Reflection Time

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Don’t you just love the week between Christmas and New Years? I do!  The pressure of the gifts, the cards, the wrapping and the parties is over and now we can relax for a short while and think about how we may do things differently in the coming year.  It is a good time to reflect on what worked and didn’t work from the past year and consider what to do differently in 2010.

Here are three questions to ask yourself as you take some time to relax this week:

What were some of the highlights of the past year which are worth repeating?

What are some changes I need to make in my life from last year to this year?

What is one new achievement I would like to accomplish in 2010?

Prayerfully ask the Lord to lead you as you walk through the doors leaving 2009 behind and as you step into the possibilities that await you in 2010.  Seek His power to strengthen you on your journey and follow His path as He lovingly guides you.  This week take some time to read and reflect on II Peter 1:3-7.  Think about each phrase and ponder what it means to you personally. Consider memorizing it for the coming year. And yes, Happy New Year to you my friend. May it be a year filled with a deeper love for God and for the people He places in your life. 

II Peter 1:3-8

 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stop for a Moment

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It was wonderful to see you all last week at my home.  I hope you are having a good week and that you have a very Merry Christmas.

This  past week we received the sad news that my father-in-law passed away.  Funeral services were this weekend in Memphis .  It was a sad time, and yet the family certainly felt lifted up through the prayers and support of friends.  His death just before Christmas serves as a reminder of the brevity of life.  We are mortal.  We are also fleshly , and everyone of us needs a savior.

At Christmas we focus on the baby Jesus, but let’s also center our focus on the fact that Jesus came to this earth as a gift to mankind.  We are poor and needy, maybe not physically or financially, but we are all poor and needy spiritually. Because of our debt of sin, God lovingly sent a savior to the world.  Yes, our debt was paid by Christ’s blood on the cross, and He lovingly invites us to believe in Him and be saved. 

Let’s take some time to stop, take a deep breath and reflect on what is really important during this season.  Thank the Lord for sending his Son to this world as payment for our sin.  Death not only reminds us of our need for a savior, but it also reminds us of how important it is to actively love the people around us.  We do not know how much longer we have on this earth.  Loving God and loving others should be on the top of our list of things to give at Christmas and all year through. 

I’m reminded of I Corinthians 13:

“ 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

The passage goes on to describe a Christlike love:

“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”

So let’s generously give the gift of love! May we reflect His love as we offer our gifts to others this Christmas.

Christmas Joy

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Hello my dear friends!  I’m looking forward to seeing you Tuesady at PWC.  If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, go ahead and do so today.  972-380-0123) I know we will have a delightful time together. 

Here’s a devotional thought for you to reflect on this week.

JOY, JOY, JOY!  We see the word everywhere during this season.  I’m especially in tune with the word JOY because one of my daughter’s name is Joy.  And yes, everytime I see something with the word Joy on it I’m tempted to get it.  We have JOY pillows, JOY hand towels, JOY Christmas ornaments, and even JOY cookie cutters!  It’s ironic that although this season is supposed to be the season of JOY, so few people seem to experience it.  Between family issues, past hurts, anger, unforgiveness, busyness and a bit of self-centeredness, JOY seems to be a rare commodity. 

Of all things, this week we celebrate the Advent week of Joy.  As Christians, we can find our joy in the Lord and in the fact that He sent Jesus to this world as a gift to pay the penalty for our sin.  There is lasting and true joy IN THE LORD.  As we turn our faces toward Him and consider His lovingkindness and goodness toward us there is a great joy that no one can take from us.  Now there may be some things that are clouding your joy that you need to consider in your life. This is the time to give the gift of forgiveness.  This is the time to cast your cares and worries on the God who loves you.  This is the time to get rid of the sin which robs you of your joy.  Find your joy in the Lord this Christmas season.

 There is great joy in serving others as well. One tradition I started just recently is going downtown to help out with Operation Care.  This is a giant Christmas party for the homeless in downtown Dallas.  It is an incredibly beautiful gift of love to the people in our community.  Hundreds of volunteers help literally thousands of homeless people, some of whom are bused in from surrounding cities.  If you live in the Dallas area consider helping out on Saturday, Dec 19 at the Dallas Convention Center.  Go to www.operationcaredallas.org to sign up as a volunteer and for more information. 

 Joy to the World the Lord is come!  Let earth receive her King! May we proclaim His love as we experience a joy that no one can take from us.  I hope you have a wonderful week of enjoying family and more importantly drawing close to Christ.

Desperate for Love

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Hello dear friends!  I hope you are doing well and feeling well during this month of Holiday festivities.  I look forward to seeing you on December 15.  Please be sure to RSVP to Donna Skell at:  dskell@roaringlambsministries.org

Be sure to watch my Holiday Show at: www.webtv4women.tv

Here’s our weekly devotional.  God bless you and looking forward to seeing you soon.

This past Sunday we celebrated the second week of Advent and reflected upon the theme of Love.  God’s love was demonstrated to the world through the gift of Jesus Christ.  God loves us because He is Good, not because we are.  Let us take time this week to thank the Lord for His dear love for us and to consider the power of His perfect love in our lives.

 Deep within every individual is a need to be truly and sincerely loved. Our hearts long for the satisfaction of true love.  We tend to search for love in a variety of places, trying to satisfy the longing in our hearts through temporary pleasures which only bring temporary satisfaction. 

Only God’s love can satisfy our hunger.  He alone loves completely.  He is gracious, compassionate and full of mercy.  He knows us better than anyone can know us, and loves us with reckless abandon.  We can’t say that about a person or a thing or a pleasure.  This week let us focus on the One True Love, the Lover of our Souls.  And let us consider the love He demonstrated to us through sending His son Jesus to die on the cross on our behalf. 

I want to encourage you to spend some time this week contemplating Ephesians 3:16 – 21:

16”I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

The Rush is On

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It was wonderful to see you all in November and I hope you had a wonderul Thanksgiving.  Here’s a little holiday devotional for you.  I’ll see the North Dallas PWC on December 15.  Looking forward to it!

Holiday Devotion:

Thanksgiving is over (hope you had a good one) and now we are in an all out sprint toward Christmas. Do you have your shopping done? Are your Christmas cards finished? Surely you have your decorations up by now! As we run toward the holidays with anticipation and hope, we need to remember to run to the Lord with the same type of fervor.

It is tempting to brush aside spiritual things during this time of the year. I mean who has time, when we have so much to do and a long list of activities to accomplish each day as we head toward the big day. Seeking the Lord in the quiet place may be just what we need to calm our anxious thoughts and our overwhelmed minds. His word can help us focus on the bigger picture and the beauty of the hope we have in Him. Looking to Him for direction can bring order to our normally chaotic schedule.

This past Sunday we celebrated the first week of Advent as we anticipate and look forward to Christmas day. We lit the candle of hope, signifying Christ as the hope of the world. May we find our hope in Christ as we run to Him throughout this holiday season. He lovingly welcomes us with arms open wide. Enjoy His warm embrace. “You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to your promise.” Psalm 119:57,58