Everlasting Love

Lydia (not her real name) as far as I know was born in the church. Her father was a deacon and her mother sang in the choir. Baby Lydia was dedicated to the Lord by her parents spending many hours of her young life at church. From the very beginning she heard Jesus Loves Me This I  Know believing it with all her heart. She wanted the whole world to know or at least her little part of it that she was following Jesus, so at a tender young age she was baptized dying to sin and being born again, a new creature in Christ. As a teen she went to Sunday School, was on the quiz team, and did what she thought was all the right things to do as a follower of Jesus. As she graduated from high school her heart's desire was to be a wife and mom, God granted that desire to her, following in the footsteps of her mother, raising children and keeping a beautiful home for her family, worshipping and working in her church.
And yet...


many, many years later when visited by her pastor she would repeat over and over: "O pastor, I hope I make it to heaven when I leave this nursing home." I'm just not sure I will see Jesus when I leave this body behind."


How sad for Lydia, who had lived her life, coming to the end of it, not sure if she would be with her Savior.

Makes me wonder if she had not heard that God's love and faithfulness is everlasting.

"Thus says the Lord...I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

Jeremiah 31:3

Building my hope on Jesus' blood and His righteousness, as I worship the newborn King.

What is Advent?

This is a post by Noel Piper answering the question-What Is Advent?

I Pledge Allegiance

With Christmas festivities and celebrations come thoughts of family as we gather to celebrate and worship the newborn King.
It is my goal to center my celebrations around Jesus just as we did when we set up our white ceramic nativity a couple of nights ago, putting Jesus at the center of the nativity. 
God continues to reveal my heart to me and where my treasure is. I've given much thought to a verse I read early in my college days that was disconcerting to me:

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."

Matthew 10:37-38

I wondered what God was trying to tell a young woman who had lived with her family in one house for 18 years, had extended family within miles of her, and loved the security of growing up in one place her entire life. I had to ask myself at that time if I loved my family more than Christ.

Fast forward to today when I've moved several times, left family, church family and good friends to follow Christ in ministry and this verse in Luke hit me between the eyes:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:26

I've had to find the answer, for those of you who know me very well, you know my relationship with family members is the most important one after my relationship with Christ.

These passages along with others tell us to count the cost of following Christ. Jesus does not encourage us to abandon our family responsibilites, but wants "unqualified allegiance to God and His Kingdom. Our love of God must take precedence over every other human relationship."

(ESV Bible Notes).

"Unqualified allegiance" will look different for me than it does for you. This is where the rubber meets the road(what does that mean exactly? :) )
Praying God continues to point my heart toward Him this Christmas which then helps me to love others whether family, friends or neighbors.
Where does my allegiance lie this Christmas?

An opportunity to win a book by Elyse Fitzpatrick, one of my favorite authors. Check it out at
Christian Book Notes .

Our church as an updated web site which has a lot of information about the ministries of our church and an easy way to listen to sermons if you missed hearing the message on Sunday. You can see the baptism photos I posted about here. The church web site is www.lafayettealliance.org

Rejoicing!

"And Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation."

Luke 1:46-50

May I rejoice as Mary did because of his mercy to me a sinner, sending Jesus as a baby to die for me who needed a Savior.

I am rejoicing!

Pointing To Jesus

I can't believe today is the beginning of our last month of 2009. It seems I was just getting last minute wrapping paper and tape at the grocery store and here we are twelve months later.
Our Christmas music began a few days before Thanksgiving, I put away all my fall decorations last Friday and Lauren is itching to take the boxes out of the garage so we can start decorating. Not sure when we will get our tree, Justin usually does it for us, and we want to have it up and looking good  when he is home around the first of January.
I start my baking today with some goodies for the elder's meeting at church tonight. Saturday we will be putting together goody baskets for shut-ins, our senior saints, and those who need some extra cheer this time of year. Baking looks to be in my future for the next few weeks.
Our family loves Christmas and we celebrate with music, food, decorations and parties. We remind ourselves along with Noel Piper(John Piper's wife):

"May our decorations, gifts, and festivities--or lack of them--never block our view of him but always point us toward him.