Making Christmas about Jesus and not just Santa and Elves...

A couple of years ago we got an Elf on the Shelf as a gift. I thought it was a really cute idea so we put him around the house during the month of December the past couple of years. This year I wasn't sure if I wanted to use him (Buddy is his name) or not. I didn't want to send my kids the wrong message. The Elf comes to make sure the kids are being good so that Santa can bring them gifts for Christmas. This can be an easy way to get your kids to behave for a month. They disobey and you slowly look over to the Elf and say..."Buddy is watching. You better be good." As tempting as that is it is just not what Christmas and the Gospel are all about. So, after some prayer and consideration I thought I would try and use the Elf differently this year. There have been a few good pins on pintrest of some others doing this as well! As soon as I saw a pin about their Elf coming with a letter I knew what I wanted to do. The Elf has come, not to make sure my kids are "good" so that they get presents, but to celebrate the greatest gift that we got on Christmas Day and the greatest gift we have ever and will ever receive (Ephesians 2:8-10). Here is the letter that came with Buddy this year...

Each day that Buddy comes he has a special note about Jesus. I am using Advent Calendar that my kids school sent home with them that you can also find here.

My hope is that my children come to understand why we celebrate Christmas and enjoy celebrating Jesus. My hope is that Jesus is the treasure in our family. I'm not going to lie, that can be difficult in America. We have so much and everyone around us has even more (or at least that's what we think). We are surrounded by stuff that means to distract us from Jesus and that makes us want to fix our eyes on things that are temporary and unfortunately come Christmastime it is battle between celebrating Jesus and celebrating the things we get.

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Santa and the Elf are not real, but we have fun pretending. Jesus is our true treasure.

Half Help...

Right before the finish line! Gross!

stats...

So, I did it. I ran a half marathon. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done both mentally and physically. The great thing about pushing ourselves to do something just beyond what we are naturally inclined to do is that we must seek to find strength from another source and when that source is the Lord, you have never felt so alive and close to God.

It is good to put ourselves in situations that create a need for God. So often we believe we can do things in our own strength and often times we do. When we accomplish goals by our own merit we may get  a good result but we miss out on so much the Lord wants to show us and do through us on the journey. God longs to be a part of every part of our life. Every step.

 If you can imagine for a moment the love you have for your children (or that you will have) and how you would want to help them accomplish ANY good thing they attempt to do. That is a great love we are capable of and we are only human and we are limited in what we can do, even for our children. We have a heavenly Father who is unlimited and he has called us children. Nothing is impossible with God! This goes far beyond running, people! In the words of C.S. Lewis, we are far too easily pleased. Get your hands out of the mud and start living a life that is FULL. The best life you could ever want to live is available to you. Don't miss it. I don't want to miss it. It is found in Jesus. Do not be deceived. It is found in Jesus. Is he your treasure?

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  1 John 3:1

Concerning the Enemy...

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

We are so easily lead astray. Distracted and sinful. We must be aware of the war that is going on around us, but even more so the God that is on our side.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. Psalm 23: 4

This makes me think of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings at the bridge of Khazad-dum. Gandalf leads the fellowship through the mines of Moria which probably felt like “the valley of the shadow of death”. They face many troubles in the caves and would not have made it out if it were not for Gandalf’s leadership. As they make their way out of the mines, they are being chased by a Balrog (basically a huge scary demon monster). Gandalf leads them over the bridge and turns to the Balrog with his staff in hand and says “You cannot pass, I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass!”. I don’t know about you but if I am going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I want someone like that with me. We have someone even greater. There is always a battle; the enemy is always chasing after us, but with God as our guide and with his rod and staff we can find comfort! When you feel attacked, imagine Christ turning to your trouble saying “You cannot pass. I am the light of the Glory of God, in the face of Christ. The image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation and I have rescued my child from the dominion of darkness and brought him/her into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom he/she has redemption, the forgiveness of sin. You shall not pass!”

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5

Not only does God protect us from the enemy, but he prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemy. It’s like Satan intended for something to distract us or bring us farther from God and not only does God save us from that, but he can take the attack and turn it into a feast; an opportunity to know God more and glorify him more than if there was no assault in the first place.

No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height no depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

I love how this verse says that we are more than conquerors. It think it’s pretty great to be a conqueror, but in Christ we are more than conquerors. Not only does sin have NO authority over us and it has been defeated, we have the opportunity to take the struggles and sin in our life and let God use it for his good…more than a conqueror. So I leave you with this…

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

Oh The Burdens I Carry...

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

This is a good verse to memorize. So often I find myself in situations where I feel overwhelmed or frustrated because I am not doing a good job or someone is frustrated at me and if I can remember this…in that moment I can smile. I forget it though. All the time, I forget it. LORD, WRITE IT ON MY HEART. I choose to be pressured, to be burdened by losing weight, pleasing others, being the best mom in other people’s eyes, getting the laundry done, saying the right thing and blah, blah. All of these things are good in a since…when my motives are focused on the eternality of it all, but so often it is not. I could lie to you all and say that I am good and I do good things, but there is no good in me alone. Christ is my only hope of glory. Thank God (literally) that he saved me from me, but I still let my flesh win occasionally.

What would your life look like if you were burdened by NOTHING. I don’t know if I can comprehend that. I think in our culture people might think there is something wrong with you if you don't carry burdens…it’s almost like a competition for who can be the most burdened and busy. I think it is good to be busy and to work hard, but God has something special for us in our busy lives…

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-29

That is good news to me.

How do we begin to live like this, because it sounds so good, right? It is so unnatural for us to walk around with a light and easy burden and to focus on the eternal and watch our “light and momentary troubles” become just that “light and momentary”. How do we achieve an “eternal glory that far outweighs them all”? I want a life like that!

I think it requires some action…

FIX YOUR EYES-we must stop looking at the temporary…look for what God is doing and what he could do in EVERY situation.

COME TO ME- we must come to God. Read the word, pray, listen.

TAKE- receive what God has for you. Let him do a work in you. Open your heart.

I think that Romans 12:1-2 offers some sound advice as far as this is concern as well…

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Choose to focus on the eternal, take the yoke of the Lord, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord, not conform to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I double dog dare you.

I've Gotta Get Through This...

Last week was crazy.
Monday: I ran 45 minutes...milestone for me, although hopefully it was more than just one mile...watch out... I am hilarious.

Tuesday: Jeremiah woke up with a fever of 100.4 so I could not take him to his class which means I couldn't work in the office. So, the Bear and I went to Grammy's house so I could get some work done and still be close to the school to pick up Riley. When Jer woke up from a short nap his temp was 105.3. I immediately got in the car to go to the Dr. of course it was 11:59 so they were about to close until 1:30. They said either go to the emergency room or we will see you at 1:30. Since I had to drive all the way to Newnan from Fayetteville and stop by my house to pick up infant tylonol and since Jer had no other symptoms besides fever I went to the Doctors office. They did all of the usual test and his fever kept going down so they sent us home. Mystery virus. So I went to the Kid's week Kickoff dinner at the church in Peachtree City that night. Missed multiple calls from the husband, which I got in trouble for, but completely deserved. Jer was breathing hard and his fever was still high. I met him at the ER once and once again...high fever...nothing else wrong! Which in a way is good because it is nothing too serious, but sometimes it is nice to KNOW what is causing the fever. Got home late.

Wednesday: In the morning go back to church do some work, go home, get Riley ready, go back to church with Riley. Jon and Jer stayed home because Jer still had a fever, so guess who gets to teach Jon's 1st-3rd grade discipleship class because Jon can't be there? So I combine Jon's class with my class (4th and 5th grade discipleship). I had 26 1-5th graders in a tiny room for 45 minutes...I was sweating and I use clinical strength secret people! It was crazy and frustrating and humbling all balled up into 45 minutes.

Thursday: Jon had an interview in Atlanta. So I had Jeremiah while I needed to get work done...he is still running a fever. Jon gets back from Atlanta...we go to the Church (I know you are thinking...wow they must be Godly people because they go to Church everyday...well...nope) to make a video to use in Praise Place on Sunday morning (which I am leading for all of the kids).

Friday: I ran 45 minutes again. That's all I remember about that day.

Jeremiah is well now. Riley has some sort of stomach virus. I have been praying for healing for my family. It seems as though someone is always sick.

So I sit down to write about the week in my journal...it looks similar to what you read and then I proceed to thank God for "getting me through it". I broke my own heart with my own words.

Never do I ever want to get through weeks anymore. I want to see God move in work in all situations of my life. What is the point of it all if I can't do that. Do I really trust God? How can I say I believe and trust in God if I just get through things.

I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
Psalm 34:1-2

Jon and I were talking last night about how Christianity is like a huge mountain with God at the top. We don't want to hang out in the parking lot and worship God from way down there. We want to climb the mountain and get closer to God every day. Some days we will fall and some days the road will be very steep, but other days we will sit and look out at the breathtaking view and we will hear God's voice more clearly as we get closer to him.

Here is my Heart...

God is good. We have recently started a new bible study in which I got to connect with an old friend. We talked about parenting and such and then we ended up on the topic of dreams (I believe we were discussing what to do when our kids have nightmares). She was talking about her gift of interpreting dreams. I have had some interesting dreams in the past that I know mean something, but I have no idea where to begin. So we decided we would sit down and talk about them at some point. I do not think it necessary or wise to post these dreams in the blog world, but if you are interested I will share individually. Anyway, on the way home from that bible study I felt the Lord lead me to start reading in the Old Testament again; which was confirmed in a discussion with my mom. So I have started reading Jeremiah.

I love Jeremiah (my son and the book in the Bible). He was appointed by God to send some important messages. I believe that God has appointed all of His followers with important tasks and I pray that we can have the boldness and faith to fulfill these tasks as Jeremiah did. I feel as though I learn so much from who Jeremiah was and at the same time the word that he had for Israel in that day is so relevant to us.

They followed worthless idols and they became worthless themselves. Jeremiah 2:5

Idols consume us; whether it's money, food, sports, fashion or anything that steals our worship. The more time we spend following these things the more worthless our life becomes and I want my life to be worth something and I believe it has the most worth when I bring glory to God. I cannot glorify him when my heart is bowing down to something else.

But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. Jeremiah 2:11

Our worth is only found in God. Idols take up places in our heart and move God out. So, my prayer is that God would search my heart and identify the idols in my life that are taking up space. So, God here is my heart...you can have it all.

God doesn't just want our apologies. He wants a commitment to be faithful. I mess up all of the time and God is so merciful to still want me. I don't understand it.

If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled. But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers-would you now return to me? declares the Lord. Jeremiah 3:1

I do that to the Lord time after time. I leave him for other things...for worthless idols. He still wants me. I can't think of a word for that kind of love. It is unconditional and strong. He wants us to return to him.

Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding. Jeremiah 3:22

Just as a wife would return to her husband, he wants us to return to him and commit our hearts unto him. He will "cure" us!! We must purify our hearts. Let God search us and reveal to us our wicked ways so that we can throw off the sin that entangles us.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; circumcise your hearts. Jeremiah 4:4

We must remove the impurities from our hearts. God gave me a vision as I was reading this in chapter 4. There was a door in my heart that was locked, securely keeping my impurities inside. I had to take an axe and tear the door down. Then I had to get rid it of everything that was inside. It's a process. It doesn't feel good, but it must happen if I want to give my heart fully to God. I am sure of this: There is no greater joy in life than when we give our hearts fully to God.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Matthew 5:8

When you seek me you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13



Here is my Jeremiah at 8 months old...