way, visit them when they can’t get out, take them a hot meal, and if you can’t do anything else pray for them! Prayer is powerful! It moves mountains and has moved many of my mountains! If someone you know is sick, go visit and ray with them. More often than not that is the medicine they need! Faith is a wonderful thing. Without it I could have checked out long ago! There would be nothing left in life for me! No faith, no Hope. But my God is merciful and gracious! He offers us His mercy and grace, just for asking! At Christmas time, people lose hope. Because sometimes commercialism just gets in the way! It brings out the ugly and the nasty in people. My prayer for you all this Christmas is that you all labor a little!Labor for those you love. go the extra mile. Offer yourself for someone! That’s what they really want for Christmas! They want you! Your heart that flutters in your chest, your sweaty palms, your warm and fuzzies! You will be amazed at where that labor will take you! If you are stuck in a marriage, a relationship, children, church family, it doesn’t matter a little labor on your part will bring it to life and love will heal it all and it will grow into something beautiful. Something- everything - God intended for it to be! Don’t disappoint Him.Don’t disappoint yourself. Your labor of Love will bring forth great and wondrous things.

2 Corinthians 4:12

So then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

1 Thessalonians 1:3

We remember before our God and father your produced by faith, our labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love prompts the labor, endurance inspiried by hope

Jesus Christ prompts my labor. He is my endurance, my HOPE

Where are you Christmas

Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you?

Why have you gone away?  Where is the laughter you used to bring me?

Why can't I hear music play?  My world is changing I'm rearranging, Does that mean Christmas changes too?

where are you Christmas?  Do you remember, the one you used to know?

I'm not the same one, see what the times done, Is that why you have let me go?

Christmas is here, everywhere.  Christmas is here if you care.

If there is love in your heart and your mind you will feel like Christmas all the time.

I feel you Christmas, I know I've found you, you never fade away.

The joy of Christmas stays here inside us fills each and every heart with love.

Where are you Christmas, fill your heart with love!

 

It is no secret that I can't find my Christmas spirit.  At one point I thought I would be content not having IT.  I could still do my part and just get through Christmas!  But the more I see people that actually have IT, I realized I don't want to just get by!  I don't want to just get through Christmas!  I want to have that Christmas spirit.  I want to be that light at Christmas that someone else sees and they say, "Ooooh Oooooh I want THAT Christmas spirit that she has!"  As I struggle and search to find it I hear a song by Steven Curtis Chapman "Christmas is All in the Heart".  So I searched my heart.  And do you know what I found?!  I have Christmas there!  In my heart!  I just can't seem to get it out!  Everytime I try, it comes out like Christmas used to be.  And I don't want that Christmas-how it was!  So instead of making it different I just decided not to do it at all.  So thats where my Christmas spirit is.   I found it!  It's trapped inside my heart, held hostage!  And I don't know how to let it out!  Thats my dilemma now!  Not where is it?  But how do I get it out of there and out here!?  Out here in the world where it needs to be.  Jesus said to love one another.

John 13:34-35

A new command I give you, love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

 That's what's in my heart, that's my Christmas spirit.  Love.  How hard is that to give away?  Sounds easy, but not always received.  When love came down over 2000 years ago people weren't receiving then either, but He didn't give up.  That's my goal for this Christmas season.  To love and not to give up!  So many don't know love.  A simple kindness that costs you so llittle but yet can mean so much to someone!  That's the Christmas spirit longing to be released from my heart- its hideing place.  And I know in gods time it will happen.  I am not a patient person, but I am obedient.  So I wait.  God is good and He wants me to have that Christmas spirit that's in my heart, but what He really wants is for me to share it with you!  So brace yourself because when it hits me watch OUT!  Cause I know it will be explosive!  That's just how God is-explosive!  And when it finally hits me I will be the Christmas bomb I have wished for!

Freezing Rain

My morning yesterday was met with freezing rain and sleet, like most everyone on the east coast.  Precipitation in one form or another!  So my day that I had planned began to unravel.  No church, no play practice-which we desperately need-no evening church either.  So I was feeling pretty bummed.  Because without those services, I don’t see people.  It also means I don’t get my spiritual meal for the week.  If I get that meal, that one meal, I am pretty good all week with that little snack we get on Wednesday night.  So I began to dread the day which lay ahead of me; Stuck in my own home, with no people.  Well don’t you know God always has a plan?  My neighbor Tina Forren calls and says Randy is out getting gas at Sam Black for the generator, he will stop and pick you up for a cup of coffee.  So I jump at that!  After all Jacob is snuggled in front of the TV with the latest Xbox game, Call of Duty!  His idea of being snowed in and mine are totally different.  So I visit for a while.  Enjoy good company and good coffee.  Tina is putting up her Christmas tree.  I like that!  Not quite in the mood to put mine up.  But it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling just for a few minutes.  We even talk about Jesus and the Bible.  What God has planned for our lives.  Not as good as the spiritual meal I would get at church but a close second.  After I came home, Jacob of course is hungry.  He is always hungry!  Tanner is stuck on the road trying to get home from Wheeling.  I fix lunch and the mound of dishes in the kitchen is calling my name!  So I start all those little chores I had hoped to avoid today.  I don’t get a lot accomplished but I make a dent.  Then the power goes out.  As I set in the dark I thought about the day and how Gods plans interfered with mine.  But at the end of the day, it wasn’t what I had planned, but it was good.  I got to visit with friends, did a little cleaning I had put off for way too long.  I even enjoyed my kids, although brief.  God is like that with every aspect of my life.  I make plans and what I call interference is actually THE PLAN for my days.  It’s just I don’t check with Him first.  I try to remember to ask Him, what are we doing today?  Instead of saying this is what we are doing!  But sometimes I forget.  I start getting bogged down with life and I realize I am trying to do things my way, my time without asking God for direction.    And yes, sometimes it takes a freezing rain storm and a power outage for me to get it!

Are you like this?  Is life getting you down?  Or maybe things just aren’t going the way you planned them?  Or maybe you just don’t know which direction you are supposed to take?  Well I can tell you, I have been or actually I am at these very cross roads.  Things aren’t going the way I planned them because I planned them!  I don’t know which way to go, but God knows!  So yesterday I had plenty quiet time.  I asked!  And oh boy, He just doesn’t hesitate to tell me!  Just like the freezing rain came down all day on Sunday, so did Jesus!  He rained down on me all day long.

Hosea 6:3

He will come to us like the rain.

Sometimes in life we don’t slow down long enough to hear what He has to tell us.  We may pause long enough to pray, but do we wait around for the answer?  So yes, He sends us a storm to get the answer across to us!  And sometimes the storm is accompanied by a power outage.  He takes everything away from us so that we have no other choice but to hear.  So here I am in the dark with no distractions and I hear Him say this way!

 

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart

So for those of you today who have prayed and haven’t heard back?  You haven’t received your answer?  Chances are He is trying to tell you but you are distracted or you are busy with work or even church.  Sometimes you schedule so much “stuff” that you can’t even enjoy the real true meaning of Christmas!  So here is what I suggest.  First of all slow down, life will still go on no matter what!  Even if you don’t get to that sale at the mall before Christmas!  Slow down and listen with all your senses, even your heart.  Most of all your heart!  You may have to power “down” not necessarily “power out” as I had to do!  I am a tough nut to crack sometimes, so He has to use drastic measures!   Just listen and you will hear Him!

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Merry CHRISTmas

Hope

My morning started out fantabulously !  I had a nurses meeting in Rainelle at 8am so that meant I had an extra 30 minutes.  I didn’t have to leave til 7:30!  I decided to go over Craig.  I love going that way because I pass the house I grew up in and the winding road reminds me of Daddy.  He thought there was only one way to Rainelle and Craig Rd was it.  As I drive along, I am thinking of feeding and delivering meals to the shut-ins.  I had a cake in the back seat of my car and as the road is quite curvy and winding, I was worried it was going to end up in the floor board.  So I turned to check on it, only for an instant. As I turn to look, I hit the ditch.  It’s a one lane road so there is a ditch on one side and over the mountain on the other side.  So I was lucky!  I didn’t get stuck up but I soaked up some serious mud.  My car starts to shimmy and shake so I think, well not a good sign!  Since I am in Rainelle I will get Lonnie or Shawn to check it out for me!  Wouldn’t you know, neither of them answers their phone!  So my go to guy in Rainelle is Roger Brown.  He always fixes my car, tires, oil that kinda thing.  So I stop in to see Roger and he looks at it for me and thank God it was just packed with mud.  No damage, nothing permanently bent.  He cleaned it out and said Merry Christmas!  No charge!  But while I am there, I hear that still small voice say, invite him to sing in your cantata! So I do.  He is already singing in a cantata so I say, “OK God, already obligated here!”  So I invite him to our cantata, even if he can’t sing in it!   So that was that!  As I leave I say, “OK God I get it!  I was supposed to go there and invite Roger to the Christmas Cantata at our church.  But did you have to put me in the ditch to do it?”

Isaiah 45:21-23 (NIV)

²¹ Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
    there is none but me.

²² “Turn to me and be saved,
    all you ends of the earth;
    for I am God, and there is no other.
²³ By myself I have sworn,
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity
    a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
    by me every tongue will swear.

 

 I am getting better at hearing His voice!  Maybe He thought I wouldn’t hear Him if He just said go!  I would make excuses!  But He knew if I had car trouble I would go there!  That’s how God works.  He takes what you know, what you do, how you deal, how you communicate and He uses that!  But wouldn’t it be so much easier if we would just listen to Him when He talks and then obey Him.  Just say OK and GO!

Jeremiah 31:16-17 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says:

“Restrain your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,”
declares the Lord.
    “They will return from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ So there is hope for your descendants,”
declares the Lord.
    “Your children will return to their own land

 

  As I was driving then to Lewisburg, Christmas songs are everywhere!  This song titled “Be Born In Me” began to play,

Everything inside me cries for order
Everything inside me wants to hide
Is this shadow an angel or a warrior
If God is pleased with me, why I am I so terrified
Someone tell me I am only dreaming
Somehow help me see with Heaven's eyes
And before my head agrees, my heart is on it's knees
Holy is He. Blessed am I.

(Chorus)
Be born in me, be born in me
Trembling heart, somehow I believe that You chose me
I'll hold you in the beginning, You will hold me in the end
Every moment in the middle, make my heart your Bethlehem
Be born in me

All this time we've waited for the promise
All this time You've waited for my arms
Did You wrap yourself inside the unexpected
So we might know that Love would go that far?

Chorus

 

I am not brave
I'll never be
The only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy
I'm just a girl
Nothing more
But I am willing, I am Yours

Do you ever wonder what Mary felt when He asked her to do this?  Did He have to put her I a ditch to get her attention?  Here she is a little more than a girl and she says “I am willing” “I am yours!”  If we coul only be like that when He asks us to do something.

Ephesians 4:14-16 (NIV)

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Most of the time when He tells us to do something, chances are it may make us uncomfortable at times, but it’s never ever going to be like Mary and Joseph.  I want to be that obedient!  I want to be like Mary so when He comes to me He doesn’t have to put me in the ditch again.  He can just say this is what I want you to do!  And I will say, “I am willing, I am yours!”

Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts

I want people to look at me when I do something and not say well there goes that crazy Trish doing something totally off the wall again!  I want them to say well there goes Trish doing what God wants her to do, no matter what it is!

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We should all want to be that obedient.  The blessings are out of this world.  They are the super natural kind!

 

 

Luke 1:46-47 (NIV)

Mary’s Song

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NIV)

¹³ Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. ¹⁴ Do everything in love.

We need to be like Mary.  Courageous!  And I am sure she was afraid.  She had to be because she was human.  But in Matthew 14:27 Jesus immediately said to them “Take Courage!  It is I!  Don’t be Afraid!”

He is in all our circumstances!  The good, the bad, and the ugly!  He doesn’t create the bad but He can turn it around and make it beautiful!  And when you least expect to hear Him, if you will listen, you may just hear a still small voice.  Right in the middle of your storm!

1 Kings 19:12 (NIV)

¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper

So many years ago He sent a new born baby who offered us such a promise!  He wrapped so much up in that little bundle!  He wrapped up love in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger!  Right there for the entire world to see and know!

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

⁶ For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

My Hope is in you Lord, all the day long!

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.       George Iles

We search for something in this world, we all do!  Something to make us whole.  The more we look the more we find!  So this Christmas, look for Jesus!  Seek and ye shall find!  I just love when that happens!

Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Hebrews 6:18-19 (NIV)

¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain

Merry Christmas

Trish

 

Christmas Heart

I have been trying to make a conscious effort to find my Christmas spirit.  I really have!  I can’t bring myself to put up any decorations at home yet.  No tree, no tinsel, not even any lights.  There is Christmas music though!  Always Christmas music.  I have found a peace, almost a Christmas peace, as I decorate at church.  As I hang the garland, place the candles, fluff the tree and arrange the wreaths.  I can feel just a tiny bit of Christmas spirit, but its way down deep.  But as I do all of this at my church, it feels like I do it for that baby that came so long ago.  It’s almost like He is coming all over again  He comes to brighten the darkness of the world.  He comes to brighten my darkness!  So as I place each ornament on the tree I hope that someone who is feeling lost without their Christmas spirit can find it!  Because I don’t want them to feel like I do! 

Isaiah 9:1-2 (NIV)

9 ^]Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

I am doing all the necessary routines, all that’s required of me!  I am buying the gifts, Christmas play, Christmas cantata; I am even trying to spread Christmas cheer!  I want Christmas to be special for everyone, I want them to have what I lack.  As I deliver meals to the shut- ins in our community, I want them to feel the excitement and anticipation in receiving the meal and visit, just as I did.  I want them to feel the love, just like I feel it as I deliver it.  On Monday I got so excited just planning the menu and calling my contacts and my little “elves” to help. I just want others to feel what I feel.  I don’t even know what I feel.  But I know it feels good!  So I keep on doing it.  Is this Christmas Spirit?  I don’t know!

With A Christmas Heart (Luthor Vandross)

It's Christmas now
This is when we see all the angels
Dancing in the sky above, just for us
It's Christmas day
Something to believe in
I believe the love that we feel for each other
Is His gift to us
And nothing will keep us apart
If we love with a Christmas heart

It's Christmas now
This is when the eyes of our children
Search into these eyes of ours
How sweet they are
What kind of world are we gonna leave them?
What we couldn't learn from each other
We can still learn from God
What a way to live, what a place to start
Bless us please with a Christmas heart

And with this heart will share
So those who come upon us
Can know we love and know we care

I want a Christmas heart!  And Christ is the center of Christmas!  So, Lord, that’s what I want!  Your heart!  As I listened to my Christmas music this morning one of my favorite songs was playing, Grown Up Christmas List.  I thought of the things I used to want for Christmas when I was a child; Toys, clothes, books…material things.  My list today is not one for Santa but for Christ Jesus!  There is nothing on earth that I want, nothing money can buy!  This is what I want for Christmas, for everyday of the year!  Of course the obvious, peace on earth.   I want that same peace in my heart, a song in my soul, and words of praise on my lips.  I want broken homes to be restored and for Jesus to be at the center of the family.  I want wounded hearts to turn to Jesus, to run to Him when they have no one else to turn to.  I want the battered and bruised to be made whole!  These are not tasks for Santa.  And they are not small tasks, but they are also not impossible for my Lord Jesus!  Nothing is impossible for Him.

Luke 1:37(NIV)

For nothing is impossible with God.

I have come to realize more now than ever before, that not only does God hear our prayers but He actually answers them.  And if we turn to Him and not away from Him in our darkest hour He so wants to give us our hearts desire!  He holds my hand and my heart and says, come now; let me do this for you!  Just be patient while I work everything out for you.  I want it to be perfect.  He takes the shattered, the most difficult situations, and turns it into something good.  Always!

When Danny died I had a lot of questions for God; The number 1 being WHY?  When He had so much to offer the world why did He take Him?  That question is still being answered.  Every day He answers that for me!  Is He turning it into something beautiful? Of course He is!  The day Danny died, it became beautiful because He became whole!  A brand new body, no pain!  How beautiful that is!  And I hold that picture in my heart knowing that he is in Heaven celebrating every day!  There is no way I would want him to come back here for me!  That is very selfish on my part.  I am almost jealous of the fact that he has already finished this rat race and one on!  But I wait because I know He has something beautiful for me too.  Beauty from ashes!

 

 

. Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)

³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

So as I get closer and closer to Christmas Day, I try harder and harder to be more Christ like and to capture that Christmas spirit!  I want that Christmas Heart!  And I know my Savior!  He will give it to me!  Why?  Because I am special in His sight! But you know what?  So are you!  I am not His only, favorite child!  But that’s just the way He makes me feel!  Like I am the only one!  Now that’s special!  So if you, like me, have misplaced your Christmas spirit, I know it’s only temporary!  I am gradually finding mine, and you will too!  The best place to start looking is in church!  This Christmas season as you wander around and think there is just something missing from your life, chances are, its Jesus!  So go to church!  Any church!  Any service!  Maybe it’s a kids Christmas play, or a Christmas Cantata or perhaps it’s my favorite service of the whole year, Christmas Eve Candlelight service!  Just go!  And while you sit there I the pew, just talk to God.  Tell Him all your troubles!  He really doesn’t mind!  Trust me; I have kept Him busy 24/7/365!  And He still wants me to tell Him more!  So let Jesus put the magic back in your Christmas!  You won’t be disappointed!

Colossians 3:12-15 (NIV)

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

My Birthday Prayer

As the clock struck midnight last night I was awake and immediately thought, Happy Birthday to ME! I began to think of my 48 years on earth and how circumstances change. Situations change, life changes, people change but the one thing that doesn’t change is God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8(NIV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever

In life, I am not so sure that changing situations is a bad thing. If nothing changed, ever, how would we grow? We would become stagnant. No matter what happens in our life, no matter what the circumstance, God makes it good!

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

When my circumstances changed last year so did my situation, my life, my childrens lives, people in my life and yes, even I changed. I really could not see anything good…even in the distance I couldn’t see. I wanted so much for my life to be the same, to be what it was. Many times I wished I didn’t have to go on because it was painful. I didn’t want to grow because I felt like I was leaving a very important part of me behind as I grew. But one day when I woke up I realized that not only had my circumstances changed but so had I, I had grown. I was kinder, my heart was bigger, I was more compassionate, and I was stronger. How did this happen? When the best part of my life was gone, how did I grow?   I grew “up” in God when I wasn’t looking.  It should be no surprise though because I got exactly what I asked for.  I prayed for words.  God granted that.  I prayed for health.  God granted that.  I prayed for a job.  God granted that.  I prayed for insurance.  God is granting that as I even write this note.  These are the big things He has granted.  Big answers to my prayers.  The little prayers also get answered!  He keeps me safe, He keeps my children safe.  He supplies us with plenty food to eat.  He always pays my bills at the end of the month.  When I am down He supplies me with friends to lift my spirits.  He even supplies me with laughter.  And not just a chuckle, He gives that gut wrenching laughter that makes your ribs hurt!

Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

I pray that He completes my family because Danny is missed so much and don’t you know He is supplying that with our church family.  Every Sunday He gives me someone new to add to my family tree!  And today on a typical Monday, He gives me a lovely new branch to add to my tree.  A branch that is similar to my branch.  Similar in that we both have lost the trunk of our tree.   We are both broken, struggling for our tree to stand.  But God is so good!  He just takes all these broken branches and puts them together.  And as we nurture each other our branches begin to grow together.  As we lean into each other, before you know it we are almost growing straight up!  I notice we are still leaning on each other but our branches are forming a trunk and it reaches heavenward.  The roots of our trees were established long ago.  They go deep and were never an issue.  Sometimes one of the branches has bigger roots than another branch.  You know the big gnarly roots that not only run deep but also on top of the ground.  Those are the roots that catch us by surprise when we are walking along and we trip on them!

Psalm 25:4

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.

That’s how we are!  God has placed people in my life with roots so deep and so big that I trip when I get close to them!  Without meaning to I fall right into them!  And with their deep roots they don’t waiver, they support me even though maybe their branch is broken like mine!  I am growing my roots deep and I’m growing those big gnarly ones that will trip someone on top of the ground.  I want to be able to support someone when they fall into me!  I want to be a trunk for that someone whose branch is broken like someone was for me!

 God has blessed me with so much I want to give it back.  I feel like on my birthday today I have been receiving for 48 years and I need to give back.  Life is give and take.  I have taken and people have been so generous.  Generous with their time, and mostly with their love!  When I hear people say the love of Christ is dead, I just have to tell them, they don’t know my Savior!  Because He surely is working in my life, my church, my community!  And He is doing it BIG BIG BIG!  So I thank you all for your birthday wishes!  It truly has been an awesome day.  From waking up to a birthday text, to a lunch of fruit with some fruity friends, supper with a stranger who is now considered a branch on my family tree, numerous hugs, phone calls, emails, text messages; I just can’t even name them all!  I am truly blessed!  But I can’t take all these birthday wishes without giving one back in return!

James 1:2

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Enjoy your journey.  It’s the only one you are going to have.  Smile more, laugh often, love fiercely!  If you are a Christian you know you are going to Heaven and of course that’s a great ending!  But what God wants us to know is that our time in between can be just as good!  Show love to the least of these, you will be blessed.  Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, love the weary!

Matthew 25:34-40 (NIV)

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Just give as Christ has given unto you!  After all we all know:

John 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I have learned a new walk.  It’s kind of scary at first, just like a toddler learning to walk for the first time.  But after you take off its exhilarating!  And after you step out, there is no turning back.  You will be hooked!  That’s my prayer for you all today, on this my birthday!

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

By Faith We Understand

11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.