the gift of love

No matter what shape our hearts are in, whether they are down-cast, broken, troubled, or joyful, Jesus invites us to come to Him. To come before Him in worship and thanksgiving, offering up our lives. No life is too dark, too depressed, too desolate for his acceptance.
Jesus, our Saviour and Lord, left Heaven's paradise to become vulnerable and helpless like you and I.
He made himself humble, and entered the world in the simplest of ways, to show us that true love- God's love isn't about glamour or earthly power....its about sacrifice, grace, mercy and forgiveness.

I'll give Him my Heart

  by Carol Cymbala

 What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a Shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I'd sure do my part.
So what can I give Him?
I'll give Him my heart.

What can I give Him
But all of my heart?

What can you give Him?
What can you bring?
What can you offer
That's fit for a King?
Bow before Jesus,
That's where you can start.
What can you give Him?
Just give Him your heart.

When I am overcome with fear, self-doubt, anxiety, depression, resentment or hurt; I know that I can still offer my life to him. I am not useless to Him, I am not ugly to Him, I am not pathetic to Him. When I approach Jesus through prayer, I am welcomed unconditionally. Without blame, without condemnation, without pity or disgust. My saviour wants nothing, not even mental illness to separate us from Him.

What can I give my Lord? 

Everything. I will give him everything. And He will think it is beautiful. 

 Here I am to Worship by Chris Tomlin

Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness.
Opened my eyes, let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down,
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
All together worthy,
All together wonderful to me

King of all days
oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came
To the earth You created
All for Love's sake became poor

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross

Its beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS

I enjoy a good countdown.
Its important to be aware of how much time one has to prepare.
Yes it is.
Except of course when you have an altered understanding of  how-much-time-one-has-to-prepare!!
For some reason, my mental calendar (whatever that means), is under the impression that we have one more additional week before Christmas.
I still have LOTS of time to wrap the gifts and prepare special treats and meals for the holidays.
right? This can't be the last week?!

I'm sitting here (with my lovely cup of coffee), absorbing the fact that between school ending for the holidays, 3 more evening shifts and a trip to winkler; this morning is really the only time I have to wrap gifts (undisturbed), and ensure that the fridge is fully stocked for Christmas dinner.
Hmmmm.....
Somehow however, like my delusional perception that the Christmas shakedown is weeks from now;
I'm officially convincing myself that everything will get done, and everything will be fine.

So I have to buy some gift bags instead of wrapping each individual present? And so I have to buy gluten free cookies for the school party instead of baking them? And so I have to serve only one appetizer at Christmas dinner instead of my plan for 4.....??
It will be ok.
No one will care or notice. (well, except me, but i'll just  have to tuck away those unmet expectations).

And as I'm presently wasting time writing on my depressing blog that I almost deleted again yesterday morning (but instead added another depressing post....) I found a very neat website that provides many wonderful ways to busy ourselves during the school holidays!  I'm addicted to the "planning" aspect of Christmas and the "planning" aspect of the days when the kids will be bored and asking for things to do. I love to stock up on resources for when my children and I gather around the kitchen table with our glue guns and popsicle sticks...ready to CREATE! Even though it happens maybe once a year, a girl can still dream (and be ready) right?

Maybe YOU could pick up a few tips from the blog and whip up something like those book-page-flower-creations with your 3 yr. old.! Yay! That's a recipe for intense pain....warm fuzzies if I ever saw one. But really, there are some neat ideas...
Here's to another month til' Christmas!!!!