During this time of year, Christians focus on the birth of Jesus. He was the Son of God born to become the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Because He died on the cross and was resurrected conquering sin and death, Jesus is our only hope, peace, joy and unconditional love that we can experience both in this life and the next. It is only through Him that these life conditions are met. He is our Hope of eternal life because of His sacrifice. Titus 1:2 “…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time …
Be Still
The Christmas tree is decorated. Gifts are being wrapped and lovingly placed beneath it. It’s Christmas time again. I know this not just because of the beautiful decorations everywhere or the calendar, but also because the mall and commercials made sure to tell me about it months ago. So many things are left to do and experience, but though my schedule and life are saying “hurry, rush,” I can’t miss how often my heart is whispering, “slow, be still.” I often see depictions of the time leading up to Jesus’ birth as still and calm, but I’ve had three babies …
That’s the Power of Love
This third week of Advent is all about love: how love came down to redeem mankind, how love covers all sins through sacrifice… how Jesus is love. I appreciate how the love of God plays out in my life, particularly when it is revealed through friendship with other believers. I am excited to share one such friend with you all today. Deb’s authenticity is just one of the many reasons why I love her so much and I know she will bless you as she has blessed me. -Carissa When Carissa reached out to me and gave me the opportunity …
Worn Out Getting Ready for the Day? Rest in Him!
Wow, just a few more days till Christmas! If you’re like me, there are still quite a few things to do to get ready for the day. I keep thinking I need to add an arrangement to a table, an ornament to the tree, a package underneath or another string of lights outside. Most of us, if truth be told, have lots more Christmas ideas than days left to accomplish them! I find that right about now, I begin to lose ground between my ideas and plans and daylight hours. I also find that I am getting tired. It’s a …
Let All the Boxes Be Emptied!
I got a text from our oldest daughter last night. She had three more boxes of Christmas decorations to put out around her house. She said “if it doesn’t get put out tonight, it’s not getting put out at all”. It was her way of saying she was done. It always seems to take longer and longer to get everything out and set up. She also laughed that she was getting forgetful because she had found several things that she had not remembered having. I can relate. I open up the Christmas storage boxes and am so excited when I …
Decorate Your Heart With God’s Light
Inside my house are the warm colors of Christmas. I love reds and golds and shiny lights. I enjoy the many angels I’ve collected along the way as well as the nativity scenes both large and small. I like the Scripture verses framed and carved into wood. We also have a wall of crosses that stay there all year long and in the middle of that wall is our family name, surrounded by the crosses. I would say our house is warm and cozy inside. Outside though it’s dark and gloomy and drippy. It’s not that welcoming. The outdoor Christmas …
Don’t Let Christmas Become a Cartoon
We watched an old Christmas cartoon with our grandkids the other night. It was a classic with Mickey, Pluto and the two chipmunks. The chipmunks were wreaking havoc with the Christmas tree and Pluto was doing his best to guard it. In the end Pluto was frustrated and just went after those two little trouble makers and the tree was completely wrecked! And Pluto was blamed for it all. Somebody wants to wreak havoc on your Christmas. There are situations going on that you feel you have no control over. Trouble is brewing and you’re trying to decide if …
Don’t You Just Love Your Gift?
We hosted the Christmas party for a local motorcycle ministry one year. As part of the festivities everyone brought gifts to exchange. We played “dirty santa”. As each person opened a gift the next gift recipient could either pick a new gift or steal one from someone who’d already opened it. It got pretty funny as there was a lot of gift wrangling going on! The night ended with lots of laughter and fellowship. Everyone went away a winner, but not everyone kept their own gift. It was light-hearted fun though as no one got upset when their gift was stolen. …
Tis The Season To Remember the Reason
The first Christmas that Danny and I were dating he went home to see his dad and other family for Christmas. We had not known each other very long but oh how I missed him. I had already given him my heart. We’ve had over 40 Christmases together now. We still can’t think of another person we’d rather spend the holidays with than one another. Except for Jesus. For those of us who have given our hearts to Jesus we are like that. We can’t stand to be apart from our Lord. We’ve given Him everything and we have nowhere …