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May You Have A Happy & Holy Christmas!

What can we possibly say- Thank You 🙂

The Night Before Christmas :)

Our Savior on earth is coming! We are saved! Can anything be greater than that? How do we say Thank You for saving our lives? How do we say Thank You for being with us-always! How do we Thank Jesus for all that He suffered after He came-just so we could go to Heaven and call on Him while on earth?

How do we thank Jesus for loving us so?

It’s simple. We just say Thank You 🙂

This night before Christmas, surrounded by those we love, what can we give our Lord who has given us so much?

We can give Him us-completely and forever.

And we can commit to loving God and others as He loves us, with our whole soul and our whole heart. Amen 🙂

“Dance With Me Lord, Lover Of My Soul” :)

“The winter is past and the spring time has come”

Next year, there can be no doubt that there will be some very difficult days. But when you “dance” with the Lord, all that will fade away. “Spring time” and all the happy thoughts that it brings will arrive in the very depths of your soul and your heart will cry out with a joy that only the Holy Spirit can give.

“Winter” will only have real power over you if you allow it to. Heaven waits for all of us and “winter” has no power there-ever.

So let us fix our eyes on our Lord and “Dance” with Him. And teach those we love to “Dance” with Him as well 🙂

Happiness is a choice, Choose wisely 🙂

Remembering & Forgetting :)

I read a book once, it talked of Faith being a cycle of “Remembering & Forgetting”. When we are in the presence of God we are so filled with joy, so sure of our path :). But when we are not, sometimes we forget how to get there. Or we even forget it exists.

But then we are in God’s Presence again and it as if the Sun came out from behind the clouds lighting everything with a warm, golden light. Warming us from the inside out and filling us once again 🙂

Sometimes God just places us in His Presence. Sometimes our cry to our Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit helps us find the way. Sometimes, when we are really in need, the Holy Spirit just lifts us up. God’s Mercy is Great!

But no matter how it happens, it is real.

And like anything else worth doing, it takes practice.

Fortunately for us, God is Happy to Help 🙂

The Love Of Christ :)

It’s hard to even begin to imagine the depth of the Love it would take for anyone to come down from Heaven to Earth, much less the depth of Love and Strength it took for Jesus who knew the painful future He would face-just to rescue us.

I wish that I could say that I would do that, but I just don’t have the Love and Strength that Jesus has.

And I think of the love that Mary and Joseph must have had both for our Father and for Jesus, and for us. And I am so very grateful to all of them. I always will be. Just as I am so very grateful to the Holy Spirit. Always. ?

But there is another reason that I am so very grateful to Jesus. He’s always there for me. When I am happy and when I am sad. When I am strong and when I am weak. When I am laughing and loving, and when I am lonely and lost. Jesus is always there-loving me.

No matter how I am. No matter where I am. Jesus is with me. If I fall, Jesus picks me up. And if I get lost, Jesus comes running after me. He never lets me get lost for long and His love for me is not dependent on any actions I take-or don’t take. And Jesus listens, really listens, all the time, with an intentness and compassion that would touch the hardest of hearts.

Jesus Loves me Unconditionally. And unlike the world, which often measures our success by our financial or career success. Jesus doesn’t measure mine. He just wants me to love Him back ?.

We love Jesus, because He loved us first. So this Christmas, let’s just say Thank You ?

Prayer :)

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without praying”-Martin Luther

There are so many reasons to pray. For our needs and the needs of others. To thank our Lord. For forgiveness and help forgiving others. To share with God our day and our feelings. To listen to God and to seek direction. For faith, for strength, for wisdom, for courage, for God’s Will to be done (the best prayer :)…the list is endless 🙂

But there is one thing I pray for that is not usually mentioned that is important. It is almost like an insurance policy, lol. I pray that when I don’t feel like praying, I will. I pray that when I get busy , I will never be to busy for our Lord. And I pray that if my faith ever falters, that God will forgive me and “restore to me the joy of my salvation”.

We, as Christians, need to pray like other people breathe :). So this Christmas, let’s commit to a life of daily prayer. Share our day and our worries with God. Listen to God speak. Believe me, God is happy to hear from us and He does truly Listen 🙂

We Are One Family In Christ!

There are many Youtube videos shared on FollowingJesusUS.com. Most of them are of The Blessing being sung around the world. There is a reason for that ?

It’s really important, especially right now, to remember that we are first and foremost citizens of Heaven. Our Faith in Jesus unites us as one family and we are going to Heaven together!

Politicians may come into power and make good or poor choices. We can pray for them, but we can’t change them. But with Christ’s Help, we can change ourselves.

For example, Putin may indeed make some poor choices, but that doesn’t mean those Christians who happen to live in Russia are responsible for them. The same with China. Many Chinese officials may make poor, even evil, choices, but that does not mean that Christians who live in China are responsible for them.

As Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we are called to love and pray for one another. The future may bring conflict among some countries, but let it not bring conflict among us.

We are one people. God’s people. Saved by Jesus for all eternity. Let no one break us apart ?

Jesus’ Staff

In Psalm 23:4, The Bible says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

A Staff is used by a Shepherd to guide His sheep (us). The Shepherd uses the curved end to catch a sheep that is straying. It’s reassuring that Jesus goes after a sheep that strays and brings him back home. Because let’s face it, at some point, most of us stray at least a little.

And it’s comforting to know that Jesus doesn’t just let us go. He comes after us and brings us home ?

So thank you Jesus for all the times you have come after me. Thank you Father for your constant and never ending Mercy. And Thank You Holy Spirit for helping me understand God’s Great Love For All Of Us. Amen 🙂

The Blessing: Ukraine

The Iron Rod and the Choice!

We seek God’s Face, not His Power. But it is important to understand just how Great God’s Power IS. He created this world. The sun, the earth, the seas, the mountains and us…That took great power ?. A power so vast, we can not even begin to understand or imagine it.

In the Bible, it talk’s of Christ’s “Rod of Iron” in many passages. And it depicts His Rod in many ways, but there is one way that is a little different from some of the others.

In Psalm 23:4, The Bible says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The “rod” in some ways represents God’s Great Power, as well as His Power to protect us. It can be used to Protect His sheep (us), just as it can be used to ensure that Justice comes to those who choose to reject Christ. God gave us a choice: Justice or Mercy-and the freedom to make it.

Choose wisely ?