12 Days of Christmas day 12

In our homes we have finally arrived at the 12th day of Christmas! It is still early here, and very cool for South Florida, so sitting in the garden is out of the question! My blood is too thin for that! So as I sit here thinking on Him, and how gracious he has been to me, I thank God for the opportunity I have been given to experience his love first hand, and to share his love with you.

Do you know that many people never experience his love? Actually they do experience it, but they don't realize it, nor do they even acknowledge him. I was talking with a young friend about this yesterday, and she asked me a great question: "if God is so loving and is here and involved with my life, why did he allow me to be molested when I was 5?" Wow. I am sure many people have the same type questions. I know I myself was molested 3 times by three people that I trusted, and yet, I never wondered about God's love until I was having panic attacks in my late 20's. It was at that time I began to wonder not just about God's love, but even about his very existance.

I got to the end of myself, and was as low as I could personally go. And I will never forget that day. I was so distraught and really didn't know which end was up. I wanted to believe what I had been taught, but my experiences were such that my heart and spirit were left so hurt because of my perspective on what I was going through that I just couldn't trust anything anymore. So in my desperation, I went out on my patio and cried bitterly. I didn't understand why God would allow me to walk through such a dark time and seemingly abandon me. So I looked up and said,
"God, I am not sure of anything anymore. I am not sure you even exist. But if you do, I need you to show me because if you don't, I am just going to give up."

God did show up. In a miraculous way. Instantly, it was as if I was wrapped up in his wings. I literally felt his 'feathers' around me. I smelled him, too. Like freshness after a rain. The sensation was like nothing I can adequately describe and it has never happened to me since. But I haven't needed it to. I now know that it was his Spirit that manifested himself and wrapped his arms around me. I don't know how long it lasted. I was long enough for me. I looked up again and said, "ok, now I know you exist. Where do we go from here?"

So here we are, more than 2o years later, and I can tell you why I had to go through all that. And I will.

In fact, since the 12 Days are over, God has shown me what this blog needs to be used for. It is to address those 'difficult' subjects by looking at what God's word has to say and looking to those who are wiser than I for the answers. I know I am settled in my faith, but it took many years for me to feel this way. And God is still showing me insights that help me to see things from his perspective, not only from my little tunnel vision world.

So, if you have a question, send it in. I cannot tell you for sure that I will be able to answer it, but we will explore it together and hopefully try to see it from God's perspective.

I will tell you this, I know that God has NEVER abandoned me. He was with me throughout every moment, even when I was being molested. He never left me, and was my strength and comfort. He promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you and no one can pull you out of my hand". So I know he was always there, always holding me, protecting me. But that doesn't mean that bad things won't happen. But more on that tomorrow.

Visit www.12daysbook.com for more on our 12th Night Feast!!

12 Days of Christmas Day 12

Well, here we are at the 11th Day of Christmas. Linda and I are still on day 10 because of a couple of emergencies and difficult days that didn't afford us the opportunity to do it with our children, so we just postponed our celebration by a couple of days.
For those of you who will be finished, we are so thankful that you took the journey with us and it is our sincere hope and prayer that you entered this new year by dedicating your year to Christ, and that it is a year full of him in fresh, new ways.
Father,
Bless those who walked this new journey these past few days. Thank you for their dedication to you and to their families. We are so thankful for all you have done for us, and all you have blessed us with. We praise you for every spiritual blessing that you have bestowed upon us. May we give ourselves to you moment by moment, and may we be so content in you. May we desire you above all things and as we act on that desire, may we be so filled up with you that it spills out on everyone around us. Thank you for our families and may we have such love for you that they want to love you like that too.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Please keep checking back as we will be posting often, and please let us know what God did in you and your family during and after the 12 days. Linda and I will post for the next couple of days, and especially after our 12th night feast, so join us for that. Also, we will post pictures and/or video on the website.
By the way, I didn't post a scripture for today. As I said previously, we are reading Luke in our family Bible reading, and today we read Luke 1. We talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how the Holy Spirit was with John even before he was born. I never realized how much work the Holy Spirit did BEFORE Christ came. I knew he was responsible for alot after Christ's ascention, but I did not realize what came directly before. In fact, he was responsible for Mary concieving Jesus. WOW! He sure has alot of power! More than I give him credit for. Linda has been reading a book about the Holy Spirit By R A Torrey and has been telling me some of the things he says, and I am amazed and almost embarassed about how little I know. So one of my goals is to learn who he is and his ways this year. I am so thankful for a friend who challenges me spiritually and helps spurn me on to growth.
Check out www.12daysbook.com for pictures, videos and even some new stories for the 12 Days of Christmas this year! We are so thankful for you!!

12 Days of Christmas day 9

Well, we got a day behind. Linda and I both had a weekend filled with difficulties, two birthday parties, (one HUGE one for our dear friend Liz, for her 40th birthday....Happy Birthday sweetheart, hope you were surprised and it was happy!) and complicated family relations, (pray for Linda and her family) so we got a day behind. Now we could just skip it, or read two days in one, but we figured that we wrote the book, and there is no 'hard and fast rule' for when to finish, so we decided that it would be ok just to forge ahead and be a day behind. So for all of you that are up to date, we appologize, but we also give you permission to take a day off if you need to. In fact, right here and right now, we want to give you permission to take as long as you need to complete the 12 Days of Christmas! In fact, if you take until Valentines Day, that's ok with us. Just get something out of it that you can take into this year. That is our hope and prayer: That God would use this to help you to dedicate yourself to him afresh this year, and you would carry that into all that you do this new year.

Our pastor spoke on that this morning. He was speaking on Luke, and ended with a story about Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Our pastor was meeting with his son, and was telling him what a great influence Bill Bright had had on him, and what a great man he was. Bill's son told our pastor that his father had wanted to go to Hollywood and make millions, but God had different plans. God changed his life, and Bill says that there are 2 things that made him the man he was. The first was spending time with God daily. The second was to dedicate himself afresh every morning. He did it like this:

(Paraphrasing) Lord, I dedicate myself to you today.
Guard my eyes that I will not look at anything that would displease you today.
Guard my ears that I would not listen to anything that you would not want me to.
Guard my mouth that I would say only the things that you would say today.
Guard my hands and feet that I would do and go to the places you want me to today.
Guard my heart that I do not let anything unworthy of you into it today.
Guard my home that I would represent you and not let anything harmful into it today.

Then our pastor finished up with Mary and Joseph. What an incredible responsibility they had to 'raise' the son of God. Imagine Mary's thought at that. I wouldn't want that responsibility! How many of us would feel like we could let Jesus come into our homes and stay with us? Could he watch what you watch? Could he read your books on the shelf? I won't go on because I am not the Holy Spirit in your life, and that is his job, but you get the picture. Suffice it to say that I felt convicted. And I am sure we all can think of some area that could use improvement. The point is, we have been entrusted with these precious children and they look to us for guidance. Let us be on our knees and guarding our lives, hearts and homes so we can be what he needs us to be for our families. And I just have to say that I am so thankful that his blood covers all my sins so even though I find that I am so unworthy, God looks at me through the blood of Jesus and my sin is washed away! Hallelujah!!!

We will be reading through the gospel of Luke this week so that is what I will be blogging about. So if you want a head start, read the first two chapters tonight or tomorrow. And let me know what God says to you. I know that if you read it expecting him to show up, he will!

Visit our website at www.12daysbook.com it is never too late to learn what the 12 days of Christmas is all about!!