Wishing You a Merry Christmas

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he
will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be?" Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

Luke 1:26-37

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:4-7


And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger...."

...So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2:8-12, 16-20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas is a time for celebration and for remembering. I'm so glad that God was merciful to us and sent his son Jesus to such a dark and dying world, that we could have life! The same God mentioned in the Scripture above is the same God we serve today. He still works miracles and nothing is at all impossible for Him! This Christmas (and all year long!) let us remember how blessed we are and take time to thank God for sending us the ultimate gift--Jesus Christ. Without him, we would be lost and without hope... But because he humbled himself by coming to this earth and dying as a ransom for our sins, we now share the greatest Hope! Praise God! I pray you all have a wonderful Christmas. :)

Merry Christmas & God Bless You!

All pictures from our church's Christmas drama 2007

Blessings A*p*ound?!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

Ephesians 1:3

Last Sunday while we were at home we heard a loud knock on our front door. Mom went to answer it and the man standing there said something like, "Hello ma'am, my name is pastor " " from " " church. (Names not given for the purpose of anonymity.) We heard about your family and we're hear to give you a pounding!" ...Okay, so that is honestly the first time I ever heard of such a thing! lol But I quickly found out the meaning of it! :) Two children started bringing sacks and sacks of groceries into our house... The bags just kept coming and coming until our entire kitchen table was full! Mom even took a couple of pictures because we were all blown away at how much they brought!

I was overwhelmed by all the food that I decided I had to pull everything out of our pantry, clean it top to bottom, and the put everything back into it neatly... along with all of the new groceries we just received. It took me two hours to get it all done! Yes, that's a long time, but I was really pleased with the result! :)

Oh, and do you remember a tag I did pretty recently that asked for three of my favorite drinks? I listed "Water, hot chocolate, and Dr. Pepper... if I could have it!" Well, guess what I found while looking through all of the food the church brought us?

Yes! Can you believe it?! lol

My jaw dropped and I just had to get a picture!!

God is just so amazing and it's exciting to see him working through his Church as a whole to provide for one another's needs. ...So maybe Dr. Pepper and hot chocolate aren't really condsidered "needs", but what can I say? With God, blessings just... abound. :)

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

A Beautiful Song

.

~How Deep the Father's Love for Us~

written by Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That he would give his only son

To make a wretch his treasure

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns his face away

As wounds which mar the chosen one

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon the cross

My sin upon his shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything--

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ,

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from his reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart:

His wounds have paid my ransom

"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, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17b-19

Picture taken at our church's Christmas drama 2008

The Blessings of Work

Each year our church has a Christmas program on the life of Christ as an outreach to the community. It is a wonderful ministry and we are always extremely blessed to be a part of it. This year we're having to do things a little bit differently since we don't have quite as many people signed up. The previous years we've done a sort of "drama" with narration, songs, and even a few speaking parts. This year, however, we will be doing more of a walk-through with Scripture signs set up next to each scene and our pastor will be guiding each group through with a bit of preaching, as well! ;) Therefore, we're having to do quite a bit of work getting things prepared for the program! ...December is fast-approaching! (And I really cannot believe it!)

My sister has taken a few pictures from the different work days we've had. I thought I might share a few...

Here I am doing some touch-ups on the signs we used for last year's drama. Obviously, the dates will need to be redone!

This used to be a zebra, actually, but we needed to repaint it to use for a donkey. There are two of them. No one knew how to paint the faces on, and they were all afraid to mess it up! One lady volunteered to do it but by the time she was finished with the first one she was hoping someone else would do the second. I finally volunteered, although, I am definitely no artist!

So I got to painting!

Now he is finished!

(Keep in mind, they will only be seen from a distance, lol!)

Here, the men are putting the brick on the tomb. (The tomb from last year wasn't made with stone and was, unfortunately, torn up by the weather.)

Mortar mix. :)

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17 :)

It is a wonderful thing to be working for the Lord! We are his servants, the sheep of his pasture, and the work that we do is done for his glory. It is his Gospel story and the saving power of Jesus Christ that we want to share with others--starting at the manger, then going to the cross! Our goal is to glorify the Lord in all of our work. We do it as unto him!

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands." Psalm 90:17

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH!