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Tuesday, 22 December 2009

We're Here!

Hello, folks!

I just wanted you to know that we arrived safely last night. The flights were not too bad. I was hurting quite a bit last night, but a lie down and good night's sleep helped a lot. Thanks so much for your prayers. I could feel them! When we were in Stanted, England we made it out right ahead of a big storm front that was moving in!

We have plans to just enjoy our visit with the kids and do as much as I feel I can do.

I pray you all have a blessed and meaningful Christmas. May you have many opportunities to share HIS love and message with those around you. Peace and joy to you from the Doll and her Pea Hater

Monday, 21 December 2009

Do You Need A Chill Pill?

We will be flying out in the morning for N. Ireland. It will be so great to see our kids!

I will not be posting anything but this on Xanga for the week. Sorry! But, when we get back I will tell you all about it with some pictures, OK?

I pray you all have a wonderfully, blessed Christmas. Celebrate the King!
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Tis the season to be jolly, and here are some important things to watch for so you can keep that joyful heart. Hopefully, you won't need to take a chill pill! Think about what your motivation is for the things you do, and maybe that will help you to be able to say no to some things so the holidays don’t get so stressed.

1. Watch out for guilt. Do not allow it to motivate you into saying yes to things you don’t have time to do, or buying gifts you know you can’t afford.

2. Shun perfection. This is such a bondage, and will keep many from truly enjoying the season. Don’t worry about doing everything perfectly. People will remember your loving hug, thoughtfulness, your meaningful words and joyful smile much longer than your perfectly decorated tree.

3. Expensive gifts do not equal love. One year we were so broke I had to make my kids things from cardboard boxes. They loved their presents and we had hours of fun playing with them.

4. Christmas is not a competition. Let it go. I have actually heard people almost BRAGGING about all they have to do like they are PROUD at being so stressed and over committed – as if somehow this makes them more important and worthy. It’s a trap. Don’t go there.

5. Your self worth is not based on your performance. God loves you because He loves you. That’s His heart and His very nature. He wants His love and message to transform you and free you. Stop trying to earn the favor and love of others. Real love is freely given, whether we deserve it or not.

6. Be good to yourself. Plan time to do things with your family that you all enjoy. Plan times to rest and relax. Take time to laugh.

7. Don’t compare yourself to others. You are you. You don’t have to do more than you are able just because someone else is. Rejoice in your uniqueness.

8. Don’t sweat the teenies! My dear FIL used to say this, and it’s good advice. Will it really matter a month from now that you BOUGHT the cookies for the party instead of baking them? Will it really matter that you didn’t put beautiful bows on every gift, or that your gravy had a few lumps? Probably not.

9. Start every day with prayer. Thank God for His wonderful gift of love. Ask Him to keep you in His peace. Ask Him for His grace, strength and wisdom. Ask Him to fill you with His joy.

10. Have a wonderfully blessed Christmas!

Saturday, 19 December 2009

I have always loved this song. I prefer it with Michael Card singing it, but I guess it's OK with Steve Green. I love the wonder and the miracle that the Savior of the world arrived here as a tiny baby. God's son. WOW. Immanuel. His very name is a promise to all who choose Him. We will never be alone.

Immanuel by Michael Card

A sign shall be given, a virgin will conceive
A human baby bearing undiminished deity
The glory of the nations, a light for all to see
That hope for all who will embrace His warm reality

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us who could stand against us?
Our God is with us
Immanuel

For all those who live in the shadow of death
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness
Behold your light has come

Immanuel. Our God is with us
And if God is with us who could stand against us?
Our God is with us
Immanuel

So what will be your answer? Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son but gave Him for us all
On earth there is no power, there is no depth or height
That could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ

Immanuel. Our God is with us
And if God is with us who could stand against us?
Our God is with us
Immanuel

Immanuel. Our God is with us
And if God is with us who could stand against us?
Our God is with us
Immanuel

Christmas blessings!

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Find the Joy

This is a joyous time of year –- a time when we celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. Ask any Christian, and they will tell you that.

However, what many of you are feeling right now, is not joy, but stress. You are worried that you won’t get everything done. You are worried that you shouldn’t have charged those gifts on your credit card. You fret that people won’t like what you bought them. You wonder when you are ever going to get those cookies baked, decorated and delivered. You see that the Johnson’s next door have their tree up, and you haven’t even got yours yet. You try to make that “quick trip” to the mall after work to pick up two things, and end up driving around and around for nearly an hour looking for a parking place! YAAAGGHHH!

It is so easy for the pressures of the season to compete with the joy, isn’t it? It really is important to guard our hearts and to keep our focus on the Lord and the true meaning of Christmas.

Why do we often get ourselves over committed and tied up in knots? I think a lot of it comes from our bondage to other people’s expectations and our own sense of worth. Often, we are afraid to say no, because we are trying to earn favor and make people like us. Our self worth does not come from sewing all the costumes for the children’s Christmas play, or baking mountains of cookies, hosting the perfect party or making every wrapped gift a thing of beauty. No.

Our self worth is based on how much God values us! Which brings us right back to the manger, doesn’t it? Christ laid aside His glory in Heaven to be born in a humble stable. What a price He paid from the start and all the way to the cross. You know the story. You have heard it dozens and dozens of times. But why did He do it? For the love of you and me. To give us a second chance. To allow us to have fellowship with Father God and enjoy Heaven after this life. To pay sin’s price for each of us. To transform our lives! To set us free! To give us a future and a hope! How He must love us! How He must value each of us

Don't you ever wonder if maybe all this holiday hoop-lah is just meant to distract us from celebrating what is truly important? Let's choose not to be its victim, shall we?

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted from the wonderful truth and true meaning of this season by the carnival the world calls Christmas.

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Hold Me Back!

(Psalm 19:13-14 AMP) “Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.”

There are times when I assume I know all about something, and I find out later I was terribly mistaken. Have you ever heard that saying “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?” Yeah. I do that sometimes. Foolish. Wrong. I think David did it too. We see in these verses that he ask God for specific help in that area.

The truth is, a person can do a lot of damage when they make judgements or take action on something they only assume, with no actual facts, to be true. Have you ever had someone make an assumption about you without even bothering to find out the truth of the matter?

According to the dictionary, to presume is to take something for granted as being true in the absence of proof to the contrary: “We presumed she was innocent.” It can also mean to venture in to something without authority or permission; dare: to act overconfidently; take liberties, to take unwarranted advantage of something; go beyond the proper limits: to take for granted that something is true or factual; suppose:

Someone who is presumptuous is pushy, forward, bold, arrogant, presuming, rash, audacious, conceited, foolhardy, insolent, overconfident, overfamiliar, and bigheaded. YIKES! I don’t want any of those words to describe me!

I pray that God will hold me back from doing or saying anything which would hurt another person. We all need to be careful. We are not called to judge others. We are called to love them.

Yes, I think I need to ask as King David did that You keep me from presumptuous sin!