Merry Christmas

^{Here we go. December. Christmas. Not gonna lecture you on what this season is about. I know that you know that I know that you know that Jesus is the reason, no matter what the commercials say and how many snow men and santa claus' and presents and trees we gather and display, Jesus is the reason for the season.}

^{I got my angel tree ornament, did you? I sent my son in with some cans for the food drive did you? Is that what Jesus died for, so that I could compete with or guilt someone into donating as much as me or feel guilty because they donated more than me? No, its not about that any more than it is about how many or how expensive the presents are that we buy for the people in our lives.}

^{You don't need me to tell you what the season is about. So I won't.}

^{Instead I will encourage you as I encourage myself to pray and speak and love, to worship and believe and give from our hearts. Only God knows what we can do this month, this year, this day that brings Him glory, that shines His light, that heals a heart or blesses a person, that changes a life in helping someone find Jesus by the way we live.}

^{Whenever we are getting stuck in the trap of how much you have or don't have,}

^{how much we want vs. how much we need,}

^{how many more Christmases or how few,}

^{be reminded that we have Jesus, so we have EVERYTHING and it is selfish not to share Him!}

^{Ask Him what that looks like in your life and then listen and DO whatever it is He shows you to do.}

^{Let's be a positive example of what it means to be a Christian, a Believer, a Follower of Christ!}

^{Thank you for serving Him. Believe He is who He says He is, trust Him and expect miracles this Christmas!}

^{Love and Praise in Christ,}

^Amy

^{Phillipians 1:27-30} Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they're up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You're involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter.

Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

Adoption

Adopted

2 days old
tiny, helpless, new
loved but alone
waiting

man and wife
hurting but loving
wanting a child
needing each other
love to give

4 days old
going home
mommy and daddy
only child
loved, wanted, chosen

I'm adopted. That's a personal thing to share I guess. I don't think much about protecting this information, though it doesn't come up too often in conversation, I'm open.

I am blessed. I was adopted at 4 days old by a family who wanted, loved and cared for me and still does to this day. We are a family. I could not have chosen a better family if the Lord had allowed me to. I can share many memories and events that speak to how blessed I am.
If you've known me very long you probably have already heard some of them, and even some of the ways, like families do, they drive me crazy.

That's not why I'm talking about adoption though. I'm led to share because there is a thread of rejection that weaves all those who were adopted together. Rejection. How can you feel rejected when you were chosen? When, like my Daddy still says when he talks about my adoption, "you were handpicked", how can you possibly feel rejected? I don't know how really, I just know you do. We do. Every person I've ever met, heard a story about, watched that show on TV where people are reunited with there birth parent or siblings, I see and hear that thread, that feeling of unwantedness. That knowledge that before we were chosen, we were rejected.

I felt it for as long as I knew I was adopted. My parents have always been open about it. I don't remember the first time they told me I've just always known. But no matter how much I was loved and cared for, somewhere in the back of my mind I still felt rejected. I wondered what I could have done, though I was just a baby, new and blameless, for my birth mother and father to have given me away. What was wrong with me?

As I grew up I went from being hurt or sad to confused and angry. Then, when I was 16 I met a girl about my age, who had put her baby up for adoption. I didn't know her when this happened, we met a year or so later when we were on the same sports team. She didn't know I was adopted and one day, on the way to a game, she started telling me about all this. She got pregnant, she couldn't keep the baby so she put it up for adoption. It was a girl, the family was nice, they send her pictures of the little girl through the lawyer who handled it all. She's says the little girl is pretty, has dark hair and the family is happy. But the next thing she says changed my heart forever. I know now that God orchestrated that conversation to heal my heart. I will never forget it and share it every time God leads me to in the hope that He will use my experience to heal more hearts, encourage more adoptions, inspire life and hope instead of fear and death.

She says, "if I had to do it over again, I would have an abortion". I don't remember all that she said after that, something about, stretch marks and labor pains, etc. I just burst into tears. I couldn't help it. For the first time I finally knew that my birth mother had to love me. She loved me enough to have me. She loved me enough to give me life and give me away. I was not rejected, I was gifted with life and love. I still remember saying, calmly even if through tears, when she asked me why I was crying, "I was adopted and if my mother thought that way, I wouldn't be here right now".

I wasn't mad at her, I was relieved to understand and appreciate the gift that I was given for the first time. I came to understand more, especially after having children of my own. Life is a gift of grace. God has a plan for each life, each child, even if we can't imagine it because the situation we are in is too painful or difficult for us to see what that plan might be.

Love is a gift of choice. We have to choose to give it. I am so thankful I was given life and love. I pray that I make God proud, my parents proud (birth and chosen), my husband and children proud of how I choose to live this life I've been given.

It's a work in progress, and I have more to learn but my wounds no longer include rejection. I'm adopted by a loving family but the bigger picture is I'm adopted by the KING! My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! His love and will is perfect and only in Him do I find wholeness and acceptance and peace. I can't earn it, I don't deserve it, HE gives it freely. This is the real gift of life and love. Ask me about His gifts in my life. He comes up in conversation a lot!

Who you callin' an Active Reactor?

What makes you act? Not Hollywood acting but the protect, care, love, hurt, help kind of act?

Act = "The process of doing or performing something."
React = "to act in return or reciprocally"

Are you a self-motivator who sets goals, makes a plan and achieves them without needing anyone to tell you what to do?

Are you someone who goes along with no purpose until you have to react to an event, attack, encouragement or presented need?

Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

We're Active Reactors.

(I think I made that up. It was floating around in my head this morning. Anyway.)

We act by performing our jobs, providing for our families, paying our bills, without outside input or motivation, but when it comes to stepping outside our own bubbles, reaching out to act before we're asked or made aware of a need we struggle. We can barely keep up with our family's needs and we're just doing our best to "survive". Instead of acting on our own to reach out, we are most often reactors here.

Me too. Most days I'm just trying to stay ahead of the daily expectations....,
family, job, home, health. If I see a need on the prayer list or a phone call, email, TV brings one to my attention, I react and do the best I can to help, care, advocate and communicate. Who has time to look around for more things to do?It's hard enough to keep our own family safe, together and well, how can we be expected to look out for someone else? Right? We can't save the world.

Okay then. Fine. We agree. We're off the hook. Phew.

But if I look into my heart, I really don't want to be off the hook. More importantly, as a believer that should not be a relief. I should not be satisfied with just surviving in my world. God's word says so many times in so many ways that we should reach out:

serve one another in love (Gal. 5:13),
whatever you did for the least of these you did for me (Matt. 25:34-40)
spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Heb. 10:21)
seek justice, encourage the oppressed (Isa. 1:17)
Romans chapter 12 speaks on this.

So, none of us are called to save the world. We are called to make a difference where we are for Christ. If each of us act daily and share His goodness and love, the world will be saved by knowing Him. If each day we just look around and find even one need to meet or one friend to encourage or one cause that to reach out to and make a difference for in Jesus name He wins.

Even within our bubble we can reach out to our child or parent or spouse with more than our every day effort. A note, a hug, a quiet moment of time that is just for them.

Pray for me as I pray with you to ACT.
Find whoever God is calling us to reach out to today. Where can we

speak His name

send a note
give a hug
listen only
give money
admit to your spouse you were wrong
give time
call just to say HI
tell a teenager they are right
text a Bible verse
visit a patient
tell a parent what a great kid they have
thank a teacher

say I love you
praise a child

Think of one thing you would just love to have someone do for you and then ask God to bring to mind the person who needs you to do this for them, then ACT.

It would be a blessing to hear and share your comments on what act you chose today.

Love and Purpose in Christ,
Amy

No more enemy.

John 10:10 "The [enemy's] purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

Reminded of this verse today and just led to speak it. Be encouraged that God loves you and desires you to have peace, love and joy. Look to Him for fulfillment, not this world, not more stuff, not physical beauty or popularity. If you depend on the world you will always be wanting for more, if you depend on God you will always have everything you need. He is never too far away or too busy for you. You are LOVED!!!

Children's book review

Love Your Heart by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas,
Illustrations by Abigail Marble

I am blessed to be a Daddy’s girl myself, so reading Love Your Heart brings back sweet memories. It’s a touching story, written from the perspective of a Daddy who makes time with his daughter a positive priority. The main character is the bright and enthusiastic Katie. She is trying to choose what fabulous talent she will perform to win her school’s talent show. In the end she decides that there are more important things than winning. While it is a grown-up friendly book, it will relate especially well to ages 4 to 10.

Though the expressive and cheerful illustrations revolve around a pink dress and frilly pajama wearing Katie, this story is certainly not just for girls. Mix in her dog Palio, a little mud and her child’s heart for friendship and all readers can connect with its simple message of love and kindness. The authors make clear that Katie’s Daddy loves and supports her unconditionally, while encouraging her to love herself and others and look to God for help in making her decisions. This is just one of those books you can read with someone you love over and over and never lose your smile.


Thomas Nelson has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy for participating with their book review site. Click on the BookSneeze icon to get more info.