Preparing for Christmas at Crossroads

As our team spent hours preparing all the little details involved in Christmas at Crossroads - it's easy not to fully personally participate in worshipping God's gift of our Savior.  I find a longing in my soul for silence and personal, prolonged time to fully focus on Him.  

I found this amazing sentence in my devotional this morning...

"The angel explained... All the laws of nature are amendable by the one who wrote them...."

I long to wrap my heart around the truths of Christmas, the story I've been taught since I was born.  The sacrifice I take so for granted because I've known nothing else in my comfortable, Godly environment.

In America, Christmas is buried under gift-giving, and rushing around, things in themselves that are not wrong - just distracting.  In other countries Christmas provides a once-a-year opportunity to proclaim this life-saving Christmas message through special events like the one Savorn (the country director of Asia's Hope) just had in Cambodia.   Nearly 600 people attended to possibly hear the Gospel message for the very first time!

I wonder what it would be like to be lost and never have heard this message before?  Can you imagine discovering God's sacrifice for the first time, learning that the Creator of the Universe chose to become the Created?

I was reading recently about a movement of women in India who are telling their stories about how they've been abused, nearly killed over and over again and how they have no control over anything in their lives.  They have no voice.  Their stories are starting to be heard and creating change through a deep belief they now have in Jesus Christ as their only chance for survival.  A people who are completely desperate for a saving truth.

I want to be desperate for Jesus.  To understand that my life also is completely out of my own hands, and will only be fully completed in Him, in His timing.  I want to remember the longing my heart feels for Him, when I'm silent and listening...

Please join me in fighting your way through what Christmas has become with a renewed focus on what it really is,  God's mercy on us in our broken, sinful, rebellious state.  The laws of creation were amended through the miracle of a VIRGIN giving birth to the world's Savior!

Merry Christmas!

starting over...again

Some people describe their lives as a continuous, never ending, repetitive journey.  

I feel like my life is perpetually starting over and over and over!

Acts 3:19-20 says...Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus

How absolutely mind-blowing that the Creator of the Universe offers this to us!  Repent and turn again... WOW!

I'm spending the afternoon reading and writing and baking and just resting in Him.  Resting in a time of refreshing as described in His Word!

Have you allowed yourself to spend time confessing then resting?  I invite you to do so soon, very soon.

A right relationship with God is the only true refreshing you'll ever experience in this broken world! 

I'm so thankful

As I mix Ron's grandmas homemade roll recipe, and burn the first fire of the winter - I am completely full of thankfulness.

Why the Creator of the universe chose to call me to Himself is something I'll never understand.  It's abiding in His calling that covers my life in purpose.  That purpose fills every second with assurance that there is a reason for each day, that all I have to do is remain in Him and watch for opportunities to serve Him - normally by serving those around me.

The family that the Lord has surrounded me with is one of the areas of my life that I thank Him for continuously.  Always remembering how short our time here truly is by loving them deeply each time we're together.

Today I got word that my daughters' friend lost her father in an accident.

Today we also found out a friend from Crossroads has been given 2 - 3 months to live, completely unexpectedly.

As I bake my rolls I think of these families and can't imagine that they will be able to be thankful tomorrow or that Thanksgiving will even enter their minds.  As I bake my rolls I pray for them, and I tell the Lord of my thankfulness for Him in my life.

I'll think of them tomorrow as I express my thankfulness and love to my family and those we spend the day with.

I'm just so thankful...

worship = thankfulness

Worship can manifest itself in many different ways.

When we lift our voices in praise to the Lord we worship.
When we study scripture and apply it to our lives in obedience to Him we worship.
When we serve one another we live a life of worship.

But I had never really thought about my thankfulness in response to His provision as worship.

As He provides all the ridiculously generous things I have I worship Him with thankfulness.

Can you imagine creating the entire universe and the very creatures you created assume their provisions are of their own doing and offer no thank-yous?

How sad He must be with me as I enjoy all that He's given me and He watches me lay my head down without even a word of thankfulness some days.  If a day goes by where no thankfulness is offered in worship to Him - I wonder whether that day has worth at all?

ugly space

For all the joking we do about how bad our weather is, this area of Ohio is absolutely beautiful. A couple of my friends were saying today they could not live somewhere that stayed hot most of the year and I completely agree. I love our seasons. With all of our wooded areas, beautiful hills and valleys there is an abundance of wildlife and plenty of room for all the creatures to live.

This leads me to ask, why would any bird choose to live in this empty, ugly space in my wall when they could live in a gorgeous tree or bush? They had to tear through the covered area to even gain access...I have no idea how they even knew it was there. The mess they made below their new home was evidence of how hard they had been working.

AGAIN I ask, how could anyone not believe in intelligent design by an imaginative, creative, meticulous, perfect creator? The detail of God's nature is so magnificent I will never stop watching in awe of Him as I see all of His creatures preparing for spring. Very cool!

what I learned today

At Small Group tonight, we discussed how difficult it is to understand how anyone can think the universe was formed by a blast or by chance. People talked about the meticulous way that God placed each and every planet at the exact distance from the sun and in the perfect orbit to survive. And then we talked about the fact that this amazing creator placed within each of us a void that could only be filled by Him.

We talked about eternity and how insignificant this time is that we are here on earth in comparison. And we marveled at why He values a relationship with each of us.

These are some of the many mysteries of our God. And tonight was a great time of sitting quietly before Him, worshiping Him with our discussion and delighting in Him. I learned today that the most important thing is not to just learn another fact, but instead, to become completely overwhelmed by my amazing God!

talking

One of my top abilities...non-stop talking! A gift, a curse an annoyance at times for those close by! I talk and talk each day, giving my opinion, expressing my thoughts putting in my "two cents worth". Why do we have such a need to be heard? Why do we think everyone simply has to know what our perspective is?

We have a natural desire to communicate, God desires communication with us. Can you believe it? He knows what is going to come out of our mouths, so why does He want to hear it?

He created us at least in part to commune with Him, He has every right to assume His creation would cry out in worship to Him...man, how disappointed He must be with the choices I make with my time! So what is it God values from us?

I would assume He simply wants us to realize He is our creator, He deserves our praise! I am never disappointed in my time with Him, but, sadly it is ME that has to decide to give him time. The enemy's trick is to so occupy our minds and our time with the distractions of the world that we forget who gave us our minds and our time...I am soooo easily distracted!

"My heart has heard you say, 'Come and talk with me.'
And my heart responds, 'LORD, I am coming.'"

—Psalm 27:8

Talk to Him today...more than usual.

art reclaimed

We are reclaiming the arts for God!

I am pumped! We launched the new art group that I have been talking about endlessly, and it far exceeded my expectations! I thought I knew all the people that were coming! Wrong!! It was the coolest group of people!

I felt totally out of my comfort zone trying to lead these talented, experienced, creative artists! We talked about how scripture is full of amazing descriptive passages, we talked about God as Creator and we talked about how much the church needs artists. They seemed encouraged and excited to be together. One lady told me she "felt like she came home tonight". Another told me she had tried small groups before and just felt like she didn't fit.

We talked about their art backgrounds, how they feel when they don't have a creative outlet, and then we talked about field trips, and art classes and experiences we could do as a group! This was an exciting night and I am still praising God for the artists He brought to us, the artists He loves so much. The artists that He created to create!