25 Days of Christmas~Day 7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

 

This child, this tiny baby in the manger, He was given to all of us.
 
What do we see when we look at this small image? 

Do we see the One who will rule the world?

Our memories are stirred when we come to the manger every year. . . .

To read the rest of this post,

come join me at:

Purposeful and Meaningful 

where I am so excited to be sharing with my friend,

Ifeoma Samuel. We have prayerfully prepared

short devotionals and activities

for your family this Season!


~~~~~~

Over on Instagram @HopeHeartHome,

the prompt is "Hope"

for today's #HolyHaiku.

And my heart was set to remember

a surprise sleigh ride that was a gift 

from my husband several years ago.

Into a dark time, his gift 

stirred an even deeper gift

of hope for my heart:

 

My heart is praying for you today,

to be blessed with

HOPE

from the heart of Jesus

and LIGHT 

on the darkest

of days, because

HE IS OUR PEACE. 

I am linking today with:

Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday 

Jaime Wiebel, #SittingAmongFriends 

25 Days of Christmas - Day 5

“Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news,
    who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
    and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you;
    they will be completely destroyed” Nahum 1:15

Did you know that God designed times for celebration? 
 
Sometimes we tend to think that people are the ones who dreamed up joy and laughter. We place God in our “serious box,” and set Him aside when we want to have fun.

But He tells us to celebrate the festivals! . . .

To read the rest of this post

please join me over at

Purposeful and Meaningful

where I am so blessed to be sharing with

my friend Ifeoma Samuel

for short devotions, activities, and prayers

for your family this Christmas Season.

Be Blessed!

And for another #HolyHaiku

today's prompt over at Instagram

with my friend, Susan Shipe
@Hopehearthome,

is "Still."  And since

this has been my #OneWord all year,

I was blessed when my husband and I

stopped by the lake close to our home

this past weekend, and saw

the beautiful still waters:

 

  

I pray that you are finding

moments both of stillness

and of celebration

during this Season

of Advent.

I am linking today with:

Meg Weyerbacher #TeaAndWordTuesday 

Jennifer Dukes Lee, #TellHisStory 

 

Deep Unto Deep

We were drenched with rain this weekend, after a long dry spell. And my heart answered the call of those raindrops when a writing prompt was given by Jamie Wright Bagley over at her blog last week. 

 Click here,

to find her own words and the question, 

"What do you do when the rain calls you?" 

Splashing, sputtering, swishing,
The rain washes everything in sight
Including me!
I come
The drops wash over my soul
Splashing, sputtering, surrendering.

--BG

 

 

But when the sun broke through, the call to surrender

continued. Here in this place of stillness and slow,

my heart is looking up, longing to find HIS beautiful

freedom.

And after a long break, I found Haiku words again for the poetry challenge given by Ronovan Hester here,

at his site, where the prompts this week were "Darkness&Deep." 

Deep Unto Deep

Out of the darkness

comes a cry, deep unto deep

Light answers, flows free. 

--BG

 "Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life."

Psalm 42:7-8 NIV 

There will come a day when darkness 
will no longer hold sway
over our hearts.

The gray of the rain 
will be washed
to brightest blue.

The pain of this world
will be measured pure
with healing for all
who wait for Jesus
to bring us Home.

So color my days here now
with hope for the journey
surrendered
and
free
Looking above.  

And here is the announcement I promised last week! The winner of Susan Chamberlain Shipe's latest book, 52 Commands of Jesus for Children is my instagram follower: ggmullins2016!

I will be in touch with you to get your mailing address, and Susan will ship your book to you! Congratulations!! 

(I used the service at Random.org to generate the results.) 

 

The book is available
 on Amazon here
for anyone who
would like a great 
resource for
Family Devotions! 


And click here
for Susan's own website,
where she offers more coloring
pages for you to download.

I am linking this week with these great bloggers:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 
Barbie Swihart, #Glimpsesofhisbeauty 
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday 

52 Commands of Jesus for Children

 

(In exchange for my review, the author provided this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  All opinions are purely my own)

"Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: 'God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.'”  Matthew 28:18-20 MSG




On the same day that my daughter asked me for some good ideas on how to train up her two-year old son in the knowledge of Jesus, my friend Susan Chamberlain Shipe sent out an invitation to join the launch team for her newly published family devotional.   

Isn't that just like God?  

Doesn't He always find a way to show us that He is with us, day after day?

And so, this blogpost is being shared with my daughter today! After I read over the book, and gathered my own thoughts for my review, I sent the book home with her.  Listen to her thoughts on how the book has impacted her family already:

 

"This book is very well written for older children, although my 2 year old son enjoys coloring the pages while I paraphrase the stories for him. I am blessed to see a new devotional for children as I am always looking for something for my son and I to work on together. I think it is so important to instill the foundations of God's word as soon as possible in our kids! Each lesson is set up in a one or two page format with easy reading, and good questions to ask kids. It also inspires different activities to do with children to apply God's word to everyday life."

--Becky

(I admit I have a little Grandma-Bias, but isn't that just the cutest picture ever?)

You can even find additional coloring pages to download, if you

click here and go to Susan's website.

I so appreciated the way that Susan combined each of the commands that Jesus spoke, with a character trait for your children to grow in.  Without practical applications, it becomes easy to quickly read the words of Jesus and promptly forget everything you just heard!

In the chapter titled "Let Your Light Shine," the character trait connected is "Generosity."  And the discussion questions call for ideas and ways to be generous with others as we let the Light of Jesus shine on those around us.  I loved Susan's approach to define the word generosity here:

"Do you know what it means to be generous? It means to give or share, unselfishly. So in this Scripture Jesus is teaching us to SHARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, and the Light of the world is JESUS! When we ask Jesus into our heart and our life, he puts his "Light" inside of us and he wants us to share that Light with others--our friends and our family. He tells us not to hide him but to let him shine through us."

When I saw the character trait paired up with Jesus' command to "Love Your Enemies," I was at first glance taken aback.  How could the character trait of "Creativity" combine with that command?  But, as I read the definition, I knew the Lord had inspired Susan to look deep into His heart of Love for these words:

"Being nice to someone mean doesn't make you a true child of God. To be a true child of God means a real change in your heart. When we are nice to unlikeable people we are showing the world that we ARE indeed God's children. Think of creative ways to be nice to not-so-nice people. Maybe you have a grouchy neighbor - ask Mom and Dad if you can bring them some cookies or a piece of cake to show them that you care about them."

As a Grandma, a former Homeschooling Mom, and a past Children's Church Director I can highly recommend this book for families who are seeking to guide their children into a love of God's Word. I learned new ways to be more like Jesus as I read 52 Commands of Jesus for Children. You can find it here at Amazon.


But here's a really exciting invitation: Susan has generously offered to provide a book through a give-away here! To enter the give-away, all you have to do is leave a comment below, on my Facebook page, or on my Instagram account, telling me to "count you in" for the giveaway. I am so excited to be able to offer this book to another family.  I will draw the winning name and announce it on my post next week, so be sure to check back in here!


I am linking this week with:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 
Barbie Swihart, #Glimpsesofhisbeauty 
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday