Who loves Christmas? Since I was a little girl I have loved Christmas!! I learned, growing up in church, that Jesus is the reason for the season, Joy to the World the Lord is Come, and it was a Silent Night! I know that without Christ there would be no Christmas. I am so glad that Jesus came to earth and died and rose so that I could have everlasting life through him!!!
Every year at Christmas time I would look so forward to going to Granny's for Christmas Eve and Grandma's Christmas night. On Christmas Eve we would listen to the same cassette tape and make sugar cookies, date nut balls, and rolls at our house. Then we would travel the long 5 minute car ride over to Granny's to share our goodies with all of my cousins. There are six siblings on my mom's side of the family and I have 18 cousins (and now between all of the cousins we almost have 40 kids) so you can imagine that it was a little hectic at Granny and Pappaw's house. I loved getting to play outside until it was time to eat, then eat all the scrumptious holiday food, then beg our parents to let us open the presents under the tree! Among the many traditions that I share with my family is Christmas Caroling. Before we could open any presents,the girls would pile up in our van and the boys in Aunt Phyllis' van and off we went to sing to all of our close family friends! The list has changed over the years but it is still a tradition that must be carried on. We would finally get back to the house and open our presents, then our parents would rush us out the door to get back home before Santa came to visit our house! I could go on and on about Christmas, but I will stop here...some of the greatest memories of my life are from Christmas time!!
Now that I'm older and I get to spend Christmas with Josh's family, I realize that not everyone shares a crazy Christmas with a house full of screaming kids, but I still love it! I cannot wait to step into Granny's house on Christmas Eve this year and start making memories with Ashby! Her memories will be different than mine, but they will be filled with love. Big families are crazy but I wouldn't want it any other way!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Maybe Not How You Wanted Your Life To Turn Out...
Please read this carefully...
What do you think God's view of your life's puzzle looks like? Do you think it has any resemblance to what you see when you think of your puzzle? We all know that there are pieces of our puzzle that don't match up to what we think the whole thing looks like. We can't see it all so to us some of the pieces are a very big disappointment! Some people feel like just because God hasn't made our puzzle look the way we want it to look means that our whole life is a mess. I believe that even when things don't turn out exactly like you want them to, God is still in control! Instead of looking at only one piece I think we should look at all the surrounding pieces. The only way we can have blessings in our lives is if we let them be blessings. Take a look around you and instead of counting everything as loss, reach out for the blessings! As all of you know there have been pieces of my puzzle that I would love to rip up and throw in the garbage, but I know that the puzzle is a beautiful creation. So, I take the messed up pieces, hand them to God and allow him to continue to piece together the puzzle of my life. He tells me that I am beautifully and wonderfully made and that he holds every bit of me in his hands. So why be bitter about the things I don't like. Just take it all in and give it to him and he can make a masterpiece out of a bunch of scribbles!
I hope you can look for the blessings in your life and concentrate on that instead of wallowing in thoughts of your life not turning out the way you had planned!
What do you think God's view of your life's puzzle looks like? Do you think it has any resemblance to what you see when you think of your puzzle? We all know that there are pieces of our puzzle that don't match up to what we think the whole thing looks like. We can't see it all so to us some of the pieces are a very big disappointment! Some people feel like just because God hasn't made our puzzle look the way we want it to look means that our whole life is a mess. I believe that even when things don't turn out exactly like you want them to, God is still in control! Instead of looking at only one piece I think we should look at all the surrounding pieces. The only way we can have blessings in our lives is if we let them be blessings. Take a look around you and instead of counting everything as loss, reach out for the blessings! As all of you know there have been pieces of my puzzle that I would love to rip up and throw in the garbage, but I know that the puzzle is a beautiful creation. So, I take the messed up pieces, hand them to God and allow him to continue to piece together the puzzle of my life. He tells me that I am beautifully and wonderfully made and that he holds every bit of me in his hands. So why be bitter about the things I don't like. Just take it all in and give it to him and he can make a masterpiece out of a bunch of scribbles!
I hope you can look for the blessings in your life and concentrate on that instead of wallowing in thoughts of your life not turning out the way you had planned!
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