I Want A Different Christmas-#3

"TO SEE CHRISTMAS"

Matthew 2:2

"...for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."..."

Matthew 2:9

"...and, lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, 

till it came and stood over where the young child was."

Matthew 2:10

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."

Matthew 2:11

"...they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped Him..."

Luke 1:29

"And when she saw him (Gabriel) she was troubled..."

Luke 2:15
"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass..."

Luke 2:17
"And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying
which was told them concerning this child."

Luke 2:20
"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
for all the things that they had heard and seen..."

Luke 2:26
"And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ."

Luke 2:30
"For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:20)

"I Want A Different Christmas" #2

A Christmas without children is pretty quiet, lonely and, yes, sad. Not that one can't celebrate Christ's birth without them, it's just that they bring such sparkle, laughter and...JOY! But not everyone can have that opportunity and, certainly, not every year so last year was my first experience without them.
However, I do have a few photos to remember some wonderful Christmas pasts...

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given...(Isaiah 9:6a)

Songs In The Night

One of the most beautiful and joyful sounds is that of the birds as they sing...while it is still dark, before the dawn. It is always ALWAYS a reminder to me that I can-and should-do that, too. I don't have to have everything positive, warm and sunshiney in my life to have a joyful heart, to praise the Lord, to give thanks to my Creator and Friend. I can do it in the dark, in the night, in the low times of my life.

Suddenly, night becomes day, dark becomes light, pain becomes joy when I lift my heart and soul to Him and give praise to Him. He loves me, He saved me, He provides for every need that I have. How can I help but praise Him?!


 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. (Psalm 77:6)

"I Want A Different Christmas" #1

I am going to do several posts over the next few weeks about Christmas. But it will be about last Christmas because, well, it was different. That's what I wanted.

I've experienced many wonderful "Christmas Pasts". Most of them were when either I was a child or our children were still with us here at home. But last year was our first year without any of our children with us so I decided to take advantage of that and try to have a different one. A more spiritual one, if you please.

As the season went by I made a list of reasons why it was different or "requirements" to make it that way and it ended up being the following:
  *No children at home.
  *No responsibilities at church such as planning or helping with the Christmas program.
  *No Christmas tree (Actually I was quite relieved to not have to put that up!) and minimal
    Christmas decoration.
  *Take a month's break from FB. (Definitely!)
  *Minimal Christmas shopping.
  *No visits to malls or the "big" downtown. Stay away from the hustle, noise and stress of the
    commercial and secular Christmas.          
  *Ask random people, "What does Christmas mean to you?"
  *Give several Christmas tracts.
  *Hunt for old and new Christmas music, preferably those which I had never heard.
  *No (or minimal) listening to secular Christmas music.
  *Concentrate on THE Christmas story, spend unhurried time thinking about the details of that.
  *Regular and frequent Christmas devotional readings.
  *Make "Christmas bread" to give to neighbors.

As I began the Christmas season, basically the month of December, I looked forward with anticipation to what the Lord had in store for me!

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Sadness And Joy

     In honor and memory

 of a great-nephew of mine,

I am posting this music and pictures.

I am so grateful that he is in 

a safe and loving place...with Jesus.

To his family, 

my heart aches with and prays for you.

Let the Lord and His Word

 be your comfort.

And He took the children in His arms,

 placed His hands on them and blessed them.(Mark 10:16)

Suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not,

for of such is the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:16)

Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven 

that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:14)

I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. (2 Samuel 12:23)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our afflictions so that

we will be able to comfort those who are in any afflictions

with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God.

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance,
so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

(2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

To those who would like to donate to the care of Scotty's 6-yr-old brother, Ryan,

please go to the link at the top right of this page.  You may also 

To those who would like to join the efforts to increase awareness of child abuse,

go to this page and sign up to light your candle!

Credits

Video: YouTube

Paintings: Internet

Scotty photo: C.Conner

These Forty Years

(I wrote this post a few months ago and only now did I notice that I didn't publish it. Wouldn't want to waste my efforts...so here it is!)

On July 26th my husband and I completed 40 years of marriage. The following verse just seems to perfectly describe our journey together!


"For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." (Deuteronomy 2:7)


I don't normally post anything of a personal nature (especially photos) but since part of the world has already seen this on Youtube and since not many people will see this blog, I am going to go ahead and share this little video which I made for my husband and then shared with our children. You know how it is, good news deserves to be shared with as many as possible!

LOVE CAME FOR ME

A beautiful and touching song...as we get close to beginning the Christmas season.