Late last night Seth and I were talking about how crazy it is that Christmas has already come and gone. While we were quietly pondering the situation I had an overwhelming longing for the end of this world. As I stared off down the street and at the Christmas lights, I felt like I was in a place I didn't belong...like this world was not my home.
I was consumed with the notion that we were not made for the anxious feelings of having to work on Monday, or being away from our loved ones for extended periods of time beyond our control. Although we live in a free country, are we? What is so freeing about working for money so you can purchase food to feed your family that you barely get to spend time with? We were not made for this.
For the first time, I knew what Christmas was about. There is nothing definitive in the Bible that tells us when Jesus was actually born, although you can get close by studying the Jewish and Hebrew calendars and by reading the chapter of Luke. Christmas is not so much about the actual birth of Christ, or when, but WHY.
Jesus was born in our world for the sole purpose of delivering us from sin. He was, and is, the perfect example of a sinless being, and yet he was put to death. I cannot do the justice of explaining how incredible a gift this was, and is, for all of us. Every day millions of people are in desperation and hopelessness... if they could only see the God that could save them.
I lay in my bed last night praying, and tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt a true remorse for the things I had done in my life, and a real desire to be with my Savior. It was the first time since I was saved that the Spirit had filled me like that, and the only time that I had longed so deeply to be with God.
I pray that the feeling will never leave me, and that the Spirit will continually fill me. I am not sad to be here with my loved ones. I am just hopeful for Christ's return, and his establishment on this earth as Lord. I am anxious for every knee to bow, and every tongue to confess that He is Lord of all.
***
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Super Mom!
Last Sunday we woke up as usual and started preparing for the day: church, lunch, hanging out, etc. I was holding Ethan when he suddenly looked very ill. I looked him in the eyes and said, "are you OK?" He said, "I am going to barf!" No sooner had I set him down when it started to happen. I reached out my hands in a cup shape and caught the barf coming out of his mouth.
This may seem pretty disgusting, but really I hadn't even thought about what I was doing..it was a reflex. I was amazed at how fast my body took over, and kinda disgusted as well....but the barf never made it to the carpet. I guess it is all just part of being the mom. You never know when instinct and lightning fast reflexes will take over!
Have you ever considered what Mary went thru with Jesus? Talk about a Super Mom! One day she is minding her own business, and the next day an angel comes to tell her that she will be carrying the Son of God....whoa...that is pretty heavy. Not only will she be pregnant, with God, but she will raise Him, as any other family would do. She will be responsible for Him. She will nurture Him. She will hold His hand.
Can you even imagine getting a chance to hold Christ's hand? I get giddy just thinking about it! I hope we all get a chance to spend some real quality time with our Savior in Heaven...and not just to talk, but to revel in His glory.
There isn't too much info on Mary in the Bible. The one part that stands out to me is when the family takes it's yearly trip to Jerusalem to the feast. After the feast is over the family, and all their relatives start to travel home. They make it a whole day away from Jerusalem when they realize that Jesus (a small boy at the time) is not with them.
Being a mother myself, I can't even begin to fathom how Mary felt! I'm sure she was in a state of panic, and unfortunately there were no planes, trains or automobiles to get her back to where Jesus might be. She had to walk, with everyone else, back the days journey to search an entire city to find her son.
What would you do when you found him? If it were me, he would have gotten in BIG trouble. Mary and Joseph reacted a bit differently.
Luke 2:46 "After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them."
Did you catch that first part? Three days! As if being the mother of the Son of God wasn't going to be difficult enough, you have to let Him go, and be part of the bigger picture. I think Mary knew this going into it, although in this particular passage both her and Joseph were confused at why Jesus would need to be in the temple. It was probably much later that they realized, for the 1,000th time, I'm sure, that He WAS the Son of God, and He needed to be learning, and teaching. I have a whole new respect for her after pondering what she must have gone thru.
Christmas will be here tomorrow, and then another year will begin. My baby boy will be 4, and I will be that much closer to having to let him go. For now I must trust in the Lord to watch over him, and lead him down the path that he must travel. I pray that some day he, too, will ask Christ to be his Savior. Until then, I will hold him tight, and teach him all I can about God and His great plans.
***
This may seem pretty disgusting, but really I hadn't even thought about what I was doing..it was a reflex. I was amazed at how fast my body took over, and kinda disgusted as well....but the barf never made it to the carpet. I guess it is all just part of being the mom. You never know when instinct and lightning fast reflexes will take over!
Have you ever considered what Mary went thru with Jesus? Talk about a Super Mom! One day she is minding her own business, and the next day an angel comes to tell her that she will be carrying the Son of God....whoa...that is pretty heavy. Not only will she be pregnant, with God, but she will raise Him, as any other family would do. She will be responsible for Him. She will nurture Him. She will hold His hand.
Can you even imagine getting a chance to hold Christ's hand? I get giddy just thinking about it! I hope we all get a chance to spend some real quality time with our Savior in Heaven...and not just to talk, but to revel in His glory.
There isn't too much info on Mary in the Bible. The one part that stands out to me is when the family takes it's yearly trip to Jerusalem to the feast. After the feast is over the family, and all their relatives start to travel home. They make it a whole day away from Jerusalem when they realize that Jesus (a small boy at the time) is not with them.
Being a mother myself, I can't even begin to fathom how Mary felt! I'm sure she was in a state of panic, and unfortunately there were no planes, trains or automobiles to get her back to where Jesus might be. She had to walk, with everyone else, back the days journey to search an entire city to find her son.
What would you do when you found him? If it were me, he would have gotten in BIG trouble. Mary and Joseph reacted a bit differently.
Luke 2:46 "After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them."
Did you catch that first part? Three days! As if being the mother of the Son of God wasn't going to be difficult enough, you have to let Him go, and be part of the bigger picture. I think Mary knew this going into it, although in this particular passage both her and Joseph were confused at why Jesus would need to be in the temple. It was probably much later that they realized, for the 1,000th time, I'm sure, that He WAS the Son of God, and He needed to be learning, and teaching. I have a whole new respect for her after pondering what she must have gone thru.
Christmas will be here tomorrow, and then another year will begin. My baby boy will be 4, and I will be that much closer to having to let him go. For now I must trust in the Lord to watch over him, and lead him down the path that he must travel. I pray that some day he, too, will ask Christ to be his Savior. Until then, I will hold him tight, and teach him all I can about God and His great plans.
***
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Scarred for Life
I had to have some small surgery on my arm a few months ago. There is now a pretty noticeable scar on my arm...and sometimes I forget that it is there....but then I will be looking in the mirror and there it is. It reminds me of what I went thru.
Have you ever seen some random person in line at the store with a huge scar on their face and wondered what happened? I sometimes make up stories in my head about what horrible tragedy that person must have gone thru, and how they are thankful to be alive. How interesting it would be to actually get the chance to ask them what happened, and hear their story!
Even more interesting would be to ask all the people in line, scarred or not, what they have been thru in their lives. You might hear a story of a small town girl who moved to the big city, or of a man who had nearly died riding his motorcycle.
This past Sunday I took pictures at our church during the Baptisms. We do it a little differently.. you only get baptized when you feel ready to, and the baptisms take place after the third service every couple of months. There were 15 volunteers to be baptized this time. The last participant was a perfectly normal looking lady...she came on stage and took the microphone. She started telling the small crowd that she had a near death experience the past year. She was clinically dead, and instead of seeing a bright light, she was consumed in darkness, and felt cold and alone....and in pain.
Her testimony was inspiring to listen to. She accepted Christ after her experience, and has had opportunities to spread her message. She had no obvious scars, and she looked just like any one else that you might see shopping in the aisle next to you at the store.
So what if you don't have a scar, but you want to tell the world what has happened to you, without having to prompt the conversation? What if I want to tell everyone I come in contact with about my love for God, and my peace thru Jesus?
I will soon be scarred for life. I will be getting a new tattoo. *shock and awe!* Yes, I know...it is such a faux pas...but, I love tattoos..and I love my Savior. I've been thinking about it for the past couple months, and after today, I got the confirmation I needed to proceed.
I prayed that God would give me an answer as to whether this was a good idea or not. The next day I proposed the idea to the girls at work. There was definitely some shock! They asked me, "What if you change your mind about God?" My answer.. "I won't". Today, there was a post on Facebook about tattoos and being Christian. The condensed version is that if you do anything to yourself, it should be to further your love and sharing of Christ.
I am going to get a scripture verse on my left forearm from elbow to wrist. The verse has been written in this blog several times..and it just keeps coming up. I decided that this was the tattoo I wanted several weeks ago, but wasn't sure if I should do it. There will never be an excuse again for me to shy away when the Spirit prompts me to speak to someone...cause chances are, they will have already noticed the writing on my arm.
I will be scarred for life...for Christ.
***
Have you ever seen some random person in line at the store with a huge scar on their face and wondered what happened? I sometimes make up stories in my head about what horrible tragedy that person must have gone thru, and how they are thankful to be alive. How interesting it would be to actually get the chance to ask them what happened, and hear their story!
Even more interesting would be to ask all the people in line, scarred or not, what they have been thru in their lives. You might hear a story of a small town girl who moved to the big city, or of a man who had nearly died riding his motorcycle.
This past Sunday I took pictures at our church during the Baptisms. We do it a little differently.. you only get baptized when you feel ready to, and the baptisms take place after the third service every couple of months. There were 15 volunteers to be baptized this time. The last participant was a perfectly normal looking lady...she came on stage and took the microphone. She started telling the small crowd that she had a near death experience the past year. She was clinically dead, and instead of seeing a bright light, she was consumed in darkness, and felt cold and alone....and in pain.
Her testimony was inspiring to listen to. She accepted Christ after her experience, and has had opportunities to spread her message. She had no obvious scars, and she looked just like any one else that you might see shopping in the aisle next to you at the store.
So what if you don't have a scar, but you want to tell the world what has happened to you, without having to prompt the conversation? What if I want to tell everyone I come in contact with about my love for God, and my peace thru Jesus?
I will soon be scarred for life. I will be getting a new tattoo. *shock and awe!* Yes, I know...it is such a faux pas...but, I love tattoos..and I love my Savior. I've been thinking about it for the past couple months, and after today, I got the confirmation I needed to proceed.
I prayed that God would give me an answer as to whether this was a good idea or not. The next day I proposed the idea to the girls at work. There was definitely some shock! They asked me, "What if you change your mind about God?" My answer.. "I won't". Today, there was a post on Facebook about tattoos and being Christian. The condensed version is that if you do anything to yourself, it should be to further your love and sharing of Christ.
I am going to get a scripture verse on my left forearm from elbow to wrist. The verse has been written in this blog several times..and it just keeps coming up. I decided that this was the tattoo I wanted several weeks ago, but wasn't sure if I should do it. There will never be an excuse again for me to shy away when the Spirit prompts me to speak to someone...cause chances are, they will have already noticed the writing on my arm.
I will be scarred for life...for Christ.
***
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