Miracles, Faith & Blessings!

"In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth: At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Mary’s Song: And Mary said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is His name.
Luke 1:26-49

I just love this passage of scripture. There are miracles, amazing faith, blessings! Can you imagine being in either of these two women's places and having this happen to you? Can you imagine being 15 years old as Mary was and handling this the way she did? It is the beginning of the most amazing event! I am really trying to focus on these miracles instead of the hustle and bustle of this season. It is a difficult task to transform what has been over commercialized and centers around what gifts we will receive into focusing on the greatest gift we have already received!

I hope everyone is enjoying December so far. Blessings!

God's Plans

"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." Matthew 1:18-25

What an amazing plan God has! Every detail, He takes care of. He did all of this, to save us from death! He wants us to come live with Him in heaven for eternity. He loves us that much! That is amazing! Imagine, if He loves us that much, how He also will attend to the details in our daily lives...IF we let Him. We have to give Him control instead of trying to control it ourselves. He has a plan for us... we just have to give up our plans for His.

We are approaching Christmas. There are gifts to be bought, plus Jay's birthday is in December. At a time when money is the tightest I find out that one of my kids needs a tooth pulled and we have to take her to an oral surgeon. Then, I find out that my son is missing two permanent teeth (apparently they don't exist in his gum) and the baby teeth will be permanent because there is no other tooth to push them out... AND... there is a cavity in that baby tooth that will now be permanent. OK, I think we are looking at around $1000+ worth of dentistry with no dental insurance. My first reaction is to say "why?"; "why now?". Then I have to stop and remind myself that God is in control. He will provide for our needs. There is a reason for this (though I can't for the life of me think of what it could possibly be!). I just have to have faith that it will all work out for the best. I still must also give God praise. He has done so many wonderful things for me and my family and He has ALWAYS taken care of our needs... I know He will again.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Merry Christmas!

Blessings!

Preparing for Christ

‎"The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”, “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’” Mark 1:1-3 Isaiah prophesied of the coming Saviour, telling people to prepare for Him; yet when He came, many did not beleive it was Him. They were looking for a "royal" king to come in some grand manner. They just could not believe that our Saviour came to us as a baby, born to a young teenage mother and a carpenter, delivered in a stable with the ox and cows. He came to us completely humbled. It takes faith to believe. It takes the same faith to beleive that He will provide for us and take care of us. Maybe what we think we need, we really just want. If a stable was good enough for our Lord to come to this world in, then I think we could do with much less than we think we have to have.

I am going to spend the next month talking about preparing for Christ. I want to teach my kids that they can get by with much less than they have. I want to teach them the lessons that I have learned the hard way. I want them to be prepared for the next coming of Christ. I want to be prepared for the next coming of Christ. It is a constant learning and growth experience.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Blessings to everyone as we prepare for the Christmas season!

Thankful!

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had a fabulous time as Jay and I went to the beach for the weekend and got most of our Christmas shopping done! Whew. Our first stop was the Tanger outlets up North. I was walking along and then I saw it... the Naartjie kids store! Ohhhh... I love it! They have the absolute cutest clothes for little girls! I just had so much fun in there! You can check them out at http://www.naartjiekids.com/.

What a beautiful weekend! This morning is just as beautiful. As we are nearing Thanksgiving, I wanted to think about some things I am thankful for. Of course I am thankful for my Saviour, for my husband and kids and other family and friends. I am also thankful for weekends like this past one to get away with my husband. I am thankful for the other wonderful people in our lives that have a good Christian influence on our kids. I am thankful for my job and the ability to go to work each morning. I am thankful to have been born in America and to have enjoyed the freedoms and prosperity that we have; and to have the freedom to pursue my dreams! I also realize those things cannot be taken for granted and my voice is as big as anyone else's, so it is needed to stand up and fight to preserve those freedoms for my kids!

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV)

Blessings!!!

JaAnna

Let's Get Acquainted!

Today is a beautiful gift from God... Praise Him and enjoy the day! I like to start each morning out reminding myself of this. It just helps get the day off to a good start. I can choose to focus on things that seem wrong to me, or I can look to God and remember that He is in charge and His plan is better than mine. I can have faith that He will provide for my needs and take care of me. That is so much better than trying to take on the world myself.

In this blog, I hope to share some devotions and some thoughts on things that moms might be interested in. I love design and decorating. I love the thought of scrapbooking, although I don't find much time to do it. I love to make crafts and embellish clothing. I love photography, especially my kids, nature and old buildings and cars. I also would like to share my ideas on new items that I find or products that I try out. My life revolves around God, my husband and our three kids. Which means that weekends are full of soccer! We love soccer.

I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing! "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Blessings!
JaAnna