Merry Christmas!

     Merry Christmas!! You are most likely thinking that this will be  post full of pictures from my Christmas, sorry to disappoint you but it is not. I will give you this link to see a video my mom made, enjoy.
    This post will not be your typical after Christmas blog post, it is going to be about struggle. Mainly my struggle this Christmas. Usually, at Christmas we all get exited to open gifts, see family, eat holiday treats, be with friends and celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have feelings of excitement, nostalgia, peace, happiness and belonging. These feelings make up what we have termed "the Christmas Spirit". For some reason that "spirit" was not in me, I was happy to have a break from school, be with family and eat good food, but something was missing. I was going though the motions of my family's traditions the different parties, seeing the lights in the park, and cooking for the brunch. through all these things I was putting up a front of being happy and exited but I was not.  I could not keep up the act for long. I became cranky, sensitive, short and critical of the ones I had missed for so long. My mom took me aside and asked what was the issue. When I told her she gave me some good advice. She told me to read my bible and talk to God. So, I read, prayed, cried, read some more and prayed again. I read the Christmas story in both Matthew and Luke. I read Genesis 15:1-6, Proverbs 3:5-8, Romans 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 10:19-25 35-39 11:1 and verse 6. I read 1 Kings 3:6-14, Romans 12:1-3, Ephesians 5:15-17, Colossians 1:912  and James 1:2-6. Reading these passages did not fill me with the "Christmas spirit" but they helped me to allow the Holy Spirit take control and fill me with joy and perfect peace. When I say joy  I am referring to the joy that comes from being a child of the one true King, an everlasting joy, that is not  dependent on my situation but on my standing with Christ. I was better enabled to focus on others than my self. I made me realize for so long the happiness that had come with Christmas before did come from the true source of my happiness but rather my selfish desires. This year the joy I got on Christmas came from remembering who I was to God and his Son, my Lord and Savior. Now I am not saying I am perfect but I am being made into the image of the reason for the season, and that is what is truly important to me and Him.  Happy New Year!         

promise

We all have had promises made to us and we have made promises ourselves.Sometimes those promises get broken and forgotten, but there is one who never brakes or forgets the promises he made. God always   keeps His promises. God promised to send a savior after the fall of man. Genesis 1:15 "And I will put enmity between thee (talking to the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel ." God promised Abraham that the savior would be one of his decedents. Genesis 22:18 "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." God promised  Bethlehem, a small town in Judah, that a great ruler would come out of her. Micah 5:2 "But thou, Beth-lehem Epratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." God promised to send a sign as to who the Messiah would be. Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." God kept all those promises and many more when he sent his Son to die for our sins! Jesus is the savior Genesis 3:15 talks about. Jesus is a decedent of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Luke 2:4-7 "And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the hours and lineage of David: to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swadling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Jesus was born of a virgin. Matthew 1:18, 22-23 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found of child of the holy Ghost." 22-23 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."  So in this Christmas season and all though out the year let us remember that God always keeps his promises!

Merry Christmas!! and a Happy New Year!!!!

Hannah!

Happy Birthday! you made it to 17!! We have had some crazy adventurers in those 17 years, praying that God gives us more crazy adventures in the next 17! Here is your present !! Hope you like it!!