Oh my goodness. I LOVE Christmas. If you don't believe me..just go back and look at the last 4 years on this blog here...trust me...you'll see I do not tell a lie.
I LOVE IT!
This year was especially amazing. There is something about Noah..and it being his first Christmas...it made it so very special for us. That precious boy just brings such a light and joy to our lives.
More importantly though...this year I felt like my heart was truly focused on Jesus.
I would like to be able to say that every year I am completely focused on Jesus..but after this year...I guess I can look back at other years and see how my heart wandered.
But this year it looked different. This year has been tough on our family and on many of our friends...in different ways...and as Christmas approached I struggled and wondered what it would look like for us. (Read any of the past month of blogs..there is a trend.) Thankfully the truth of Jesus touched my heart so deeply this year. I'm thankful for that. SO very thankful.
One of the messages we had at the Stone a few weeks ago Matt spoke about sin and death...and about Christ. Paraphrasing he touched on the fact that Christmas is so much more than just Jesus' birthday. It is the day God fulfilled His promise to save us from sin and death. On Christmas night God looked at the sin and death in this world and said - I've had enough of you. God gave us Jesus and on that night he served notice to sin and death that their days are NUMBERED. 33 years after his birth Jesus died on a cross for us and he FOREVER destroyed sin and death.
We haven't had death this year...but the brokenness of this world, and the truth that we will not stay young forever, and that there will be pain and hurt for us and for those we love - it has absolutely never been as evident to me before as it was this year.
So as we celebrated Christmas I was rejoicing. I rejoiced that God gave us Jesus. Almighty God who is perfect and holy and righteous...He gave us Jesus so that we can forever be with him in eternity. The magnitude of this keeps hitting me harder and harder. I think the Holy Spirit is just beating me over the head with it...and I'm so glad for that. I want to OVERFLOW with thankfulness and joy for the Savior we have in Jesus. I want to live and breathe Jesus.
I want there to be no doubt when someone speaks to me that I am completely and wholly His and only His.
I have a long way to go. But how thankful I am for Christmas. For the opportunity to worship Jesus and remember what he saved me from.
So this year was different. Don't get me wrong..we had an AMAZING Christmas home with our families. Celebrating Christmas with them...oh I LOVE it! (There will be pictures in the next post of this!) But for me, personally, Christmas was different. And I'm ok with that.
I LOVE IT!
This year was especially amazing. There is something about Noah..and it being his first Christmas...it made it so very special for us. That precious boy just brings such a light and joy to our lives.
More importantly though...this year I felt like my heart was truly focused on Jesus.
I would like to be able to say that every year I am completely focused on Jesus..but after this year...I guess I can look back at other years and see how my heart wandered.
But this year it looked different. This year has been tough on our family and on many of our friends...in different ways...and as Christmas approached I struggled and wondered what it would look like for us. (Read any of the past month of blogs..there is a trend.) Thankfully the truth of Jesus touched my heart so deeply this year. I'm thankful for that. SO very thankful.
One of the messages we had at the Stone a few weeks ago Matt spoke about sin and death...and about Christ. Paraphrasing he touched on the fact that Christmas is so much more than just Jesus' birthday. It is the day God fulfilled His promise to save us from sin and death. On Christmas night God looked at the sin and death in this world and said - I've had enough of you. God gave us Jesus and on that night he served notice to sin and death that their days are NUMBERED. 33 years after his birth Jesus died on a cross for us and he FOREVER destroyed sin and death.
We haven't had death this year...but the brokenness of this world, and the truth that we will not stay young forever, and that there will be pain and hurt for us and for those we love - it has absolutely never been as evident to me before as it was this year.
So as we celebrated Christmas I was rejoicing. I rejoiced that God gave us Jesus. Almighty God who is perfect and holy and righteous...He gave us Jesus so that we can forever be with him in eternity. The magnitude of this keeps hitting me harder and harder. I think the Holy Spirit is just beating me over the head with it...and I'm so glad for that. I want to OVERFLOW with thankfulness and joy for the Savior we have in Jesus. I want to live and breathe Jesus.
I want there to be no doubt when someone speaks to me that I am completely and wholly His and only His.
I have a long way to go. But how thankful I am for Christmas. For the opportunity to worship Jesus and remember what he saved me from.
So this year was different. Don't get me wrong..we had an AMAZING Christmas home with our families. Celebrating Christmas with them...oh I LOVE it! (There will be pictures in the next post of this!) But for me, personally, Christmas was different. And I'm ok with that.
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