Making the Most of Every Opportunity

This morning God took me to Habakkuk and i was encouraged as I watched him ask God... How long will wicked prosper? and God answers! Of course, He says He'll use even worse wickedness to destroy them (not the comforting part). Then Habakkuk asks why God would use "really" bad people to destroy the "kinda bad" people... And God answers again! Praise God He is not silent to the "why?" questions we ask! God answers by saying,  "The righteous shall live by faith. " Today, that made perfect sense to me. We  can't understand His ways because we aren't Him... so joy comes by trusting that He does know and understand ALL that He is doing! We live and hope by faith in our loving and compassionate God in times that seem contrary trusting as we cling to Him that these times show that we believe and that HE is indeed our Supreme treasure! I thought of friends who have just gone through HARD times and some about to face them. In my own family...

Do you ever follow the links people post on their blogs? I did this week (thanks Justin Taylor!) and I read a really cool sermon series by John Stott that drew out 2 Timothy in new ways to me. He shows each Chapter as a call to the gospel.  A call to:  1) Guard the Gospel (Ch. 1) 2) Suffer for the gospel (Ch. 2) 3) Continue in the gospel (Ch. 3) 4) Preach the gospel (Ch. 4) Here's one glimpse that stood out to me from his 4th sermon: "the Bible is the handbook of salvation; it is simply full of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament foretold and foreshadowed him. The Gospels told the story of his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The book of Acts described how Christ through his apostles continued to work to preach the gospel of salvation and to found the church. The Epistles displayed the full glory of the divine-human person of Jesus and of his saving work. The book of Revelation portrayed Christ sharing the throne of God and promised us his final vict...

I read a blog by  Matt B. Redmond   that, at first, seemed insensitive, but as I read further it really moved me. When we weep and mourn and struggle at Christmas, it can lead to a truer worship. In our lack, we see our need and can look to Jesus alone for our joy. Praise God He did not leave us in our sin and suffering but came to suffer and die Himself to save us. JOY is possible in our suffering this season and maybe even more real in our hearts because of it. "Christmas—the great story of the incarnation of the Rescuer—is for everyone, especially those who need a rescue. Jesus was born as a baby to know the pain and sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus was made to be like us so that in his resurrection we can be made like him; free from the fear of death and the pain of loss. Jesus’ first recorded worshipers were not of the beautiful class. They were poor, ugly shepherds, beat down by life and labor. They had been looked down on over many a nose. -Jesus came for those w...

I hope you've caught on through these posts that we LOVE the Christmas season and love having fun celebrating in tons of different ways throughout it. By now, if you’ve read along this series, you’ve probably noticed that Santa hasn’t been mentioned in any of our traditions.  A few people have asked me to blog about it. I've been hesitant. I am young(ish). I've only been a Mom 5 years. I'm pretty confident that I have a lot to learn and I'm not an expert. I certainly do not want to assume that I know what is right or good for other families (and keeping Romans 14 in mind as I type) and so I hesitate. But mainly, I do NOT want to take the focus off of celebrating Christ and His incredible love and grace in this blog series.  And yet, I believe those that asked genuinely want to know what we teach and why. Some of you are prayerfully considering how to celebrate Christmas. And I am seeing that blogging means sharing (in humility) what God has lead us to in this ...

I just read a really helpful blog for many of us who want to share Jesus as we come together with our extended families and friends this Christmas. It's a blog on CJ Mahaney's website called "Home For the Holidays " sharing tips from Charles Spurgeon (a pastor in the 1800s!) that applies so well today. He taught from the the passage in Mark 5:1-20 where Jesus exhorts him to  “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (v. 19) Some quick tips he expands on: Christmas is suited for sharing the gospel with family and friends. Aim to share the story of God’s grace in your life. By sharing we edify believers. By sharing we reach lost friends and family. Be alert for one-on-one opportunities to share your story. Don’t expect this sharing to be easy. Overcome this fear by sharing to honor your Savior. Share your story with gratitude to God. Share your story with humility. Share your story truthf...

In my last post, we left off Christmas Eve after reading Luke 2 from Daddy’s Bible and filling out paper ornaments that shared what we love about Jesus.  When we wake up Christmas morning, the first thing we do is our stocking hunt: -Jimmy hunts through the upstairs of our house for small "stocking stuffers" that are wrapped. Each has one of the ornaments we filled out the night before in it. We read it in praise to God for Jesus. We raise our hands and say "Praise the Lord that Jesus always obeyed the Father" or "Praise the Lord that Jesus is God!" -Once the hunt is over, we slow down and Andy prays thanking God for sending Jesus. I need this small moment the most, because it redirects my heart away from "tradition" and back to the precious gift of Jesus, "The Lord Saves".  Then, we RACE downstairs to "hang" the ornaments on our paper tree and see how the house looks (remember, we decorated while the kids slept) all decorat...

Here's something we enjoyed as a family today: a video of the Christmas story out of the Jesus Storybook Bible http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTSJsi7ymcc&feature=player_embedded HT:   Doug Wolter , via   Justin Taylor

Keeping Christ Central the Whole Season: Christmas Eve We really get excited thinking about Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is a great time to redirect our excitement from all the things we will get (ouch!) back to the real gift- God with us, Jesus taking on flesh to save us from our sin. One annual “must” for us is to celebrate with our church family at the children's service. There is something so special about setting apart certain times annually to gather together in special celebration of Jesus and Christmas Eve always has that feel. My favorite part has always been singing "Silent Night" in candlelight. I get tears just thinking of all of us singing "Christ the Savior is bo-orn." He IS born! Immanuel- "God with us" came from heaven to us. Beautiful. One funny memory for us will always be that Jimmy was a donkey in the play last year and continually turned around backwards to stare at himself on the big screen. Ha! Once we’re home, we continue th...

How can we teach"earning vs. receiving" theology? One way we like to bring it into our conversation with our children is during the times of gift giving (birthday, Christmas, and Easter morning especially) We don't want our kids to think they can earn or lose good gifts. Gifts are given out of love, not earned. (In the same way, we know that obedience only comes out of love. When our kids know Christ, they will want to obey, not the reverse.) We show (and explain) that "unearned free gift" teaching in all our gift-giving with the ultimate hope that our kids will see that though they don't deserve God's love,  God gives that undeserved love and forgiveness freely through Jesus to all who call upon Him to be saved.  "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" - Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eter...

“…we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”-2 Corinthians 4:8 I'm sharing a lot of the things we do and traditions we keep as I post. I just wanted to step back and remember that though we "do" a lot, it is never meant to be about the tradition itself (though I've failed here before). We places these traditions in our home to redirect our hearts away from ourselves and towards Jesus. Please know that it is my heart daily, in ALL I do to seek Christ and treasure Him. But I just don’t do it. I want to, but I seek for myself instead and wander. I’m thankful that He does not ever leave me there though. He graciously draws me to Himself even in the midst of my endless rebellion. We placed traditions in our family for fun, but mainly to remind us of Christ’s saving work on the cross . I love traditions and there are many of my family traditions growing...

My last post was long, so here’s a short one:  Here's the advent calendar I want (cute drawers to fill with candy, presents, and scripture) once we can afford it: But for now, we have this homemade felt tree and will be using it as we read through Scripture to encourage us to remain excited as we come closer to the celebration of Christ's birth! We also bought a chocolate filled one for fun to go with it (yum!).  Though Andy grew up celebrating Christ's coming through the  Advent  season, this is my first advent experience, so I’ll let you know how we like it.  As a couple, each morning we're reading from  Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas , by Nancy Guthrie, a compilation of old and new theologians to stay our minds on Christ. What an incredible season of hope. So excited to fix our eyes on Jesus throughout Advent!  In my next post will share about our Christmas Eve traditions. We LOVE Ch...