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Friday, December 18, 2009

Happy Birthday and Thank you!


For nine years now, December has definitely become the busiest month of the entire year for me; yet it is the most wonderful and the most fun for me and my entire family. We enjoy the regular Christmas festivities along with my son’s birthday celebration just 9 days before Christmas. I know others also have December birthdays and have similar stories of the hustle and bustle and juggling of busy schedules; but I can only speak of my own juggling journey.
Today it is one week before Christmas, and as my son writes out his thank you cards to all those who wished him well this birthday, our hearts turn to another One celebrating a birthday in just a few short days.
My boys and I chatted on the way to school this morning about how different this is…we remember His birthday and we are saying, “Thank you!” For it is Christ’s birth that has changed our lives!
We read this morning in 1Sam 16:14 and our hearts were heavy; hearing of a man who made some bad choices and the Bible says, “The Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul.” My boys know very well that God is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9) and they were heart sick to hear of how the Spirit had left this man and were prompted to ask why did God allow that to happen? Would God leave us now if we made bad choices like Saul did?
I cannot even begin to explain or claim to have the knowledge of God’s ways…but I do know that this story brought us to remember Jesus and say thank you! Before Jesus was born, people like Saul did not have the opportunity to live with God like we do now! The Spirit was upon others before Jesus was born when God had a particular task to complete for His great purposes—but ALL of us who accept Christ now are given this gift of the Holy Spirit. We have a Counselor that is with us forever because of Jesus (John 14:16) and nothing—not our choices or the choices that others make that effect our lives—can separate us from Christ (Romans 8:38-39). Hallelujah and THANK YOU JESUS!
As we pray and tell God and Jesus thank you…may our hearts be open and our minds quiet to hear Him also say, “Thank you!” In the business of this season as we are serving and doing our part to make joyous things happen for those we love; we may realize that our efforts go unnoticed by those around us. It’s in those times that God wants us to hear His voice—those times that we remember God notices everything and He wants to say, “Thank you.”

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