Friday, December 25, 2009

O Come Let us Adore HIM.

Yes, another blog post about Christmas.  I can't help it.  I'm going to get right to the point.

I don't like singing Christmas songs at church.

Weird, isn't it?!  The reason we go to church is because of Christmas!  Singing Christmas songs at church....I just don't like it.  I know, I know, it's ridiculous.  That is why I was SO happy when one of my sisters told me the other day, out of the blue, "I don't like singing Christmas songs at church."  I said, "oh my gosh!!!!  Meeeeeeeeee neither!!!  I thought I was the ONLY one!!!"  It was good to know that I was not alone in my thinking.......although I suppose it could run in the family..... ;)

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago at church we sang O Come All Ye Faithful.  Nice, classic tune.  I was REALLY focusing on the lyrics, which is what I do most of the time when I sing a song.  I like to be aware and mean what I'm saying.  The lyrics hit me.  So hard.  I was doing all I could to hold back the tears.

O Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
COME AND BEHOLD HIM,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him
,
Christ the Lord.

Do you ever think about the different perspectives of people at the nativity?  Think about how Joseph felt....the girl he was with was pregnant, not by him, but by a miraculous act of God.  The baby was going to be the Saviour of the world.  They were traveling.  Trying to find a place to stay.  Going here and there.  Looking for a vacancy.  It was cold.  It was dark.  Every place they went - no room.  Mary was in labor.  In pain.  Suffering.  Imagine Joseph tired and weary from traveling and chaos from not being able to find a place to stay.  He knew that this was part of the plan, but after things seem to NOT be working out, was he wondering, and shouting out to God?  "THIS is your plan???  God of ALL creation, This is YOUR plan?!!  Why are you letting her suffer?!  This is supposed to be the King of the world!  This is supposed to be a happy moment!  She isn't supposed to be in all of this pain!  Help her!  You say you're in control!  DO SOMETHING!!!"    "I AM."

Sometimes we forget that He is in control of everything.  We don't think He is working on our behalf.   We don't feel like He is there.  We feel like we're alone and He isn't listening to us and hearing our cries.  We blame Him for things that happen in our lives, when things go wrong, when bad things happen, when tradgedy strikes....He's the first one most of us get mad at.  Things don't work out as we all have planned.  They don't turn out the way we all would like them to turn out.  Things don't happen in our timing.  He knows what is best.  Things always work out no matter what things look like on the outside.  The next time I get irritated and aggravated and annoyed and question why He isn't moving, I always want to hear Him saying, "I am".



O Come let us adore him!

I was imagining myself there.  At the miraculous birth of Jesus.  What would I do?  What gift would I bring?   How close would I be able to get to the King?  What would I be feeling?  What would I see?  What would I say?  What would I smell?  What What would it be like to be there???  What would MY perspective be?






I hope everyone is having the most wonderful Christmas ever!!!!














Thursday, December 24, 2009

♪ ♫.....Christmas time is here....♪ ♪

...and this year it has been really difficult to get in the Christmas spirit.  It's been strange.  I mean, I'm thankful for so much and enjoy this time of the year, but just have not been "feeling it" this year.  It's even sad to admit it, but we didn't even put a Christmas tree up....time escaped.  And, having no heat made us not want to do anything.

A few weeks ago we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's one of our favorite Christmas cartoons.  One of my favorite parts is when they decorate the tree.  All of their arms go up in the air around the tree and just move from left to right really fast, and bam!, it's decorated.  The tree was so pitiful, and they made it beautiful.  Mike said something like, "we didn't even get a tree this year."  Then it hit me, "hold that thought", I said.

A minute later, THIS was our tree.




Last week as we were sitting in the living room, Mike and I were talking about Christmas trees again.  Talking about how we wish we would have put one up, but it was too late to get one, and we wouldn't have time to enjoy it.  So Mike said, "well, I guess I'll we'll just have to enjoy our Christmas Jar!"  We laughed so hard.  He plugged it up, and enjoyed our Christmas Jar and a glass of wine. 

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
We'll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Baby it's cold outside....and inside.

We are so blessed.  Sometimes I think that is a cliche' that is over used.  It is used so often that I think most people don't even realize what it means anymore.

This year has been kinda crazy for us.  So many things have happened.  Good and not so good.  But, Mike and I have grown so much this year in so many ways.  We have been tested in so many things....too many to write about in one post.  In all of our trials and triumphs this year we have learned one HUGE lesson.

Pray.  Believe.  Receive.
AND
God answers our prayers through others.

The most recent events can be understood from this picture.  Mike will probably not be thrilled with me for posting this, but it's what I saw every night for almost 2 months straight.  And, I didn't get any pictures of myself during this.  (I love you, honey.)




Our heat went out.  We had our trusty heat/air guy come out and look at the unit.  Yep.  It was basically dead.  Had a mind of its own.  If the heat was turned on, FREEZING cold air was blowing out of the vents.  The cost of repairs?  More than we could ever think of having in our account.  We kept praying for God to make a way for us because as time was ticking the weather kept getting colder and colder. 

It was NO fun being in our house for more than 15 minutes because it was so stinkin' cold.  We had 2 space heaters - 1 new & 1 old - borrowed from family.  The sad thing is we could only use one of them (the new one).  The old one blew the circuit (that's another story in itself) when we used it.  During the day and evening, the space heater was in the living room.  At night, we moved it to our bedroom and kept the door closed to stay as cozy as possible. Sounds nice, right?!

Well, there were about 5 nights that it got REALLY REALLY COLD.  God performed a miracle.  Our heat came on 4 of those really really cold nights!  That was the ONLY time the heat worked in the past couple months.  No joke.  During this time, full gear was worn chillin' in the living room......sweat pants, 3 pair of socks, 1 short sleeve t-shirt, 1 long sleeve t-shirt, a polar fleece hoodie, and a scarf.  Mike normally wore his coat, 3 t-shirts, sweats, and socks and shoes.  Again, no joke.  It was flippin' cold!  Seriously, I even considered purchasing a Snuggie.......okay, NOT REALLY........  Every night, laying in bed, praying to God, through the tears, to hear our prayers and perform a miracle.  PLUS, I was getting really tired of heating up my toilet seat with the hair dryer!  I was so thankful for that hair dryer though - it heated up my clothes before I put them on every day, and some nights even heated up the sheets.

Heck, even our CATS were freezing!
                                                                        
Blossom sitting in front of the heater that blew the circuit.                                                                        


Biscuit even welcomed some covers on the couch.










We kept believing that God was going to do something.  We weren't sure what, but 2 weeks ago we received an email that said the check was in the mail.  We were blown away!  Seriously?!  Yes!  A miracle!  Sent from Heaven above from someone who is so kind, so giving, so selfless, so obedient, so angelic, so beautiful, so dear, so loving, so miraculous, and SO MANY MORE THINGS!!!!  You know who you are, and we CANNOT say THANK YOU enough!!!!  Thank you for being our answered prayer!!!!  We love you so so so much!!!  xoxoxoxooooo

We are SO BLESSED.
and
SO WARM.