Cabin Fever

As usual, winter has a way of making me feel unsettled. Call it cabin fever...if you will. Life really just feels routine and it seems that all I do is work at "motivating the masses". Such is the life of a mother. So many days I wish that I could just stay home and take of business there but that is just not possible. Pretty much our whole married life has required me to work at something to make ends meet and so, husband has endeavored on a master's degree. Our hope is that will land him on a more stable job with a better financial outlook. Working in the ministry has always been a year-by-year thing....never knowing if the "job" will be there. This is tiresome!

In my devotional reading, Elisabeth Elliot has been writing on the Supremacy of God. She commented on things that she had worked so hard on "in ministry" are no longer evident. Was it all in vain? No, she said....because those times were a fire of purification in her life. Those testings were an opportunity to lay down her life for the Lord. Hmmm, good stuff. It has help me look at life as a seasons of opportunity for God to purify me.

Great Anticipation

Another year done. All in all it was good. There is some dissatifaction with some areas of life and a lot of the time we feel like we are just on the treadmill of life....always running but never getting anywhere. But that is not true!! My spiritual life has grown deeper and my relationship with husband more sweet. The kids are making good choices in life (except for those younger 2....they are still in the frisky years!)

I've been reading Dave Ramsey's new book and from his point of view we are doing well financially (although it still feels like we are living paycheck to paycheck). Also been reading a devotional book by Elisabeth Elliot and how God can be trusted in ANY and ALL circumstances and how not to doubt when trials come and test us and purify our faith (really good and deep stuff).

So, here is to the old year and looking forward to the new with great anticipation!!

Blessings to all who read this blog.....may you approach your new year with great anticipation as well!

The Jesus Gift

I've been pondering the real Gift of Christmas. So often I've just focused on His arrival....the meager circumstances....the young parents, etc. This year, however, I've been looking through the glass of Christmas the other way. Where He came from....the sacrifice of coming to us....maybe even how the angels guarded His birth and the preciousness of the gift from the Giver. It was a HUGE gift....a gift that was thought of for a long time and how expectant God must have been when it was given. Then I think of the vulnerability of Jesus as a baby. Totally dependant on Mary and Joseph to protect and nurture him....WOW!!

So here is to expectant giving....May I do more of it in 2009!!

Merry Christmas to all who visit me here! Mary