Meet Rachel Stafford, the Hands Free Mama!

Yesterday, we had the awesome privilege of hearing from Rachel Stafford of the Hands Free Mama movement!  Just 18 months ago, while running,  Rachel had a breakthrough moment with God and realized that she was "doing it all"but it was costing her everything. Too many "good" things were coming her way and she had no time left to pursue the things that really mattered.  She had spread herself so thin and knew she was missing out on so much.  She cried out to God for help and He said to her, "if you let go of the distractions of life, I will let you experience joy, peace, and connection with me and with others every day. "  She listened to God and her life has never been the same.

She has started a revolution and after hearing her speak yesterday, I consider myself to be President of her fan club!!! Her passion is to help women take back their lives by letting go of the modern day distractions to focus on what really matters.  She challenged us to spend more time with God so that we can learn about ourselves and our purpose for being on the planet.  There are so many large (but good) distractions in life, such as volunteering in your church, your school and your community.  When asked to do a job, pray about it. See if you were specifically made to do that job, or is it for someone else? Don't be afraid to say "no." If you say "no",  the person asking will simply move to the next person on the list!  If you don't protect your time, who will?  Rachel asked us to answer this question for ourselves : " What must I do in my lifetime before I die? " Smart girl, she is. She is viewing the end from the beginning with her eyes on the prize.  Her answer to the question is to be a present mom and to use her God-given gifts to help people.

What is a present mom?  A present mom is a "hands free" mom. Put down the cell phone, put down the tv remote, close the laptop and make eye contact with your children and your spouse!  Be free of the compulsion to check all of your devices and updates! Turn off the notifications! Rachel speaks in elementary schools and it broke our hearts yesterday when she shared the stories of young children who felt so neglected because their parents preferred technology over them!!  Put away your "to-do" list, get on some old clothes, go outside with your children and play!  Think of your death bed.  Do you want your children to remember you as a good tweeter or facebooker or as a mom who shared her time and her life with you?

I apologize here if I am sounding a little harsh. I know a lot of you moms are so young and have grown up with technology but take it from an older mom.  I would give my right arm to be able to go back to the Cove, when my children were little and play outside with them.  Once those days are gone, you can't get them back.  You can tweet, facebook, blog, cook, sew, volunteer, read, etc when you are an empty nester.  I am looking at my nest being empty in 17 months and let's just say, that I am not doing too well. In fact, I am really struggling with it.

Rachel left us with a challenge. Here it is. Get a piece of paper. Write two columns.  On one side write "I am farthest from grasping what matters when...."  On the other side write "I am closest to grasping what matters when...."   I pray that this will be a day of revelation for you. Start today and make a little progress every day!   Rachel's blog can be found at www.handsfreemama.com  She has hundreds of entries with hundreds of suggestions for becoming "hands free." Read it today and start your journey!  Thank you Rachel, for being a light to thousands of mamas who want to pursue what really matters!

I pray today that your life will be as wonderful as it was in the mind of God when He created you.  Remember, you don't have to be perfect to be wonderful!

Every blessing and lots of love,
JoAnne



s

Hearing from the Lord and a word about words

Happy dreary day to my girls!  I just want to get a blanket, make hot chocolate and take a nap!  But that will come later. I want to get these notes out to ya'll and especially to Jessica who missed yesterday! Hope Sally Caroline is feeling much better!

Yesterday was a great day in our group. I really felt the presence of the Lord in our discussions.  This group has been so precious because you all love the Lord and are so vulnerable and open with each other.  I always look forward to Mondays.

We finished our talk on prayer yesterday.  We learned that God is personally committed to revealing Himself to you.  As we spend time in His presence, our questions about life and our circumstances grow dim in His glorious light.  We are changed when we stay there in the light. Our circumstances may not ever change, but our perspectives will because of time spent with the Lord.  Your solitude with the Lord directly affects the ministry and service that you are able to do.  If you have not met with the Lord, your ministry will be full of your flesh.  We need to be filled up with the Holy Spirit so that we will overflow into the lives of others.

Solitude qualified several heroes of the faith for service.  Moses was in Midian for 40 years before he encountered the burning bush. Joseph was is Pharoah's prison for years before he was called up to interpret a dream.  David was annointed to be King as a shepherd boy and was not appointed king until he was 40.  In their times of solitude, they learned that they were to be led by the Lord and not by their own agendas.  Their calling (just like yours) was too great to be left to their own agendas.  Solitary time with the Lord readies us for all the chaos of life.

Here are some verses on solitude in scripture:

Prov. 8:34-35
Ps. 25:9
Ps. 73:24
Ps. 32:8
Ps. 46:10
Is. 30:15 (one of my faves)

As you meet with the Lord, He is committed to counseling you, Spirit to spirit, based on the following verses:

Jer. 6:16
Ps. 91:1
Matt. 11:28
Mark 6:31
Is. 50:4
Jer. 1:12
Ps. 23:2-3 (A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller is a great book!)

The key to hearing from the Lord is to quiet your heart, be still and listen. Read gently with no agenda.  Clear your mind and don't be anxious.  Just listen with your spirit.  Ask the Lord to show you and He will. Write down what he says.

John 16:14 tells us that the Holy Spirit is the teacher in the lives of Christians. Under his guidance, the words of biblical revelation become a living word for each of us. As we study the scriptures, the Spirit gives us insight into their meanings. The Holy Spirit is with you every time you study the Word leading you into all truth.

We had a really thorough discussion of spiritual warfare prayer based on Eph. 6:10-18.  It is crucial to make much of our Lord and little of our enemy.  Satan is real and his m. o.  is to kill, steal and destroy, but everything that he brings against us MUST bow to the name of Jesus, Phil. 2: 9-11.  Here are some good books on spiritual warfare:

Prayers that Outwit the Enemy   Chuck D. Pierce This book is very good
Prayer and Spiritual Warfare  E. M. Bounds  Every book by Bounds is outstanding

So, over the last few weeks, we have learned that a true disciple of Christ:
*enforces the victory he has on a consistent basis
*lives in the presence of God through the Holy Spirit, and
*prays intentionally

Next, we shifted over to a quick study on our words!

You create your world with the words that you speak.  2 Cor. 5:20 tells us that we are Christ's ambassadors.  That is a very huge deal. We speak for the King of Heaven...we let Him speak through us.

God SPOKE creation into being.  Jesus changed lives with just a few words: "Lazarus, come out!", "Be clean", "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk" just to name a few!

Our words are of utmost importance because we either speak life or death every single time we open our mouths.  We can change lives with our words, just like Jesus did.  He said in Jn. 14:12 that we are going to do even greater things than he did because we have the power of the Holy Spirit. Here are a few scriptures on the power of words:

Prov. 18:21
Rom 4:17
Matt. 12:34
Prov. 4:23
Prov. 12:18
Prov. 31:26
Eph. 4:29
Matt. 12: 36-37
James 3: 9-10

Words and conversation reflect the spiritual condition of the speaker. A sin-dominated person will utter evil; the good person devoted to and saved by God will utter good. On judgment day our words spoken in our lifetime will truly reflect who we are.  Nothing should escape our mouth that is not praise to God in some way. Once a word is spoken and heard, it cannot be retrieved. Its effect will run its often destructive course.  I highly recommend The Power of Your Words by Robert Morris.

Next week, we welcome Rachel Stafford of Hands Free Mama as our speaker.  Her blog can be found here.  She is going to bring us a great word! If any of you want to stay for prayer ministry after any of our meetings, Connie and I would love that.

In closing, I want to bless you with victory over the enemy, from Sylvia Gunter's Blessing your Spirit book.....

Sweet girls of mine, I bless you with the joy of regularly seeing Satan's plans to destroy people turned upside down and God bringing good out of painful circumstances. I bless you with seeing the problems Satan brings into the world used by God to reveal new wisdom, grace, strength, and freedom , as God makes a public spectacle of his enemy and yours. I bless you with God's perspective on pain and suffering. I bless you with partnering with God for his purposes, using problems as a platform to see him work in ways that are unmistakably God. I bless you in the name of the One who triumphed on the cross.

Have a wonderful week! J

Our Daily Walk with Christ....abiding in the Father's love for us

Today was a great day in the small group but we missed Catherine, Meredith and Karen! Just read this blog post to catch up and hopefully, all the sickness will be gone and we will be back together next week.

We started off today with a quick you tube video by Graham Cooke.  It is called The Missing Piece, Part 1. It is only four or five minutes long, so watch it if you can. Graham Cooke is one of my favorite pastors and teachers.   John 15:5-8 was our basic text for today.  God intends for us to bear fruit and this is possible only by living in constant, prayerful relation to Christ.  We need to understand what is important to Him and that must be the foundation of the relationship. Don't bring your religious "to do" list to Jesus and ask Him to bless it.  Anything done without abiding in Christ does not count towards the fruit. It will be thrown out like wood, hay and straw and it will not last for eternity.  Fruit-bearing depends on remaining in Christ and drawing from His sustaining grace.  We must let the Father, the Master Gardener cut wrong practices and habits out of our lives so we can bear much fruit. Branches not in Christ die and are placed in the fire to burn.  God is refining us so that we will be transformed into the image of Christ.

                     


 The foundation of the abiding relationship is God's love for us. Not our love for God.  Christ's message, death and resurrection is founded on His love for us.  Our love for God is often undependable and changes in intensity.  We don't have to strive in our flesh to abide in Him.  All we have to do is to live intentionally in His love for us! It is all about Him...not us. It is all about who He is.   1 John 4:16-18 says that to be in Christ is to be in God and by being in Christ, we will live a lifestyle that is characterized by divine love.  Pray to know and experience more and more of the depths of His love.  His love will change us from the inside out.  Eph. 3:18 tells us that Jesus loves us more than we can begin to understand.  Ask the Lord to give you a heart that longs to be one with Him.  You can rest and rejoice that this abiding relationship is founded on God's love for us . The only thing you need to do is intentionally stay, remain and rest there.  Living in this posture should change your perspective on life.  Circumstances may still be bad, but you see them through the lens of His love.

We talked a lot about how to enter into this relationship.  It does not happen just because you get up early and read the one-year-Bible and a devotional reading.  It is a very intentional act of proclaiming who God is, committing your day to Him, confessing your sin to Him and enjoying His presence.  It is resting in Him and receiving His love. It is being very still and quiet and listening to what He has to say to you.  To enter into this relationship should not cause a lot of stress for you.  It is fine to get up, make your coffee, put on the praise music and just be still before the Lord.  As you start to wake up and pray some of these verses, do so very gently and let the Lord lead you in the direction He wants to take you for the morning.  Some days will be filled with tears. Some will be filled with exhuberant joy. Some days He will just hold you close.  It won't always look the same. The Holy Spirit knows what you need for the day and He does a great job of guiding us.  When you start your day, be sure and call your Spirit to the fore front and tell your soul and your body to sit down,  and that the Spirit man will be in charge today!

In the morning, I like to start the day by declaring and proclaiming who He is and by blessing His name.  Some verses that help me with this are listed below: I have all of these verses on a spiral flip notebook.
Ps. 92:1-2
Ps 118:24
Ps 89:1-2
Lam 3: 21-23
Ps 33:22
Ps 32:10
Ps 84:11
Ps 147:11
Prov 9:10

I commit my day to Him by declaring these verses....be sure to say all of these out loud!
Jn 15:7-8
Ps 32:8
Col 3:2 Col 3:17 Col 3:23-24
1 Cor 10:31
Prov 16:3
Gal 2:20
Gal 5:16

Next move on to a time of confession. Ask God to reveal each and every sin so that you may confess it to Him.
Ps 139:23-24
1 Jn 1:9
Prov 28:13
This is also a great time for positive confession. Confess out loud who you are in Christ.
Read Song of Solomon 2:15.  The little foxes are weeds.  Ask yourself "what is the fastest growing weed in my life?"  If you continue to confess the same sin over and over, that just might be a weed that needs to go!

Next, it is time to move into intercession.  Pray for the things that are on God's heart.  Pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done . Ask God for an open heaven over certain situations, relationships, cities, nations, the lost, etc. Pray God's Word and insert a name in the verse!  As I pray for my family everyday, I use several different resources.  I love Prayer Portions by Sylvia Gunter and have used it for years. I also pray the Prayer of Jabez (1 Chron. 4:10) from a prayer book by Sylvia. She has written 31 different prayers based on that verse. One for each day of the month. It is also very important to put on the full armor of God for the day.  It can be found in Eph. 6:10-18.

I enjoy praying from Stormie Omartian's books, too.  I highly recommend the Power of a Praying Wife and the Power of a Praying Parent.   It was suggested today that we buy the Power of a Praying Husband for our husbands for Valentine's Day! I also pray from Praying the Scriptures for your Children and Praying the Scriptures for your Teenagers by Jodie Berndt. There are so many great prayer books out there. The main thing is to pray the Word.  I pray Psalm 91 over my family every day.  Some other devotion books that really challenge me and bless me are My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (updated version) and Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles Cowan is an awesome little book, too.  Come Away My Beloved by Frances Roberts (today's language) is another favorite of mine.  Blessing your Spirit by Sylvia Gunter has probably changed my life more than any other book I have ever read.  It is simply amazing.  Sylvia is very annointed.

Liz also mentioned the CD "Home" by Laura Woodley for soaking in His presence.  I use Pandora and sometimes I use www.soaking.net  Connie shared the website for the personal promise Bible. This company actually prints a Bible for you with your name inserted into the verses! So cool!

When you finish praying, it is very important to thank God for the complete confidence that we have in Him based on 1 Jn 5:14-15  All believers have the guidance of the Holy Spirit when they pray. God will answer when the Christian asks according to His will.

I know how tired we are when it is bed time and it is hard to have a meaningful prayer time when you are bone tired and sleepy.  No matter how tired you are, be sure to thank God at the end of the day for His protection, His provision and His faithfulness in your family that day. It is so important to be thankful and to tell him how grateful you are for His presence in your life.

Next week , we will finish up prayer and watch a Graham Cooke DVD.  I pray that the Lord will bless your marriage through the marriage conference this weekend.

Every blessing,
JoAnne

Continuation of our life as a Disciple of Christ

Hey girls!  Today was just awesome for me.  Welcome to Kristen, Karen, Tarayn, Holli and Meredith!  You are such wonderful additions to the group and Connie and I are so glad you have joined us!

We started off with the verse from Is. 40:11.  This is a great reminder for you when your enemy is trying to beat you up or when you slip back into being legalistic and not free!  God tenderly leads you. He understands that you were up all night with a sick baby and have not bathed or eaten a full meal in ten days.  He knows, He cares and He is not keeping a tally.  Be free!

Jesus said in Jn. 4:34: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work."  Jesus was focused on God's purpose and calling for his life.  Liz pointed out 1 Cor. 3: 8-15 which discusses what types of things will last for eternity. The works of the believer will be tested according to the quality of the work-NOT THE QUANTITY! Reward is promised those whose service is of enduring quality. Matt. 25:14-30 shows a direct relationship between faithfulness on earth and serving God in eternity. We are judged according to what we did with what we are given. DO NOT compare yourself with others-this is just an insult to God.  The only things that last forever are the Word of God and the souls of men.  So, I guess all that smocking, volunteer work, committees, clubs, shopping, self-imposed minutia, retweets,  etc really will not stand the test of fire. With every decision we make, we are either spending our lives or investing our lives for eternity! Swimming upstream in this culture will not be easy but with God's help, you can do it! So, girls, just say "no" to all the keeping up with the Joneses and once again, be free!

Jesus says that we must completely relinquish three areas of our lives to Him:

People-Luke 14:26-27, Gal. 1:10 and Matt. 10:37-39  We are to be devoted to no human relationship above our love and devotion to the Lord.

Pursuits-Luke 9:23-24, Phil. 1:21 Your ambition is listening to and obeying Christ.

Possessions-1 Tim. 6:6-10, Matt. 6:24, Mark 4:18-19

So how do I balance everything with so many different things vying for my attention and my time?  You scan everything that comes up through this filter:

Your activities should fit the following 4 criteria:
1) Your first priority is to further the kingdom of heaven
2)You should be in step with the season of your life.
3)Answer to the important and not the urgent.  (Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles Hummel)
4)Speak to your passions-the things that God put inside of you that you were meant to do!

Only do what only you can do!!!!!

I think that every disciple's number one priority should be time alone with God...to worship Him, to bless Him, to hear from Him and to just sit with Him.  St. Augustine prayed: "Lord, let me know you and let me understand myself."  Don't you think the best way to understand yourself is by listening to your Creator?

Christ is our example as He often withdrew from the crowds to pray and spent time with His Father while it was still dark.  His promises are found in solitude. Your life, who you are in God and your destiny is at stake.  You need to have a world to one's own for the sake of others.  If you are not filled to overflow, you are not going to bless the people you are around and call forth the song that is inside of them!  Daniel 11:32 says : " the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. "

Disciplining ourselves in such a way to make this a reality in our lives can be done based on Heb. 11:6. It is our faith in who God is that enables us to forfeit control of our lives and be led by the Holy Spirit.  Life is so sweet and so beautiful when we do it God's way and not our way. Our way is wood, hay and straw.  God knows best.  I know so many of you enjoyed the fast and the intimacy you felt with the Lord during that time. Guess what? Just because the fast is over does not mean that your intimacy and growth in the Lord has to stop!  Be disciplined and keep up the same pace.  Every month for the rest of our lives can be like January at Highlands! Connie mentioned the classic book, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.  He covers meditation, prayer, fasting , study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance and celebration. It is not a long book and well worth your attention.

We moved next into the Father's love for us!  Be sure to go to www.thefathersloveletter.com and just let that bless you.  Then read Psalm 103 as your response back to the Lord. " Who is God to you? " is the single most important question of your life. I recommended Hallowed be Thy Names by David Wilkerson and there are several handouts from today with the many names of God.  His name is "I am" and He can meet any and every need you will ever have!  I forgot to mention one outstanding book to you.  It is The Good and Beautiful God by James Smith.  I led a small group with that book one time and it is amazing . He has also written The Good and Beautiful Life (based on the Sermon on the Mount) and The Good and Beautiful Community.  I highly recommend all of these.  I buy all of my books at 2nd and Charles in Hoover (great used Christian section in the back) and Amazon, fyi.

We agreed that we are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus based on 2 Cor. 5:21.

As you have some free time, try to watch Craig Groeshel's sermon, "God is Father" from 6/21/09 and "Who is He" from February or March of 2005.  Read your handouts and commit some of these verses to memory!  Next week , we are going to talk about our daily walk with Christ.

Have a joyful week!  JoAnne

The Way to a Heavenly Home

Hey there small group girls!  Here's the promised post about becoming a fully-devoted follower of Christ.  Included in this post are a few of my favorite things, just so you will know me a little better!

Yesterday, we discussed a lot from Luke 14: 26-35. In this passage of scripture, Jesus starts off by talking about Him and the Kingdom of God having first place in your life. In verse 26, the word "hate" means that you must love others less and that Jesus must be 1st!  This word indicates a total rejection of anything and anyone who would block our absolute commitment to Jesus as Lord.   If you are this kind of disciple, family members and friends may not understand you.  You are in for a lifetime of swimming upstream against the culture of this world.


Discipleship is a full-time job placed before all other priorities and responsibilities. We are to be devoted, obedient followers of Christ.  Nothing (husband, children, job, home, exercise, social things, etc) comes before Christ.  We are to accept Christ as our Master and all of his teaching as commands.  Have you in faith given up everything for Christ?  I urge you to pray about this in the coming week.  His love for us is so radical that any response other than this falls so short of the glory that He deserves.  You can trust Him totally.  I pray that you will rest in that and let His peace overtake you.


Discipleship is also a call to total involvement in the work of Christ.  Make sure that you count the cost of this , as well.  Regular church attendance does not qualify as total involvement.  It means that Christ's mission is your personal mission, too!  Jesus came "to preach good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. " Is. 61: 1-2  and Luke 4: 17-19

We also talked about what it means to be the salt of the earth.  Boy, do we need some salt in today's world!  Our life , our work and our influence should flavor and preserve our society.  We are called to get involved in people's lives and in social affairs in order to permeate and preserve society.  We should never withdraw from people to preserve ourselves.  The good news is not for the righteous but for the unrighteous.  Matthew 9: 12 says : " It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners. " That is Jesus talking.

So if we are going to be disciples in a fallen world, we have to know that troubles will come our way, just because of the sin in this world.  Jesus told his disciples in John 16:33 " In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."   God did not create the world's troubles. He made us free to respond to Him.  In this freedom, if we choose evil, we will experience negative consequences.  But Christ has overcome this fallen world and we share in His victory if we are in Him! Praise be to God.  We overcome the world with a Holy Spirit empowered life!  We put on the full armor of God daily in Eph. 6:10-18 and we take our stand against the enemy of our souls! We exchange our limited minds and our fruitless ambition for the mind and ambition of Christ!  Because we are in Him, we have total access to the INCOMPARABLE resources of heaven!  We are co-heirs with Christ so everything that is His is ours! Right here, right now! All we have to do is walk in it!! Luke 12:32 says "Fear not little flock, it is the Father's pleasure to give you His kingdom."  This is our Jesus talking about our heavenly Father!

Okay, girls. Pray over these verses.  Please speak out loud the Declaration of Victory in Jesus handout that I gave you yesterday. Read in the One Year Bible as often as you can this week and for those of you who will take my challenge, FAST NEGATIVITY and watch your life change in a matter of days!  There is power in our words!!!

It's small group time at Church of the Highlands

I would like to invite all of you young moms to my small group, Heavenly Homes!  It starts January 30th at my house.

We are going to talk about marriage, parenting, prayer, time management, planning, health and a ton more!

This group is going to be a great place to grow spiritually, share ideas, receive prayer and learn how to make your home heavenly!

We will meet at my house on Mondays from 10-12.  There is no child care so find your babysitter and the church will reimburse you for your expenses!  Bring your Bible, a notebook and a heart hungry for the Lord!

Countdown to Christmas Day

Well, here we are.  Five days until Christmas. 

 I know that I am stressed and that my some of my family members are stressed, too.  Do you really think that what we do for Christmas has anything at all to do with the reason God sent his son?  The older I get, the more I realize that we have made Christmas into something so pagan that probably disappoints our heavenly Father.   Our expectations are always of peace and joy and the perfect amount of gifts and total harmony in our families.  Our high expectations seem to just magnify the hurt that we are also experiencing.

While we were eating dinner last night and trying to figure out our plan and schedule for the holidays, I started thinking about doing something radically different for Christmas.  What if we really focused on our hearts beginning December 1st?  What if we started focusing on our relationships with our family members? What if we actively and intentionally pursued doing for those less fortunate than us? What if we went on a mission trip for Christmas?   I know we do some of that to a certain extent but what if we went further?  Maybe only 3 gifts per family member?Maybe no gifts?  Maybe say "no" to all social commitments? Maybe my family members would kick me out. I hope not, but they just might.

I think our overall disappointment with the entire holiday is because of the focus on self.  I guess all of our problems stem from selfishness.  I think that there are few things that we can do to help ourselves during this season.  My strategy is to  pray, give and exercise!

I am really trying to increase my prayer time over the next few days.  I am praying for my family and for all of our relationships. Today, the Lord just really told me to focus on the healing of our family relationships and the healing of their emotions.  Today, I prayed "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2: 24 and "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3 and "Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. " James 5:16

One of my favorite things to do is to just take my Bible, open it up and walk my property line.  I wait for the Lord to lead me to certain passages and I pray those passages for my family and for my home.  I love to use Sylvia Gunter's Prayer Portions book and pray blessings for my family members.  I have a smaller book by Sylvia Gunter called "Prayer Portions Sampler for the Family".  It is awesome and can be purchased from Mark at the Carpenter's Shop in Vestavia or from Sylvia's website, The Father's Business.

I pray for spiritual blessing, emotional blessing, mental blessing, personal blessing, physical blessing and financial blessing.   It is so important for us to choose to speak blessings over our family and to choose to BE a blessing!

Sylvia Gunter teaches that one of the most effective bottom line prayers for the family is "Come, Holy Spirit, into our greatest needs and give us a revelation of Jesus. "  Thank goodness that Jesus lives to intercede for us, Hebrews 7:25 and that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, Romans 8:26!

Matthew 10:8 says " Freely you have received, freely give. "  That's pretty clear. There are so many organizations to assist you with giving.  I recently adopted an orphan through Amazima ministries.  That is the ministry that Katie Davis runs in Africa.   Check it out at www.amazima.org and Katie's blog is called Kisses from Katie and can be found here.  There is also Compassion International, World Vision and Heifer.org!  I ordered a flock of chickens for a family for $20 through Heifer!

If you don't have an extra penny to spare right now, give someone a smile. Help someone with a door at the mall. Or with their grocery cart. Compliment and encourage a salesperson in a store.  Speak a blessing over perfect strangers. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a shelter. Take your old newspapers  to the pound. Do yardwork for your elderly neighbor.  When our kids were little and we had no extra to spare, Rusty used to load us all up in the van to head to nursing homes.  We visited with the residents, sang for them and played games with them. I think we brought candy canes.  The possibilities are endless. Go for it.

And lastly, exercise!  Get off of facebook and twitter and turn off the tv and get out and walk! Pray and praise while you walk.  If you have a gym, go! Walk your dog! Just move and get yourself a huge helping of endorphins.  I confess that I am addicted to two things and I must have them to be a kind person- coffee and endorphins.

 

Be intentional about this Christmas season.  Pray, get some endorphins going and make your plans for this to be one of the most precious Christmases ever for your family!