Sunday, December 23, 2012

Worth It All

In my previous posts, I alluded to the busyness and chaos that this season and time in our life has brought us. Christmas was becoming a list of chores and things to do and check off from a list of the scatterbrained and overtaxed workaholics in this family. I was pretty discouraged by it all, and my heart was crying for some moment in time where I could enjoy what Christmas was really about. I just did not see how it was going to happen, and I feared it would soon be past and I would be left wishing I could have enjoyed it.
Tonight our church put on a Christmas program called The Cradle to the Crown. Words can't describe the depth of meaning and emotion that poured out of me tonight as I sat there in that hushed audience and watched the plot and storyline unfold. God heard my heart's cry and tonight I was able to capture that meaning and spirit of Christmas. It will make the actual day worth it all now that I have had this time of worship and praise to my Heavenly Father for His wondrous gift of salvation encased in the God-man, Jesus.
After coming home, James and I had our chance finally to share in our special tradition of blaring out our favorite Christmas carols and instrumentals and it just never seems complete without sharing that special quirk of ours. :)

My Christmas is already complete even before December 25th arrives.
It will be worth is all when we see Jesus...
What is it worth to you?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

day by day

Gooood morning! There is an old hymn that really applies to this time of year for us.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best—
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.


The rest of the hymn is great, and I hope you will look the rest of the words up for "Day by Day".

Each day, Ted and I sync up and make a list of everything that we need to take care of for work or Christmas. He is in a situation right now with one of his stores that is keeping him away from the family except for a few days here and there until after Christmas. Today, we are trying to finish the last of the shopping as one more thing to mark off our list. With my new job and his busy one there has really been no time to even reflect, relax, or relish the season this year. It has made this Christmas more of a chore then a pleasure, but there has been no other way. God knows this situation and is working it out in His good pleasure to bring glory to Himself.

On a great note of praise, the court case against James was dropped last weekend! He was to meet with an arbitrator today, but the plaintiffs have dropped their case. Praise our Wonderful Lord, each step of the way through this whole situation has shown forth God's mysterious ways of working.

Taking each day at a time...

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Making History

OK so this title is about the only salute to the date or at least it was the date yesterday. I just realized that it's no longer 12/12/12. Oh well....
What am I doing up at this time of the night? I don't know either, I fully expected to be drooling and snoring by now.
My job- actually enjoying it for the most part, still challenging and always learning something new each time. Being on my feet for 5 hours straight is an adjustment physically. I thank God for my job, and my boss says she thinks I am the answer to her prayer. We are both cautiously taking that at face value since I am so new to this type of work. One of the other jobs I applied for earlier sent me the nicest rejection email. I think I should frame it!

Last Saturday I had my assistant teach our teen class about Cain and Abel. I left them with the thought -if God is still talking to us about Abel after 6000 years.... what would He tell others about Us?? How are we going down in history? Are we an example of Christ shining out to others, or are we nobodys that just wasted our days like a vapor? Then, our Preacher even mentioned Cain and Abel in his Sunday message.

My job allows me to be an active example of Christ to a lost world... I try to be very mindful of it. Then tonight, I was thinking back on all the people that I used to chat with online and wondered, after all this time, what sort of memory do they have of my testimony. Our Pastor talked about justification tonight and the thought struck me again, people remember every little wrong done to them, myself included... but when God justifies us through the blood of Jesus it's not just forgiven--its like it never happened! So many times I wonder if things could have been said or done differently for different situations throughout my life,but then I remember Jesus has buried my past.... it's time to let it go.
So, yesterday is now officially history, today is here, tomorrow may dawn in Heaven.... is our life something that God will mention in "His Story"?

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Green Christmas

Living in North Carolina especially during the Christmas and winter seasons, one would think global warming was a real problem. I just took a moment to gaze out my front window and realized the grass really should be mowed. Today is December 1st and my yard needs mowing.... in NY that would have been unbelievable! A heavy frost is usually the extent of what Carolina snow looks like in our region. Occasionally, we will get some snow or ice, but it never sticks around very long.

Today is the day I usually start decorating the house and yard for Christmas. I must confess that with 2 sick boys and a wore out husband it doesn't motivate me to start decorating.

This morning, I finished the preliminary computer work necessary to start my new job. Yes! God answered my prayers and I have a part time job!!! It will be revisiting a skill set that I haven't used in many years! So our Christmas season will be a little "greener" then we had hoped.

Well, before I start a mini project that has been nagging to be finished, let me leave you a sneak peak of my Sweet 16 niece from the photo shoot we did for her birthday.