This Christmas

10 hours and counting . I will fly out in 10 hours and still have to do laundry, pack, and actually make it to the airport. I could hardly sleep last night thinking about being with my family and friends. Every time I think about it a get all giddy and anxious! I'm trying to enjoy all the excitement and anticipation because I know it will be over all too soon.

The important thing I have to keep recalling is that family and friends and the celebration of Christmas is great but it's not the point. I love every aspect of a big family Christmas and can't wait to experience it again this Christmas but I know that the important thing is Christ and His birth. All too often we see the remembrance of Christ's birth as part of the "holiday season" but it if far from it, His birth is the reason we celebrate in the first place. So many times we struggle to include Christ in our celebration. We fit Him in right before we sit down for family dinner or maybe even read of His birth before we tear into our gifts but rarely do we treasure the greatest gift we've ever been given. I tend to relate to the crowed that was in awe, astonished, even mesmerized by the news of the birth of the Savior. I am in awestruck wonder but that tends to lose its luster, its captivation after first hearing it. I need to follow Mary's example. She pondered the birth of HER Savior. She thought about it carefully, not losing sight of the implications of the meaning of His birth. He was more than a baby, he was God with us, Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas!

These past few days have been full. Full of love and joy, sadness and despair, and a renewed confidence and determination. I've learned so much in these past few days and it is just the beginning, I am so excited to see what God has planned next.

Sunday I turned 20! yay! I was fortunate enough to get to spend the first half of my day at church singing praises to my God and King in the Christmas worship service led my the children and youth. We all partied down in soul cafe where I was sung "Happy Birthday" to in 2 different languages! Really neat experience. They also gave me a cake and presents! After Soul Cafe some friends from church took me to an incredible lunch. What a blessing it is to have such great people in my life. All credit goes to God, for sure.

Sunday evening I learned that a friend of my families passed away. My heart hurts for them. Losing family is such a hard thing to go through but God can make great things come from it.

I'm learning a lot about faith at the moment, as well as perseverance in trials. I've been reading James 1 for the past few days and I see how important it is to be joyful when trials come b/c those trials produce perseverance and you must have perseverance in order to be complete, not lacking anything. It is in those trials that God can break us and mold us into what He needs us to be, what will benefit His plan. How great it is that God chooses to use us to fulfill His plans. He certainly does not need me to do His great work but the fact that He chooses to, overwhelms me.

While reading the message version of James 1, the Holy Spirit showed me that faith isn't leaving the rest up to God, it isn't doing all you can do then when you've gone as far as you can go asking God to take over what is left. Faith is not having a back up plan. Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket. Faith is trusting Him with all of it, not holding anything back, relying on Him from the beginning and trusting that He'll see you through to the end.

I've been trying to keep up with Matt Chandler's progress as he underwent surgery the other day to remove a tumor from his brain. He recorded a video a few days before His surgery that encouraged me and challenged me to go deeper with God, to strive to get to the next level in my relationship with God. It is the most important thing, above all else, and it isn't just realizing that and thinking on it but doing something- acting on the thought. If you'd like to watch that video here is the link:

http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/blog/hvpastor/?p=363

I have just 2 more weeks till I will be back in Texas for the celebration of Christ's birth! I am thrilled to get to see my family and friends and church family. I'm also looking forward to some good ole' Tex-Mex!

I am thankful beyond words for those of you who lift me up in your prayers and keep me in your thoughts. I thank my God for you.

Emily