As I drive through my neighborhood I marvel at all the festive decorations adorning the rooftops of houses and the front lawns this time of year. Some are monochromatic and some full of color. Some have blow-up Santa Claus’s and sleighs. Some just simple wreaths with red bows on each window.
Each house reflects the family who lives inside. Their style. Their taste. Whether they’re traditional or more modern. Maybe even if they have children or not.
As I think about our own house, I think about what it reflects to those who see it. I think about how I hope it reflects the true meaning of Christmas,
The other day I received a Redeemed Christmas – Good News – Doormat in the mail from Dayspring. I immediately opened it up and set in outside the front door. It reflected exactly what I want others to know about Christmas.
There is more to this season right now than sparkly lights and gifts and homemade cookies, even though all of those things are important as we prepare a birthday party for our Savior.
But the true Christmas is the Good News. The Good News that brings great joy.
“But the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Luke 2:10 (NLT)
We had a guest come over recently and as she entered our house she asked, “Where did you get your doormat?”
I smiled a smile deep inside.
It is important that our homes reflect the true Christmas of Jesus’s birth. There are plenty of other ways to celebrate, but if we, as Christians, are not reflecting Truth, then how will others ever know it?
I am honored today to have a very gifted writer of Truth, Laurie Coombs, guest post. Laurie has an amazing testimony of God’s power that equips us to show forgiveness to others even in the most tragic of circumstances. I encourage you to read more of her story at www.LaurieCoombs.org.
My daughter, Avery, busied herself in our home office while I was getting things done around the house. She was four, at the time, and she had no idea I was wrestling with God. As I worked, my mind was flooded with thoughts, inundated with worry.
Avery came running into the kitchen where I was cleaning counter tops. “Mommy, Mommy!” she cried, with excitement. “I have something for you! Here!”
I bent down and took the little card my sweet child made for me. Not expecting the message I was about to hear, I began to try to decipher the rudimentary writing but was quickly interrupted. “It says, ‘love you’, and then here’s a cross I drew for you,” Avery said confidently, as she pointed to a cross that resembled a plus sign. She continued, “Then it says, ‘Go. God is always holding you.’”
I looked at her, tears stinging my eyes, and gave her a great big hug. “Thank you… thank you, my love!”
I can’t tell you how many times Jesus has spoken to me through my children. This was just what I needed to hear.
Jesus calls us to follow, but oftentimes, instead of simply surrendering and allowing Him to lead us, we hesitate. We mull it over. We wrestle with what we’re called to.
But we must go. “Go,” says the Lord, “I am always holding you!” What a blessing to be reminded of this simple truth.
I have learned a lot about the heart of Jesus over the last four years, but what stands out most to me is that Jesus is truly our Redeemer. And when He calls us to follow Him, He wants to bring us to a new place. A place that is rich in beauty and blessing. Now, that doesn’t mean that the path toward redemption will be void of pain, trial, or difficulty, but it does mean that He will faithfully bring us through to the other side.
Yet, God has shown me that in order to get there, we must choose––through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit––to say yes. To say yes, my Lord, I will follow You. Yes, my Lord, I will obey Your commands. For, it is when we lay down our fear, our pride, and our resistance that we are able to experience life as He intended. The life that Jesus died for us to have.
We rest in the mighty arms of the Lord Almighty. We are not our own. We are His. And He is faithful to His promises. Let us surrender ourselves to His faithfulness and rest in the fact that He will guide us through the narrow gate toward life.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
– Matthew 7:13-14
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Laurie Coombs is a writer who encourages others to draw closer to the heart of Jesus. She lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband, Travis. They have two little girls and are in the process of adopting one or two more children from Ethiopia. Be sure to visit and subscribe to Laurie’s blog {LaurieCoombs.org}, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and on her Facebook Writer’s Page
Do you struggle with experiencing joy and contentment when life doesn’t turn out as you expect? Today I am happy to have guest writer, Martha, from GrittyGrace.com. She shares with us two stories of young women who found joy and contentment in the midst of their circumstances!
Photo Credit: Philip Dickson
These are some of the things I have observed by watching happy and miserable singles and marrieds… and from reading God’s Word.
The absolutely true things are written in Scripture. Often however, we interpret Scripture through the lens of experience instead of the other way around. Scripture is true!Experiences of people can often be misleading.
God’s Word says:
“…for I have learned
in whatever situation I am
to be content.
I know how to be brought low,
and I know how to abound.
In any and every circumstance,
I have learned the secret of
facing plenty and hunger,
abundance and need.
I can do all things
through him
who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11b-13
Let me tell you about some people I know.
Eileen, a peer from college, graduated and started work. As time went on, she realized that men were not knocking her door down to marry her. She also realized that God had gifted her in counseling and she needed to get more training for a lifetime career in this field.
She moved to a larger city to get graduate training and at about age 38, she stopped praying for a husband. She felt it was adding to her dissatisfaction. God knew what she wanted. During that year, she met a man who was in seminary and by the age of 39, she was married. It turns out, God had been working all along on this desire of hers. But He had to move the “man of her dreams” to the same country she was in. That took awhile.
That really isn’t the happy ending. They have served together in a few churches since and have had 2 children, one by blood and one by adoption, who are now grown.
Or meet Dawn. She was committed to marrying a Christian man when the time came. In college, she had guys who were good friends, but no one seriously dating her. She went on to get a job out of college in her professional field, but never met anyone that was a mutually serious match.
As a teen, she had a number of single female teachers and friends at her church who made a point to get to know her, and they encouraged her to enjoy her single years. Through the lives of her friends she saw that they enjoyed their season of singleness. In their cases, they eventually married, but of course that doesn’t always happen.
As time went on, she realized she didn’t want to pursue her career in the US when there were so many needs overseas. She worked hard to get her college loans paid off and started looking into options for short term service in her professional field. After looking at the options in the two or three available fields where she applied, Ukraine seemed to be the one that best suited her.
Her two years in Kiev, Ukraine were wonderful, not perfect, but truly wonderful. They needed her skills. She was able to function well on the team. And she learned to speak Russian. Once again, she wasn’t meeting people who were mutually interested in marriage, but God had other plans. She gradually felt God leading her to serve in a more permanent capacity and applied for career status with the mission. Again, God provided and she stayed in Kiev.
As a young woman, she had prayed for a husband for a time, but found more dissatisfaction when that prayer wasn’t answered, so she left it with God and moved on. The year she turned 36, she felt God leading her to begin praying for a husband again. She felt more of a desire for a husband at that point than she had before.
Within a month after she started praying, a young man came to Ukraine on a mission trip. They met and the attraction was almost immediate! He was different from a lot of the other guys she had known in some ways, but over the next few months, it was obvious that they were meant to get married. Her furlough was due. She sold her things in Ukraine, moved back to the US and got married!
Now, she is married with a 2 1/2 year old and a newborn, and they have returned to Ukraine to finish a three year short term assignment.
Is the happy ending the fact that these women got married? Not really. The happy ending is that they learned to be content in their situation long before they ever met their husbands!
This is a life skill everyone needs to learn from in every stage of life. They had people to whom they ministered to joyfully. They knew how to be hospitable in many ways and in many circumstances. They had friends and many relationships. They led full and happy lives.
It wasn’t that “all of a sudden” they got married andhad a full and happy life for the first time! They had to learn to be content in their circumstances just like all of us do, single or married. Contentment is a habit, a way of thinking.
They learned to be joyful in their present circumstances whether they were single or married, whether they had children or not, whether things were going well in other areas or not.
They learned to rest in God’s sovereign plan for their lives when they were single and now that they are married as well.
Have you learned to be content, even happy in the situation where you are, even though it may not be one you would have chosen for yourself?
For some, this is learned in the context of marriage, often because they marry young. For others, it is learned before marriage. But it must be learned in life in many contexts.
What is your biggest struggle with being content in all circumstances?
Share with us in the comments!
I am a pastor’s wife, mom of 3 daughters, grandmother of 7 grandchildren and oh yes, an RN and blog writer of GrittyGrace.com. We have lived in various parts of Florida, Jamaica, near Peoria, IL, and Tyler, TX, our home for now. We were often moving and being uprooted during our early and middle years of marriage. Our firstborn was stillborn followed by our move to Jamaica for 7 years where I learned much about people and life while my husband taught at Jamaica Bible College. Our three daughters were born then too. Those were years of high stress when life was passionate, volatile and unstable. At times, I was dissatisfied with the husband I had. In the days before I wasn’t married, I craved a husband Once I had a spouse, then I wanted a child. When my desires for a child where blocked for awhile, I was angry and upset. Dissatisfaction ruled my life.
Today I welcome guest writer, Sarah Beals, from Joy-Filled Day as she shares her story of trusting God.
Ever find yourself worrying about the little things in life?
At a young age I trusted Christ for salvation, but throughout my 20’s, I struggled to trust Him completely everyday.
I doubt I would have ever verbalized this, but I didn’t like the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. It scared me.
Especially after I had children. I would lay awake at night straining to hear my newborn breathing because I was afraid of SIDS. I would startle awake with nightmares that our house was on fire and that I couldn’t get all the kids out. On and on this went.
God loves and cares for my kids more than I ever could.
It wasn’t until my niece, my youngest sister’s first child, died at three months old that I really started searching the scriptures for evidence of God’s total loving control in our lives.
Did God care about a 25″ long casket that contained my niece? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
I studied the Bible and read:
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:10
But our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Ps. 115:3
All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18
The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Ps. 103:19
One day it struck me: If I can’t trust God to rule this world, who can I trust?
Who, exactly DID I want ruling?
You see, I knew the basics about God, but I didn’t really know God’s character. I was thinking about Him in terms of human character instead of His absolute holy character.
God is not like us, but we think he is. We are so used to dealing with sinful people that we mistakenly expect Him to be like sinners.
People let us down, and we assume God will do the same.
Friends are unfaithful or unloving and we assume Christ is that same way.
Our minds think thoughts like “God is not good, ” “God is withholding things from me,” “God is trying to ruin my life.”
But that is not what we see in God’s word.
God never has a grumpy day that ends in yelling match or hurtful words.
God never exhibits sinful, irrational anger.
God is not like the mythological gods Zeus, Thor or Ra, who were feared because they supposedly punished people when they were angry. We don’t need to wonder if our car accident was punishment for bad behavior, or that kids sickness was payback for unfaithfulness.
God is never unjust, unkind or unloving. God is not just loving, God is love. We only know what love is because we know God.
God does not deal with us according to our iniquities. We tend to repay evil for evil, but God exudes grace. In fact, when we deserved punishment, God offered forgiveness.
And when we were dead in our sins, God loved us. He planned to rescue us from our own mess. He planned good for us when we hated him. He blesses us through Jesus Christ and when God looks at us, He sees his beloved Son.
God never turns his back on us or betrays us. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to him.
So now when I struggle with wanting to run my own life instead of relinquishing total control to Jesus Christ, I remind myself to go back to God’s word and remember who it is that I am handing the reins of my life over to.
Are you struggling today with fear? Can you hand over the reins to God? It is hard to trust someone you don’t really know, so make it a point today to get into your Bible and search to see what God is really like.
Sarah Beals has been married to her high school sweetheart for 21 years, and is the mother of five children, ages 9-19. She enjoys watercolor painting, antiquing, chats with friends over coffee, good books, watching BBC drama and writing at joyfilleddays.com.
There is one kitchen appliance that I still don’t have, but SO DESPERATELY want – A Kitchen Aid Mixer! I go back and forth between wanting a pink one, red one, or just a plain-jane white one, but regardless I would love to have one!
Would you?
Well, now is your opportunity! Read more details below about how you can win your very own Kitchen Aid Mixer in the KitchenAid Mixer giveaway!
Welcome to the Ultimate Kitchen Aid Mixer giveaway event! Why ultimate? Keep reading!
One lucky winner will receive their choice of color/style Kitchen Aid Artisan 5 Quart Stand Mixer with a value of up to $350 from Amazon!
Entry:
Enter below with the Rafflecopter form. You can come back everyday for the daily tweet option – that gives you a lot of extra entries!
Rules:
This giveaway ends on November 14, 2012 at 11:59 EST
The winner will be picked randomly and will have 48 hours to respond by email before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. Open to the US and Canada*
*If the winner is Canadian, they will be given a $350 Amazon.ca gift card to be used toward the purchase of the mixer.
Have you heard? It’s Compassion Blog Month. We’re trying to help children all over the world with sponsorships that give them food, medical care, educational opportunities, and allow them to hear the Gospel. So far this month there have been 2,006 children sponsored. Our goal is 3,108.
Today I am writing a post for Blog Month from the perspective of my Compassion child who lives in the landlocked country in West Africa – Burkina Faso. A country that struggles greatly from poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, water-born illnesses, and AIDS.
I had the opportunity to visit my Compassion child last November when I traveled to Burkina Faso on a mission trip. I cannot express to you how your sponsorship and letters truly make a difference. Trust me. I saw it firsthand. Read more about my trip to Burkina Faso and even more recently news that my Compassion child was running through the village carrying my picture. See? You can make a difference.
When I saw you for the first time I didn’t know who you were and why you came to see me. Your skin was white. Your hair was shiny. Your clothes were bright and clean. And you smiled.
You smiled big.
Then you started to cry.
I couldn’t imagine why you were crying. You were the one that had everything, so it seemed.
I live in mud hut in a village in Burkina Faso. I have to walk a two miles to get water from a well. Then I have to hope that it doesn’t make me sick. Fortunately I get to go to school – for now. It is really hard. I’m thirteen years old, but I read as if I’m six – by American standards. Each day my life is spent surviving – preparing food, helping my family, taking care of my siblings. Sometimes I get to jump rope or play with other kids in the village.
As we stood with the sun beating down on the packed, red clay, and the tears streamed down your face I wondered if I had done something wrong. Why would you be crying over me?
Who am I that you would come across the world to lay eyes on? Who am I that you would send me your words when you cannot come? Who am I that you pray for each day? Who am I to deserve your tears?
Who am I?
I’m just a girl living in Sub-Saharan Africa. You’re the American.
But you came to me anyway. And brought your tears, too. That’s how much I meant to you.
I don’t understand how you know me. I don’t know why you care. I don’t get how this all works.
But that day, as tears ran down your face after seeing mine, I knew I was important. I knew there must be something special about me. I knew I was worthy.
Will you consider helping a child feel his or her worth by being a sponsor through Compassion? You don’t have to visit your child to make a difference. Your letters matter just as much! You can learn more about sponsorship at www.Compassion.com. If you have any questions from someone who has seen a Compassion site firsthand, please email me at brenda{at}triplebraidedlife{dot}com. I would love to share with you what I experienced!
Also, read more of my posts for Blog Month with Compassion:
5 Quart Stand Mixer with a value of up to $350 from Amazon!
