Christmas Gift!

It's Christmas! WOW! And in the blink of an eye, it will be gone. Christmas is a time to celebrate, to share, and to reflect.
I celebrate love from a holy Creator to an undeserving mankind.
I celebrate family and time set aside to be with them.
I share my worship from my heart for the One Who came down and took a robe of flesh so that I may have life abundantly.
I share my time, my blessings, my food, and my talents with those close to me.

My family has always played a game called "Christmas Eve Gift." It is a race to see who can say it first. The goal is to say it first to as many people as you can. Every other person willing to play it with you is your opponent. My mother's best friend and her daughter once came to our house at midnight, so they could "get" Mother at the first possible, and unexpected, moment.

That daughter now lives out of the country and has been known to call at midnight just to say "Christmas Eve Gift!"

I must admit I got a little bored with the game in my teen years, and let it slide. Now that I have kids, it is back, and with a vengeance. My eldest is competitive and loves the game. The fun is back. Somewhere along the way, I carried it over to Christmas Day. Christmas Eve has passed. All that is left now to say is

CHRISTMAS GIFT! Have a Merry Christmas!

Bits and Pieces

That is what I feel like these days: bits and pieces. My church family lost a precious member to cancer a week ago. She was a mother, sister, daughter, friend, minister of music, Sunday School teacher, Wednesday night teacher. She was the kind of teacher who was always prepared. She was the kind of friend who showed up to help you whether you had windows to clean, hair to perm, or a disaster to fix. If you were moving, she came and cleaned behind the furniture that had not been moved in five years. When you tried to shoo her away from your dirt, she shooed back and said, "Nah, I got it." She was my sister's best friend, and we are sooooo gonna miss her.

She, however, has choirs of angels all around and light straight from the Son. Streets of the purest gold are under her feet. The day of her funeral, at the graveside, there was a magnificent wisp of clouds that waved up like they were painted with giant fingers into angel's wings. Just after the dove release ceremony, we looked straight overhead, and one of those wisps was rainbow colored. I have never seen anything like it.

I have 3 projects going at the same time as I try to finish up my master's degree. Overwhelmed does not touch it. I am also an optimist and know that I will get through it. I can do ALL things through Him Who gives me strength!!!

All for now. Blessings!

Pray 7x7, inspired by Angie Smith

I copied this button from Angie Smith's blog. It has a link attached regarding praying for our children. I just think it is precious. How much more meaningful can a life be than if it is covered in prayer?

Unwanted

I happened on a website today that showed pictures of actual aborted fetuses. I did not know that was what was behind the link I lifted. I think it said, "Results of Abortion" and I thought it was a video of someone who had lived through a failed attempt at an abortion. What I actually saw was grotesque photos of pieces of babies. I do not understand how anyone can call them "tissue." They have arms, legs, ribs. I do not know how many pictures are available to view. I saw a few and began to weep.

Society deems abortion a choice. Some people say it is a woman's choice to abort an unwanted baby. It is justified because the child is unwanted. I have no biological children, so no unborn baby is unwanted in my eyes. I could never have adopted forty million. I know that, but that does not mean they were unwanted.

The only choice women should have is whether or not to become pregnant. I won't even touch the rape topic, because I do not believe that is why people abort. If a person makes a choice that could possibly result in a baby, then that baby deserves the same right to live that its mother has.

I am grieved. Images are etched in my memory that I cannot erase. God have mercy on us. Forgive our sins, and heal our land. Give peace to those who have aborted and repented, and help them to let go of the guilt of the past. What is done is done, but help us find a way to stop more atrocities. In Jesus' name.
Amen.

A Thin Line

I have been feeling a little differently about death lately. I have always felt as if the substance between me and death was thick like a thick, cushiony, padded room (and neatly bottoned like an old couch. It's quirky, I know). Lately I have been feeling like the substance is thin like a placenta.

I heard someone else talk about the following last weekend, and it made me want to look it up for myself. According to Philippians 1:21, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." What is gain? According to http://www.yourdictionary.com/gain, gain means "increase in wealth; earnings; profit." That sounds like one supreme payday!

Gotta stop for now. More later.

Chosen

I was thinking in the last couple of weeks about "a peculiar people." We have our own modern images associated with the word peculiar. It is a word in modern vernacular that is close to weird. I do not believe God calls us to be weird, but He does want to be different.

Anyway, I looked up the scripture I Peter 2:9, which led me to Exodus 19:5, where these phrases appeared first. They were to Israel. "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."

In my Bible, Dake's notes on the side make reference to the Greek word peripoiesis for "a peculiar people" and mentions something purchased. Peripoiesis means "a possession, a preservation, and obtaining." I got this information from here: http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=4047

Since I am adopted into God's family, I feel that these words apply to me. I have been purchased. I have been chosen. I am preserved. I am a possession. I am an obtaining. My favorite: I am peculiar treasure! WOW! I cannot fathom why He loves me so, but I am thankful that He does.

Put Out Doubt

Recently, I was reading about Jesus teaching and healing when I noticed something new -- for me anyway. I noticed two things, the first of which I am embarrassed to tell. I did not remember that the story of the woman with the issue of blood is in the middle of a whole different story! That other story is the one about Jairus' daughter. The second thing I noticed was Jesus' intolerance of doubt.

First, Jairus comes to Jesus because his daughter is dying. Then the woman with the issue of blood comes in on the scene. This itself is a magnificently beautiful story of desire, perseverance, and results. Then a servant comes to tell Jairus not to bother the Master, because the maid has died. They think it is too late. Jesus does not think it is too late, for He travels with Jairus to his home. When they get there, Jairus, his wife, Jesus, and some other people (a couple of disciples, I think) go in to where the girl lay. They wail and weep and say she is dead. Jesus says, "She is not dead. She is sleeping." Then somehow they go from mourning to laughing "Him to scorn." Then Jesus "put them out." He put all doubters out of the room. I love that!

My husband's grandmother used to tell of her sister being healed as a child. Someone notified the pastor and the church on a Sunday morning that without a miracle, this child could die. Her condition was grave. Well, I think we would have prayed right then. They did not. The pastor spoke to the congregation and told them to go home and make sure things were right between them and God, to make sure they could pray without hindrance or doubt. He told them if they were not sure they could get a prayer through, for them not to come back that night. They had to have a miracle and they had to remove doubt! They gathered, believed, and she was healed.

When Jesus removed doubt from the room where Jairus' daughter lay, He took her hand and told her to rise. The Healer spoke, and it was done, just like He said.

Wherever you are, whatever your need, whatever your storm, God is bigger. Put out doubt! If you do not feel you can, ask Him to help you. It is okay to say, "Lord I believe, help Thou mine unbelief." When you need an answer, or a divine intervention, you cannot afford doubt. Put it out. Let Him speak.

I once heard a woman (whose last name was Tennyson) share a personal story that included the following statement: Doubt your doubts; and believe your beliefs. But never believe your doubts or doubt your beliefs.

Amen!