Sometimes the Gift that is Needed Most is the Hardest Gift to Give

Thank you for walking through the Give Back Giveaway with me.

It has brought me much joy to highlight these ministries for your support, to see the hope and healing being brought into lives around the world, and to give away lovely and delicious gifts to you from these ministries. I do hope you will seriously consider supporting them as you give this Christmas.

But I will confess that reading and writing about the brokenness and need in the many precious lives served through these programs has grieved me. The hiddenness and magnitude of the problems threaten to overwhelm this tender heart.

Can we be honest?

There is never enough that we can do. Because the hurt is so huge.

But we must do something. Our love for Jesus, because of His love for us, simply must overflow and embrace those who hurt.

In the end, we truly are never enough. But He is enough. He is enough for us, He is enough for all who suffer. He is the only hope we have.

We can be His hands and feet, His eyes and ears, pouring ourselves out in love and service right here and right now.

This may sound funny, given that I have spent a month sharing various ministries with you, but I believe this firmly...

If you have a choice to send money somewhere, or to reach out and touch a hurting person right near you, turn to that hurting person.

Yes, money matters, it does make a difference and people and ministries REALLY need it. So many are struggling financially.

But you have neighbors who don't have a group ministering to them. So you be the ministry, you minister to their needs. You are equipped for this in Him!

I look around me now, here in the middle of a burned out forest, and I see an incredible amount of real and present need. When 1600+ homes and businesses are completely destroyed in a rural community, the list of needs is overwhelming.

Sometimes the way to meet a need does require money. But creative lovers of Christ can serve, no matter the circumstance.

The balm for all wounds, ultimately, is love, and love doesn't require money.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that love may be the more costly of the two, as it requires giving of our very selves.

This is what is required of us, I believe. And I fail abysmally most of the time. But I long to live love and pour out my life as an offering.

Will you try with me?

Open your heart to the need right next door, and give yourself away this Christmas.



photo by JoyLove7

One Tiny Baby

I wonder how silent it really was...

I close my eyes and hear the soft breaths of a young mother as muscles tighten, tides swell inside.

I smell hay, some clean and fresh, some dirtied by the animals chewing nearby.

I feel a chill as the winter breeze blows, and a young man leans in to warm his bride, murmuring reassurance.

I hear laughter, soft sweet delighted, as small eyes meet large for the first time.

I see darkness above poked through by sparkles of light, many small, one big and bright.

I feel joy wrapped around that night, that small family, that one tiny baby who changed everything...

Merry Christmas! Oh, you want the recipe?

guest post by The Princess (age 9) 

Merry Christmas
Makes: everyone's servings

What you need:
1 cup of joy
1 1/2 cups of dancing
1 Tb of jubilee
5 cups of Jesus

What you do:
Mix the joy with the Jesus in a large mixing bowl
Next pour the jubilee into the dancing
Then take a spoon and stir for thirty seconds
Dump your jubilee and dancing mix into the Jesus/joy mix
Serve!

Mary's "Yes!"

Originally written in December 2005

At this time of year I often find myself marveling at the young girl Mary... just a child herself in so many ways, and yet when told she would bear the son of God, her answer was  "Let it be to me as the Lord has said." (Luke 1:38)

Mary's "Yes!" resounds down the ages... her acceptance and obedience is the response toward which I strain.

I am 36 years old, not a teenager, as Mary was, and I too am pregnant.  This is my fourth pregnancy.  I have done this before... I know what it's like to carry a child in my womb, feel the changes in my body, the first movements, the increasingly strong kicks and punches, the sheer physical weight of the experience bending my back.  I know what it's like to give birth, to nurse a sweet smelling babe, to wake up in the night over and over and over.  I have watched tiny babies turn into toddlers, then children.  I've known the joys and fears.

I've also known the pain.  Our second baby died in utero.  So now, carrying our fourth baby, I wonder.  Will this baby live to be held in my arms? How will I manage all that God has called me to... being a wife, mothering, homemaking, homeschooling, tending a farm?  Will I live my life as a reflection of the great gift which I have received from Him, or will I just be a mess?

In my moments of sitting at His feet pouring out my heart to Him, I never receive an assurance that anything will be easy.  He never tells me He will take away what scares me.  But He does tell me not to be scared.  And He holds me.

God is calling me to radical trust in Him.  He is asking me to let go of the fear, without the cause for fear being removed. 

Mary's childlike faith caused her to respond "Yes!"  She totally trusted God, as a little girl trusts that her earthly father won't drop her as he carries her.

Each day of my life, each moment of each day, I have a choice.  Will I say "Yes!" to God with childlike trust, or will I warily ask, "How do I know you're telling me truth?"  Because some of those promises sure are hard to believe.

Is God calling you forth to a new place?  Is He asking you to accept a calling that appears to be impossible?  Some days mothering seems to be impossible, doesn't it?

How will you answer His call?  Will you say, "How do I know you can really do this?"  Or will you say "Yes!"?  Will you walk in faith and accept that Gabriel wasn't kidding when he said "with God nothing is impossible?" (Luke 1:37)

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (Luke 1:45)

May your coming days, as you celebrate the birth of the tiny baby who changed the world, be filled with the joy of trusting that with God nothing is impossible.