Is Jesus the Reason for the Season?

Below is a piece that I wrote for Christmas last year and I'll admit that the cohesiveness isn't all there but I thought I would share it anyway.

Shoppers rush to and fro with bags, screaming children, tired feet and aching backs and they wonder "Why am I doing all this?" My thoughts exactly, why? Does shopping like a maniac and tearing through the mall have any real meaning behind Christmas? The honest truth is no. Christ is the greatest gift of all and if you think that buying gifts for everyone from great Uncle Charlie to second Cousin Sue is helping you remember Christ then I think we may need to chat. Frankly, we don't even know why we give gifts but we're doing it because it is tradition and many never questions tradition. Jesus isn't the reason many people are giving gifts and to be truthful we give because we think we should. Cut back on the gifts, I would rather get one gift that I'll remember forever than getting a pair of orange toe nail clippers just so that so and so could say that did their duty and bought me a gift.

Santa Clause has become the season's god and he does everything that Jesus could do. Santa flies, knows whether you're good or bad, knows what you want, knows where you live, can talk to animals and can deliver gifts to every house in the world within on night which means he does that in mili-seconds because it's virtually impossible otherwise. How many children believe in Santa apposed to those who believe in Jesus Christ? The thing is, Jesus is the only person who can do all the things that Santa allegedly does. To many children today, Jesus truly isn't the reason for their celebration. Maybe it's time we began telling children more about Jesus and less about Santa.

At many stores if you asked where the Nativity scenes were they guy would stare at you and say "Oh, if we got 'em there probably in the back but we do have Santa lawn decorations right here." I think Christ is in the back of the store and many people's hearts and we've pushed him out of his holiday. My suggestion would be to those of us who celebrate Christmas as a holiday to celebrate Christ birth, remember that the gifts, the lights, and the decorations really aren't the reason for the holiday but Jesus should be. The Nativity scene is is in the back of the store, next to a box of recalled Christmas tree lights, would you care to bring it to the front?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

It's time to pack up the pies and hit the road in route to Thanksgiving dinner! I hope and pray that each one of you will pause to thank the Lord for another year and for his bountiful bestowing of blessings apon us. Enjoy your day and praise the Lord!

"O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!"
~William Shakespeare

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Passion for the impossible

I like to dream big and if I weren't a little to embarrassed to share my dreams, I'd spill them all. These aren't the kind of rosy, flowery, and lovely dreams that every girl dreams for her future; these are the dreams to do something big. The dreams where you do great things for Jesus Christ and you here him say, "well done thou good and faithful servant." But often, these hopes and desires seem impossible, like I am just one and one is nothing to a world of so many.


"God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible."
-William Booth

Does your heart burn with a passion for the impossible? Mine does. Before we begin thinking to highly of ourselves for longing to do hard things for God, let's take a moment to make sure our humbleness is in balance with our passion. I know that I can never do anything great until I am greatly humble. My hopes, my dreams, my passions: they are nothing if I am prideful of them and only want to accomplish them for my own merit.


Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
-James 4:10

After we completely humble ourselves, it is then that God can lift us up if he chooses. It is then, and only then, that our passion for the impossible is really worth anything to Christ. If the Lord has given you vision, inspiration, and and passion for the impossible; do what others say that you can never do- do the impossible with God.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
-Mark 9:24

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
-Philippians 4:13

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If a post could be scrolled a sticky note...

...I could probably write this one on a single sheet.=) I wanted to blog this so you might now about the Radiant Daughters blog. The website is lovely, the newsletter's are well put together, and I had the amazing opportunity to contribute to the soon-to-be-coming November/December newsletter. You can go to the Radiant Daughters site to view passed newsletter and you can click here to subscribe to the newsletters. That's it, and you can forget the fitting this whole post on one sticky note, it might have taken two.=^)



And a Thanksgiving quote (I hope to share one each day until Thanksgiving.)

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
~H.U. Westermayer

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Thanksgiving: why it's important

The Pilgrims came to America not to accumulate riches but to worship God, and the greatest wealth they left unborn generations was their heroic example of sacrifice that their souls might be free.


It's that time of year again, the turkey's will soon be in the oven, the family and friends will gather, and we'll indulge our taste buds in scrumptious delights. It's Thanksgiving, and we've sub- consciously forgotten why we even have a holiday. For those of us who live in America, we celebrate in remembrance of the Pilgrims who weather many a storm and many hardship so that they might freely worship God. These days, Thanksgiving seems to be a mere holiday in which we pull up a chair to the table and enjoy a meal. For the Pilgrims, it was much more than that. They recognized that the only reason they had survived and had food to partake of was because of the blessing of their Creator. Their gratitude was deep because they had endured so much so that they and future generations might worship the Lord freely. In America, Thanksgiving should be important because of what took place on that first holiday in this country. Next week, before you enjoy all the fellowship with family and friends, pause a moment to think about your religious freedom and thank God for the sacrifice of those who first paved the way for this freedom in our land.

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Favorite Blog Award...wow!

Don't you like the "Favorite Blog Award" picture? I thought it was really pretty and appreciate Taylor's tagging me with it. You can click on Taylor's name to go to her blog entitled Proverbs 31 in Training. All right, to the business at hand. I am supposed to answer the 10 random questions so without further ado, here we go!

1. Have you ever ridden an elephant?
No
2. Have you ever eaten squid?
I don't think so unless I would have sometime when I was at and Asian or Chinese restaurant.
3. What's the craziest thing you've ever done with your best friends?
Hmm...probably walked around outside with pointed parasols while a electric storm was rolling in.
4. Have you ever held an alligator?
Nope, I don't like reptiles
5. Have you ever let a snake slither through your finger?
My response to any snake: EWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!GET AWAY FROM ME RIGHT NOW!!
6. What's your first and foremost dream in life?
To live a life sold out to God. To graduate from college, get married if God wants, and have some children or adopt children.
7. What's your dream vacation?
Hard to choose just one. Probably going on a cruise to the Bahamas, complete with a personal chef and and a spa.=)
8. What's the most funny movie you've ever seen?
Hands down it has to be Mr. Beans Holiday.
9. What's your favorite song?
The Power of the Cross
10. If you could change the world in one way, what would you do?
Everyone would be a Christian and legal forms of immorality (ie. abortion, gay marriage etc.) would be totally banned.

Next I need to tag five people who have some of my favorite blogs. Oh, sorry I could tag all of you!

Abigail from Authentic Beauty for her fun and helpful blog for Christian teens and young ladies.
The sisters from the Sisters of Grace blog. They portray what life is like for sisters!=)
Charity Klicka from Teen Girls for Christ. She has great blogs which are interesting to read and thoughtful renderings.
Natalie from Natalie's Journal for her always interesting, and filled with pictures, blog.
Sarah H. from the Destiny of One blog. Sarah share some devotional type post, tags, and also post writing tips.

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I wrote a post...

Thanks to Charity Klicka for asking me to do a post for her blog Teen Girls for Christ. I am thankful for the opportunity and enjoyed writing.=) If my blog readers would like to browse on over to the blog, you can read my post. I know that we all have been through physically and spiritually painful times in our lives and I hope that you might be encouraged in some small way through what God laid on my heart to write.

Oh, the title of the post is "To Be Broken and To Heal."

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What the world needs

There are endless suggestions as to what we all could do to make this world a better place and while many of these ideas are good, the greatest need the world has is one Person. The world needs Jesus Christ. I came to the realization that we can do our charitable deeds, stand in front of the Capitol and wave our signs in opposition to laws, we can be good citizens, and defend our faith but the affect will not be there unless we are willing to win a lost world to Christ. As we hear of things that are so displeasing to God and we hear of wicked tragedies, it is imperative that we understand that people in darkness will do those acts. Grasping the truth that so many individuals are without salvation is, I believe; vital to the revival of a city, country, and world. We need to start witnessing more and worrying less. All the protest signs in the world, all the letters to politicians, and all the rallies won't make up for what's really needed. Salvation in Jesus Christ is the answer. If you're a Christian, you can tell the lost about what they need and have a part in impacting the world. The world is dark beacuse it is without the Light, let's share the Light that conquers the darkness.


"A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world-and might be even more difficult to save."

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Chocolate wisdom to impart

It's getting late and I don't have time for a "real" post so here's a fun substitute instead. Enjoy ladies!!!=)

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces."

"Exercise is a dirty word... Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate."

"I don't understand why so many "so called" chocolate lovers complain about the calories in chocolate, when all true chocoholics know that it is a vegetable. It comes from the cocoa bean, beans are veggies, 'nuff said."

"If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated."

"Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done."

The problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.


P.S. Feel free to drop a comment to share your favorite chocolate quote!

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This is home...

Did you just read the title and think that I was going to talk about the song This is Home? I'm not going to, sorry for all of you Narnia soundtrack fans. I read a quote that so impressed itself upon me that I wanted to share a little bit about it.

"I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."
-Count Zinzindorf

For myself, I have been incredibly blessed to call the United States of America "home" and while this country is my "home" it isn't my eternal one. If America isn't my eternal home, is it the place for me that would best fit Count Zinzindorf's description of his home? I'm not really sure, sometimes I wonder. For many years I have though that God may be calling me to the foreign mission field but I am not quite certain about that. Can I win souls for Christ in America? Yes, but is it where my main focus of soul winning should be? Right now, those questions remain without an answer in my life, but what about in your life? Can we each examine our hearts to see if we are impacting souls for Christ in the country in which we live? To be honest with myself and others, I must say that I am not as an affective witness as I should be. I desire to show others the way of salvation through Christ and to show them an eternal home. Oh that God would give us the passion that the quote speaks about- a fire that we cannot ignore. A zeal for winning our fellow countrymen to Jesus Christ! Some of us Christ may have called to Africa, Finland, Brazil, or America; but to every one of his children he as in trusted with the charge to win the world for him. For now, America is my home and my mission field. Find yours.

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