Oh, what a wonderful, thought-provoking post. I don't read Gitzen Girl's blog all the time, but I'm totally challenged when I do! What will YOU do to be more like Mary and Joseph this year? How will YOU do everything you can when it's your time to do it?
Don't worry. I'm asking myself the same questions. And praying for God to provide answers ... now and as I'm supposed to do it.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Reading in the Car
I realized the other day that I've fallen WAY behind on my reviews. Hopefully, you've enjoyed the other things that have been posted this month. My goal over the past week of Christmas traveling was to get caught up on some of my reading, but, alas, that did not happen. I did however, read my first library book on my Nook. Yay! And we listened to a book on tape ... the only way my sweet husband managed all the driving over the past few days. And now, I'm working on another book for pure pleasure. Merry Christmas to me!
I LOVE mysteries/suspense/crime drama/etc. and these authors know how to pull it off! If you're looking for a good book in the genres listed above, check out Catherine Coulter (FBI series), Iris Johansen, and Linda Fairstein. James Patterson is another favorite, but some of his books scare the mess out of me. (The Women's Murder Club series is a little less graphic.) None of these are Christian books, so there is usually a little bit of "offensive" content in each of these. Just wanted to give you fair warning. :)
I'll be back to posting reviews soon. I just needed this little break!
I LOVE mysteries/suspense/crime drama/etc. and these authors know how to pull it off! If you're looking for a good book in the genres listed above, check out Catherine Coulter (FBI series), Iris Johansen, and Linda Fairstein. James Patterson is another favorite, but some of his books scare the mess out of me. (The Women's Murder Club series is a little less graphic.) None of these are Christian books, so there is usually a little bit of "offensive" content in each of these. Just wanted to give you fair warning. :)
I'll be back to posting reviews soon. I just needed this little break!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Siesta Scripture Memory Team
Not sure how many of you are familiar with Beth Moore (hopefully, many of you are!) ...
She has a wonderful blog that I follow regularly and in 2011 she is hosting the Siesta Scripture Memory Team (SSMT) on her blog again. (All of the sisters in Christ that have community via her blog are affectionately called "siestas.")
I have felt for a while now that I need to work more on my Scripture memory and this came at the perfect time to really have encouragement, consistency, and accountability in this area of my life. Basically, you will choose a verse on the 1st and 15th of each month that you commit to memorize. You can choose any verse that is particulary meaningful to you and your current life situation - maybe something the Lord showed you in your devotional time or during a church service. By the end of the year, you will have memorized 24 verses! Easy enough, right?
Well, that's the hard part. Sticking with it. So ... I'm going to do it. I'm going to primarily parcipate through Beth's blog. BUT since I would like the added accountability of anyone who reads my blog, I'm also going to post my Scriptures here.
Check out Beth's blog for all the details. I'd love for you to participate with me! (Let me know if you're participating too. It will encourage me along the way!)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
12 Pearls of Christmas: Love
Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas! Enjoy these Christmas "Pearls of Wisdom"! Please follow along through Christmas day as each post shares heartfelt stories of how God has touched a life during this most wonderful time of the year. AND BEST OF ALL ... there's also a giveaway!!!! Fill out the quick form at the link located at the bottom of this post to be entered to win a PEARL NECKLACE, BRACELET AND EARRINGS! Pearls - a tangible reminder of God's grace to us all.~~~
Love
by Lauraine Snelling
When asked to write a Christmas message, one of my first thoughts was Do I climb up on my soapbox regarding changing the words in Christmas songs, using only holiday, etc. I thought about it and decided no. After all, they’re only words and what difference does a word make---really make after all?
Then I kept on thinking. If they’re only words… But we as writers know the power of words, as do readers. When the wrong word is used, it jars, while the right word can be most powerful. Take one highly overused and under practiced word---Love. Four letters is all. We toss it around so glibly, saying love ya and luv and love. But think about the power in I love you. Three of the most precious words in our language when put together. Those of us who write romances or books with romance in them, understand the power when one of our characters tells another, I love you. As humans we can never hear that enough or too much.
Christmas is about love. The greatest love story ever told, that of God for us humans, and it never changes. Customs change, politics change, the years change but God’s love never, ever does. At Christmas we are invited to share that love, to give it away, to pass it around. To find wonder again and joy in simple acts of love. We make contact with people we might never see or talk with through the year. That says I love you. We buy and make gifts to give, we reach out to strangers in need, we try to make sure everyone has a special dinner and every child a present. By giving, we receive.
So, let’s use the power words, but more so, put feet on those words and pass the love around. Let’s look for and find the wonder, the joy and the peace, maybe in small bits and pieces and perhaps in an avalanche of blessings. Make your days brighter with the simple gift of a smile, a kind word, a touch, for every single one that you give away, will come back to you multiplied. As you give, so shall you receive. Merry Christmas my friends. May we all recognize our blessings----and let an attitude of gratitude permeate this holiday and every day. With love and joy on this day, Lauraine!
~~~
For more information please visit Lauraine's website: www.laurainesnelling.com.
~~~
A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is {FILL OUT THIS QUICK ENTRY FORM}. The winner will be announced on the Pearl Girls Blog (http://margaretmcsweeney.blogspot.com) on New Years Day!12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info
Friday, December 24, 2010
12 Pearls of Christmas: An Unforgettable Gift
~~~
An Unforgettable Gift
by Karen O'Connor
On Christmas morning, 1912, in Paducah, Kentucky, fourteen-year-old Charlie Flowers and his three brothers and two sisters huddled in their beds, fully dressed, trying to keep warm as the wind howled outside their small frame house.
It was a desperate time for the family. Earlier that year the children's father had died. And their mother had not found work. The coal had run out and there was little money––none for gifts. Their scrawny tree with decorations made from scraps of colored paper had been given to them the night before by a local merchant.
"Can't sell this one," the man said with a nod of his head before handing it over to the eager children.
To pass the time, the siblings joked and shouted stories from their bedrooms across the hallway from one another. Then suddenly a racket from the alley at the rear of the house broke into their games.
"Charlie," his mother called, "would you see what's going on out there?"
Charlie pulled on his shoes, grabbed a thick overcoat from the hook by the door, and ran out back.
There stood a man in a wagon bent over a load of coal, shoveling it into the shed as fast as he could.
"Hey Mister, we didn't order any coal," Charlie shouted. "You're delivering it to the wrong house."
"Your name's Flowers, isn't it?" the man asked, still shoveling.
Charlie nodded yes.
"Well then, there's no mistake. I've been asked to deliver this to your family on Christmas morning." He looked the awe-struck boy square in the eye. "And I'm under strict orders not to tell who sent it," he teased.
Charlie ran into the house, his coattail flapping in the cold morning wind. He could hardly wait to tell his mother and brothers and sisters. God had provided––just as he had on that first Christmas morning so long ago when He sent his only son to a needy world.
Charlie Flowers died in 1994 at age 96. And right up to the last year of his life, not a Christmas went by that he didn't tell the story of that sub-zero Christmas morning of his boyhood when two men gave his family an unforgettable gift.
It wasn't the coal that was remembered or cherished, Charlie often said––welcome as it was––but rather what two men brought to his desperate family. One, for his gift of recognizing their great need and taking the time to do something about it. And the other, for being willing to give up part of his own Christmas morning to deliver it.
That gift of so long ago has continued to warm the Flowers family from one generation to another, as Charlie's son––my husband, Charles––calls to mind these two unknown men each Christmas morning and whispers a prayer of thanks.
~~~
For more information, please visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com.
~~~
A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is {FILL OUT THIS QUICK ENTRY FORM}. The winner will be announced on the Pearl Girls Blog (http://margaretmcsweeney.blogspot.com) on New Years Day!12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Traditions
We are quickly approaching Christmas. (It's only two days away now!!!) I'm curious ... what is your favorite Christmas memory or tradition?
I'll share one of mine ...
Growing up we always spent Christmas Eve night together as a family. The days before and after were spent with family, but for that evening it was just us. We went to church for our Christmas Eve service, drove around looking at Christmas lights, and went out to dinner or had family/friends over for dinner. Then we put on our pajamas, opened a few gifts, and often watched Christmas Vacation (if not that night then some other night during the holidays)!
Enjoy your traditions this year or make some new ones! Merry Christmas!!!
I'll share one of mine ...
Growing up we always spent Christmas Eve night together as a family. The days before and after were spent with family, but for that evening it was just us. We went to church for our Christmas Eve service, drove around looking at Christmas lights, and went out to dinner or had family/friends over for dinner. Then we put on our pajamas, opened a few gifts, and often watched Christmas Vacation (if not that night then some other night during the holidays)!
Enjoy your traditions this year or make some new ones! Merry Christmas!!!
12 Pearls of Christmas: Just Give Me Christmas This Year!
~~~
All I Want for Christmas…
Is to be able to have Christmas this Year
by Melissa Mashburn
This is a simple request, isn’t it? In the previous years, we had great big bountiful Christmases with our family. Gifts, goodies and general Christmas cheer but this year it was different. The year before has been chock full of disappointments, failing businesses and severe cutbacks for our family.
Sitting with my husband one night we hammered out the bare minimum that we could spend that year for Christmas and even still the total was four hundred dollars. It does not sound like a whole lot compared to what we’ve spent on Christmas before, but this year it could have been four thousand dollars because we just did not have it.
We prayed, I cried, we prayed some more and decided that we would cut back anything else that we could that year so we could have Christmas for our kids. We did not know how we would make this happen, but we knew that we needed to step forward in faith that it would happen.
Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Galatians 3:5 the Message
Not even two days later, we hear a knock on our front door. We open the door to see some friends of ours from church. With tears in their eyes, they handed us an envelope and said that the felt they needed to give us this. We opened the envelope and inside there was four hundred dollars cash.
Shocked, stunned and with tears flowing down our face we just sat there in a state of crying and laughing at what God had done. We never shared with anyone that year what we needed, how bad it was, what was going on or what that number was for us to have Christmas for the kids, but God knew.
“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT
He took a willing servant, led them to our front door and changed Christmas for us that year. After many years of being in full time ministry we knew that God would provide, but when He shows up just at the right moment, you know that it was all a part of His plan to show how much He loves, provides and cares for His people.
Father God, thank you that after all the years of serving and loving you in ministry that you continue to teach, guide, love, shepherd and care for us. You, Father, are abundantly gracious and kind, thank you for showing up for us at just the right moment every time, forgive us when we forget that. In Jesus name, Amen.
~~~
~~~
A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year's Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is {FILL OUT THIS QUICK ENTRY FORM}. The winner will be announced on the Pearl Girls Blog (http://margaretmcsweeney.blogspot.com) on New Years Day!12 Pearls of Christmas Series and contest sponsored by Pearl Girls®. For more information, please visit www.pearlgirls.info
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
