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I was a little busy past couple of days, yeah – but I did have this draft written but not sent – so here’s my christmas eve devotion – another end of the year recap – I hope I am not repetitive but I have to praise praise praise as I sit here in the glow of this Christmas tree – I have so much re-pondering for the blessings of the year – so much AWE of God – I mean from God HIMSELF calling me to accept Jesus – to Holy Spiriting all the people, situations and tools into place – “knowing every hair on my head (Luke 12)” kind of guidance – to the adventures in travel, and of course of music… most importantly blessings of friends  – plus this forced writing of over 300 devotions/blogs forcing me to share the good news of Jesus for my own sanity of processing, which I never saw coming, and OH YEAH, lest I forget, this 55.5 lb weight-loss and a bursting feeling of health – yeah UNREAL – WILD…  If you asked me last year at this time what my wildest dreams were, they could not have been wild enough for this journey God has taken me on… thank you all for being part of the journey!

Now PLEASE I am trying NOT to boast but to praise – because I didn’t cause any of this, I just became an opportunist of blessings and God handled the rest… and trust me that I have had my share of heartaches this year too – we all do – I just don’t write about them in detail – but please know that the big and little devil attacks (sometimes massive ones) are being truly combated by God on my behalf, making many really obvious, and equipping me with Jesus to withstand and allowing me to learn life lessons… and oh yeah, that feeling of Jesus picking me up? WHEW, I cannot overstate the need for everyone to really seriously rely on Jesus – oh yeah the most powerful pick me up EVER – if you go back to read devotion # 254 Back in the Boat, 02SEP – whew – that was a rough chapter… Trust me that Jesus truly does save everyday – not just at the end of your life… and as I re-read #259 Settling Your Heart into Jesus’s Hands, 07Sept – yeah God KNEW I needed Jesus this whole year – we all need Jesus – and how fortunate I was to have the loving support of so many friends – which is sent from God too!

Tomorrow I go up home, will be a trip filled with joy and also stress as a family member is not doing well… either way it’s time to go home… either way it’s time to rely on Jesus for strength and serenity…

Here is my Christmas Eve devotion… THANK YOU ALL again for both supporting me and humoring me this year too:

Wildest Dreams, 24DEC

Christmas Eve – today is filled with peace and pondering (and a little last minute shopping and the anticipated blessings of being with my family and church family tonight). Yes, it’s CHRISTMAS EVE, so today is an extraordinary day for us, BUT an ordinary day for God – because like every other day THIS day really “IS the DAY that the LORD has made” and I am REALLY REALLY GLAD – and I AM REALLY REALLY GLAD TO REJOICE IN IT!!!

Every day this year was filled with pondering and praise – every morning was Christmas to me this year – I truly feel next year will be just as wild and wonderful…  I reread a piece where I spoke of entering the corporate open enrollment of Christianity at Christmas last year… how convenient for us to have Christmas EVERY year to reinforce this open enrollment! This year was SO filled with opportunities and gifts – every evening a multitude of treasured memories I held in my heart – what an amazing year – what an amazing gift of JOY everyday when I ponder the wondrous works of God… All from accepting Jesus only one year ago – seems like forever and seems like just yesterday… You know I used to double check myself those first months of “do I truly believe?”  yeah – I always checked out OK!  “I have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back” that is one of the new VBS songs for next summer – yup awesome year behind me, and ahead too!!!

At the Michael Card concert last week, he told us that many of the songs that come out of the bible come out of LUKE – and that likely Luke lived near or with John who was tasked by Jesus to become His mother Mary’s son at the crucifixion. So Luke got to speak to Mary and his writings detailed her recount of her life with Jesus… Michael Card sang and spoke of Mary being in AWE – “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” – And he spoke about how we have to STOP our pondering we approach the cradle and WE should fall on our knees – yeah – accept and BE STILL and know that God is God…

It is not lost on me that I have musical bookends on my faith journey this treasured year with a whole library of music new and old to fill my head (and it is certainly nice to NOT have to close any chapters)… This treasured music journey was as intense if not more so then my writing – because where I couldn’t write ALL the time, I could still sing praise ALL the time!!!!  I sing waking up and I sing going to sleep… God wrote lyrically in my heart.. When I am stressed, I start singing to cover any thorns poking my ears – when I am happy, I start singing – and whistling is a gift…  This Christmas to Christmas year, started with “Come to the Cradle – come and find PEACE” – music plus sermons and scripture and more music (old and new, from Genesis to the Grateful dead and all types in between)… so to be able to speak to Michael Card HIMSELF one year later – truly I have to question: how does God make that happen? Do you ever wonder if God has it out for you too????  I KNOW GOD had it in for me and chased me down when I wasn’t looking – and not only filled my cup but gave me an overflowing “Flood” feeling which caused the need to step outside my normal faith circles and set up rain buckets to catch my overflowing faith.

The Michael Card song line to describe this year would be “For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt, and hoped to see His love, The Promise showed their wildest dreams Had simply not been wild enough.”

Mary accepted being “the handmaid of the Lord” Luke 1:38… She pondered the future, I do too…   I know Jesus came to us and so importantly He made the path so that the Holy Spirit can enter into us ALL… I am God’s handmaid… You are too…”I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

It’s Christmas – let us let the HOLY SPIRIT move us all together as we celebrate God’s ultimate gift to us… The best way to appreciate God is to appreciate sharing God with each other, because Jesus is “GOD WITH US” Immanuel… And to have us with God is God’s WILDEST DREAM!!!  That’s why waking up every day is like Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, thank you all for being my biggest blessing amplifiers this year!!! Thank you for sharing Jesus with me – and for letting the Spirit move you – it’s been a wild year – blessed blessed blessed…

Happy New Year!
Wild!