Can you believe that Christmas is right around the corner, yet again?
I know it's only June and I'm thinking about Christmas. I've actually
been doing a lot of praying and seeing Christmas a little different. I
knew God was up to something, but wasn't sure what. This past Christmas
was different for us in so many ways. Well, now God is challenging me
to make it different on so many other levels as well.
Tell me what you think.
On Dec. 25th we will NOT have Christmas as it has been traditionally
done in AMERICA for years. We will not exchange gifts in my home on
that day, but will make a cake for Jesus to celebrate Him. I know there
are many arguments as to whether Dec. 25th was the actual date of His
Birth, but the point to me is that He was born for each of us, matters
not on WHAT day!!!!!
There I go digressing again...SORRY-
So we will have cake and a special breakfast and dinner that day. We
will be doing some visiting, but just not sure where. I don't know if
we will be going to nursing homes or what, but God is up to something.
I'm trying to think of budget friendly, quick, simple, hand-made gifts
we can begin making now to share with others if God does indeed lead us
to the nursing homes. So if you have any idea of something we (my
children & I) can begin doing now, please share.
Then I'm getting several months in my head, Jan., Feb., & March for us
to put up our tree and do our gift exchanges. I know each child will
get 3 gifts each from me, plus with each sibling getting each other
gifts, they will have 5 total. I'm not sure if we will do a family gift
or what. They will each get a gift they can use, one they really want,
and one pertaining to their relationship with God. I'm thinking of
putti
ng a spending limit on the gifts they can exchange with each
other...would $10 be too low? I don't know right now, but we'll see.
What I do know is that God is breaking us out of the tradition and norm
of what EVERYONE ELSE is doing.
So with that, what special hand-made gifts can we exchange with
grandmothers, aunts, and cousins? Any ideas, please do share.
6/25/2009
Father's Day
My baby boy left to go on his first ever Boy Scout Camping Trip!!!! He
was excited and nervous all at the same time. We had many, many talks
concerning safety. Many nights of prayers. I've been praying ever
since he got on that bus, pleading the blood of Jesus over him and
trusting God to care for him. I can't wait for him to get back and tell
me how it went. None of my children can swim, heck their mama can't
even swim, so that was one of the things the Scout Leader said they
would most definitely be working on this week. There are so many badges
he can get, but must know how to swim in order to get them.
I'll post an update once he gets home!!! Until then, keep him in your
prayers if you feel led to.
was excited and nervous all at the same time. We had many, many talks
concerning safety. Many nights of prayers. I've been praying ever
since he got on that bus, pleading the blood of Jesus over him and
trusting God to care for him. I can't wait for him to get back and tell
me how it went. None of my children can swim, heck their mama can't
even swim, so that was one of the things the Scout Leader said they
would most definitely be working on this week. There are so many badges
he can get, but must know how to swim in order to get them.
I'll post an update once he gets home!!! Until then, keep him in your
prayers if you feel led to.
2009 Church Celebration & Family VBS
I have so much to catch up on...Prayerfully God will bring it ALL back
to my remembrance.
I said prayerfully! LOL
Well, let’s go back to June 6th. Our church celebrated 33 years of
ministry. It was an awesome time of celebration. The church "picnic"
was actually more of a carnival, with various rides for the children,
food booths, and then there was entertainment and prizes. It was really
fun.
I so enjoy seeing the body of Christ join together to celebrate and
have good clean fun. I also get a kick out of seeing our pastor join
right in. He's never been "above us" to mingle and interact with us...I
just love him and his family to pieces.
Some things that really stuck out to me were watching the pastor and
elders do a hula hoop contest. Now that was HILARIOUS!!!! The food was
good, as always. I, of course, got a turkey leg and well, need I say
more?! LOL
The only thing I regret is I was having such a great time under the
tent listening to the music and visiting that I didn't get many pictures
of the kidlets on the rides and water slide. I did get some of the
girls singing. The youth praise team did an awesome job. I love to
watch them praise. As with ANY singing, you can spot those that are up
there for themselves, but those few that are really up there praising
the Lord and don't care who sees them because they know it's not about
them anyway, those few make it worth it completely!!!
Sunday, the 7th began our Family VBS.
I had never heard of including the entire family in VBS until we joined
Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. It has been life changing and transforming
for my family. We all thoroughly enjoy our church. As much as I loved
The Potter's House and T.D. Jakes, I often wish when we first visited
OCBF that we had stayed and joined instead of moving on. But God had to
grow me and show me...anyway, I digress.
John Gray was our Christian Comedian. I had never heard of him before,
but he was very good and very funny. He worked his tail off though. He
would do his part for the adults and then head over to the youth and do
his thing for them. He has many great accomplishments, including being
a former singer with Kirk Franklin. He has 2 movies out on DVD that I
would really love to get, but that will have to wait.
Alicia Garcia was the vocalist for the week. She can blow, she can
speak, and my goodness she can give you a whole new perspective on God.
The messages were good each night, however, the most profound thing I
got from VBS didn't come from the speaker or the comedian. It came from
the singer!!!!
She shared with us a time when she was down and yet from the world’s
point of view, she could look around and see all the STUFF she had. She
went to sit and have her quiet time with the Lord and to find words of
comfort in His Word. She said as she was praying the Holy Spirit gave
her 3 words that were life changing...JESUS IS LORD. She said not her
circumstances, not her money, not her emotions, thoughts, or feelings,
not her career, not even her family, but JESUS!!! Now you've heard
these words many, many times...at least I have, but until you finally
believe them for yourself, they are J U S T words. The Holy Spirit will
not knock you upside the head to get you to believe, know or understand
what He already knows. He'll just wait patiently for you to finally
know that you know that what He knows to be true really is true.
Most of us, if not all of us have read the end of the Book. However,
we tend to look at the chaos around us and doubt if we win. We begin to
wonder if anything good can come from the hell around us. And yes, we
may even look at life and say WHAT is the point. But remember they also
said "can anything good come from Nazareth" too. They didn't realize
that Jesus is Lord either.
Man, again I digress. ;-> Those words have been life changing for me.
I have A LOT going on in my life, I wo
n't deny that, chaos, confusion,
no answers to unanswered questions, but in all of it, I now have a peace
and contentment that surpasses ALL my understanding for sure. I know
that I know that I know that Jesus Is Lord.
Can you imagine, the days of Paul are returning, when Christians will
be locked up for their faith and beliefs, but no matter what MAN takes
from us, they can never ever take the Holy Spirit from us or our praise.
I got a right to praise Him!!!!
Ok, really, I will try not to get away from my train of thought. HA HA
Now I have a confession to tell you. I was sharing with you about VBS,
but for the life in me, I can't tell you the speakers name or what he
spoke about without looking at my notes and I do remember that what he
had to say was very good and profound as well, but after Alicia, I was
done. SAD? Not really...what God had me there for was to hear the words
that have made the biggest impact on my life at this stage. That was
the nugget I was meant to be there for! And I got it!!!
There were also great breakthroughs for my children. They each had
their own moments of nugget gathering. I'm having a blast watching them
become who God has called them to be, even with all the struggles they
have endured the past almost 4 years. God is using what Satan meant for
evil and turning it around for our good, just as He promised. Now how
is that for someone who makes a promise and NEVER goes back on those
promises!!! Gotta love HIM!
to my remembrance.
I said prayerfully! LOL
Well, let’s go back to June 6th. Our church celebrated 33 years of
ministry. It was an awesome time of celebration. The church "picnic"
was actually more of a carnival, with various rides for the children,
food booths, and then there was entertainment and prizes. It was really
fun.
I so enjoy seeing the body of Christ join together to celebrate and
have good clean fun. I also get a kick out of seeing our pastor join
right in. He's never been "above us" to mingle and interact with us...I
just love him and his family to pieces.
Some things that really stuck out to me were watching the pastor and
elders do a hula hoop contest. Now that was HILARIOUS!!!! The food was
good, as always. I, of course, got a turkey leg and well, need I say
more?! LOL
The only thing I regret is I was having such a great time under the
tent listening to the music and visiting that I didn't get many pictures
of the kidlets on the rides and water slide. I did get some of the
girls singing. The youth praise team did an awesome job. I love to
watch them praise. As with ANY singing, you can spot those that are up
there for themselves, but those few that are really up there praising
the Lord and don't care who sees them because they know it's not about
them anyway, those few make it worth it completely!!!
Sunday, the 7th began our Family VBS.
I had never heard of including the entire family in VBS until we joined
Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. It has been life changing and transforming
for my family. We all thoroughly enjoy our church. As much as I loved
The Potter's House and T.D. Jakes, I often wish when we first visited
OCBF that we had stayed and joined instead of moving on. But God had to
grow me and show me...anyway, I digress.
John Gray was our Christian Comedian. I had never heard of him before,
but he was very good and very funny. He worked his tail off though. He
would do his part for the adults and then head over to the youth and do
his thing for them. He has many great accomplishments, including being
a former singer with Kirk Franklin. He has 2 movies out on DVD that I
would really love to get, but that will have to wait.
Alicia Garcia was the vocalist for the week. She can blow, she can
speak, and my goodness she can give you a whole new perspective on God.
The messages were good each night, however, the most profound thing I
got from VBS didn't come from the speaker or the comedian. It came from
the singer!!!!
She shared with us a time when she was down and yet from the world’s
point of view, she could look around and see all the STUFF she had. She
went to sit and have her quiet time with the Lord and to find words of
comfort in His Word. She said as she was praying the Holy Spirit gave
her 3 words that were life changing...JESUS IS LORD. She said not her
circumstances, not her money, not her emotions, thoughts, or feelings,
not her career, not even her family, but JESUS!!! Now you've heard
these words many, many times...at least I have, but until you finally
believe them for yourself, they are J U S T words. The Holy Spirit will
not knock you upside the head to get you to believe, know or understand
what He already knows. He'll just wait patiently for you to finally
know that you know that what He knows to be true really is true.
Most of us, if not all of us have read the end of the Book. However,
we tend to look at the chaos around us and doubt if we win. We begin to
wonder if anything good can come from the hell around us. And yes, we
may even look at life and say WHAT is the point. But remember they also
said "can anything good come from Nazareth" too. They didn't realize
that Jesus is Lord either.
Man, again I digress. ;-> Those words have been life changing for me.
I have A LOT going on in my life, I wo
n't deny that, chaos, confusion,
no answers to unanswered questions, but in all of it, I now have a peace
and contentment that surpasses ALL my understanding for sure. I know
that I know that I know that Jesus Is Lord.
Can you imagine, the days of Paul are returning, when Christians will
be locked up for their faith and beliefs, but no matter what MAN takes
from us, they can never ever take the Holy Spirit from us or our praise.
I got a right to praise Him!!!!
Ok, really, I will try not to get away from my train of thought. HA HA
Now I have a confession to tell you. I was sharing with you about VBS,
but for the life in me, I can't tell you the speakers name or what he
spoke about without looking at my notes and I do remember that what he
had to say was very good and profound as well, but after Alicia, I was
done. SAD? Not really...what God had me there for was to hear the words
that have made the biggest impact on my life at this stage. That was
the nugget I was meant to be there for! And I got it!!!
There were also great breakthroughs for my children. They each had
their own moments of nugget gathering. I'm having a blast watching them
become who God has called them to be, even with all the struggles they
have endured the past almost 4 years. God is using what Satan meant for
evil and turning it around for our good, just as He promised. Now how
is that for someone who makes a promise and NEVER goes back on those
promises!!! Gotta love HIM!
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