The most perfect gift

Good Morning Friends!  Totally taken by His love, Tuesday!  Seems like so many conversations right now are all about Christmas shopping….what to get who….how much does it cost…..and then every other commercial is about some big old fancy Christmas gift and the stores and sale papers….gee whiz….easy to get stressed out.  We stress out over getting the perfect gift for our family and friends, the hottest new toy, or biggest tool, buying the perfect paper and matching bows…..people actually go in debt buying Christmas presents that they cannot afford……BAM!!!!  This morning it hit me……..each of us have already received the most perfect gift….many, many years ago……no it didn’t come from a high-dollar department store and wasn’t wrapped in shiny paper……didn’t cost us one cent….not one single penny……..This gift was born in a stable…..wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger…..a stable….for animals….donkeys, sheep, cows…..now I love all my little critters but a night with Chloe and Eyore….no thanks.  This gift God’s Son, born in a manager for us, lived, died and rose again for us…..died that we might live…..Our Heavenly Father gave us the PERFECT GIFT….His only Son…..our Savior…..This Perfect Gift was a gift of LOVE…….unselfish……total LOVE for each of us.  The gift of LOVE, wrapped in swaddling clothes….The perfect gift comes from love……not how much money was spent or the name brand…….So go ahead finish your shopping, but remember the Perfect gift comes from love.  Father, thank you for giving us, the Perfect gift, Your only Son who died to save us from eternal death…..Fill our hearts with Your Love so that everything we do brings glory to You.

 

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:11-12.  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John3:16.  This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  1 John 3:16.  We love because God first loved us.  1 John 4:19.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.  1 John 4:12.

Love you all!

March 28, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Totally, Thankfully, loved by HIM, Thursday!  Before I say anything this morning I want to share a verse from God’s word that popped up at me this morning!  From Psalm 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD HE is GOD:  it is HE that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are HIS people and the sheep of HIS pasture.”  I think about Jesus on the donkey…..humble……..HE IS GOD!  We are HIS sheep……Shepherds take good care of their sheep…..some days we sure don’t feel like we are being taken good care of do we….but we are if we are giving our day to God…..Roy Lessen says it so well, “Having a good day doesn’t mean having an easy or perfect day.  It means a day spent saying ‘yes’ to God’s purpose.  A day lived in the will of God is the best day anyone could ever spend.”  Seems like there is something in the air lately, people are frazzled, stressed, anxious everywhere you go…….How in the heck can we have a “good” day when life is tumbling in all around us!  There is only one way……..we must wake up, praise God for the day, thank Him for each and every minute, give the day to Him, asking Him to open our hearts and minds to know His will…..to know His will…..for the day……we don’t have to have our whole life plan at once…..One day at time……with Him…..listening to Him……hearing with our hearts and minds His will for our day….today….tomorrow….the day after…..Thank you Father for this “good day” with You!  Enable us to come humbly to You with hearts and minds open to hear Your will for us and the faith to do….All Praise and Glory to You, our Loving Heavenly Father.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24.  Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  John 10:27.  Pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.  Proverbs 5:1-2.  The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.  Psalm 33;11.  The mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.  Romans 8:6.  The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7.

Enjoy the blessing of Easter!  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia!

Love you all!

Kathie A. Johnson

March 26, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully His, Tuesday!  I was really sick with the crud this weekend, so sick that I couldn’t even make it to church….I hate to miss church and Sunday, being Palm Sunday, was even more disappointing.  I love our Palm Sunday processional, walking into church waving palm branches singing “Hosanna to God in the Highest.”  We are excited and happy because we know that indeed our Jesus did suffer and die…..but most importantly He rose from the dead…..for us!  Our Savior…..I picture Him that day……He knew full well what was ahead of Him….He could have turned and ran, but instead He rode into Jerusalem willingly…..He rode on a donkey…..a donkey……as I was out feeding my donkeys last night, I couldn’t help but notice that they are not what one might call “handsome”…….big heads and ears and their fur is so rough and ungroomed….no they are not much to look at…yet Jesus rode on a donkey…..proudly….He most certainly could have rode on a stunning stallion….a flawless steed, rather than a donkey……but, the thought occurred to me, that was not what our Jesus was all about……He came humbly into the world…..born in a stable, rode on a donkey, died on a cross with criminals, buried in a borrowed tomb!  Jesus was humble…..He willingly became HUMBLE for us…..so that we might live because of His death……Jesus wants us to be humble too….He tells us in John 13:15…..”I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”  Being humble isn’t always easy.....maybe the next time we want to brag or showoff we should think about our Jesus on the back of that donkey….thank HIM and go out and show His love.  Father, thank you for the gift of Your Son…..help us to have humble spirits and willing hearts to show His love every chance we get.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:5-11.

Love you all!