Happy New Year!

2010. Where have the last ten years gone?? To be honest, I feel I have wasted so much of that time. I am getting better a living in the moment. Not living in the past. Not living with the "what if's " and "if only's" And I am coming to really believe, not just know with a head acknowledgment that the purpose of my life is to draw ever closer to my God. Everything else falls into place when that happens. As I draw closer and really see his heart, learn his heart, my heart changes. That is what I desire. But I am learning that it is a process, and I am learning to be patient with myself in that process.

I want to leave this year and enter the new one with this prayer on my lips and in my heart.

O Holy Spirit,
As the sun is full of light, the ocean full of water, and Heaven full of glory,
so may my heart be full of You.

God's divine purposes of love and the redemption wrought by Jesus are
vain unless You work within me:
regenerating me by Your power,
giving me eyes to see Jesus,
and showing me the realities of the spiritual world.

Give me endless supplies of Your presence, like an unending fountain or
inexhaustible riches.

I lament my coldness, poverty, emptiness, imperfect vision, half-heart-ed
service, pray-less prayers, and praise-less praises.

Come as power, to expel every rebellious longing, to reign supreme and keep
me Yours;
Come as teacher, leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding;
Come as love, that I may adore the Father and love him with all my heart, soul,
mind, and strength;
Come as joy, to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
Come as light, illuminating the Scripture, molding me to its ways;
Come as sanctifier, of my heart, soul, spirit, and body. Conform all of me to the
image of God's Son;
Come as helper, with strength to bless and comfort, directing my steps;
And come as beautifier, bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos.

Open my eyes to behold your glory. Magnify your glory to me by being
magnified in me, and make my life as the fragrance of God to those around me.

Amen

(anonymous puritan prayer from "The Valley of Vision")

I wish all my sweet blogging buddies a blessed New Year!!!
I am truly thankful you are all part of my life.
You have blessed me with your kindness, support, encouragement and love.

cow rug

Here is a picture showing the cow rug I mentioned. The cat is still there, even after I changed the throw!!

One project completed

Cleaned
organized
re-arranged
the guest bedroom. I forgot to show the cow rug on the floor. I think I have a cow theme going on here. Cow rug, cow picture, cow creamers in the nooks!! There is even a little bitty cow on the old clock sitting on top of the mail sorter. Coming, brown and cream curtains. Hmmm, how now brown cow!! lol

Sweetness

Little Sean on his radio flyer rocking horse.
My favorite Christmas present. It is warm and beautiful!


We had a lovely Christmas. I had forgotten what Christmas morning with a 15 month old was like. :) I love that our family is growing.

My husband makes this wonderful dish called slop. The kids named it. Every year we have a ham for Christmas Eve. So, Christmas morning we have slop. It has become a tradition. It's a wonderful cheese sauce with bits of ham in it and served over biscuits or Chinese noodles. Brooke gave Sean a small amount of the cheese sauce. He looked at her and said, "more."

I am usually ready to take down the Christmas tree about now. This year I am not. I think I will leave it up for a bit longer. I do however have some cleaning and straightening up to do.
My studio is a mess!!! Somehow it gets all the random stuff stuffed in it. The guest room that was used as a wrapping station needs organizing, and the mud room is a mess. I think I will spend this week working on those.

We also did a bit of rearranging on the 23rd. We took the table out of the kitchen, and made a little sitting area around the fireplace. We placed the kitchen table in the "center" room as we refer to it, which was were the couch was. I'll post some pictures of it tomorrow. We spend so much time in the kitchen, it's nice to have a cozy spot to sit and chat.

I see my battery is about to die, so that's about all for now.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

I want to thank all of you for your well wishes and prayers for my daughter. I so appreciate them, and you.

I can hardly believe it is Christmas Eve. I have tried to slow down this year. Preparations have been less frantic this year than in years past, but I still have changes to make. It does not happen all at once, at least for me. But, as God continually changes my heart my actions change. I hope these Advent readings have helped you slow down a bit, and draw near to the one we celebrate.

"Tonight we are asked to acknowledge that the world we have made is in darkness. We are asked to be attentive, and keep vigil for the light of Christ. The readings are not particularly comforting. Psalm 88, a lament which is also commonly read on Good Friday, is stark in its appraisal: "For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol," the underworld of the dead. The passage from Acts asks us to consider that, just as Israel needed God to lead them out of Egypt, so we need Christ to lead us out of our present slavery to sin. We, and our world, are broken. Even our homes have become places of physical and psychological violence. It is only God, through Jesus Christ, who can make us whole again.

The prophecy of Isaiah allows us to imagine a time when God's promise will be fulfilled, and we will no longer be desolate, or forsaken, but found, and beloved of God. We find a note of hope also in the Gospel Of Matthew. In the long list of Jesus' forbears, we find the whole range of humanity: not only God's faithful, but adulterers, murderers, rebels, conspirators, transgressors of all sorts, both the fearful and the bold. And yet God's purpose is not thwarted. In Jesus Christ, God turns even human dysfunction to the good." (Kathleen Norris - God with us)

Advent readings for Christmas Eve : Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 88; Acts 13:16-17, 22-25;
Mathew 1:1-25

O God, who spoke all creation into being:
When you created human flesh, we betrayed you by our disobedience.
When you led us out of slavery in Egypt, we doubted and defied you.
Yet you chose to come among us through your Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered death on our behalf, putting an end to the power of sin and death.
For this great gift of your steadfast love, we give you thanks.
Help us, O Lord, to keep vigil this night.
Help us to watch for the signs of your coming into our midst, not in the splendid palaces of power, but in hearts humbled by need.
Help us to believe that the darkness of cruelty and sin will never overcome the light, and the mercy, of Christ.
Help us to endure, knowing that the evil and injustice of this world cannot prevail against your Word.
We ask this in the name of your Word made flesh, or Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen. (Kathleen Norris - God with us)

May you all have a blessed, joy-filled Christmas!

Refiner's fire

This is from Kathleen Norris - God with us

"It helps to ask ourselves the question Jesus so often asks the disciples: "Why are you afraid?" It helps to recall the burning bush God set before Moses, for God's fire did not destroy it. If we truly trust in God, we find more assurance than terror in the thought that God wants to purify us, so that everything false in us turns to ash, and only the good and true remains. To suffer is not a gentle thing, but the end result is pure beauty."

This is what Kathleen Norris says about today's Malachi reading. "This child was named by God, and it does not go easy for those who are touched by God's hand. "What, then," the people wondered, "will this child become?" I hear, in that questions a restating of Malachi's truth. The Lord we desire may indeed be close at hand, but it will not be easy for us to accept his call. If we continue reading in the Gospel, we find the song that Zechariah sings in praise of God, called the "Benedictus" in church tradition, and commonly recited at Morning Prayer. In this song, we find that it is not merely John the Baptist, but we ourselves who are addressed: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins."

"This was John's calling, and it is our own, a truth both consoling and terrifying. We are enslaved, by selfishness and addiction and all the wreckage that sin can wreck on the world, but are we willing to risk being freed? Do we dare to enter that dangerous new country, leaving sure comforts behind? Perhaps it is time to surrender, open our hearts, and accept the wonder of Christmas by saying, with Karl Rahner, "We have no choice. God is with us."

Advent reading for Wednesday: Psalm 25:1-14; Malachi 3:1-5; Luke 1:57-66


Come Lord, set us free! Amen. Let it be.

Mary's song

"The Magnificat reminds us that what we most value, all that gives us status - power, pride, strength, and wealth - can be a barrier to receiving what God has in store for us. If we are full of ourselves, there will be no room for God to enter our hearts at Christmas." (Kathleen Norris, God with us)

All those things that we spend so much time on, all those things that we work so hard to achieve, do not bring us lasting fulfillment. They were not meant to.

"Most people, it they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriage, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us."

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world."
~C. S. Lewis

Advent reading for Tuesday: Psalm 113; 1 Samuel 1:19-28; Luke 1:46-56


Father help us leave room in our hearts for you. For truly you are what our hearts deepest desire is, even when we are unaware of it. If there is too little room for you because we have filled it with too many other things, show us what needs to go. May we make room for you this Christmas. Amen

A glad heart

This is our precious unexpected gift 18 years later. Of course she likes the second picture best. I think the second is beautiful, but the first is especially beautiful to me. I love the joy in her face.
She has had a couple of difficult years. The years that should be a joy. She came down with mono her freshman year. She had a really severe case and was not able to continue school on a full time basis that year. Thankfully, she was able to keep her grades up and passed, with high grades I must add. But the mono which is an Epstein-Barr virus has turned into chronic-fatigue. She struggles with severe fatigue and migraines. She continues to keep her grades up, and has even been accepted to three colleges. I know God will use her struggles, but that does not make them any easier in the day to day living with them. Please keep her in your prayers.

Advent reading for Monday: Psalm 33:1-5, 20-22; Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Luke 1:39-45

Our souls wait for you LORD; you are our help and our shield. For our hearts are glad in you, because we trust in your holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Amen (Psalm 33:20-22)

Unexpected Gifts

Then, ten years after our second son was born, we had a daughter. An unexpected gift.

Gifts don't always come wrapped looking like gifts.
A painful and lonely childhood becomes the means to offer comfort and understanding and acceptance to others.
The trial and hardship becomes the vehicle for much needed change and growth.
Living through an illness or tragedy provides opportunities to reach out and help others who are enduring a similar thing.

"Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words." ~ Ranier Maria Rilke

The Messiah,
The Savior was expected.
But not the way he came.
Not the way he lived.
Not the way he died.
Not the way he saves.
Not the way he loves.

Look for unexpected gifts.

Advent readings for Saturday: Psalm 72:1-8; Genesis 49:2, 8-10; Matthew 1:1-17

Father give us eyes to see the good gifts you give us. Help us to look back and see your hand and work in our lives. For you are ever working for our good. Taking the hard and painful things and working them for our greatest good. Thank you for your love, your grace, your sacrifice, and your continued working in our hearts and lives. May the truth of this cause us to be a more thankful people. Amen.

Third Friday of Advent

This is my second son's first Christmas ornament. He was born two years after my first - two weeks short of being on the same day!! Funny each of my three children were born exactly two weeks apart (different years of course) So their birthday's fall on the same day each year.

I am heading off to my wonderful share group's Christmas brunch, so I will just post the Advent readings today.

May you all take the time to slow down and ponder anew the meaning of Christmas.

Advent reading for Friday: Psalm 67; Isaiah 56:1-8; John 5:33-36

Forgive me, Jesus, for instinctively shunning those who don't quite fit my preconception of propriety or responsibility. As I gather with others at the stable - shepherds and sages - forgive me f or being so absorbed in my own concerns that I ignore the deep needs of others. May your loving, restorative Spirit find a home in me. Show me, today, someone whom I can love and embrace in your name. Amen.

(prayer - Luci Shaw - God with Us)

Wholeheartedness

This is my firstborn son's first Christmas ornament. He will be 30 next week. 30. I can hardly believe it.

I have spent far too many years doing what I thought was important, or just wanted to do. Giving God a little part of my heart, afraid to give it all. Thinking that if I did, I would have to do something I did not want to do, or not be able to have something I wanted or loose something I did not want to loose. Now in part that could be true, because what God thinks is my best is not what I usually think is best. I don't like to wait. I don't like to be in want. Who does??

But, little by little I am giving him more of my heart. I would like to say that it is all his. That I hold nothing back, but if I look deep in my heart I know I have not yielded all of it. He knows it is my desire to do so.

Advent reading for Thursday: Psalm 30; Isaiah 54:1-10; Luke 7:24-30

Father help us to believe you, to trust you. To know in our hearts, not just our heads that you love us, that you offer real life, real healing, real restoration. You know our hearts better than we know them ourselves. Help us to see into them, to see why it is hard of offer them to you fully. Father will you plant and grow the desire for you in our hearts today and in the days leading up to Christmas and in the days that follow.

Immanuel - God with us - always!

Amen

Journal cover and a few pages

Created in the image of a Creator

(Below is taken from God with Us - Luci Shaw)

As well as speaking the universe into being, our Creator is the author of beauty, which we might think unnecessary for practical functioning. But his attention to colorful detail, his infinite variety of plant and bird and beast, are indications of grace, as well as additional confirmation that God is always with us.

The Lord has planted within each of us the aesthetic impulse that allows us to recognize and appreciate that beauty. Created in the image of a Creator, we are created to create. Who among us has not decorated a Christmas tree, or an Easter egg, or a living room? Who among us has not planted a garden, photographed a scenery, whistled, sung, danced? (or painted) I have been listening this afternoon to builders down our street. I hear the antiphon of two sets of hammers ringing their sharp songs as a new house is being erected on an empty lot, and I realize that such construction (rather than destruction) echoes the up-building, creative impulse of God in us. But even builders have to follow the blueprints if the house is to stand firm. God is our Architect, and we are the houses he is building, here in our own Nazareth. The season of Advent reminds us to acknowledge this.

Not only is God the only authority, the One we must acknowledge, to whom we will all bend the knee, he is the One who opens the door to salvation: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth? For I am God and there is no other." John the Baptizer and his disciples wondered of Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" All Jesus had to tell them, quite simply, was that the blind were seeing, the lame walking, the lepers healed, deaf people could hear, the dead were alive again, and the poor encouraged with good new. Who else but the Promised One in our midst, the God With Us, was capable of such miracles? Later on, Peter had a similar answer to a similar question. He said: "Lord, to who can we go? You have the words of eternal life."

Advent reading for Wednesday: Psalm 85:8-13; Isaiah 45:5-25; Luke 7:19-23

Mighty One, as the God who is with us, quench all doubt within us. Reassert yourself to us, in all your creative power and glory. As we remember how your Son gave up that authority to be born and to walk with us on earth, may our love and loyalty rise up to you, strong and certain, to reassure you that we are indeed your creatures. More - we are your sons and daughters. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

(prayer by Luci Shaw)

Change

"God as a Lover is passionate about his people.
God as Father cares, as a parent cares about the growth and character of a loved child, about their relationship to him." (Lucy Shaw, God with us)

We can try hard to do what we are supposed to do. We can discipline ourselves, (which is good) we can work hard, (which is good) but relying solely on our own strength, on our own good intentions is not enough. If the change does not come from the inside out, it is not permanent. It may change our behavior for a time, but it does not change our hearts. Only God can change a heart.

Christ came to make that possible.

"God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes."
(2Samuel 22:28, the message)

"You did the unthinkable.
You built one bridge to us
Long enough, strong enough
to link the unlinkable." (Lucy Shaw)

Advent reading for Tuesday: Psalm 34:1-8, Zephaniah 3:1-2,9-13; Matthew 21:28-32

"Merciful God, in this Advent season we thank you that you can rewrite the script of our lives, moving us from wandering to arrival, from self-hatred to acceptance, from distance to nearness, from loneliness to belonging, from weakness to energy, and all this because of the enfleshment of your dear Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus, who became one of us and showed us the way. Amen." (Luci Shaw - God with us)

Anticipation

Anticipation lifts the heart.

"Paul gives us an astonishing understanding of waiting in Romans, as rendered by Eugene Peterson,"Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy." With such motivation, we can wait as we sense God is indeed with us, and at work within us, as he was with Mary as the Child within her grew.

Though the protracted waiting time is often the place of distress, even disillusionment, we are counseled in the book of James to "let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete." Pain, grief, consternation, even despair, need not diminish us. They can augment us by adding to the breadth and depth of our experience, by enriching our spectrum of light and darkness, be keeping us from impulsively jumping into action before the time is ripe, before "the fullness of time." I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his work I hope."

(the above is written by Luci Shaw - God with Us)

Have you been waiting long for something?? Have you given up hope?
God's timing is not our timing. But God's timing is perfect, it is always on time.

Advent reading for Monday: Psalm 25:3-8; Numbers 24:1-17; Matthew 21:23-27

"Oh my Lord, keep me from frustration and impatience when I see little evidence of your living and growing in me. Reassure me that waiting time is not wasted time. That your purposes for us all are large and all-embracing enough to hold firm and prevail, no matter the obstacles or distractions. You have told us that "now is the accepted time...now is the day of salvation." But perhaps your "now" is different from ours. You see our lives from the infinite perspective of eternity, of kairos. We want to see our problems being resolved. Now.

Help us to realize, as those who love and believe in you, that we, too, are pregnant with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that day by day we are being enlarged. Augment our hope, widen our imagination, and nourish our anticipation that the astounding fact of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" will turn true in each of us in your good time. Amen."

(prayer by Luci Shaw - God with Us)

Prepare the way

Repentance - that turn of heart and mind.

Turning from what?

Turning toward what or better yet, who?

Turning from our way of doing life, of striving, of trying to get our needs and desires met.
Of expecting others to fill the void in our hearts.
Of expecting others to meet our needs and desires.
Every other thing, every other person we turn to other than God will eventually let us down.

Turning from "my way" is better than "your way Lord"
I know what is best for me.
The truth really is we don't know what is best for us.
We may think we are choosing wisely, be we don't have the big picture.

If you believed there was a person who loved you unconditionally, as you are now, not expecting you to be other that what you are at this moment.
If you believed there was a person who saw the big picture of life, and knew your place in the big scheme of things.
If he knew where you fit, your purpose for being alive.
If you believed he was good, and only wanted your best, always.

Would you choose to turn to this person???

If you do not believe, would you like to believe it to be true??

Are you willing to be open to the possibility of it being true?

He is not holding out on us - He is willing to show us if we just ask.
He does not come where He is not welcome.

What better time to ask these questions, than the time we celebrate his birth.

Advent reading for Saturday: Psalm 80:1-18; Matthew 17: 9-13

O Holy One Who Comes, we turn again to you, and we open our hearts, we open our minds, we open our entire beings to your approach. We ask for strength and wisdom that we may now prepare the way. We ask that all may receive you in joy. Now and forever. Amen )

(Prayer, Scott Cairns, God with Us)

Joyfull surrender

Why is it so hard to follow God's ways?? Why do I continually choose my way instead of his? Why do I struggle with the same sins over and over?? Do you ever ask these questions??

Here is what I am learning after so many years of striving in my own will to do God's will. "Willpower, determination and discipline are not enough in Christ-following. The close interconnection of will and desire means that if Christ is to have our will, he must first have my heart." "Learning to desire God's will is not something we can accomplish by resolve and willpower. It occurs only when we live so close to God's heart that the rhythm of our own heartbeat comes to reflect the divine pulse."

And, "Surrendering to God's will makes little sense if we are not first convinced of the depths of God's love for us. But surrender is far from complete and we have yet to unwrap the gift of our true-self-in-Christ until we are fully convinced of the absolute trustworthiness of God's will. Learning to prefer God's way to ours and discovering our identity and fulfillment in God's kingdom way demands that we know Love, deeply and personally. Only then will it be possible to choose God with the totality of our being, not just our will." "The problem is that when we approach the task of choosing anything other than our own self and its immediate gratification, most of us automatically turn to willpower and resolve. Choosing God then becomes more a matter of grim determination than joyful surrender - closer to deciding to cut back on eating enjoyable foods than to follow our heart to the Source of abundant life."

Words in quotations are from David Benner, Desiring God's Will

Do I, do we really believe God is good? That he has our best at heart? That his way is best? Or do I sometimes believe as Eve did, that God is holding out on me, keeping something good from me?? Do I trust him enough to surrender my way for his??
I could say, yes I do, but I know I am not totally there yet. As I come to know him more deeply, I am learning to trust more. My desire is to trust him with everything.

Advent reading for Friday: Psalm 1; Isaiah 48:17-19; Matthew 11:16-19

LORD, you lead us in the way we should go. And it is a good way. As we draw near to you this season, may our hearts be changed. May we grow in our trust of you, may we know that to surrender to you is to surrender to a good, trustworthy God. One who gave everything to make the restoration and healing of our hearts possible. Amen.

Is this all there is?

It is good to humbly realize that we are all of us poor, needy and parched with thirst.

Some of us are experiencing the reality of these in a very real physical way. These are hard times for a lot of us. But even those who have an abundance of material blessings experience the ache of "Is this all there is?" It might take them longer, because they are numb to the ache. The ache can be masked for a very long time, with things. From the outside in, my life looked perfect. But in the quiet I knew not all was as it should be. If we take a close enough look, we can see that things, or people or whatever we choose to chase the ache away does not do so completely. You see, we were created for a different kind of world and a different kind of life. We were created to have fellowship, a relationship with our creator and with each other. The world is not now as it should be. As good as it can be, it is not as good as it was meant to be. There is a scripture that God keeps bringing back to me again and again.

"My people are broken - shattered! And they put on band-aids, saying, "it's not so bad, you'll be just fine." But things are not 'just fine.! (Jer6:14 the message)

Christ is the life-giving water we so desperately need for the parched and dry deserts of our hearts and souls. The kind of life we were made for.

Advent reading for Thursday: Psalm 145:1-13; Isaiah 41:13-20; Matthew 11:7-15

Father open our eyes and our hearts to our poverty. Help us to stop filling the ache to ease the pain of it, which prevents us from asking the question, Why do we feel this? Help us to stop and look at what we do to mask the ache. Help us to turn to you to receive the thirst quenching water that only you can give. Amen.

Blessings

O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I'll bless his holy name! O my soul, bless God, don't forget a single blessing! (Psalm 103v1,2 The Message)

In the margin of my Bible I have written, "remember what God has done in my life, do not lose track of my stories."

Sometimes our blessings do not come wrapped looking as such. I have a friend that has had to move several times in the last few years. One of the recent moves certainly did not look like a blessing at the time. Later, she found out that during a heavy rain storm the house flooded. Had they still been living there they would have lost most of their belongings.

Taking the time to look back at God's faithfulness in our lives, helps us to know in the midst of the hard times, (though things do not look so) we have a God who is on our side, who has our best in mind - always!

Advent reading for Wednesday: Psalm 103v1-10; Isaiah 40v25-31; Matthew 11v28-30

Papa, thank you for your faithfulness! Thank you for your loving kindness. Thank you for the many blessings you have given to us, so many I believe we have not even been aware of. As we make preparations to celebrate Christmas, your birthday, may we take the time to look back at your hand in our lives. And give you praise.

Blessings!

Be

Sometimes I think we are too busy doing for God, rather than just being with God.
Sometimes we can loose the intimacy in the frenzy, in the rush of life.
God wants our obedience, our good works for sure, but most of all he wants us.
He wants our hearts. And as we spend time sitting at his feet, our hearts are changed, we are changed.

Advent reading for Tuesday: Psalm 50v7-15; Amos 5v18-24; Matthew 18v12-14

Lord, during this busy season of shopping, parties, family gatherings and celebrations, may we make room for you in our schedules and in our hearts. May we take the time to just be with you. Amen.

Advent - week 2

Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace. (Luke 1:78-79)

Advent reading for Monday: Psalm 85v8-13; Isaiah 35v1-10; Luke 5v17-26

"Forever Fresh and Refreshing Source, Living Water, Bright Garment of Dew, descend now and always in one endless, life-bestowing flow. Bring to us those waters that forever quench our thirst. Bring those waters, we pray, to the deserts of our hearts, that from their parched soil, life may spring anew. And more than this, enable that life-giving flow to pour from ourselves to enliven all around us. In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
Amen. (Scot Cairns - God with Us)

Blessings

He heals the brokenhearted

"God who is the fullness of Being infiltrated our world of beings in order that we might fully be. Christmas is about incarnation, and incarnation is God's becoming what he is not, in order that we might become what he is." (Richard John Neuhaus - God with us)

Psalm 147:3 says "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

We are all brokenhearted, not just in the sense of a mournful heart, but in a heart that has been wounded, by our sin, by the sins of others, by living in a broken world. A world that is now not as it should be, as it was created to be. God entered our world to make possible the healing, the restoring, we so need, we so long for.

Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee"

Advent reading for Saturday: Psalm 147v1-12; Isaiah 30v19-21; Matthew 9v35-10v1,5-8

Father, open our eyes and our hearts to your amazing love, to your amazing grace, that would cause you to go to such great lengths to bring us back to you. May these truths become more real for us this Christmas season. May we take the time to slow our busy pace and let our restless hearts rest in you, the healer, and restorer of our hearts and souls. Amen. Let it be.

Incarnation

"The incarnation is God reaching out across the chasm caused by our sin and starting the relationship all over again." (D. Benner "Surrender to Love")
A wonderful book by the way!

"Incarnation, in-flesh-ment, God in human form in Jesus entering our history: this is what started Christmas. This is what keeps Christmas going." (Eugene Peterson)

God longs for a relationship with us, so much so, that he paid the price to achieve it. He gave us the gift, all we have to do is accept it.

Advent reading for Friday: Psalm 27v1-6; Isaiah 29v17-24; Matthew 9v27-31

"Open, we pray you, heavenly Father, our eyes to see and our ears to hear your Word, who is Jesus Christ, true God and true man. As you sent your Spirit upon Mary, so send your Spirit upon us. Embrace us and hold us close within the Trinity of your love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus may we, according to your gift of faith, trust the fulfillment of all your promises." Amen. Let it be. (Richard John Heuhaus "God with us")

Advent Reading for Thursday: Psalm 118v19-24; Isaiah 26v1-6; Matthew 7v21-27

Well you did ask

Grandma Mina on the tractor!! lol

Christmas Goodies

I love decorating for Christmas. I used to spend days decorating, everything had to be just right. That seems to be changing. I wish I had been as comfortable with things not being perfect when I was younger as I am now. I probably would have been a much easier person to live with. My decorating seems to be a little more free these days. I think as God is working in me, making changes within me, it is spilling over in my day to day living. I like the changes.

Daily Advent reading: Psalm 23; Isaiah 25v6-9; Matthew 15v29-39

"Awaken, O Lord Jesus, our hearts and minds to your presence in the world of your love's creating. Forbid that we should stumble through this day oblivious to the wonder in the ordinary. With your grace, startle us into faith's perception of your continuing creation in our lives. Amen. Let it be." (Richard John Neubaus)

Blessings

Family

We have been purchasing our tree from the same place for many, many years. It has been awhile since my to older sons came along, and as wonderful that was, we also had the added blessing of having our newest daughter and grandson present. For your benefit I will not post the picture of me on the tractor. It's smaller than I remember it, and higher off the ground!!!! lol




Advent reading for Tuesday (see Monday's post for more information)

Psalm 72v1-8, Isaiah 11v1-10, Luke 10v21-24