God's Heart for You.

[Judy Harder]

Your House is Only as Big as Your Hospitality
Dec 19, 2011  Lisa-Jo




I am a reluctant renter.

Have been for years.

Our house is small, it has faux bricks that constantly fall off the kitchen walls and carpets that, well, let's just say we have three kids under the age of six and leave the rest up to your imagination.

For years my small house has stunted my hospitality.

I've always loved to have friends over. I'm not awesome with a glue gun and I do not have any real furniture arranging mojo. But I'm generally comfortable in my own skin. And I love lingering over the last of the hot chocolate with friends and leaving the dishes for later.

Give me girlfriends, church friends, grand parents, aunts, uncles or cousins – I love to have them in my space.

But since my space has shrunk the last few years it turns out my hospitality has shrunk right along with it. I didn't realize quite how much until our South African cousins surprised us with the news they were going to be coming through the DC area and were so excited to come and visit – and hopefully stay – with us.

I was elated for 5 minutes before the wave of embarrassed disappointment hit.

The teeny living room, two bedrooms and one bathroom all flashed through my mind. Then there was the not-so-small matter that we only have 4 dining room chairs and no guest bedroom. An inflatable mattress and sofa pillows were the best we had to offer over night guests.

Five of them and five of us in our house seemed like a recipe for hostess hyperventilation. So I was relieved when they said they'd be happy to stay at a hotel. And astonished when my husband emailed them back and insisted they stay with us.

I was incredulous. I pointed out the obvious. Our. House. Is. Small.

Turned out, however, Peter wasn't limited by the size of our house. Because he had big hospitality in mind.

He said we should give them our master bedroom and we'd take the inflatable mattress in the playroom, even if it was only for a night. The kids could camp out on mattresses and sofa cushions in the living room. He was determined that our homesick boys would get a full dose of family. And that meant sleepovers included.

We made dinner a taco fiesta buffet and everyone ate anywhere they were comfy. We put our best sheets on the bed and fluffed up our favorite pillows for them. The boys rolled out their blankets and stuffed toys and plotted games and snacks and stories.

In the four years we've lived here our house has never felt as big as it did the week that the Vercueils visited us.

I learned that big hospitality has nothing to do with the size of your house.


Big hospitality is a matter of the heart and not the architecture.

Once I let go of the obsession with smallness, I was able to embrace the fun of squeezing as much big hospitality as we could manage into a week instead of worrying how it would fit into our four walls.

Maybe you're like me. Maybe this holiday season has you hyperventilating at the thought of your house being exposed for all to see how small or cramped or imperfect it is.

May I suggest a mental shift? If you see your house as big and welcoming as you feel about the people you're having over, so will everyone who walks through its doors.

The size of your house, my friends, is entirely in your own hands.

By Lisa-Jo, Gypsy Mama, community manager of (in)courage and not-so-reluctant renter.

[Judy Harder]

The Heart Of Christmas {Matthew West Giveaway}
Dec 19, 2011  Jennifer




Oh how I love music. I love to have music in our home. I love to have music in the car. I love to have music in my studio. I like to listen to music with meaning and music that speaks to my soul while I work. It really does change the entire art experience for me. The messages, the meaning, the beat... they all speak to me.

It is like inspiration whispering right into my heart. It makes me happy.

And Christmas music... Christmas music is my favorite! Really, it is. Each year I can not wait to bring out all my Christmas music. (Just ask my husband.) I have even been known to break a few out during the year. Yep, that's me... Christmas music year round. At least a little bit here and there.

I especially enjoy the original, unique songs on Christmas albums. I find many of them are so beautiful and very fitting year round, not only at Christmas time. It is a wonderful way to keep the spirit of this season close to my heart all year long. I love music with a positive message. Music that makes you feel joyful just by listening to it. Music that has the power to change you. With his very first Christmas album, The Heart of Christmas, Matthew West does just that.

It is beautiful and inspiring. Matthew really does capture the heart of Christmas and you can't help but feel it too. He is an amazing songwriter and this album has many fantastic original songs! He has such a great way of sharing the spirit of Christmas. I love how the songs take you through a journey. Starting with the time approaching Christmas through the day after Christmas. It tells a beautiful Christmas story.




The album starts with a song that each of us, no matter our age, can understand. The anticipation for Christmas to finally come! We are reminded of the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate. The heart of Christmas. Another song paints a picture of seeing Christmas through Jesus' point of view. How He left heaven for us.

The album continues with a touching song of a child's last Christmas. We are also reminded to share Christmas with others, to give Christmas away. The last song is one of my favorites, The Day After Christmas. Reminding us that after Christmas day and all the excitement is over, the light of the world is still here. I think that is such a powerful and beautiful message.

These original songs are surrounded by classic favorites. Matthew West's joy for Christmas and love of Christ shines throughout this album. It is a wonderful addition to my Christmas music collection! It has kept a song in my heart since I started listening to it. It really is a new favorite of mine. An album that is all about the true meaning of this wonderful season and is so beautiful to listen to... how could it not be a favorite?!

*****

Matthew West is giving away 5 copies of Matthew West The Heart of Christmas to 5 lucky readers! To enter for your chance to win a copy of this amazing Christmas album, just leave a comment sharing what the heart of Christmas means to your family.

[Judy Harder]

This House Still Believes
Dec 20, 2011  Kristen Welch


I tucked tiny trinkets deep into the stockings and checked my hubby's progress on putting the bike together. I couldn't believe it was finally Christmas Eve! We grew up with our parents playing the role of Santa and Mrs. Claus and we chose to carry on the tradition. So we were hidden in our bedroom, knee-deep in last-minute holiday happenings.

It was nearly midnight and I was so tired. The busy days leading up to this moment had worn me out. I double-checked to make sure the kids were asleep and carefully laid out the bulging stockings. Then, I quietly nibbled on Santa's goodies. I even gnawed a carrot for Rudolph. Being Santa was hard work!



I turned around to hurry my hubby along but instead found my daughter (who would turn ten two weeks after Christmas) standing there watching me.

Um. That's not supposed to happen.

I racked my brain and tried to remember what I learned in Santa School and all I could come up with was I never went to Santa School! I was so busted.

She faked a yawn, and I just motioned to her room. Because that's what you do when you're shocked and speechless.

Once she was up the stairs, I ran into my bedroom and whisper-screamed: "SHE KNOWS! SHE KNOWS!"

And then I tried not to fall apart.

When she knocked on our door five minutes later, I let my hubby answer it. I'm brave like that.

She asked. He told her everything. Questions led to answers and very early Christmas morning, she knew the secret happenings of Santa. I bit back tears. So did she.

Christmas still happened. She held her new secret close to her heart and gave me a knowing smile throughout the day. She was excited to start the new chapter. But a sadness I couldn't explain still clung to me.

It's not the Santa-myth I missed. It was her believing. It was proof she was growing up.

I found contentment in knowing she believed in Jesus. It's really about all Him. He's not pretend or make-believe.

Days after Christmas, I wrote her a letter about how we are called to believe in things we can't see.

It's good to believe in things we can see. It's better to believe in things we can't see but know are real: our dreams, faith, hope. Jesus.

She put her letter in her special box.

And in the two years since, I have refocused my efforts to make Christmas about Jesus. We still add a dash of Santa to the fun, but you can find him kneeling at the Nativity, worshiping Jesus with the rest of us.

Because I realized the Santa fun will fade, but this house will always believe.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Tangible Ways to Keep Christ in Christmas:

1. Wrap baby Jesus in your Nativity and let that be the first gift opened on Christmas morning.

2. Limit the gifts and remind your kids it's not their birthday. But His.

3. Celebrate with a birthday cake for Jesus.

4. Count down to the Christmas Day with an advent calendar that focuses on Christ.

5. On Christmas Eve or Day, read Luke 2 together.

This Christmas, I pray you will make it about Him.

by Kristen Welch, We are THAT family

[Judy Harder]

Dec 22,2011

A Christmas Blessing

This Christmas

May the blessing of JOY abide WITHIN you...

May the blessing of PEACE rest UPON you...

May the blessing of LOVE flow THROUGH you...

May all the blessings of the Lord be yours at Christmas
and in the New Year.

Praise the Lord... Who satisfies your desires with good things. Psalm 103:2,5

[Judy Harder]

An (un)limited Time Offer
Dec 22, 2011 MelanieAMoore


I walk the aisles of the store, quickly scanning each shelf, glancing back at my enormous shopping list, and feeding an endless supply of Goldfish crackers to my small son. The stores are completely crowded this time of year, with everyone finishing up last minute Christmas shopping and double-checking their list of who has been naughty or nice.



"Oh, I'm so sorry", I whisper as my shopping cart bumps into another shopper's.

"Humph", he grunts at me and walks on down the aisle, scowling at the crowd.

I feel my spirits start to fade too, as yet another announcement blares out over the speaker that there is a SALE, and it is for a LIMITED time, so I need to HURRY! The Christmas music seems to be getting louder, I realize the check-out lines are getting longer, and my endless supply of Goldfish crackers turns out to have an end after all.

Right in time for a cranky toddler.

Is this what it's all about?

I stand completely still in the middle of the aisle, and for the first time, I really look around me.

Really look.

I have been in the store for almost an hour and had never stopped to really look around and see.

If Jesus walked into this store, would I see him? Would I take time to notice him? Would I just grunt at him as we bumped elbows? Would I snatch away the last sale item from him and give a momentary triumphant glance after my sale victory?

"There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him." ~ Isaiah 53:2

I shamefully but honestly realize that I probably would not notice Him at all in the crowd. Jesus would not burst into the store with an entourage and use the loud-speaker to announce His arrival. Loudness is not His style. He speaks in a still, small voice. After all, on His long-awaited birthday, He slipped quietly into our scarred world. He left the paradise of heaven to become flesh for my salvation, and yours.

If I lived in Bethlehem so many years ago, would I have noticed in the quiet night that the Messiah had come? That the Hope of nations had quietly made His miraculous arrival?

I realize that I miss Him so many times in my daily life, when He whispers with His still, small voice. I pray for answers, long for intimacy with Him, cling to His promises, but yet, so many times... I drown out His voice in my loudness and chaos.

A loud, chaotic mall full of Christmas shoppers.... in my heart.

This Christmas, could we stop and look for Him? We may see Him in the face of a child who feels alone and is longing for hope more than a shiny bicycle under the tree. We might see Him in the lonely eyes of the widow or the uncertain glance of a young, single mom. Would we hear Him ask us to help another family who is struggling to put food on the table?

Would we do it for Him?

I pray that God will help us to stop, really look around, and to be His hands and feet to show His love this Christmas and to point others to the One who came to save us.

So that we might have Life.

Is there any Christmas gift more wonderful to share?



By: Melanie Moore, Only a Breathe





   
For when everything is different
Emily Freeman


We walk in the back door from the carport and the kids rush ahead to the tree, eyes round and ready. I can't help it, but I notice the envelope sticking out from one of the top branches. I wonder how late he stayed up this year to hide the clues. He's a sing-song poet and his simple lyrics and rhythms get good laughs every year.



He always wears the same button-down red sweater at Christmas and passes out Santa hats to the kids. That sweater clashes with the burgundy chair in the corner where he sits with a big pair of scissors on his knee. He knows scissors are important for those plastic ties in the toys and he takes great delight in being the gatekeeper to fun.

Last year when my sister-in-law got engaged, I told him he should write a poem about that, now that we're having another addition to the family. He semi-ignored me, smiled a little. But sure enough, days later on Christmas, there is was. We read it out loud and marveled how he found a way to use the word leggy.

That was the last poem he wrote that I know of. This will be our first Christmas without him.

We're not sure how to do this thing called grief, especially at this time of year. How do you hold the memories without falling apart? For a girl who likes to do things right, this whole thing feels wrong. We can't detour around this brokenness. The only way out is to walk right through. It's a tunnel we've been traveling since his cancer diagnoses, but during the holidays the tunnel can feel especially dark. I watch my husband and his siblings enter into this season without their dad, my kids without their grandfather. My son asked just this morning Will Duke ever come back? I tried to stay upbeat when I said No baby, he won't.

Christmas this year will be different. We'll be searching for normal under piles of paper but I know normal doesn't show up that way. It will be years to find a new one and we'll look back on the years he was with us and say it felt like a lifetime ago.

Every year Emmanuel means something different. Life peels back more layers and we're left standing raw until they heal. But God coming down to this gritty, dusty, land of the dying makes every difference in our hope for living. He is with us. He is in us. He is here.

How will Christmas be different for you this year?

[Judy Harder]

Making Christmas Special: Why I Gave Up
Dec 23, 2011 Stephanie Bryant


Making Christmas special.

Why do I think it's my responsibility?  You know.. . to make Christmas special.

Why do I think if my house has lights, handmade gifts and my cookies are the first to vanish at the neighborhood party that my Christmas celebrations will be more meaningful?

Why does Christmas seem to become more empty some years, especially as I get older?

Why do I think that Christmas will be more special when I have children?

Why does 'special' seem out of grasp? Or such a huge and daunting task that I put on my Christmas list so long ago?

Somewhere along the way I bought into the idea that it's my responsibility to cook food that looks like a magazine cover, select the perfect gifts, know how to make fluffy bows, hand make everything, and keep the true meaning of Christmas in everyone's heart.

{These are the questions I've been asking myself as my fake Christmas tree sits naked in my living room awaiting my decorations.}

I've also been thinking a lot about rest. So, if I'm going to rest in Jesus, then I have to turn everything over to Him, including making Christmas special.

So, this year, I'm doing something really crazy and handcrafting a prayer, asking God to make Christmas special. I give up on trying to make Christmas special —- in my own power.

I want Him to make this year different, better, more meaningful and yes, special for me, for you.

by Stephanie Bryant, co-founder of (in)courage and now Creative Mastermind at S. Bryant Social Marketing.


What an Amazing Miracle Jennifer Moore


Jennifer Moore is the Senior Product Manager for DaySpring Cards and led the development for the new Love Came Down Collection from DaySpring. She's sharing with us the inspiration behind the new line.

Jennifer has been with DaySpring almost 8 years and has been married to Chris for 11 years (they've known each other since they were 9!). Jennifer and Chris have an amazingly adorable two year old daughter named Isabelle Cherie (also known as Bella). They love to travel and are involved in their local church working with the youth ministry and leading a home fellowship group.



In the chaos of this busy season, it's so very easy for us to forget what an amazing miracle took place over 2000 years ago. I know, we hear daily "don't forget the reason for the season" and all work very hard to be intentional about remembering why we celebrate, but do we ever really step back and just be AMAZED by what it is we're actually celebrating in the midst of all the doing–shopping, baking, wrapping, and decorating?

Think about it. LOVE came down in the form of a sweet, helpless baby. LOVE. That word seems to be getting a lot of buzz these days, as it should. But what I'm talking about is a physical manifestation of the greatest love of all time.



Our Creator–the Alpha and Omega, the One who is omnipresent–humbled himself to human form and came as a tiny baby into simple surroundings. On that night in a stable LOVE truly came down from above to grant us grace and peace that passes all understanding.

This crazy, amazing, wonderful gift of love is what inspired our team to develop DaySpring's latest Christmas line. As we spent time praying together and brainstorming ideas for what is our most important product development season, the idea that what we celebrate at Christmas is really what we celebrate throughout the year kept coming up over and over.

Gifts like grace, peace and love only BEGAN in that stable when Jesus was born. This isn't an event– it's a process.

We are currently living the story. And it truly is a story of love. We are told specifically to love.



We got so excited about the idea of developing a Christmas line that could carry over into Valentine's Day and beyond. As we began talking about what this would look like, the level of excitement increased with each idea. Hospitality, giving, fellowship and loving on friends and family, yes, this is what Christmas is all about, but, think about it, it's what CHRIST is all about!

This is what we're called to do each day! Once we knew we had the right theme, we had to decide what that looked like tangibly. This is always the toughest part of what we do each day—how do we translate an exciting, amazing message (God's love) into products that will communicate that story. We started by focusing on hospitality.  We wanted items that could be both functional and yet elegant. Something that you would want to keep for years to come and would be a continual reminder of God's love and His amazing gift of Jesus.

And this was how Love Came Down was created. Finding the right message that spoke to our hearts and then working to create products that communicated that message on quality products. My favorite items in the line are the Desktop Advent Calendar and coordinating Felt Advent Countdown. Using these two items together, my family can talk about Christ's love each day and my 2 year old daughter can move the heart from pocket to pocket signifying the anticipation we have for baby Jesus' arrival. Hopefully you will find your favorite pieces in this collection, too.



This Christmas season, I pray that you will experience the most amazing LOVE—Jesus Christ. My amazing family, my team of talented coworkers, and you friends here at DaySpring wish you a very Merry Christmas and a year full of LOVE.

[Judy Harder]

What He Really Wants You to Remember this Christmas
Dec 23, 2011 05:28 am | Ann Voskamp


She hands me this two-inch Christmas tree.

A Christmas tree made of salt-dough, painted and varnished.

She gives it to me right at the beginning, right when we meet.



The boughs of the tree in my palm, they are dough, cut and bent — these wee branches extended straight out. I don't know how long it would take to make a tree like that.

Lidia's mother, she's telling me they've waited 3 years for a sponsor for Lidia. Lidia's laying these Christmas ornaments right in my hand, one at a time.

It's the first week of November.

It's Ecuador and it's hot.

I'm not thinking about Christmas.

"Lidia, she went all the way to the market for these." Her mother tells us this in Spanish, pointing to the dough ornaments.

The mother tries to catch my eyes. She waits.

She waits until I am waiting on her next word — so she can frame just this:

"She bought these for you with her own money."

And with one line, the dough ornaments in my hand, they feel like gold. Like an incalculable sacrifice.

She's waited three years for a sponsor? And she's taken what money she has and bought me a two-inch Christmas tree? I scan Lidia's face, trying to understand.

"I just don't want you to forget." It's her first sentence to me. She says it in a whisper. Shy. I try to hold her gaze,

She looks away, looks down, down to the tree, fingering the branches of the tree.

"I just wanted you to remember me."

Oh, Child.

I reach out and touch her cheek and say yes.

Yes, I will remember you.



I would fly away from her.

I would fly home in November and it would snow a bit in December and it would get cold.

We would decorate a tree in the living room.

We would hang her picture off a branch. I would set out her salt-dough ornaments. I would remember her smile and how she looked down.

We would read the stories in the Old Testament of the promise of His Coming and we'd walk through a living nativity, go to a re-enacted Bethlehem.

We would kneel at the manger.
I would kneel there and wonder at this God.

This God who shows up in the stench of a barn. If God avoided red carpets and opted instead to enter the black stable, is there anywhere the hallowed presence of God won't appear?

If the blinding holiness of God breaks into this world with the cry of a child wrapped in filthy cloths, lying in a dung heap — then couldn't God reveal Himself anywhere?

If we can't ever fly from God, if God could show up anywhere— then when it's exactly most unlikely for Him to come to us — it is most like Him to come to us right then.

I would kneel at the manger and it'd be so clear, right there in that scandalously helpless babe: God steps before us — in ways we can step away from Him.

It's possible: You can abandon a baby on some backstreet behind a mall, Christmas shoppers passing by oblivious. You can nail God up to some tree. You can inadvertently turn your back on the beggar and the holy and God right before you while you decorate with the ivy and the holly and I know.

And I'd finger along it on the wooden grain of a manger trough— The God who needs nothing, came needy. The God who came to give us mercy, was at our mercy. And He who entered into our world, He let's us say it in a thousand ways– that there is no room at the inn.

God steps before us in the need we can neglect.

He steps before us in the desperate child waiting for a hand, in the misfit down the street we don't have to invite to dinner, in the relative that's but a dressed up broken beggar sitting at the end of the table.

God steps in front of us not so much in the lovely — but in the unlikely.

I would be kneeling there at the manger, thinking of our God curled like a pod between trough planks, our God who paid with Himself, incalculable sacrifice, to lay down on the bark of a tree just to pull us close.

And I would remember Lidia standing there offering her tree.



When we'd walk out of the living nativity, walk away from the baby lying there, walk across the parking lot looking for our vehicle to drive home to our warmth and the music playing low and the lights of our tree, it'd almost be this moan on the wind:

I just wanted you to remember me....

When I was hungry — did you remember Me?

When I was hollowed out and emptied out and worn right out — did you remember Me?

When I was thirsty for water, parched for fresh grace, bone dry for the real Body of Christ — did you remember Me?

Oh Child.

Oh, Christ Child.

I'd go home from the manger to our tree, the scent of God still on us.

Our daughter, Hope, she had picked out Lidia.

It's Hope's letters and cards we carried to Lidia that hot meeting day. It's Hope's ornament that hangs on our tree beside Lidia's  shy smile.

I'd finger along those letters.



And it's there too on the tree—

The  salt dough angel Lidia had handed me, wings reaching out for a star.

Reaching for that shimmering ornament strung up in the night sky over Bethlehem.

That star over a manger, over an unlovely mess and an unlikely Messiah ...



I'd reach it out and touch that ornament. 

Yes, we will remember You.

In any of the thousand faces and ways You come.

Us all standing on this spinning orb before the manger, before these trees —

all our limbs and light and love reaching straight out.

::

:::
~ Ann Voskamp


Q4U: How has God met you in the unlikely this Christmas?

How are you 'parched for fresh grace, bone-dry for the real Body of Christ'? How can we remember you today in prayer?

How are you reaching out and remembering Christ in the least of these this Christmas?



How Joy Comes To Your World
Dec 23, 2011  | Kari




About a month ago we sold our dream house and down-sized into a rental. We lost a lot of money, I guess you'd say.

We lost about 1,000 square feet. Lost that big soak tub. Lost my walk-in closet. Lost our garage. Lost our double-sinks. I guess we lost the tax deduction for mortgage interest too.  Now that I think about it, I guess we lost a lot.

Maybe that's why I feel so much lighter. Why I feel so free.

What happened? some asked. Lose your job? Unforeseen financial challenges?

Nope. Nothing's changed except our hearts. We read a little story about a Kingdom:

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

Discovering hidden treasure makes us so excited we do crazy things.

We find crazy joy.

Because that's what we've found in the midst of all this loss. Found this crazy joy of kicking the American dream to the curb and racing back to that field to dig down and unearth that treasure. The Kingdom of God. And while of course we're not once-and-for-all cured of consumerism it sure feels good to give it a good blow to the gut and send it reeling for awhile while we rejoice at all this treasure we've found. This blessing of giving away.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

No shoulds or oughts in that statement, just a fact, a promise, a law in place and it whispers to us: This is where to find joy.

Does everyone need to sell their house? Certainly not.

But there is a treasure and there is a joy awaiting us any time we "sell" our earthly pursuits so we can "buy" eternal pursuits. Little choices, every single day. Every day we have a hundred opportunities to say yes to heaven. To heap up treasures there. To believe, really believe, that our citizenship is not here.

That today is not our glory day.

But today is a glorious day filled with a thousand opportunities for good. For blessing. For joy. There are millions of beautiful people waiting to hear the Good News. There are millions of children waiting to be sponsored. There are a million chances wherever we are now to give for the glory of God.

Joy came to the world through a gift of grace. It continues to come to the world through our gifts of grace. That gift can be a smile or a check, a warm bowl of soup or a cold glass of water.

So many blessed opportunities. Pray through them. Pick one. (Or ten!) And go for it. Then brace yourself because joy will come to your world.

–

Your turn! What has been a joy-filled giving experience (giving or receiving) that's touched your life? Please share with the rest of us — cheerful generosity is contagious and we want to catch the joy! Thanks for reading ...

By Kari Patterson, Sacred Mundane

[Judy Harder]

Shine for Jesus
Dec 26, 2011   Tricia Hodges


As I drop each of my younger children at the Sunday school door, I pat a shoulder and whisper, "Shine for Jesus," in that little ear. See, it's a habit we parents adopted a long while ago. Because being positive is so very powerful. Rather than saying, "don't do... or remember to..."

The focus is positively on Jesus. Because, first and foremost, as His followers, we represent Him when we go out in the world. By our actions, our kindness, our choices, our love. There's no need to really give any other instruction, is there?

"This little light of mine...I'm gonna let it shine..."

Aren't we all naturally drawn to the positive? The encouraging? Don't we feel courageous when we know Who is for us and that He triumphs over those against us?

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

My older children – they are leaving for church youth group and extracurricular events, times with friends. "Shine for Jesus," I still say.

But, this simple positive? It works for us adults too. Three powerful little words. We too can shine for Jesus.

Shine as stars in the world. Phil. 2:15

~By Tricia at Hodgepodge



Established. Deeply Rooted. Upheld.

I have always been fascinated with the Joshua Tree, not only because of its biblical name and symbolism but also because of its root system. This tree has a top-heavy branch system, but also has what has been described as a "deep and extensive" root system, with roots possibly reaching up to 36 ft away.

That is massive.

It is also an awesome visual of how Christ loves us. Deep and Extensive. He establishes us through every trial we face. He holds us up through those trials and roots us deeply in His strength.

He is my foundation, my "dirt and clay". It is up to me how deep I want my roots to grow. It is up to me how far I want them to reach. It is up to me how tight I want to hold onto His promises.

Because He is holding onto me for dear life.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." -Ephesians 3:16-18

He has already provided all of the fertile soil I need.

He has already provided all of the strength I need.

He has already provided all of the courage I need.

He has already provided all of the resources I need to face whatever earthquakes this life has to throw at me.

All I have to do is root myself in His faithfulness, bloom where I have been planted and know that HE IS NOT SHAKEN..

[Judy Harder]

A Sunday Scripture and Blessed Christmas to You
Dec 25, 2011  incourage




Today in the town of David

a Savior has been born to you;
he is the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2:11-12.



Savoring The Nativity – A Time For Pause
Dec 25, 2011  Kathy Cheek




Curled up in my favorite comfortable armchair and carefully sipping a cup of hot spiced tea, listening to carols on my favorite Christmas CD in the glow of the Christmas tree lights, is the way I most enjoy the season of Jesus Christ's birth.

In the glow of those sparkling tree lights is the Nativity that sits on our hearth, that small and cherished visual of the Christmas story which has graced our home for over twenty five years. Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus are surrounded by animals, shepherds, wise men, and angels.

Above the hearth hang the stockings for our family. All our names are monogrammed in a stylish script on these beautiful stockings that invite us to fill them with goodies by Christmas morning.

Traditions are a treasured part of our Christmas celebrations each year. The cookies we bake, the candy we make, the cards we send, the gifts we buy, the Christmas Eve service we attend, and the family gatherings and parties we go to are the activities we participate in to enjoy and observe this special time of year. Much time is spent furiously rushing from one Christmas activity to another – between school, work, church, and home.

Somewhere in the mix of all these obligations and activities, we find our schedules growing fuller and our days busier and busier. Next thing we know, each Christmas season becomes a time of stress and overwhelming busyness and we can feel like we are on a fast, spinning merry-go-round that won't slow down.

If we are going to savor and reflect on the meaning of Christmas as we should, we must slow down.  We will enjoy our celebration of Christmas more when we find a balance between activity and Nativity. I have learned that I cannot be involved in every program, activity, and every party, and must make choices to limit the busyness by only selecting certain ones.

The Christmas season becomes the most difficult time to be still.  In my own experience, if I don't intentionally make myself take the time to slow down and be still, Christmas will pass by in a flurry of activity, and not enough Nativity.

Will I take the time to pause and with awe remember this miracle of Christ's birth?  Will I make the time to rejoice in knowing God's plan to come to earth in the person of His only Beloved Son Jesus, was for me...and for you? Will I think about that Holy night in Bethlehem while I sit in my comfortable chair sipping tea and listening to carols in the glow of the Christmas tree lights?  Will I open my Bible again to Luke 2 and read how a Savior was born?

If I want there to be more Nativity than activity, I will pause...

How do you pause and intentionally savor this joyous season of our Savior's birth?

Luke 2:11-12

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

By Kathy Cheek @ In Quiet Places

[Judy Harder]

On Friendship
Dec 28, 2011

The Nester




Our closest couple friends just drove away from our house.  For the last time.



Greg and Caroline have only been here two years and are already moving states away.  Lucky for me we have the internet. But, Caroline left me with much more than funny memories of battery operated toothbrushes for a science fair and plans to hang out with our husbands at the cottage.  Caroline, my introverted friend taught me how to be intentional about friendship.

I thought about it the other day and it's kind of embarrassing but about 90% of my friends here in town came about somehow from knowing both Caroline and Greg. These two are like epoxy for people.  You can read more about how Greg thinks about friends here it's worth the click.  But right now I want to tell you about a few things I learned from Caroline...also known as::

Lessons I learned about friendship from a fellow introvert.



Within weeks of moving here Caroline sent an email out to all of the women who were student leaders {her husband was the new student pastor at our church} and all of the wives of the men who were student leaders {that would be me}.  I remember thinking "Wow, what a go-getter, proactive, thing to do, I bet this girl is a major extrovert, she's gonna think I'm weird and quiet." Much to my surprise, Caroline turned out to be a mellow, laid back, use-her-words-sparingly-and-wisely kind of person.  I was instantly drawn to her because she didn't try to pretend she had a big personality, she was perfectly comfortable with who she was.

As time passed she initiated more get togethers.  She sent out emails to the group about dinner and movies, hay rides and a cookie exchange. I assumed she must love planning things and going to get togethers–I'm always amazed that people like that exist.  Which brings me to my first lesson in friend making.



If you want friends you have to spend time with people you don't know, in order to get to know them so that they can be your friends.


I know what you are thinking–that's obvious.  It is obvious.  But it's really hard to do for some of us.  Ok, for me.

Just the other day I found out how much Caroline dreaded going to that cookie exchange–the one she planned– two years ago. I remember dreading going too.  But I went and I was glad I did. However, I was shocked and also oddly thrilled to find out that the planner of the event was dreading it as well.  I've always assumed that the people who plan stuff like cookie exchanges are all hopped up on how fun it is to be surrounded by a group of women that don't necessarily know each other that well.  Hmmm, maybe people put the effort to plan something not because that thing is their idea of fun, but because they know the outcome will be worth it. It was worth it for Caroline to plan something because she knew that the risk and awkwardness would one day pay off with friends.

The fact is for some of us it seems like to risky a chore to initiate but, I'm learning that if I want friends, it's worth the risk.




I noticed one other thing about Caroline that I thought I'd share::

Say yes

Caroline said "yes" to pretty much everything I asked her to do with me.  Dinner? Sure. I'm having a Blessings Unlimited Gathering at my house want to come? Yep. Wanna go to I heart Thirfting Day with me? and by the way we are all gonna wear this same T-shirt?  Sure. Wanna go to the pool with our kids? Ok. How about we both go to the Relevant Conference and we have to take a plane which we both hate? M'kay.  Want to go to the cottage for the weekend with us right after you were gone away from your four children the weekend before?  We're in.



Caroline reminded me that sometimes all it takes to make time for friends is to say Yes.  I never say yes to something I really don't want to do but, I won't say "no" just because it's uncomfortable for me.  Especially if I'm in a season of needing to make friends.

Even though I'm an introvert, I still love people, I just hate the small talk it can sometimes take that leads to the big talk that leads to real friendship.  I'm really grateful to Caroline for showing me how to be true to my introverted self while making friends.

***

For this year one of my goals is to set up some "automatic ways" to put myself in friendship building situations, I'll be glad to tell you more than you want to know about that in my next post here at (in)courage.  What about you? Am I the only sorry person who makes friendship goals?