Christmas/New Years 2009

After waiting for the Christmas season to arrive...since last years Christmas...it has finally come and quickly gone, but there have been several things God opened my heart up to this year and I want to share a couple regarding the Christmas and New Years season.

Kevin and I started with the decorations earlier than most this year. We put up the Christmas tree in late September and the rest of the decorations soon followed. We initially did this for the reason of the doctor's belief that I would not have eye sight for too much longer, as they are amazed that I still have it as of this point. Since putting my faith in Jesus alone, followed by His strong conviction, and disregarding any suggested surgeries and medical help, we thought it would a good idea if I was surrounded by things that I thought were beautiful to the eyes for the time being of having them. I still agree with this point of view, as I have no idea what the future holds and am just following the Lord's desired will for the life He has given me. If it involves becoming blind, so be it, as I know He will be glorified regardless my condition, and I have the rest assured promise that if He hasn't healed me here on earth, He will definitely heal me in the home I was made for in heaven! But, God has opened my eyes to an obvious fact that Christmas should not be celebrated just once a year, but every single day of our lives. Sure, I have to say that it is an amazing soul booster to know that people who don't celebrate Christ on a day to day basis or don't go to church at all during the year, are willing to set aside a time to focus on Him for one day/evening! But speaking for myself, I never want to lose sight of God sending Jesus to die for me, and the whole world's sins, for whoever chooses to follow Him. Everyday, my goal is to focus on His greatness and I constantly remind myself to finish the race He has set before me while going through battle after battle. It just absolutely Amazed me how many people's attitudes changed around Christmas time. I wish I would have kept track of how many people stopped to say "Merry Christmas" to me! It was literally astonishing and that astonishment is what God used to open my mind and heart to the thought, 'what if we all walked by each other on a day to day basis and said, "Merry Christmas" to each other, or "God bless you", or "Our Savior Lives*!" Even a simple wave is hard for a lot of us brothers and sisters in Christ to do, but how much stronger of a family would be become by doing those simple things and keeping the reason of why we are here in main focus on a day to day basis! God would be astounded with all he glory that He would be getting, and that is Exactly what He deserves! I am not trying to criticize or pick on anyone when writing this, as the Holy Spirit convicted me with this stuff and I find myself failing continuously in trying to glorify Him to His full desire, even on the little things such as this.

I think one of the hardest things for all of us to overcome is our shyness and insecurities. Not a lot of regular Christians will put in the effort or time to wave or keep in remembrance that we are all a Creation of the same awesome God, and we all need to be encouraged and loved by one another. My husband was reading a story in his Bible about an adult who was extremely low and was contemplating suicide. This is what it reads...
"San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is known for its man made beauty. But the mammoth structure is also infamous for something ugly-lonely and depressed people jumping to their deaths into the churning water and jagged rocks below. One young man who committed suicide left a note on the dresser in his apartment that read, 'I'm going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me, I won't jump.'- Tragically, he didn't find what he was looking for."

All that young man was looking for was One person to smile or wave. I pray this hits your heart and opens your eyes as it did mine when God allowed me to hear it. With this, I am also reminded of how crucial our words are. I have so many examples, but the example of the question, 'how are you' comes to first thought. How many times do we walk by people and say, "Hi! How are you?" A lot, huh? Well, how many times do we really want an honest answer? It is so easy to get in the routine of just saying, "Hi, how are you" with the expectation that he other person is going to say, "fine, and you?" Then, the other person says 'fine' as well and they continue walking. Some people don't even wait for the answer, they just ask the question as they are walking and continue to walk without the other person even having time to answer. It is so easy to get in the routine of just saying, "Hi, how are you" with the expectation that the other person is going to say, "fine, and you?" But the majority of the time, after the person they ask says they are 'fine', they can walk away and pat themselves on the back for at least saying Something when they really had no desire to say anything in the first place. We (including myself) need to really stop and consider what we are saying and if the words we are speaking really line up with truth according to God and the hearts He has given us to use. Although me may not think anything of it, there may just be someone who we come across that is paying very close attention to what we say and how we say it. When asking how a person is, we need to really Desire to know. In return, it will help the relationship grow and it will bring glory to God in a better way because we are being sensitive to the people He puts in our paths. He always has a reason for who we see, but we have the choice to recognize the reason and submit to His calling, or just allow our flesh to over rule. Of course, there are people that I have passed who do not desire to tell me how they are honestly doing, and I take that into consideration when coming in contact with them, and then there are people I see when either I, or they, are in a rush, and instead of asking how they are doing, I instead say, "It's good to see you!" I say that more than I ask people how they are, because although I care to know how others are, I don't want them to feel as though i'm 'prying' into their business. My dad always told me not to ask questions, as he said they would tell me what they want me to know. That is true to some degree, as although I agree with that, there are people who don't want to say anything at all unless asked, so it's hard to always distinguish what to do, and what to ask or not ask. When saying "Good to see you", I don't just say it to say something. I say it because I am keeping aware the fact that God allowed me to cross their path for His purpose and it allows me to realize that He is still allowing breath in that person for a divine reason. It also reminds me to pray for that person after meeting up with them, as we all need prayed for. Again, in saying all of this, God is continually working on me hard core in this area, and I don't say that lightly!!! He has shown me so much mercy and truth through this, but He never gives up on me as long as He sees my willingness to be sensitive to His teaching and call. He will humble us in the ways He knows we are needing to be humbled in order for Him to be greatly exalted through our learned experience.

Now, regarding New Years...I have posted on my facebook status that I feel the celebration of New Years is over-rated, as I feel we should celebrate each day just as we were to celebrate new years eve. God has allowed me to realize since I was a little girl, how hard each day in this broken world really is. He has allowed me extra sensitivity to a lot of things that most have made fun of me for and are able to easily overlook, but with the sensitivity, it allows me to really try to take heart to how amazing each breath and day He gives us, really are. When we celebrate a new year, we have high hopes of it being a 'better year' and we have new goals and aspirations. But God tells us to rejoice over each and every day, not just the one before a new year. We can say that certain years are worse than others, and we can even look back on our high hopes for last year with realization now of how 'horrible' it was, but Christ reminds us that this world is going to be hard as we are not made for this world. He teaches us about trials, and how we should take heart. Every day is a trial, and I could pull out Several things that breaks my heart, but that would be robbing glory from God. He has me here for His purpose, not my own and He allows everything to happen in order to end up bringing glory to Him if we so choose. Each day is what we make of it. Matthew 6 tells us a lot of awesome truthful reminders for daily living, but a couple that really steals my attention is when Jesus reminds us that He already knows All of our needs and if we make the Kingdom of God our primary concern, He will give us all we need from day to day in order to live for Him. If we really desire to live for Him each day, this should be Fantastic news, regardless of our horrible temporary condition/circumstance. Of course, I know that this is easier to say than live, but it is very encouraging. I also love how Jesus says in the same chapter that wherever our treasure is, is where our hearts and thoughts will also be! So very true. It's our choice...unless we have some type of a condition that disables us from being able to make see our clear choice. And, with that said, I am also not referring to the people who do not yet have a relationship with Christ. As Christ followers though, it is important for us to realize our need for God on a daily basis. At the end of each day, there are so many things we can look back on and notice how we could do better, and those thoughts should incline us to do better the next day. I continue to fail in this aspect as well, according to God's desire for me, but it is God's great desire to give us a revelation on a day to day basis through His awesome Spirit of convictions. We can all have many goals and 'new years resolutions' but how often do we hold true to those goals? Sure, we may keep strong for a couple of months, but how do we check out at the end of the year when it's time to make another one? We need to keep ourselves in check daily, and we don't need to wait until the new year has arrived. God would actually count that as a sin because we are putting His kind and gently conviction on the back burner. We all need to grow in so many areas, and I would say me more than most lol, but that is what each day is for. Every breath is an opportunity for us to grow closer to our Maker, but in order to grow closer to Him, we have to recognize where we Need to grow according to His purpose each day. We cannot do this alone. We have to really depend on the grace of Christ to help us, and although we will fail, we have to be thankful that He just might provide another day for us to be more pleasing to Him and His will for us. God is consistently showing me what new goals I need to set in order to further His Kingdom, and I have been greatly humbled this past year. One of the things I am now starting is a remembrance journal. God revealed this idea to me through a communication through Joyce Meyer I heard the other day when she was speaking to the Hillsong Church in Australia. She was teaching how to 'Stay Amazed' at God. The whole communication is an awesome reminder of how we can all be amazed by God when we first come to know Him, but after a while, those things that were once amazing to us, start to become normal and we then start to take His awesomeness for granted. I started noticing that within me to a degree, and I don't Ever want His greatness to just become something I simply overlook. And, as much as I know my soul desires to give Him praise and glory for every little thing, it is so easy for our flesh to start taking the drivers seat and to start focusing on the brokenness that the world brings, rather than being amazing at how AWESOME and Powerful* our God is. So Joyce said she had been writing down everything that God personally does for her that amazes her, from the littlest things to the largest. I had never thought of this, so I am very excited about doing this! If the time comes where I just want to remember all the little things God did that 'tickled my fancy', I can go to my journals and humbly remind myself how God specifically communicated and poured out His love for me. One reminder is from the other day when I was filling up the ice tray. I always spill water while transporting the ice tray from the sink to the freezer so I asked Jesus to help me not to spill, and He did :-) Not a Tiny bit of water on the floor. Today, Kev and I were getting ready to leave to go eat and my eyes felt full of pressure, so I said a half-hearted prayer asking God to take away my pain. I say 'half-hearted' because although I meant what I was asking for, I was still planning on taking tylenol to help with the pain while not giving Jesus time to do His work, but by the time I got to our jeep to take the tylenol, I noticed God had already taken the pain away! He worked within a matter of 10 minutes! I was so thankful, but in the same sense greatly humbled once again. He allowed me to realize that although His grace is absolutely incredible, I need to really depend on Him to answer the prayer I pray with full expectation and without thinking of other alternatives to help the pain as well. He Alone wants the glory. He doesn't want me to give glory to Him AND the tylenol. It's the little things that are So big!! Some might look at me a little crazy, but that's the light and salt that Jesus talks about, in which they are desperately desiring to see. And, the only way others will be able to see it, is if we Feel it within ourselves. He is a God to get excited over, not just for the new years eve holiday, but Everyday, and a God who is worth All of our praise!

So, as we are approaching New Years Eve 2009, I am thanking Him for who He is and for not giving up on me. My continued prayer for each day of the New Year, is that I love others as He has graciously loved me, and for me to keep His purpose and Kingdom in main focus above All else. I want to be ready as possible when I meet Him face to face as I walk from earth into eternity. Which by the way, could be Tonight! Are You ready??