Friday, December 19, 2014

First and Second Christmas Muse

Madonna & Child by Tim Ashkar
I have been reading lately that if one has set a goal then one needs to do something, one small something, each and every day to move closer to that goal. Lord, what can I do today?  I am cheerful. I am rested. I feel physically good. I am inspired and full of Christmas wonder at your birth into the world.

What can I do in celebration of my own life?  As I celebrate you, Lord, I am reminded that you have kept me all of this time because you love me and you have anointed me with purpose. Of these things I am grateful and find great cause for celebration.

I am so blessed by everything that I have been given.  This has been a phenomenal year.  The enemy of my soul would hav me believe that it wasn’t and that God has done nothing for me and has forgotten about me.  The devil is still a liar. I may have gone through 2 raggedy cars but I promise you there is something better and lasting and greater on the horizon.  Why? Because my daddy said so.  I still don’t know how He is going to do it but, Lord-a-mercy, I know that He is going to. Even if He doesn’t, I know that He is able! My God, has not left me in the dark.  He has indeed brought me into his marvelous light through a great love that He has for me. 

I must be something special. There must be a divine purpose still on my life because I am still here.  I can still get from point A to point B.  I still have courage and I still have the determination to do great things in the Kingdom. There are times lately that I have honestly felt that I am having some kind of writer’s block. That is a lie of the devil, too.  What the Lord wants me to write is right here at my fingertips. The words flow and somebody is listening to ‘thus sayeth the Lord’!  I am grateful that I am God’s instrument to bring something into the world, to contribute to the betterment of the world.  Somebody needs to know.

I used to wonder why it is that I never had children.  Well, at this late date of my life it is all making sense to me. With each thing that I write and everything I do in the Kingdom is indeed like giving birth to yet more life.  Yep, somebody, like I said many years ago, needs to know.  I have known for a long time that this is my purpose and I am glad about it.  I am reveling in it.  I honored that I am loved so greatly as to be given this assignment and I do not take any assignment lightly.

This is such a brilliant and brightly colored time of year….time of my life. I love Christmas and I love me.  For so long I have waited for somebody to give ‘it’ to me.  By ‘it’ I mean to give me permission to do this.  What are you waiting for, my friend?  The only permission you need is God’s permission.  Stop listening to the enemy.  He is whispering that you don’t have purpose, remember?  He is still a liar! Thank you, Lord. Every time I pray, Lord show me….yes, yes, He shows me.
 
I believe that we all battle with doubt at one time or another.  Sometimes that doubt can flood over us for only a few short days. At other times it can last for days, weeks or maybe years.  It is time to mature enough to look the devil in the eye and walk right past him proclaiming God as the author and finisher of your faith. Proclaim that our risen Savior got up out of the grave. He is the one that healed the sick including you, caused the blind to see, even you and raised the dead even your sin sick soul that was once dead to righteousness and is now dead to sin.  What would happen if you prayed to the God of our salvation and asked for new eyes to see his grace, new heart to feel his mercy and new hands to lift in total praise?  Need a refreshing?  Ask for it, for our heavenly Father withholds nothing from His children.

So where am I at this Christmas?  What am I feeling?  This really isn’t much different than in time past.  I don’t have children to dote on me this holiday – to invite me over for Christmas supper and lay presents at my feet.  Never did.  But I do have the ability to make a Christmas for myself. I am ever mindful of who fills all spaces and that the holes that the enemy would have me believe cannot be filled are full of the Lord’s light and a love that is deeper and longer lasting than any family can give. I have choice.  I can choose to listen to those negative whispers or I can choose to rejoice at the birth of our new born King! My God, what I have is so much more fulfilling than anything that our world could ever fill me with.  I get it!

Because I know this, it does make me feel a little sad for the folks that do not have this revelation.  Question of the hour…how are people making it without knowledge of the Lord? The answer is they are not making it… they are faking it.  How many people do we know, of every background, culture and color that are buying all of the gifts and putting them under the tree, fixing more food that humanly possible to enjoy yet are sitting around with unresolved issues, secrets, mess, animosities under cover, darkness…. These are those that don’t get Christmas and its divine meaning.

Lord, I pray that you will open those doors for me to tell somebody about what I know.  I may not know all there is in the Word of God but I do know that I am loved and cared for by the Lamb of God. Everyday can bring unexpected surprises.  Some good and some not so good.  This is just the way of life.  How I react to this is what really makes me saved. Do I trust God? I mean do I really believe that He is in control? Do I really know what it means when the Word says that He is all powerful, all knowing, all caring?  He will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory and according to the power that works in me.  

I have the power of the blood of Jesus coursing through my veins.  The blood that He bled upon Calvary and on the cross is in me and all over me. I walk in His grace and I have been washed clean by this very same blood. I too, have to ask whoever thought I could walk this walk?  Whoever thought I would be in love with the Lord the way that I am in love with the Lord and know without a doubt that I am loved in return?  I love this time of my life.  I give you praise Lord. I give you honor. I am still here celebrating yet another Christmas.

Earlier this morning I was reading something that said that this is a perfect opportunity to spend time in the presence of the Lord. This is time to ask the Lord to bring me closer to Him.  Yes, this is true.  I can feel His embrace right now as I write this.  I am so thrilled and blessed that what is said is so very true: He will never leave you or forsake you.  He is faithful even when I get wrapped up in my own stinking thinking.

Walk with me Lord. The Lord loves to walk and talk to His people.  Remember how it says that in the garden He walked with Adam in the cool of the day?  He walked with Enoch, Moses, Abraham, Jeremiah, Noah, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and all of His Apostles. God loves to walk and talk with His people.  Am I any different? He is there to give me guidance and comfort and all of the love that I will ever need.

Help me to spread good tidings and good cheer this holiday season. I am full this very morning.  I feel his mercy and his grace bubbling up in me, flowing from eyes, quickening my heart.  I really could shout right now.  The Lord is just that good to me.  Help me Lord. Open a door this very day. Perhaps let someone read this and be deeply touched because it comes from your grace that these words have made it to paper.  Somebody needs to know.

Christmas is indeed a special time of year.  It has always signaled a new beginning to me even before I was saved.  Yes, Christmas is a new start.  The bible says about the new birth – old things have passed away and we are new creatures.  Time to thank God for new mercies and second, third and umpteen hundreds of chances.  What a better time to do this than oat the celebration of His birth into humanity. The joy within us that we are feeling is only because of his love and his faithfulness. It starts at this time of the year. Christmas. The journey toward the cross begins this day. The bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that we may have life and life more abundantly. If there was no birth there would be no crucifixion. There would be no blood to wash us white as snow. We would still be under the law and would still rely on a man to carry our sin beyond the veil in hopes that we would be forgiven.  But Jesus.  He is our High Priest.  He is our mediator.  We can come boldly to the throne of grace and lay our cares at the alter to be dealt with by the only living God….Jesus.  How can someone not find joy in this? 

Christ is the Lord and I will forever praise him. 
Amen.

#soulwriter  #aginggracefully #whatithoughtwassojustain't
Debi Mason, Author
Twitter: @DebiOak
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/debimason.writer
Email: debimason1950@gmail.com
Blog: debimason@blogspot.com


What I thought Was So Just Ain’t: Aging through God’s grace
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ISBN-13: 978-0692236475
Release: June, 2014

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