Laced With Grace

Lately I keep seeing “Benjamin” everywhere it seems. As I walk through stores I notice displays of personalized holiday items. It’s a habit for me to stop and look even if I won’t buy the items because I want to see if they have my name (from experience I know they more than likely do not). As I glance over the displays one name keeps jumping out at me…the little snowman that says “Benjamin,” the light up key chains flashing “Benjamin,” the “Benjamin” on the kids bicycle license plates. Then at night our son’s bedtime story was about Joseph and his brothers and how he wanted to see “Benjamin.”

It was happening so often that finally it clicked. I think God was reminding me to pray. Our friends’ (Benjamin and Sondra) four year old son died in October. I know the holidays will be extremely difficult for them, and they are on our hearts and minds daily. God was using these personalized gifts to remind me to say a prayer for Ben and Sondra.

Do you know anyone who is facing their first (or maybe fourth or twentieth) holiday season without a special loved one? Remember to pray for these people as you go about your holiday routines and traditions. As you gather with family, remember those who have one less neck to hug this year. As you buy gifts, buy something to give to the family members with the person’s name on it (like an ornament) to let them know you have not forgotten their loved one. Maybe you have a little extra money and could even make a donation to a charity in honor of their loved one. As you send out your Christmas cards, remember to send a note to let them know you are praying for them.

We are told in Romans 12:15–

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

We need to be there for those who are suffering during this holiday season. We need to remember it may not be a happy time for them, and we need to be there to lift them up.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. I pray God blesses you this holiday season and shows you His love in new ways.

Have a day of blessings!

First I want to say Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, what a pleasure it is to write for this devotional blog each month. I know it is only a few days until Christmas, but I am looking forward to 2010.

I wanted to let you know my friend Kathy Howard, who is a speaker and author, recently released NEW FOR 2010! KEY CHARACTERS BIBLE READING PLAN.  What is awesome is she has made it FREE to download.  I have already downloaded my copy, be sure to stop by and get this awesome new reading plan for 2010!

I read and reviewed a book by Donald S. Whitney titled Spiritual Disciplines, it left a profound impact on my spiritual walk. Below is an article written by Donald Whitney, reproduced with permission. Merry Christmas!
_____________________________________________________

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

11. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?

12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?

13. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?

14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?

15. Who do you most want to encourage this year?

16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?

17. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?

18. What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

19. What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?

20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?

21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?

22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?

23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?

24. What’s the most important trip you want to take this year?

25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?

26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?

27. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?

28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?

29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?

30. What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year?

31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

The value of many of these questions is not in their profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by articulating which person you most want to encourage this year is more likely to help you remember to encourage that person than if you hadn’t considered the question.

If you’ve found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace—in a day planner, PDA, calendar, bulletin board, etc.—where you can review them more frequently than once a year.

So let’s evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage” (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let’s also remember our dependence on our King who said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

God’s Girl,

Lori

Find me daily:

Copyright ? 2003 Donald S. Whitney.

Copyright Disclaimer: All the information contained on the Center for Biblical Spirituality website is copyrighted by Donald S. Whitney. Permission granted to copy this material in its complete text only for not-for-profit use (sharing with a friend, church, school, Bible study, etc.) and including all copyright information. No portion of this website may be sold, distributed, published, edited, altered, changed, broadcast, or commercially exploited without the prior written permission from Donald S. Whitney.

Photo by enimal

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matt. 6:19-20

 
Stuff. We all have it. Make no mistake about it, our houses, cars, rooms, cupboards and even purses are filled with it. Things you once loved or didn’t, now stuffed in a closet, behind a chair, under a bed or overhead in the attic. If you were to make a list of all the stuff you have in boxes, stacked in the garage, or tossed beneath a cabinet, you couldn’t. Forgotten stuff, used only for a time, not to be remembered again.

Stuff holds us in bondage. It keeps us from moving forward, from focusing on the present. And, at times, it overwhelms us. Yet, each Christmas I want more of it. I check the Sunday ads searching for it. Not only do I want more stuff, I want to give stuff to my husband and children too.

My teenage daughter Meghan, recently told me a story her college professor shared with her class. It helped me see “stuff” in a much different way.

As the students filed into the college class for their final exam, they were greeted by their teacher. He was standing beside a table of archaic looking items. As each curious student came forward, their professor explained the odd -looking objects, and then proceeded to try and sell them to his students.
“This here is an 8-track player. I’ll sell it to you for $100.00.”
“Are you kidding? Those are obsolete. No one uses 8-track players anymore.” The student smirked.
“Well, how about this transistor radio? I’ll give you a deal…$40.00.”
Another student peered over the table and laughed at his teacher. “That transistor radio is a dinosaur. And it only gets AM!”
“Ok, then how about this TV?” The professor waved his arm towards the gargantuan television, towering over the table.“I’ll give you a bargain…$500.00.”
A chorus of students roared with laughter. “Is this a joke? I bet that TV weighs 500lbs!” The students crouched down to get a better look. “Are those dials for changing the channels? Cmon’ professor!” Their laughter had them doubled over by now.
As they chuckled and giggled, their teacher calmly shared, “Men and women… some of them your own mothers and fathers, worked long hours to bring this “stuff” home to their family. Time taken away from their loved ones was used instead to bring a couple smiles, and a few light moments to those they cared about. Not much has changed today. People are working harder and longer to give those they love “stuff”. When what matters, what really counts, is time. And in time, even your newest and neatest toy this Christmas will become archaic, odd and obsolete.”
The teacher looked around his classroom. The laughter had stopped.

This Christmas, take a moment and ask the Lord to help you discover something your husband and children can’t tuck away to be forgotten in a box or on a shelf. Take a walk together. Make cookies together. Share a cup of cocoa together. Cuddle on the couch together. Play a game together. Love on one another and laugh together. Memories should be the “stuff” we tuck away in our hearts this holiday season.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for putting my eyes on “stuff”, open my eyes to your eternal gifts. Thank you for your precious son and the earthly blessings you have given me in my family. Help me to make time this Christmas season to build memories that will bring us laughter, comfort, and joy throughout our lives. I love you so much Jesus. Please continue to be the only “stuff” I focus on this week.

Merry CHRISTmas Laced with Grace-friends! Come by and say hello at my blog Blessed… www.onesoblessed.com