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All in Following God
Much like you, I have deep desires for my two girls. I yearn for them to experience WHO I know vs WHAT I know. I have noticed my children learn so much quicker through laughter (experiences) over lectures.
As we rush around town and pick up gifts and head to the next party, here are 5 things I want my girls to experience this upcoming holiday season. Try some with me!
Every year as we pull out the decorations and recipes and ornaments, we also rediscover our favorite Christmas books! Most of these books are missing their dust jackets, the edges are worn, hot chocolate drops can be found on certain pages and some of them are even from my own childhood. But reading books together at Christmas is one of my very favorite traditions! Here are a few of our favorites...
One of my favorite Christmas carols is “Joy to the World.”
I love just about everything about it: the tune, the words, and the message.
With Christmas right around the corner, most of us are beginning to hear songs like this one ringing through the air of shopping malls, grocery stores, vehicles, and maybe even our own homes.
We sing about joy and celebrations and about all the reasons we have to be overflowing with happiness…but we don’t always feel joyful.
At times, even though we say “Merry Christmas,” some of us (if we’re really being honest), don’t feel merry at all.
If I knew that slowing down to say hello to a fellow mom could land me in such a pool of mommy guilt, I would have kept on going. She started off the conversation with a rather innocent question, but before I knew what happening, one of my comments opened up a door to an accusation I never saw coming . . . and that triggered an onslaught of mommy guilt. I nodded along with a smile on my face, but but on the inside, I was on the brink of tears and feeling like a failure as a mom.
I pressed on with the details of the evening, feeling icky and wishing I could go home. All I wanted to do was talk to my husband, and yet looking back, I’m so glad that was not an option. Instead, I ended up emptying my heart before the Lord each time the emotions rose up inside of me.
Stick to your priorities. Jettison everything else. I love this one because it makes everything so much easier. Once I know what is important to us - to our family - then everything else gets a polite, "No thank you." You are not obligated to attend every craft bazaar, cookie exchange, or Christmas play. You are only committed to what is best for your family.
Reject all commercialism. It has no place in your home. Block advertisements, mute the television, and throw out the garbage coming at you. Pay zero attention to the world's attempt at redefining Christmas. They've got it all wrong. Stick to the Real Story of Christ.
I'd like to think I'm an expert pray-er. I can clearly see how my prayers changed things. For example, I have three little kids—not birthed from me—running around my house who are examples of that. Yet the way that my prayers changed the future is different than you think.
God is not a genie in a bottle. My prayers weren't effective because I figured out the right words to make God do what I want to do. I used to think that. As a young Christian I'd try all sorts of things:
I wouldn't admit it out loud, but I believed deep down if I said the right things, at the right time, in the right way, that God could be swayed.
