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Thankful Thursday ~ Almost Christmas

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
(Luke 2:4-7 ESV)

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. It always been since I was little. Although when I was a little girl, I may not have understood the entire reason of Christmas, but it has always been celebrated as Christ’s birthday. You see without Christmas, Easter is impossible. And without Easter, we have no way of reconciling with a Holy God. And that is why Christmas is my favorite of all Holidays.

I love the account of Christ’s birth in the Gospel of Luke. But I also love the account of the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12. I read the account of the visit of the wise men just today and once again I am taken by the three gifts the wise men brought to worship baby Jesus.

Have you ever noticed that the three gifts were are also part of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. This about that they brought:

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
(Matthew 2:11 ESV – emphasis mine)

Amazing, right?!? I am not a biblical scholar, but to me this is so awesome. So, yes, I am thankful this week that Christmas is in a few days, celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior. And I pray that my heart will be completely focused on Him.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving the link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: without Christmas, Easter is impossible.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Mia / Boys and Their Toys
2. Janis@Heart Filled Moments
3. One Word To Make Your Problems Seems A Gazillion Times Smaller		 4. LaughingLady
5. Daily Journey
6. When Hallmark Hijacks Joy		 7. Dawn of Redeeming Grace
8. bp

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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Monday Morning Minute ~ Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Monday Morning Minute

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
(Psalm 139:13-14 ESV)

I love the passages in Psalm 139; especially the part “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Yes, God made us all unique and we should embrace that to honor Him.

To tell you the truth, the revelation that we are all unique did not come to me until recently. Very often I was jealous of the abilities others had and I did not. This jealousy started at a very young age. My sister was the talented one; she could paint, sing like an angel, play instruments without difficulty. It seemed that I only had practical traits; I was good at math, reading and memorization. Like I said: practical, no inkling of being creative at all.

I so wanted to be creative, just like my sister was. I even could not sow or cook; how embracing. I barely passed home-ed classes in school. Little did I know that my creativity laid somewhere else. It took years to realize that.

When I rewrote the “About Me” section of my photography website, I noticed that I have been photographing people and things from a very young age. Of course, back then, I photographed on film. But the gift was there. I have very found memories as my dad taught me how to hold a camera. I photographed places all over Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. Always in awe about the beautiful places God created for us to enjoy.

Today, I still like to capture places that are unique or beautiful. But even more so I like to capture people in moments that create memories. There is just something about that that makes my heart soar. Yes, it took me years to recognize the gift God gave me so long ago. I embrace the gift with all my heart.

My sweet friend, you too are fearfully and wonderfully made. God gave you gifts that are unique to you, and you alone. Stop looking at others and their gifts and talents. Open your heart and let God show you your gifts and talents.

By the way, over the years I have learned to cook and be even creative with it. However, sowing is still something that I cannot master.

Love & peace,
Iris

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Living Fearlessly in 2010 – “Do I Matter?”

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” ~ Matthew 10:29-31 (ESV ~ emphasis mine)

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” ~ Psalm 139:14 (ESV)

Did you ever wanted to be famous? I did. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a backup singer for T.Rex; I even learned all the lyrics to all their hit songs… Me, a backup singer to tour with a famous 70’s British band? Thinking back makes me giggle, because I was only 13 years old at their height of fame.

Max Lucado writes in his book “Fearless“:

“Ah, There it is. There is the question. The Amazon River out of which a thousand fears flow: do we matter? We fear we don’t. We fear nothingness, insignificance. We fear evaporation. We fear that in the last tabulation we make no contribution to the final sum. We fear coming and going and non one knowing” and “Connect to someone special and become someone special, right?”

Yes, there it is “connect to someone special…” and maybe, just maybe I can catch a little ray of their lime-light that I too would matter…

That was me when I started blogging some 5 years ago. If you look way back into my archives, I tried so hard to matter. I connected to famous woman so I too would matter in bloggy-ville. I wanted to change the world just like they did. I wanted to be heard – loud and clear. How can I archive that? Link up, hook up…

Well, God had a lesson for me on that…I truly believe that we have to be humbled before He can truly use our gifts. The word “discouragement” was often on my mind; as much so that I wanted to just quit blogging all together — “I didn’t matter”…

But God kept after me; to stay with it. I mattered to Him and His message. He reminded me that we all have different gifts. Not all can be a Beth Moore, Lysa TerKeurst, or Lisa McKay. He gives even ‘small’ people like me a voice – to share about His incredible love, devotion and grace with others.

Sweet one, you too matter to Him. Would’ve sent His only Son into a cruel world to die our death? Would Jesus go all the way up Calvary to be nailed to the cross if we would not matter? I don’t think so!

Today I link up/hook up because men and women are an inspiration to me. I no longer need their lime-light to matter – I matter to Him, and that is enough for me.

Where there times when you linked up so you could catch a lime-light ray? Please do share – it does not have to be connected with blogging; maybe in your immediate surroundings? Did you ever wish you could be like ________?

Over the next week I would like you to ponder the Cross. What does the Cross say about how much you matter to God? Come back here to share either in the comment section or write about it on your blog.

Also, if you have not read Karon’s guest blog last Monday, I would like to encourage you to read it. Karon has a marvelous message about “Fear of Change“. I will be sharing my own thoughts on change next Monday.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: not matter how small you think you are, you matter to Him who wonderfully created you.

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I Feel like…A Giveaway

***Comments are now closed – winner announced tomorrow***


Material Credit: Connie Prince – full credit see here

Christmas is just around the corner. We, as moms, wives, friends, are ‘hunting’ for the perfect Christmas gift for others. I thought, it would be nice that you would receive something for yourself 😛 …thus this Christmas Giveaway…

If you are an avert reader, you know about Laurel’s monthly column “Book Buzz” at Christian Women Online. This month Laurel had again some marvelous reads, so I asked for her help to pick out two of her favorites — “The Shape of Mercy” and “Out of her Hands” were Laurel’s top two picks for the month of December.

What else is in the December gift package you might wonder? Laurel is adding a CD to the package. The CD is by Bill Gaither; this wonderful compilation album includes hymns like Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages, How Great Thou Art and 9 other well known hymns. The CD is an exclusive only available at Cracker Barrel’s.

The other two gifts are a “Pray like a Girl” tote bag and one ‘mystery’ gift 😉 (its good – trust me)…

Now you are wondering what you need to do to enter my little give-away? Not much, just leave a comment below that you would like to enter. That’s it…No promo, no links required. Oh, and you don’t have to have a blog to enter, either. Just a valid email address…Deadline to enter is Sunday, December 14th.

Thanks for stopping by today…Christmas blessings and as always,