Merry Christmas to All

 As I prepare for the celebrations over the next couple of days, I am reminded that the joy of Christmas does not come as easy to others as it does to me.  I know many who are struggling with the loss of a loved one, with the break up of family, with sickness,  with financial issues, or just tragedies of life.   God has placed Romans 12:15 on my heart... Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 

My prayer is that each of you have a very blessed Christmas! 

It is About Who Gave it To You

This was originally posted in March of 2010... It is a lesson that we value, and I feel it is important to share again.
Over the last 6 years, God has really been working in the lives of my family. One of the greatest things during this time is that both of my children made the decision to follow Jesus. Praise!

Not only was God working in the hearts of my children, He was working in the hearts of myself and my husband. There have been tests that we passed immediately, and there have been others that we have taken more than once.

One of our biggest failures, rest almost entirely on my shoulders. When we moved to Texarkana with Jason's job, we had to sell a house that we built in Magnolia. I knew that God would not want us to go from home owning to renting even for a short amount of time. Please note I said I knew, I did not say we had prayed about what we should do. So we built a house. And we struggled. Jason was not happy in his job. We truly believe that God used that job to move us here, but because of our poor financial decisions (i.e. building the house), he was stuck in it longer than he should have been.

Before the house was even complete, we knew we had made a mistake. However, instead of confessing it, I just kept proclaiming that God was giving us this house. Even after we moved in, we knew we were not supposed to be there. Yet I was not ready to trust God with that. So, I kept proclaiming my version of the truth, and Jason kept struggling to figure out what to do next.

It was a beautiful house, but we were miserable. Jason finally decided to put the house on the market. I did not argue with him, but began praying that no buyer would come. And no buyer came. I prayed daily over this house that God would provide the means to pay for this house. One day I was praying, and I said, "God, you gave us this house..." before I could finish He said, "NO, I did not." I am sure He had been telling me all along, I just wasn't listening. I immediately dropped to my knees and I gave the house to God. That was on a Friday. On Monday, we had a buyer for the house.

We moved out of the house the we had built, and began renting. You see, we never owned that house... it owned us. We rented for about 9 months, and God worked wonders in our lives. Since that time, Jason is no longer in a job he hates. Instead, God gave us a business of our own. We are not renting, God gave us a house that we love. We finally passed the test, it is not about the stuff you have... It is about who gave it to you.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11