Unraveling the Stress of the Christmas Season

November 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

As we head into heat of the Christmas season with the frustrating lines in the stores, the tangled lights that don’t work after hours of decorating, the strained relationships especially within families, the baking that was a flop, the stress to fit all the activities into your calendar are only examples of  the pressure cooker we make of the season as we blow our tops and lose the joy of the season, I am cautioned by this word my heavenly Papa dropped into my heart.

Dear Child,

The pressure and stress that robs you of the joy of this season has been manufactured by man and led man into slavery when this season was to set man free from the bondage of this world. The angels cry “Joy to the world” not “Stress to the world”.

Do not try to package my gift in wrapping paper of stress tied up with a bow of pressure!

My gift came wrapped in joy and tied with love.

May the joy of the season overflow from your hearts as you extend your arms as ribbons of love to others.

Thus saith Papa

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

CHALLENGE: Do not let the world pour you into its mold of stress during this season of joy.

 

 

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Was This Your Black Friday Chaos?

November 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

 

The following word the Lord gave me several years ago rings again in my ears as the cash registers begin to incessantly ring with crowds at the mall increasing and parking a car almost impossible.

Dear Child,
The pressure and stress that robs you of the joy of the season, has been manufactured by man, and has led man into slavery, when this season was to set men free from the bondage of this world. The angels cry “joy to the world” not “stress to the world”. Do not try to package My gift in wrapping paper of stress tied up with a bow of pressure! My gift came wrapped in joy and tied with love. May the joy of the season overflow from your heart as you extend your arms as ribbons of love to others.
Thus saith Papa

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Make Your Centerpiece a Fresh Bouquet of Appreciation

November 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment

As I was busy preparing a beautiful table for a feast for my family on Thanksgiving, the Lord reminded me to also take the quiet time to prepare my heart to offer Him a feast of thanks. In the busyness of the season I needed to be reminded to prepare a table for Him decorated with a bouquet of fresh appreciation, a heart full of gratitude and mouthful of praise as I reflected on His faithfulness during the past year.
We should always be thankful but it is also good at this holiday of Thanksgiving to stop and meditate on what we are truly thankful for lest we start to take His blessings for granted and find our beautiful tables lacking the luster of the joy of the Lord!

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Do You Have An Attitude of Gratitude?

November 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment

If your life was played out on the stage of a department store where would you be lining up?
Page 138 of “Developing a Secret History with God” exhorts us with this word, “What has eaten away at our attitude of gratitude? Could it be a lack of appreciation, discontentment or complaining? A grateful heart is a soft, pliable heart in the loving hands of the Master Potter. But hearts become cold and hardened when we murmur and complain. Hearts become distant and lukewarm when we stop appreciating all the Lord has done for us. Hearts exchange peace for stress when we become discontented. Where there is true worship there is no complaining.”
Book available on Amazon/ Barnes&Noble/ Walmart/Lulu/ itunes/ Kindle/ Nook/http wwwclfrance.com/ W.H. Smith UK/or a bookstore near you.
Languages: English/ French

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Harvest Thanksgiving UK Traditions

November 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment

When we immigrated to the U.S.A. we brought many of our U.K. traditions with us. We obviously don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but we do have harvest thanksgiving services in our churches where we decorate the church with such things as fruits, vegetables, breads, wheat, grain, autumn flowers and plants to represent His abundant provisions.
The windowsills are lined with a variety of fruits,
We tie tall husks of wheat at the end of the pews,
The altar area is covered with many reminders of God’s provision.
The church doesn’t only look warm and inviting but I remember it smelling so good.
We would praise the Lord for His many provision with grateful harvest hymns
such as:
“ We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand:
The seed time and the harvest
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer for all thy love imparts,
And what thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.”

After the service the food and displays are distributed to the needy and less fortunate.
While attending Hawthorne Gospel church in New Jersey in the 1970’s we offered to provide and decorate the first ever display they had in the church of God’s provision. We are told that forty years later this U.K.tradition is still alive and has become a tradition of Hawthorne Gospel Church. Perhaps an idea for your local church this coming Sunday as you prepare to celebrate not only Thanksgiving but also God’s faithful harvest.

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