My Christmas Gift

I don't know if "Christmas" brings you joy or dread, or maybe a combination of both. I admit it brings mixed emotions for me too. Sometimes I even condemn myself when I hear "Jesus is the reason for the Season" because I judge myself for doing lots of things but not enough "Jesus". But God gave me a gift of hope which turns that anxiety and stress into peace, joy and love. Keep reading to find out how.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support!

So this gift of hope God gave me while I was sharing with the AWANA Clubs at Mid-Cities Baptist Church about the Jeremiah Project. It was during the question time and as each year, a child asked what we do as a missionaries.

I felt the need to answer "tell people about Jesus" the programmed Awana answer which is true but I believe God motivated me to say, "We eat, we go to school, we read our Bibles, we do our homework, we talk about God we play. Everything we do because God is with us all the time and everywhere, not just when we go to church, pray or read the bible.

Just like in AWANA, God's not only at “book time” memorizing and reciting bible verses, but at “game time” too. How do you respond after losing in game time? God is there too.

We are all missionaries because God is with us all the time and everything we say and do "tells" those around us about Jesus, our relationship with him.

So what was the gift of hope, you might be asking? It was me realizing what it's about being a missionary! That everything I do reflects Jesus not just the times I talk about him. I think I was afraid to mention that for fear of rejection, but now that I've said it, I feel joy and love for who I am and not stressed out about not doing enough!

So if you're stressed about all the running around you've been doing...

or worn out from decorating and preparing for the Christmas parties, (we decorated for the JP Christmas party!)

receive God's gift of hope. He's right there with you, loving on you, giving you a big hug, (Have I even mentioned I love the JP kids?)

even as you wait in a long check out line at the store (It was so hard for the JP kids to wait in line too!)

or decorate the Christmas tree with the grandkids. (In my family's trying to keep up with the grandkids)

As the Oceanview Baptist kid's choir presented, "Christmas means Jesus to me." Not because I need to do anything to make it that, because He's here. He wants to be here with you and me!

Thank you Oceanview! I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt!

Receive God's gift of hope this Christmas and smile until your cheeks hurt.

Consider giving the gift of hope to the JP kids in Guatemala!