Living & Learning: 12/2008

2008/12/15

What I'm up to

I am focussing on Seeking Him right now so I won't be blogging much here over the next while.http://seekingoursavior.blogspot.com/

Also busy doing other daily things like homeschooling, cooking cleaning and spending time with our kids and my hubby, making memories . So ya, now you all know I'm still hanging around and wanted to write to say hi.(smiling again) so drop by anytime!

2008/12/03

Christmas Thoughts 2

The last post I posted because these were things I was thinking about and I want to do what is good for our own family. This year some of our own traditions had to change because our schedule changed from what we normally did as far as family gatherings go. I want to create warm memories in our own home with our childen that will last a life time as well. Now since we do have to change some of the things we normally do, I am thinking about how I want to do things now. What traditons I want to keep, what things I think are important to our own family and what things are not. Almost feels like it's a new start this year. So all these thoughts are more for us as a family and not me saying drop all your traditions. I don't think that is how God works and He also made us very colorful. I think life would be very boring if we all did everything the exact same way and I'm glad we don't! I find other people's home so neat when you go there and they are unique and have new ideas. Also it is great to walk into a home that is so warm and welcoming.(Christmas time can really bring that about) I think it's up to each individual to decide what is good for your home and a lot will depend on your own circumstances! (Does that make sense?)
I guess what I was saying is let's remember Christ not saying drop all your traditions, and the letter I got in the mail I thought was a good reminder to me. I don't think the letter means we should not have wreaths and candles.(not to me anyway) Candles are light and and light is good and a wreath is round, everlasting like God's everlasting love. I think that I would actually like to put up some things like that . The point was not about those things.

2008/12/02

Christmas Thoughts (a letter I received and spoke to me)

" Please stop for a moment and look at this letter. Do you see the beautiful wreath at the top and the candle down at bottom? What do they symbolize to you? Are they part of the warm, inviting feel of the Christmas season? While they may be, I doubt many of us have a clear idea of what , if anything, they symbolize. They are part of the traditions we embrace without really understanding what they mean. But then it’s all about the feeling it produces not their meaning.
Christmas as an event , produces the same feeling regardless of it’s meaning. Even for those of us who understand that this is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, the celebration loses it’s meaning in the shopping, present giving and feasting. We get caught up in the warm fuzzies as well.
December 25th is a celebration of the birth of the Sacraficed Lamb of God. We don’t have a clear understanding of the date Jesus was born but the church has chosen this day to celebrate this event. It’s not the date that’s important, it’s that God has broken through; that he has put His long awaited plan of salvation in motion.
It’s important that a special baby was born, a perfect child born from above. But what’s more important is His purpose in coming. So when you’re out shopping and giving gifts and feasting don’t loose sight of the purpose of the birth we celebrate. In Revelations Jesus is worshipped, not as the perfect baby, but the Lamb of God who died for our sins and, as a result is worthy of our praise.”

I got this off of a letter I received in the mail today from Key Bible Club. It really spoke to me because I had been thinking about ways I wanted to celebrate Christmas and ways I didn’t. (or really what we were doing with “Christmas”?)
Somewhere along the line , it was the church (christians) who decided to celebrate Christ’s birth this way and I think it must have been very meaningful and I want to keep it meaningful. The nativity scene seems to be so much more comfortable to look at then the cross scene. I want to keep the whole picture in mind..

Life saving Verses

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,—Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 6:23

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,—John 1:12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.—John 3:16-17

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.—Ephesians 2:8-9

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”—Romans 10:9-13

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.—1 Peter 1:8-9

Saved By Grace

All of us are born sinful. People might do good things but we are not born good....because to be good would mean to be perfect, never breaking God's commands, always doing God's will. So first we have to acknowledge that we have all sinned. Then we can cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and repentance. God has paid the price of sin through Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. If we believe in Jesus, confess our sins and turn from it, He will forgive us.The bible says to seek God and search for Him with your whole heart. If we do this and ask Him to fill us with the holy Spirit, He will and that gives us a new life. This is what it means to be born again. There is no other gift as great as the gift of the holy Spirit! We then will want the things of God. We will love God and He will become the most important thing.This does not mean now you will be perfect. This just means that God will teach you and show you day by day what he wants or does not want you to do. It will not make life easy, and there will still be temptations and mistakes. So we just have to continually pray and ask for His guidance.When a baby is born they need time to grow and learn . It does not happen all at once. The same thing when we are born again, we will grow each day, and become more like Jesus. God will show us bit by bit. Only God is able to do all this in our lives. .It is not the things we do that make us Christian, it is faith. We can not make ourselves Christians no matter how hard we try. By faith though he will bring us to Himself and we will want to live the way God wants us to and the things we are doing will often show that we are Christians. God will make us a light in the dark because of what he has done in our lives.