Merry Christmas!!!

 Tonight, I am 33 years old in Christ.

Christmas Eve 1989- I was 5 years old. My dad was my pastor, and I had been in church since before I was born. We had a rule in our house, once in bed, no coming back downstairs. That night, I could feel the conviction of God, although I didn't know what it was at that time. I afraid. I knew that sin was all the bad things I had done like lying, fighting, disobeying..., and I knew that there was punishment for sin, death in Hell. My dad may have preached about Hell in church on that night. All I know is I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about my sin.

 

I quietly slipped downstairs and stood at the doorway to the living room watching my dad as he sat in the light of the Christmas tree. He finally looked up and said, "What do you need?" I didn't say anything, I just went and crawled into his lap. He then started asking me questions, and I told him I needed to get saved. He explained everything I knew by heart from church. he then asked me if I understood I was a sinner. I shook my head yes. He asked if I believed Jesus died for my sin, and I said yes. He then told me that if I wanted to ask Jesus to forgive my sin and save me, I could pray and tell Jesus. I bowed my head and prayed. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember that my heart felt light, and I wasn't afraid to go to sleep.

 

Today, I passed out 75 loaves of gingerbread to our neighborhood. Everyone who accepted the breads, which was all but one person, were so happy and thankful. The one who didn't accept the read was a lady who lost her husband in October. She told me she wasn't doing anything Christmasy because she didn't want to think about it without her husband. Please pray that I can be blessing to her and win her to Christ. Each loaf of bread had a tract and a short Christmas story and plan of salvation with it.

 

Tomorrow, we will have a carol sing at our church. Please pray we have a good attendance, and that we have visitors.

Tis the Season to be Jolly

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas season even through difficulties they may be facing. So far, we have had two light snows, but we may be getting a heavier snow this weekend. While I am not a fan of the usually extremely long, cold winters of Maine, I do like snow. This year, I decorated our porches and tree outside with lights and garland. I will be putting up a manger scene banner when it arrives. We have had our Christmas tree decorated since October, but that was so my mom could celebrate with my brother's family while they were here.

We held our annual children's Christmas play this past Sunday. Each year, I choose a theme for the play even though it is always the same, simple story of Christ's birth taken from Scripture. This year's theme was Have You Any Room For Jesus. There were mishaps for me and interruptions, but the kids did fabulous as always. We had 12 visitors, and 9 of those were first timers. The spirit was great among the people. Please pray that some of these visitors will return for other services. 6 of the visitors were from group homes for people with disabilities. While some of our regular members were missing, God sent us the ones we compelled from the hedges, the halt and hurting.

Mom held our annual Ladies' Christmas party last night, and we had 12 ladies attend. The spirit was great, and the night was full of laughter. At the end, some shared testimonies. It was a nice time of fellowship. 

The 20th is fast approaching, and on that day, we need everyone who will to pray for God to work some mighty miracles. Satan is working overtime to destroy families because he knows his time is short. Pray that truth will be upheld and for Satan to be bound.

If all continues to go well, I should be in Puerto Rico starting in March. I will finish out the last 9 weeks of school for a friend who is getting married. After that, I hope to begin preparing for trips to England and Europe. Again, if all goes well, I hope to be headed there by the end of next year.

Baby Joel continues to do well. He had another heart cath today, and he had a stent put in to the artery which was narrow. He is just about to walking stage, and knows quite a few words including my name. :-) Yep, this aunt was pretty proud that he said my name before Mimi or Grandpa.

Blessings to all who support me and pray for me.