“Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

I wanted to share the lyrics of one of my new favorite songs. It’s an encouragement to me when I’m feeling down, and a reminder of God’s amazing grace!

“Grace”
by Laura Story

My heart is so proud. My mind is so unfocused.
I see the things You do through me as great things I have done.
And now You gently break me, then lovingly You take me
and hold me as my Father and mold me as my Maker.

Chorus:
I ask You: “How many times will You pick me up, when I keep on letting You down?
And each time I will fall short of Your glory, how far will forgiveness abound?”
And You answer: ” My child, I love you.
And as long as you’re seeking My face, you’ll walk in the pow’r of My daily sufficient grace.”

At times I may grow weak and feel a bit discouraged,
knowing that someone, somewhere could do a better job.
For who am I to serve You? I know I don’t deserve You.
And that’s the part that burns in my heart and keeps me hanging on.

Chorus:
I ask you: “How many times will you pick me up, when I keep on letting you down?
And each time I will fall short of Your glory, how far will forgiveness abounds?”
And you answer: ” My child, I love you.
And as long as you’re seeking My face, you’ll walk in the pow’r of My daily sufficient grace.”
You are so patient with me, Lord.

As I walk with You, I’m learning what Your grace really means.
The price that I could never pay was paid at Calvary.
So, instead of trying to repay You, I’m learning to simply obey You
By giving up my life to You for all that You’ve given to me.

Chorus:
I ask you: “How many times will you pick me up, when I keep on letting you down?
And each time I will fall short of Your glory, how far will forgiveness abounds?”
And you answer: ” My child, I love you.
And as long as you’re seeking My face, You’ll walk in the pow’r of My daily sufficient grace.”

Sorry everyone, I’m rushing around and don’t have a whole lot of time to post, but happy new year!  Any new year’s resolutions?  Mine is to finish the Bible and write more of my NaNo novel from last year!

The other day I was watching “Northanger Abbey” when the thought struck me; in the movie the main girl, Cathy, reads a lot of gothic romance novels filled with all sorts of terrible things, and so naturally, that’s where her thoughts go – everywhere she goes she daydreams things that could have come right out of one of the novels. In the end of the movie she realizes how wrong it is for her to read them, and image such things, and burns the novel (in the UK version).
But it just made me think – what am I focusing my thoughts on? When I am daydreaming, what do I daydream about? What books am I reading at night before I go to bed, and in the morning when I wake up?
We need to remember as Christians that we want our thoughts to be focused on God, and godly thoughts. We should be putting reading our Bibles before our just for fun book, and I think that if we read the Bible before we go to bed, and when we wake up in the morning, it will help us to refocus our thoughts on Him.
This doesn’t mean you should never read fun books or watch movies, or anything like that, but just a little reminder to put God FIRST in your thoughts. And if something is distracting you from doing that, consider taking a fast from that item, even for just a short time, until you get back on track.
God bless!

In the past, my family and I have tried to practice “giving” to others….blessing someone each day, in practice of giving to someone WITHOUT seeking praise or thanks for it. How often do you do something for someone and expect a “thank you”? How often do you do something nice to someone in secret so that you don’t receive the thanks?

God has said:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6: 3-4

We shouldn’t be giving to receive thanks or praise…I’ve been thinking about this subject lately, and thought I’d share it with you, readers, on here! It’s hard to give up praise, isn’t it? Because praise is “sweet”, don’t you find? I mean, who DOESN’T like to be praised? I know personally that I prefer to do something nice in the open where it’s noticed…where people can see it and comment on it and praise me! But is that reason WHY I should be doing the “nice” things I do?? Shouldn’t I be giving because I LOVE the people I’m giving to? Or because I want to please God?

Like I said, my family and I have, in the past, practiced giving to others in secret. Exactly how did we do this? Easily! And I’m here to teach you how!

First off, you can get your whole family involved, or you could do it on your own. Either way, you’ll need to write down each of your family member’s names on a scrap of paper. Fold each piece of paper up and put it into a bowl. Mix around. If your whole family is involved, you will each choose a name from the bowl each day. Each of you will silently read the name that is on his/her scrap of paper. Then you will all fold the paper back up and place them all back into the bowl.

Then, you’re goal for the day is to each go and do something nice or encouraging, IN SECRET, for the person who’s name was on your scrap of paper. Don’t get caught doing something nice! Don’t broadcast to the world how nice you’re being! And believe me, it IS fun!

If your family doesn’t want to participate, you can always do it on your own. You will include all your family’s names in the bowl, you’ll simply be the only one to choose a name from the bowl. And just keep choosing a name each morning, until you’ve done something in secret for all your family members. (Don’t be surprised if you get someone twice in a row! Either put his/her name back and choose another, or do something in secret for that person again!)

Need help thinking of “nice” things to do in secret for someone? Here is just a list of things my family and I have done while participating in this exercise:

Washing dishes for someone’s whose turn it is.

Making beds

Vacuuming

General tidying up

A candy tucked under that person’s pillow for them to find.

Laundry folded and put away

Prepare lunch

Dusting

Cleaning someone’s room

Generally, we just tried to do someone’s chores for them in secret, so that later when they would go to do that chore, they’d be surprised to find that it was already done! But it was also fun to buy little gifts and hide them somewhere where our assigned person would find them and be surprised. Don’t restrict yourself to those ideas! Use your imagination and come up with your own ideas! And don’t make this a chore! It really is fun, I promise…put your whole heart into it, let all praise go to God and take pleasure in giving to someone instead of taking!

Happy Birthday to you, dearest HannahBeth!!!! We hope your day is full of EVERYTHING splendid!

May God bless you and keep you in this next year!

*throws confetti*

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.” Isaiah 9:6-7

Luke 2:1-20

¹ And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. ³ So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,^[a] who was with child. ⁶ So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold,^[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”^[c]

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely^[d] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Christmas is coming up fast, and for those who celebrate it, comes a rush of excitement, and shopping, and writing out cards, and wrapping presents, and hurting feet (Oh wait…).

Anyways, tomorrow is Christmas eve, and among your rushing to get ready, just remember, presents aren’t the most important thing! Family is! And worshiping the God who sent His Son to us! So remember to take time to enjoy your family – allow little hands to get in the way of your cookie batter, (and allow lots of tastes! It builds memories and love!). Don’t get upset when your Christmas tree doesn’t look perfect because the kids decorated it, look at it and see the love of your family.

Merry Christmas! And remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!

(Note – The ideas expressed in this post are the ideas of the author only. Not all of us celebrate Christmas, so please take the posts which apply to your believes! ).

We all fall sometimes
We all let ourselves down
Sometimes there’s nothing left, but to live with what’s been done
And know you’re not the only one who falls.

I wanna tell you can go on
Life beginnings come from ends
I still believe in you and so does God
He’s the one who still believes in those who fail
He’s the one who still believes in those who fall

~*~

I loved you then, I love you now
I will love you tomorrow
When this world breaks you down
I will give you strength to stand
Look to me, take my hand and just believe
Before this day ever began, I loved you then

~*~

I never understood
How merciful love could be
Until I felt His flame
Light every part of me
And I would give everything that I am
Cause I have been saved
Yes I have been saved

~*~

Sometimes we just need to be reminded how much God loves and cares for us, even when we are struggling so hard with the sin in our lives. Know today that God does love you. He loves you right now. He loved you yesterday. And He’ll love you tomorrow! Take comfort in that and pick yourself back up to face the day.