Happy New Year!

Blessings to you for a wonderful 2009! I'll be on vacation this week and will see you next week.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. Vacation
2. a roaring fire
3. phone calls from old friends
4. my husband preaching
5. cold toes

Be Still Sunday

Joy

Christmas Eve. I think I enjoy Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day. Going to church together, singing carols, celebrating the birth of Christ.

Putting the kids to bed and staying up to the wee hours with my husband wrapping presents in front of the fire discussing "life's issues", with a good cup of hot chocolate. I love these moments.

I am filled with an enormous amount of joy this season. My family is happy and healthy, we have our basic needs met and have love. I don't know what could be any better.

God gives us joy because that gives Him joy.

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. God's voice
2. wind
3. time off
4. warm boots
5. road trips

Hope

This time of year is about the holiday season. Presents, traditions, family, and most importantly, the birth of Christ. We get so wrapped up in the holiday happenings around us that we may forget that others may not be in the "holiday spirit."

I know a person at our church whose mother passed away Saturday. Another lady just received a devastating diagnosis of cancer with "three months" to live. How do you embrace the holiday's when these situations are around?

I believe it's about hope. Not the kind of hope that a child has when thinking about presents, but the hope we have in Christmas. It is something that we know with certainty will happen. The birth of Christ. God promised the Jewish people that the Messiah was coming. They relied on this when they became slaves to Pharoah. The birth of Christ is the fulfillment of God's promise to send the Messiah.

Even now, when we are in times of despair, financial ruin, dissolution of family, God is there. We have hope in Him and he never fails us.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. crunchy granola
2. wrapping presents
3. Christmas caroling
4. my boys being home for the holiday's
5. hope

Be Still Sunday

Sixteen Years Ago...

Sixteen years ago, my husband and I were married. It's been an amazing blessing. I love him more now than I ever dreamed I would be capable of loving someone. There is a verse that is so appropriate for us today:

"The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

Did we go out for a fancy evening tonight? We all watched Polar Express, ate leftovers, and the highlight of the evening was that our two year old "pee peed in the potty!" I never dreamed that on our sixteenth year of marriage I would be blessed with a two year old and a twelve year old!

God is good, all the time.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. the potty!
2. choclate chip cookies
3. leftovers
4. chapped lips
5. the love of my "men"

Attitude

I help lead a weekly depression support group at my church. Today we were so blessed that God has touched one of our members. She finally spoke!!!! Bless her heart, she is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with her depression and is feeling alot better. She shared a great piece by Charles Swindoll and I wanted to pass it along. Enjoy!

Attitude
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10%what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes."
Charles Swindoll

Today I Am Thanful For:

1. my depression support group
2. homemade pizza
3. vacation time
4. wonderful co-workers
5. the love of my husband

Simplicity

I needed a change of scenery, so I am working from Barnes and Noble for a few hours. It’s interesting. Watching people come and go. Hearing bits and pieces of conversations as you sit and work. I was struck by one conversation in particular.
A young woman in her early twenties came in with her friend. They were chatting about this and that and then they started talking about Christmas shopping. “…he bought her a Coach purse…we got him a Touch iPod….” The conversation continued on and many name brands and expensive items were brought up.

I, too, have been in the midst of my shopping, mainly online, and have gotten caught up in, “is it enough?”

The best present we can give others, and most especially give Christ, is our “presence” this holiday season. It’s all about relationships and love. Spending time with the ones we love. Simplicity. Preparing a wonderful meal, baking those special cookies and pies you never have time to make, being with each other.

What about playing games? My oldest son loves board games, but we never seem to take the time to play. I bought a great puzzle for our family. In the early days of my marriage, we would always have a puzzle out on the table and would work on it whenever we had a few minutes. I want to get back to those simple things.

Have you kept the “Reason for the Season” alive in your preparations for the holiday?

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. A change of scenery
2. Ornaments
3. Poinsettias
4. the smell of fresh, brewed coffee
5. old, warm, worn shirts

Be Still Sunday

Room

It's already happening. I am getting so busy with the season that I am not leaving room for the important things. Room for my quiet time with Jesus, room for hearing my own thoughts, room for remembering what Christmas is all about.

There wasn't room for Mary and Joseph that night in Bethlehem. And here I am again, getting wrapped up in the season with no room for what is important, Jesus.

What do you do to keep the importance of Christ alive at Christmas? It is such a struggle when you have young children, because of the commercialism of it all. Santa, Rudolf, presents...(my oldest used to think Rudolf brought the presents).

During this time of Advent, I want to make it a priority to sit and talk with my children every night about Christ. A devotional, a story, what is important in their day and how Christ reflected through them (at least my oldest).

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. Lavendar
2. conference calls
3. lighted snowmen
4. working an upcoming Walk to Emmaus
5. Mary

The Small Stuff

I recently hurt my shoulder during my workouts at the gym. I am going to physical therapy for a few weeks to see if I can get my shoulder to heal without needing any kind of cortisone shots.

On my first visit, I was apprehensive. Working with big rubber bands, doing easy exercises for my shoulder. I mean, was it going to work? The last thing they did was an ultrasound of heat on my shoulder. I couldn't feel the heat, so I figured it was a waste of time.

Boy was I wrong! It's crazy, but those small exercises are working. And the best part of the session is the ultrasound. When it is finished, my shoulder feels great!

So often we think bigger is better. The harder the exercise, the more you sweat, the better the results. The bigger the present, the more money you have, more things, etc.

This time of year we can easily get bombarded with the thoughts of "more is better" instead of focusing on "the reason for the season."

It's the little things that count. Saying hello to a stranger, holding a door open for someone with their arms full, being a good listener. These are important things that may touch a person who is having an otherwise bad day.

God wants us to keep the Holy Spirit alive in all that we do. That's what "oozing" is all about. Keep God alive in the small stuff at Christmas.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. physical therapy
2. Winter finally arriving!
3. lights on the tree
4. new opportunities
5. prayer

Complete Surrender

I had a root canal done today. I wanted to ask my new dentist if he'd graduated high school. Do doctors just keep getting younger, or am I truly getting older?

I would rather go to the gynecologist than the dentist. I've just always had a fear of the dentist. As I was sitting in the dentist chair this morning, trying to keep my cool, I realized I was putting myself completely in his care. My mouth was wide open with a rubber protector over my mouth (that was a new one for me) and I had absolutely no control.

Sure, I could get up and leave at a moments notice, but with a gaping hole in my mouth!

For those moments today I was in complete surrender to Dr. W. It was a surreal feeling. Do I feel that way everyday when I surrender myself to God?

I start my day, lying in bed and asking God for the strength to completely surrender everything I do to Him. That all I do oozes with the light of Christ. Unfortunately, I often fall short of the mark.

All I can do is continue to put God first in all that I do. He loves me even if I fall short.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. a party in my home tonight
2. decorating for the holiday
3. candles
4. little tennis shoes thumping in the dryer
5. hot chocolate

Be Still Sunday

The Truth

I was at a business dinner tonight. The usual happened. Schmoozing, eating, eating, schmoozing. It is nice to see my colleagues. We get together quarterly as we are spread out around the country. So it was good.

One of my colleagues started talking about his mother who passed away many years ago. He was working in hopsice during her illness and was telling me about how his experience in hospice work helped him and his family through the death of his mother.

Okay, so what's the big deal? Makes sense...

He kept on about how all the "right things" seemed "to happen". Everything "fell into place" the way it was supposed to. I wanted to stand on the table and yell "IT WAS GOD'S HAND, NOT COINCIDENCE!"

But, I couldn't. I was in a work environment and didn't know if he was a Christian.

I hate that. There are times I feel like I can't talk about God and want to shout from the rooftops about who He is.

As soon as that conversation was over, my other colleague next to me started talking about his days in seminary. :)

This is a perfect example of a situation in where we need to "ooze" Christ. Even if we can't talk about God, we can be His example in all that we do.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. a great business to work for
2. wonderful food
3. friends
4. a good book
5. fresh lemonade

Remember when...

Remember when you would wait all year long for "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" to come on network television? You waited for the one showing for the entire year. There weren't DVD's and VHS tapes to pop in and watch your favoite Christmas shows over and over.

I told my twelve year old this as we watched "The Grinch" last night and he was mortified. The age we live in. It's crazy. In our household we have a main computer and three laptops, three iPods, two televisions, three cell phones.....and we are by no means "wealthy".

Our society is so fast. It emphasizes material possessions. It scares me.

I've never been a "Material Girl", and I just pray that what we feel is important in our lives is seen by our sons. Family, friends, love, and most importantly Christ.

My prayer is that we all "Keep the Christ in Christmas" this season and not let the material world get the best of us.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. my wireless mouse
2. Christmas trees
3. seeing snow on my trip
4. highs in the 30's
5. packing light

Being Busy

I love being productive. I love when my day goes by and I have a feeling of great accomplishment. There's nothing I hate worse than wasting my time.

Don't get me wrong, I love my downtime, vegging out in front of the television, and reading a good book, but I do love good work.

I am preparing for a quarterly meeting with my work and will be traveling to Kansas City. I'm in charge of team building and a few other items, so I am busy getting everything together.

One thing I'll be talking about with our team is change. Scary word, isn't it? Working on this presentation has me revisiting the enormous change I've encountered in my life over the past three years. Moving from the only city I've ever lived to going out of state, following my husband in ministry, my father passing away. The list goes on.

It's amazing how God's hand has been on me and my family. I am just completely overwhelmed when I think about how He has taken care of us and led us.

Remember, God loves you like no one else ever could. He is with you always.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. a phone call from a friend
2. soup
3. Christmas music
4. good work
5. a wonderful boss