Author and Editor
Jessalyn Hutto
As a child I dreamt of becoming a famous actress, so it will come as no surprise that I was very disappointed when we moved from Hollywood Central (Southern California) to a tiny town in Texas. Despite this major setback (as seen through a child’s eyes) I kept pursuing my dream, and spent most of my childhood on the stage at our local community theater.
The summer before my sophomore year in high school, I was invited to a church youth camp where I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time. It was then that I came to understand that Jesus was the perfect Son of God who died a horrific death on a cross so that my sins could be forgiven. From that point on my life was completely different. God began to mold and shape me into something that desired to please him rather than myself. I began to sense that I wanted to be involved in full time ministry one day, but didn’t exactly know how.
I began my college career majoring in musical theater, but soon switched to special education. During my junior year of college I met Richard. He was passionate about the Word and cared deeply about its proclamation, plus he gave me that oowy-goowy feeling in the pit of my stomach. He told me that he felt called to pastoral ministry and I was hooked. Our dating saga is much too complicated to go into here, but lets just say I played hard to get until I knew for sure that he was the only man I could spend the rest of my life with. Once we were officially dating we were engaged after 4 months and got married 2 after that.
We moved to Louisville, Kentucky to pursue Richard’s seminary education with our new Mini Schnauzer, Melvin, in tow. While in Louisville we became pregnant for the first time and soon after miscarried. That was our first major trial as a married couple and the Lord gave us great strength and joy through it.
Then the Lord blessed us with Elliot’s pregnancy. Richard began the hunt for a full time job that would support us and allow me to stay home with our precious baby boy. The Lord had other plans. It became quite clear to us that we were not going to be able to find a job in Louisville. So, we packed up our tiny one bedroom apartment and headed home to Texas where there was a job waiting for us.
On December 31, 2008 Elliot was born and our family became 3… well 3 1/2! On June 4, 2010 Hudson entered our world and added to our joy. For now our family is four (Melvin went to live with his grandparents), but only God knows what the future holds for us. Richard is working hard on completing his master’s degree while providing for our family with a full time job. We look forward to the day, Lord willing, when he can completely devote himself to the study and proclamation of God’s word!
Our passion as a family: As we joyfully live in the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will seek to daily know the Lord fully, serve the Lord faithfully, and proclaim the Lord fervently.
Below are some of my latest writings here at Desiring Virtue:
Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 1)
Please understand that I am not saying it is absolutely impossible to cultivate a Christ-centered Christmas that includes Santa. Rather, my hope is to challenge you to contemplate the purpose of including Santa in your celebration as well as the benefits and consequences of including him in your celebration.
In the next few posts I will be sharing my heart for why I believe it is most beneficial to the the spiritual formation of our children to focus solely on the incarnation of Christ rather than mixing Santa with Jesus. I pray that, even if by the end of this series you disagree with me, you will at the very least be encouraged to be purposeful in how you shepherd your children’s hearts during this wonderful season.
The topic of Santa Claus is very interesting to me. How is it that a fourth century bishop who was known for his generosity to children, the poor and the destitute became the center of a an entire holiday season? When and why did people feel the need to mold this real and supposedly God-honoring man into an idol?
The word idol may sound harsh. I am not proposing that everyone who participates in the Santa Claus tradition is an idol worshiper, but I fear that the vast majority of Americans are in fact teaching their children to worship an imaginary man (imaginary because the historical St. Nicholas of Myra is vastly different from the one we celebrate now).
Think about it for a moment, how is the way we encourage our children to worship the true God any different from the way we teach our children to relate to Santa Claus? We teach them that Santa is all-knowing (after all he can see you when your sleeping and know when your awake), he is omnipresent (he somehow can be everywhere at once in one night), and he rewards good behavior while punishing bad behavior. We actively ingrain in our children the validity of Santa, reading them stories, teaching them songs, taking them to “meet” Santa and more. We remind them throughout the year (especially as Christmas gets closer) that the gifts they get on Christmas will depend upon their obedience or disobedience making Santa an authority in their lives. In many ways, and in many homes Santa may seem more “real” than God himself!
Of course we know that we are basically lying to our children so that they can have some childish fun, and they will find out sooner or later that it was all just an elaborate story meant for their enjoyment, but they don’t know that yet. In their childish minds Santa is the coolest man on earth! Who could be better than Santa? I mean goodness, all I have to do is make a list and he will give me all my little heart desires come Christmas morning!
It should not surprise us to find that Santa has grown into such a phenomenon, for we know that man’s heart was created to worship. As humans we were created to have a relationship with our Lord. In fact, our hearts and minds are fitted to worship (though this natural inclination is skewed as a result of the fall). No, it should not surprise us when we see the world grasp at any and all earthly idols as they search for joy and spurn the one true God, but it should surprise us when the Christian community embraces the worship of a fictional character with little more thought than “I want my child to have fun.”
You may be wondering what you would do during Christmas without Santa. If so, I would love for you to read the recent series “Cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas.” Just click here to learn about many Christ-centered traditions you can implement in your family!
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday and A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Imitate)
We have looked at many different practical traditions that you can make a part of your family’s Christmas celebration, today we are going to look at the most important ways that we can glorify and honor our Lord at Christmas time. By imitating the heart and love of our Savior we will point others to the most wonderful of Kings, the one who can give them true and lasting joy. I hope that you will prayerfully consider making service and giving the biggest part of your Christmas, rather than parties, gifts, and shopping.
Imitate Our Messiah King
Care for the Orphans and Widows- Imitate the heart of our Savior by paying special attention to the orphans and widows around you. Consider who around you (or around the world for that matter) you can show the love of Christ to. Is there a nursing home near you? Is there an elderly, home bound member of your church you could spend time with? Can you volunteer at a shelter? Will you participate in Operation Christmas Child? Is there a needy family that you are aware of whom would be blessed by your generosity during Christmas? Look for ways to serve and give to those who are the most alone and needy this Christmas, for this is undefiled religion, this is what our Messiah loves to see his redeemed doing. Photo Credit
Care for the Church- Find special ways to honor those who serve faithfully in your church family. People who may not be recognized often are nursery workers, set up crews, sound and tech crews, small group leaders, and youth workers. Take the time to thank them for serving our Messiah King and bless them in some special way (keep in mind that a personal note of thanks is probably more appreciated than a baked good even… and more economical too). Also remember to honor your pastors and their families during this time. They will be especially busy during this season (many will be unable to spend their Christmas with extended family as they serve the church). A practical way to serve these busy people is by offering to prepare dinner for them one night during the Christmas season as they may be too busy to come over to your home for dinner. A good meal that is already prepared is a very special blessing! Gift cards to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target, etc… would also be excellent blessings as pastor’s families often operate on small budgets. Don’t forget those you do not see! Send Christmas cards and gifts to missionaries you have been praying for and supporting throughout the year.
Care for the Poor- Consider spending less money on gifts for your family and more on gifts that will make a lasting impact on those who have nothing. (Talk to your family about this goal before making any drastic changes to your gift buying; make it a family project). Perhaps you will begin supporting a child through Compassion, or you will donate money to an organization that provides clean drinking water to those who are dying without it-one such organization is Living Water International.
Care for the Persecuted Church- Look into different ways your family or you personally can encourage and strengthen the persecuted church. Check into the many opportunities that Voice of the Martyrs provides like filling an action pack for persecuted Christians, collecting blankets for Sudanese Christians, writing a letter to a Christian who has been imprisoned for his faith, or simply giving money.
Invite someone over for your Christmas Eve/Christmas day celebration who doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Let them be a part of your family and participate in your traditions. Show them that your family is different, that your family serves the Lord and not the lust for material possessions. People you might not think about are college students (especially students from other countries), elderly neighbors, and seminary students/couples.
While we were in another state for seminary we were very blessed by a family in our church who “took us in” for Christmas and allowed us to enjoy their feast with them.
Be Set Apart- All of the traditions we have discussed throughout this series are meant to be distinctly Christian. We want the world to see that we have something incredible to celebrate, something that is beautiful and wonderful and exciting, something that they will want to partake in too. Think about Christ’s character and make it your aim to display that to the world around you this Christmas. Keep spare bills in your wallet so that you are ready and able to give to The Salvation Army, to beggars on the street, to buy your friend lunch. Be prepared to share the gospel with your coworkers, fellow students, and neighbors. Make baked goods for your neighbors to show them the love of Christ and personally deliver them. Invite people to church with you on Christmas to hear the good news. Carry your faith into every aspect of your Christmas (that includes your Black Friday shopping!).
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Worship)
So far we have looked at the Motivation for a Christ-Centered Christmas, Advent Traditions, and Ways to Meditate on Christ. Today we are going to turn our attention to practical ways we can worship Christ during the Christmas Season!
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us.
Worshipping the Messiah King
Christmas Eve Service- Make your church’s Christmas Eve Service a focal point of your Christmas tradition. If you have children, build up the excitement of going to the special Christmas service where you will worship the Messiah King with your church family. Make time for the service and plan your other activities around it, so as not to be rushed and simply adding more “activities” to your night. Candlelight Service Photo Credit
Incorporate Christmas Hymns into your family devotion times and play Christ-exalting Christmas Carols in your home throughout the Christmas season.
The First Gift Tradition- Wrap a box that can be used every Christmas and fill it with white index cards that read “Jesus blessed me this year by…” (or something to this effect). Fill out as many cards as you want individually and then place them in the box on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning open the box and read them out loud to one another reminding each other of the many blessings our Messiah King has bestowed on us. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to our giving Lord for all the many gifts he has given us (including the gifts you are about to open). Pray that he would cultivate thankful and mindful hearts in each of us. Open each other’s gifts with the desire to bless others because we have been so richly blessed.
Save the cards from each year by tying them up in ribbon and leaving them at the bottom of the box. Throughout the Christmas Season take a peak at old cards!
This is the first year we will be incorporating this tradition into our Christmas. I plan to write “Jesus I thank and worship you because…” on each of the cards so that our gift to Jesus is filled with praises to him (what he truly desires).
Rejoice! Make Christmas morning a very special and exciting day by making a lavish breakfast lighting lots of candles and singing loud worship music to the Messiah who has “arrived.” Consider waking before your children wake up (I know…) so they can see that you are thrilled to celebrate Christ’s birth. In this way you can capture their hearts and minds before they even begin to think about presents. Burst into their rooms singing “Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul, and voice; Give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today; Ox and ass before Him bow; and He is in the manger now. Christ is born today! Christ is born today!” Then lead them to your tree to give Jesus your gift of praise!
Shepherd’s Pouches- Cultivate a giving spirit in your children’s hearts by encouraging them to collect spare change or allowance money (provide opportunities for them to earn money) during the Christmas season. Hang “Shepherd’s Pouches” rather than stockings and allow them to fill them up with money for Christ (their gifts of praise to him). Tell them that you will put all of the money together when Christmas arrives and donate it to the church, a charity, a needy family you know, or use it to send your Compassion child a special Christmas gift. Christmas Eve night, exchange the money for small trinkets that you would normally put in a stocking.
Don’t forget to have a Shepherd’s Pouch for Mom and Dad too! Let your children see your desire to worship Christ as well. Giving your money to someone or sending it off to a charity on Christmas day would be an excellent way to make the experience more realistic to younger children (even if the Post Office isn’t open you can put it in a drop box). Leather Pouch Photo Credit
Consider limiting the amount of Christmas gifts you give to your children in order to help them focus less on material things. Some use a “three gift” rule mimicking the frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought by the wise men to Jesus.
We have a one present tradition, that we hope to build on as our children grow and are able to make/buy gifts for their siblings (we also ask that extended family use temperance in their gift buying).
Some larger families have a “Night of the Giver” for every person in their family where each person is assigned a night when they are able to give the gifts they have made/bought to each of their family members. (If you have four members in your family you have four nights of gift giving.) This helps to cultivate an attitude of giving rather than receiving. Christmas Eve and Day are then reserved to celebrate Christ, our ultimate gift and no gifts are exchanged.
Cut out Santa- I will share more on Santa during the month of December, but for now let me just say this: Allow your children to be thankful to the true Giver of Gifts rather than a fictitious person who will only distract from your worship of the Lord. Use the gifts from family and friends to teach your children about our great God who blesses us, so that we can in turn bless others.
Click here to take a look at ways we can practically imitate our Messiah King this Christmas season!
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up at The Encouraging Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Meditation)
Yesterday we looked at Advent activities that will help you and your family focus on celebrating our Messiah King during the Christmas season. Today we are going to look at some practical ways to encourage meditation on Jesus throughout this sometimes hectic and distracting time.
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us.
Meditating on The Messiah King
Names of Jesus Ornaments- Create a collection of tree ornaments that display the names of Jesus and their references. As you “trim your tree” or decorate your home read them out loud to each other and look up some of the verses they are found in. This is a wonderful exercise that allows you to remind yourself of who Christ is and to teach your children that Jesus was so much more than a little baby in a manger. It is also a wonderful way to continue to meditate on Christ throughout the Christmas season as you sit next to your tree and read through all of the wonderful descriptions of our Lord. You may also use one ornament a day to focus your personal devotions on.
We began this tradition two years ago when we decided to make our Christmas Tree our Jesse Tree. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up our tree and decorate it with ribbon, lights and simple names of Jesus ornaments. We made ours by writing the names on pretty ball ornaments with paint pens. Then every night we hang a new Jesse Tree ornaments (see yesterday’s post) until the tree is filled with the story of Christ. Out of all of our traditions the Names of Jesus tradition is my favorite. It is such a blessing to read through all of the different descriptions of Christ together as a family.
Read through a Christmas Devotional such as “Come Though Long Expected Jesus” during your personal devotions or as a married couple to help focus your heart(s) on what you are celebrating.
Make use of Symbolism- Use deep red ribbon to decorate your Christmas tree in order to symbolize the blood that Jesus planned to shed for us even before he came to earth as the baby in the manger. As you decorate your tree with twinkly lights, remind yourself and your children that Christ came to be the Light of the World. As you decorate your home with lights, talk about how God calls us to be the light to a dark world. Just as our homes shine brightly in the darkness, we should seek to live holy lives that are different from the sinful world around us.
Further use of colors representations: Red for Jesus’ blood, Green for everlasting life, White for purity (both in Christ and in how he makes us white as snow), Gold for Christ’s Kingship. Remind yourself of these truths as you decorate and make sure to verbalize them throughout the holiday season for the benefit of your children. Meditate on a verse for each of the colors throughout the season. Decorate your home with angels who are “announcing” the coming messiah. Use a star to top your tree symbolizing the star that led to the baby Jesus in the manger. Consider waiting to place it on the top of the tree on Christmas Eve.
Gingerbread Gospel (For families with children)- There are a couple ways you can use the traditional “Gingerbread House” to focus on Christ. The first is by building a traditional house and relating it to the gospel message. Here is a way one mother does so:
“Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a life-sized gingerbread house? What would your favorite candy house be made out of? What would you use for beds, chairs, pillows, toys? (let the children offer ideas) That would almost seem like the perfect place to live, wouldn’t it? Well, the Bible tells us about a real live “perfect place to live.” It’s called Heaven. Long ago, that’s where Jesus lived. But God decided to send Jesus from His perfect house in Heaven to Earth. (John 6:38) What was the first house Jesus lived in on Earth (pause to let children answer)? It was a stable. What is a stable? (a barn) What would have it looked like? What would have been in that stable? What would it have smelled like? And Jesus’ first bed was a manger. What is a manger? (A feeding trough for animals) (Luke 2:1-7) Was it anything like the perfect place Jesus came from? Now, why do you think that God would send His own Son from a perfect house in heaven, to a dirty, smelly, cold place like a stable? (let children offer answers) Because He loves you very much! He wanted you to know Him and so He sent His Son to tell you and to show you all about God. Jesus did just that. He taught us about God, and the things that He taught are all written down for us in the Bible (John 3:16) One day, when Jesus was still a young man, He left His home on Earth. He died for all the bad things we’ve done. And now He has a new home. Do you know where that is? He wants to live in our hearts. He will come and live in our hearts if we ask Him to, and forgive us all of the wrong things we’ve done! (John 14:15-17) Now, why do you think He would want to live inside us, and forgive us of our sins? (pause for responses) He does that because He loves each one of you so much! He wants to always be close to you, and help you. Finally, the Bible says one more important thing about houses. It says that Jesus is preparing a house for each one of us in heaven! He says that one day, we can all live forever with Him there in that perfect, wonderful place! (Luke 1:31-33; John 6:38-40; John 14:1-3) Can you tell me what houses we have talked about that Jesus has lived in? (heaven, stable/earth, our hearts, and heaven again) Now, I want you to remember how much Jesus loves you every time you look at it. And I want you to remember that Jesus wants to live inside you, and to have you live with Him in Heaven someday.” Gingerbread House Photo Credit
Another way to use gingerbread to focus your children’s hearts on Christ (and your own for that matter) is to build a gingerbread nativity scene rather than a house. There are nativity cookie cutters that can be used for this and as you bake and decorate the different characters you will be presented with another opportunity to share the story of the incarnation with your children. Gingerbread Nativity Photo Credit
Play Nativity Sets (for families with children)- use a children’s nativity set to act out the nativity story with your children over and over again during the holiday season. Let them keep the nativity in their room and play with it at will.
Act Out the Nativity Story (for families with children)- Many families put on a little Christmas pageant of there own where each member of the family plays a role (Mary, Joseph, an Angel, etc…) reenacting the Christmas story either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Creative people can even make costumes!
Watch “The Nativity Story” as a family during the Christmas season.
We love this movie for the sole purpose of showing the reality of real people (Mary and Joseph) with real faults and fears being used by God during this miraculous event. I cry when Christ is born every time we watch it! We usually watch it on Christmas Eve.
Read the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth before opening presents. This simple tradition may have a tremendous impact on your children’s hearts as they learn to control their desire for presents and put Christ first in all things. Don’t rush through this activity and make sure that you are visibly excited to spend time with Jesus as a family on this very special morning-your enthusiasm will make a huge impact on their view of the activity.
Decorate with the Glory of God in Mind- So often we take our decorating cues from the world rather than thinking through our purpose in using such decorations. What do your decorations say about what you are celebrating? Reindeer and snowmen are not evil and can bring glory to the Lord, but they also may not be the most helpful for focusing your heart on Jesus. What’s worse, your children may grow up believing that Christmas is all about those things rather than the Holy Son of God. Let’s decorate our homes in a way that worships the the Lord! Try to make and find decorations that remind you of the miraculous event we are celebrating. Names of Jesus Frame Photo Credit
Click here to look at practical ways to worship our Messiah King during the Christmas Season!
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up at The Encouraging Home
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Advent)
Yesterday we looked at the motivation behind celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas. If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to take the time to read yesterday’s post before moving on to these practical suggestions for Christ-centered traditions.
Now that you are considering how you can cultivate a distinctly Christian Christmas celebration in your home, let’s look at some practical ways to do so. Keep in mind that no family should do all of these things. Trying to do too much during the holiday season, even good things, can result in a loss of the meditative spirit we are hoping to cultivate. Many of these traditions overlap and some of them cannot be done at the same time. Choose the traditions that are the most meaningful to you or use these suggestions as inspiration to create your own Christ-centered traditions.
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us. Today we will start with advent activities.
Anticipating the Messiah King Through Advent
Advent: The coming of the Messiah
Advent Wreaths/Candles- There are many ways to use candles during advent. You can simply have 25 tea light candles which are lit one by one as the days get closer to Christmas or you can celebrate with the traditional Advent Wreath, which also makes a great centerpiece for your table!
An advent wreath is very easy to make and is a fun activity for your family to collectively participate in as you look forward to celebrating the coming of the Messiah. It consists of four candles placed in the vines of a wreath and a white “Christ” candle in the center. The four colored candles are lit each of the Sundays before Christmas one by one until they are all lit. (The first week only one candle is lit, the second week two are lit, etc…) This is meant to symbolize the coming of the Light of the World. Traditionally three of the candles are purple and one is pink (the purple symbolizes royalty and the pink symbolizes the anticipation of Christmas, thus it is a mixture of the purple and white candles). The center candle is larger and white. It is lit Christmas Eve or Christmas day to symbolize Christ entering our world. You can easily encorporate this tradition with nightly or weekly devotions that focus on the coming Messiah. Advent Wreath Photo Credit
In the past we have only used advent candles around our nativity scene, but this year we are looking forward to using an advent wreath that I have made. We will be using four red candles to symbolize the bloody sacrificial system that was used up until Christ, the Lamb of God, who’s sacrifice sealed our pardon for all of eternity. We have one very large, beautiful white candle to symbolize the pure and holy Christ entering our world. Each night that we light a new candle we will read a prophecy that pertains to Christ from the Old Testament.
Advent/Jesse Tree- This tradition is typically reserved for those of us with children, but I would encourage even those without children to use the advent readings as you prepare your heart for the celebration of Christ’s birth. (Here is a sample list of readings, there are many different options online, and even devotional books you can purchase.) The Jesse Tree is named after Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots.” It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. The “shoot” or “branch” coming from Jesse’s lineage is a symbol of the hope Israel had in a coming Messiah. Each ornament hung on a small tree, or in many homes a branch, or for some on a banner, represents a particular moment in salvific history. For instance the first ornament would be something like a globe symbolizing creation and then perhaps a fruit symbolizing the fall. Each night leading up to Christmas you read a section of scripture related to one particular moment in the history of Christ’s lineage and then hang a corresponding ornament. Most people make their own ornaments with their children, but you can also buy kits. Jesse Tree Photo Credit
Our Jesse Tree is our Christmas Tree. Rather than having a separate tree that is more “spiritual” or Jesus focused, we decided to make the main purpose of our Christmas tree to celebrate the Messiah. Each night we add an ornament to our Christmas Tree and read the corresponding scriptures which takes the place of our usual family worship. This year I have finally gotten around to making my own ornaments that are a bit nicer than our previous paper ornaments. I chose artwork that featured the actual scenes or people we would be reading about rather than symbols and decoupaged them into ornament frames. I used red ribbon to hang them with to symbolize the blood of Christ which runs through all of redemptive history.
A Growing Nativity- Nativity scenes are an obvious way to decorate your home with the Gospel message. In fact, Noel Piper collects nativity scenes from their travels and fills her home with them on Christmas! Another way to build anticipation for Christ’s coming is to slowly build your nativity scene over the advent season rather than setting out the whole thing at once. You can either set it out piece by piece every couple of days (depending on how many pieces you have) or you can simply save Jesus for Christmas Eve/Day. Either way leave Jesus for last to represent the “wait” for the Messiah.
Advent Calendars (for families with children)- We are all familiar with Advent calendars, which can be a fun way for children to count down the days until Christmas. Rather than a calendar with Santa art on it, look for one that focuses on the nativity or create one of your own.
I am hoping to one day create an advent calendar with our Jesse Tree ornaments either by hanging them on a board under corresponding numbers or by hanging them in little numbered pouches over our “future fireplace.”
Advent Books (for families with children)- Let Christmas be a special time to bring out all of your Nativity centered books and books about the Christian Christmas message. As you build your collection or find new books to check out at the library wrap them like presents and mark them with numbers counting down to the days until Christmas. (If you only have three such books this year start three nights before Christmas, let the countdown get larger as your collection of books grows.) Try to find at least one new book every year to either add to the collection or replace another book once your collection is big enough. Open one book each morning as a special way to prepare your hearts for Christmas. Reserve the newest book for Christmas Day and let it be the first present you open and read together before opening all the other presents. Advent Books Photo Credit
This is the first Christmas that we will have more than three Christmas books, so I am very excited to get this tradition going-especially now that Elliot and Hudson absolutely LOVE to read. Let me just warn you, it IS very difficult to find books that focus on Christ rather than Santa, but it is indeed possible! Especially as children grow and can handle more lengthy stories.
Click here to look at practical ways to encourage meditation on our Messiah King!To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up with Time Warp Wife’s Titus Tuesdays, and Raising Homemakers’ Homemaking Link-Up, Frugally Sustainable, and the Encouraging Home
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Our Motivation
Yesterday I introduced you to Desiring Virtue’s new series “Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas.” Today we are going to begin the series by looking at our motivation for being intentional about our Christmas Celebrations.
Many Christians are increasingly concerned with the state of Christmas in our country. Phrases like “Keep Christ in Christmas!” have become anthems of our Christian community as even the word “Christmas” fades into obscurity, replaced by the more politically correct word “Holiday.”
Yet we must concede that Christmas is not a Biblically mandated holiday and it is not the only holiday that has ever been celebrated during the winter season. It is not even the first holiday to be celebrated during cold winter months! Most of us are aware that Christmas (the celebration of Christ’s birth) was first instituted by the Catholic church on December 25th in an effort to capitalize on the pagan celebrations already taking place during that time of the year. By doing this they not only ensured that The Feast of the Nativity, as it was originally called, would be easily embraced, but that it would soon eclipse pagan worship festivals as Christianity continued to grow. Many puritans (and even like minded Christians to this day) actually rejected the “Christmas” holiday due to its affiliation with such pagan festivals and the influence that those pagan cultures continued to have on the holiday.
It is vital that before we talk about specific ways to cultivate a Christ-centered Christmas we first explore our motivation behind celebrating Christmas at all. For when we have a specified purpose for our celebration we will be less likely to get derailed by our worldly, materialistic tendencies. Let it be our goal to celebrate a Christmas that is distinctly Christian and points others to our great Messiah King.
Motivation 1: For the Glory of God
As Christ’s redeemed people our purpose in every aspect of life is to glorify the Risen Lord. The Westminster Catechism explains that the “chief end of man” is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Indeed our lives are no longer about us, but about our glorious God and what he has done for his creation. Just as we seek to place every other aspect of our lives under his lordship, our traditions, celebrations, and holidays must also be purposefully about proclaiming his glory to our own hearts and to the hearts of the watching world around us. Paul encouraged the Corinthians to bring every decision, every facet of their lives (including what they ate and drank) under Christ’s reign and thus bring glory to him through it. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)
The birth of Christ, the incarnation of God, God becoming man for the purpose of living a holy life and then dying for sinful men in order to secure eternal salvation for them is a historical miracle that deserves celebration! Just as we seek to remember and celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter, we seek to celebrate the miracle of God becoming man so that one day he could die and be resurrected for our eternal good. By celebrating the birth of Christ we seek to worship and glorify God for his infinite goodness.
Motivation 2: To Remember
Indeed this infinitely beautiful truth should be carried within our hearts and lived out in our actions every single day of our lives. Yet, we are weak, frail human beings and we often forget how marvelous this truth really is. And so in bringing glory to the Lord by celebrating Christmas we naturally do ourselves the good of focusing our hearts on this marvelous truth and meditating on its implications for our lives.
In the Old Testament God instituted many feasts and celebrations for the people of Israel to remind them of all that he had done for them. The Passover, for instance, what created to remind the people of the Lord’s having passed over the Israelite’s first born by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. Thus the passover yearly pointed to the coming Messiah who would be their sacrificial lamb and cause their sins to be “passed over.”
God encouraged the Israelites to be careful to remind themselves of his goodness to them, lest they forget. Listen to this passage from Deuteronomy 4:9-10 where Moses warns the Israelites to diligently remember the law the Lord had just given them and the many ways he fought for them on their way to the Promised Land: “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.” The many traditions and feasts that the Israelites partook in were meant to serve as reminders to them and their children of the Lord’s work in their midst.
In the same way, we as new testament believers, have been given the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. These visual, tangible acts of obedience that we rehearse over and over again are meant to enliven within our souls the reality of spiritual truths, bringing encouragement to our hearts and glory to the Lord himself. Holidays like Christmas, though not Biblically mandated, can serve a similar purpose in our lives. -That is if we are purposeful in how we celebrate them. A Christmas that is characterized by reindeer, snowmen, and gift giving may bring temporary joy to the heart, but does little to bring lasting spiritual benefit to your family.
Motivation 3: To Teach Our Children
After God had given the Israelites the ten commandments, he warned them to be diligent to not only keep them themselves, but to be faithful to raise their children in the knowledge of the Lord. Take a moment to reread this passage from Deuteronomy:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Christmas provides us with a wonderful opportunity to capture our children’s hearts with a clear understanding of a difficult doctrine to grasp -the incarnation of Christ. This doctrine is essential to our children’s formation of the Gospel. As we set out nativity scenes, as we light advent candles, as we decorate Jesse Trees we visually, and verbally teach and instruct their little hearts and minds the truth of God made man, come to save sinners. As they see us joyfully reaching out to neighbors with gifts of love and as they hear us blissfully sing Christmas hymns they learn that we are marked by the virgin birth, that the baby Jesus transformed our lives because he was not just a cute, and cuddly little baby surrounded by fun animals, but was the King of the Universe who came on a rescue mission to ransom us from our sins. These are the precious truths we have the responsibility to impress on our children, and in the holiday of Christmas we have the opportunity to explore them in a magical way.
Motivation 4: To Witness to the World
The fact that we celebrate Christmas and how we celebrate Christmas can be a tremendous testimony to a watching world. We live in a culture that has long observed a holiday that was created to be a Christian holiday. Even with the tide receding from a Jesus focused Christmas, we have an incredible opportunity to talk about Christ during a season when people are more open to hear about him-after all, many of them are celebrating a holiday which began as a means to celebrate his birth. Many people are curious as to what in the world these Christmas carols they like to sing are all about! Just as the shepherds left Jesus rejoicing and telling others about what had taken place, we too desire to inform a watching world about this miraculous event in history that changed our world and our lives forever.
Because of this opportunity we have to witness to the lost world around us we must consider what our celebrations and traditions preach, so to speak, to those watching. Are we fostering a greedy, commercial, fantastical, frantic holiday within our homes? Or are we encouraging a giving, serving, God-exalting, Christ-centered, joyful atmosphere in our homes through our celebrations?
Does our Christmas look any different from the world’s Christmas? We have so much to celebrate and enjoy in our Lord while the world clamors to find peace in joy itself. Let our homes be brilliant not simply because of the millions of lights that decorate our roof tops, but let them be blindingly illuminated by the light of the Gospel as it spills out onto all that we encounter.
Right about now you are probably thinking, “yes, this is great, but let’s get to the practical stuff, how can I practically make the most of this upcoming Christmas, what traditions can I add to our family’s celebration to encourage Christ-centeredness?
My hope in beginning this series in such a way is to challenge you to rethink your Christmas altogether, not simply tack on some fun, thought provoking traditions, but to evaluate your motivation for the ways you celebrate. Ask yourself these questions:
Why do you do the things you do?
Do your traditions bring glory to the Lord?
Are they beneficial to your spiritual growth, to the spiritual growth of your family, to the world around you?
Are there things you are doing that are actually detrimental rather than beneficial?
Are there things you need to cut out of your celebration altogether?
If an unbeliever were to join you for your Christmas celebration would they know you were celebrating Christ?
Does your Christmas look any different from the world’s around you?
What do your decorations celebrate? Christ or a commercial Christmas?
I would encourage you to step back and evaluate the way you celebrate Christmas and don’t be afraid to depart from the cultural norms around you or your family’s norms in an effort to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life. We only get this one life on earth to bring as much glory to the Lord as we can and to spread as much of his love and truth to the world around us. We simply can’t afford to waste an entire holiday season that has tremendous opportunity to glorify the Lord. Think about the Christmas celebrated in your home, with your family, is it characterized by snow men, gingerbread houses, and Santa Claus?-or is it characterized by the wonderful hope of our Messiah King.
We as wives and mothers have the privilege of setting the tone for our holidays, we usually choose the decorations, bake the yummy stuff, and talk to our children throughout the day about what we are celebrating. Let us take these opportunities, this responsibility, seriously and focus our hearts and homes on Christ this Christmas.
Click here to view the first collection of distinctly Christian traditions that you may consider implementing in your home.
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!
Photo Credit
This post is linked up with Time Warp Wife’s “Titus Tuesdays” and Raising Homemakers’ Homemaking Link-Up, and at the Encouraging Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating A Christ-Centered Christmas: Introduction
Many of you will be familiar with the name John Piper. Piper, an incredibly gifted preacher and writer has centered his church ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church and his para church ministry, Desiring God, on the one paramount focus of exalting Christ through knowing him and enjoying him forever. His preaching and life testimony have had a tremendous influence on my perception of the Christian life. He is one of those people who seems to naturally exhale the worship of God, so full of his holy presence that he can’t help but breath it out onto you. People like John Piper challenge you to live every moment of your life through the glorious reality of the Gospel, to live your life in a Biblical, Christ-centered fashion.
When his wife, Noel Piper, released a little book titled Treasuring God in Our Traditions, in which she shares simple ways to focus your heart and your family’s hearts on the Lord during various holidays, I knew it was a must read as a young wife and soon-to-be mother. I couldn’t wait to find out what the Pipers did in their home to exalt Christ and draw near to him during holidays like Christmas.
You see, one of the things that Richard and I used to fantasize about as a young, engaged couple was how we would purposefully try to cultivate an atmosphere of genuine love for the Lord within our home. We would talk about everything from nightly devotions with our future children to what we were going to do with the cultural phenomenon known as Santa Claus during the Christmas season. We were so excited to begin our family and begin a legacy of faithful worship of the Risen Lord.
Mrs. Piper, describes a similar desire within a younger John and Noel as they prayerfully considered each tradition they would begin or continue within their new family. Their zealousness to be completely focused on the Lord during Christmas lead them to ixnay the familiar Christmas Tree tradition simply because they couldn’t find Biblical reason to include it in their celebration. They desired to have a distinctly Christian celebration and felt that the Christmas tree was simply a cultural tradition that lent little spiritual benefit to their holiday. They simply desired to be counter-cultural. She later goes on to explain how such extreme measures are not necessary, how some traditions are simply traditions that we enjoy as a blessing from the Lord, but that our motive should always be to put careful consideration into why we celebrate in the way we do and how our celebrations reflect and encourage our relationship to the Lord.
I am very honored and excited to explore these topics with you through a new series called “Cultivating A Christ-Centered-Christmas.” It is my prayer that I can encourage you to make the most of this Christmas season as we seek to bring honor and glory to our Messiah King.
I want to start by exploring our motivation in cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas and then end by sharing many practical traditions that you can implement within your own home to encourage spiritual growth and Christ-centeredness in your own heart and in your family’s hearts during this wonderful holiday we call Christmas.
Come back tomorrow to contemplate our motivation for a Christ-Centered Christmas!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
When God Asks You For Your Isaac
I could hear an audible sob from my husband, but couldn’t bear to look back at him. My eyes wouldn’t move from that computer screen, the screen projecting our lifeless baby girl. In grainy black and white we watched as the technician traced his mouse over her tiny, motionless heart. I struggled as tears fell from my eyes and my chest began to heave.
A baby girl.
How often I had hoped and dreamed of raising a daughter, a woman I could disciple in the ways of Biblical femininity, a little girl who’s hair I could braid and decorate with ribbon, a baby who would wear sun dresses in the summer and tights in the winter. But none of that mattered for those few minutes in that dark room. All that mattered was that she was dead, my little baby was dead.
Sleepless nights, hopeless days, blood shot eyes and puffy red faces: tokens of a sorrow running deep within our souls. And yet beneath the wavy, turbulent surface of our lives there rested a deep and abiding Spirit, a Comforter who anchored our faith.
“Will you give me your little girl?” I kept hearing those words over and over again.
With trembling lips and a frail countenance I offered her up to him as often as he asked; “Yes Lord, she is yours, I give her freely.”
Some wonder at our devotion to a God who would take something so precious from us, who would allow us so much hurt. Others look at us as spiritual giants who seem to possess such incredible faith. And all I can reply to both is, “How could we not love him? How could we not be completely devoted to the one who has given everything for us?”
If you truly met this Savior who loves his redeemed so deeply and serves them so faithfully, if you could see his blood stained brow, his nail pierced hands, his bleeding side, and you could hear him say he did it all for you, you too would give him everything, you would give him anything.
It is in these moments when I feel I can taste the devotion, wrought by the Spirit of God, tested by trials and upheld by his faithfullness, that Christian maturity longs for. It is at times like this that I can faintly taste the faith of our father Abraham, a man willing to do the unthinkable, because he trusted in the goodness of our God.
These most vulnerable of times, these most humble of moments seem to lift us to the highest of heights. We seem to almost feel God’s overwhelming presence. When our lives are stripped bare and we are left with Job’s bewildering poverty there is nothing to be seen but the fortitude of our faith, nothing but the grace of God bracing our frail spirits.
It seems that love is proven not in the heights of ecstasy, but in the pits of despair, when there seems to be no visible reason to give God our affections at all. Here in the pit of loss and longing our love is tested and tried. Here we are proven to be his beloved children, those who have been transformed by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, slowly being fashioned into the image of his Son.
And how brightly the Son shines in the darkness of despair. How lovely does he appear to his bride when she needs him the most, when she is shivering with grief. He, who cares so deeply for our every hurt, our every pain, carries us through such difficult times-times when our legs give way and we fear we will never again walk back into the light.
No, when he asked for my little girl, for my Anastasia, I couldn’t deny him. I could only thank him for the honor and blessing of carrying her for 17 weeks and then give back what was never truly mine to begin with.
When he asked me if I loved him, I could only respond with “How could I not?”
Related Posts: One Picture, The Lord Gives and The Lord Takes Away, The Joys and Sorrows of Miscarriage
Linking this post up at: Time Warp Wife and Raising Homemakers
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
It’s All Just Too Much
Do you ever get overwhelmed by all of the awesomeness on the internet?
It used to be you would flip through a Good Housekeeping or Parenting magazine once a month, dog ear the projects you wanted to tackle, and then maybe get around to one of them before the next issue came out. Now we daily browse our beloved bookmarked blogs for the latest crafts, decorating advice, educational materials, spiritual encouragement, and parental vision (to name a few… oh yeah, and marital advice!).
Everyone has something to share, whether it is their latest whole food kick or their super awesome advice for “re-igniting” that flame between you and your husband. If you spend much time on the internet (and specifically around the women blogs, DV included) it can be easy to become overwhelmed by all the things you need to do to be a better you.
On a side note: Have you ever noticed that the man blogs out there are drastically different? You don’t see Albert Mohler talking about the Best Lawn Cutting Technique He Just Figured Out and Why You Should Try It Too, or Tim Challies blogging about his All Natural Hair Gel and Its Positive Effects on the Environment…
Sometimes I think we need to step back and decide what we are going to focus on. Are we going to be women who focus on all the “projects” we want to accomplish in a day or are we going to focus on the Risen Lord and serving his Kingdom for his glory? The two are not always mutually exclusive, but sometimes that list of bookmarked blogs can get in the way of hearing that still small voice of the Holy Spirit meant to refresh and inspire our inner being. We can miss what the Lord himself is calling us to do while browsing through what Simple Mom or Passionate Homemaking (two blogs I LOVE) are encouraging us to do (in five easy steps!).
Blog feeds.
Twitter feeds.
Facebook updates.
Delicious accounts.
Pins…. (Oh the many beautiful pins!)
Sometimes it is all too much.
Sometimes, many times, most times, we need less of the internet and more of the Lord himself influencing our day. Something tells me that if we spent as much time in prayer as we do pinning things and tweeting things, we would be much better homemakers, parents, wives, neighbors, evangelists, and church members. Have you ever compared the amount of time you spend on the internet being inspired with the amount of time you spend on your knees begging the Lord to shape and mold your day? He is the one with the real power to change you, to accomplish his glorious will in your life, to create the servant’s heart you desire, and yet he is the one we most often neglect. We are more often directed by what our favorite blogs put before us than what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to do.
God doesn’t have a pretty home page decorated with delicate flowers and victorian beauties, but unlike another “How To” article he offers soul-satisfying, peace-inducing, life-altering communion that will leave you feeling complete rather than burdened.
The internet is a gift filled with good things. Let us be careful to not choose the good things above the best thing.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
(Matthew 6:25-32; Matthew 6:33 ESV)
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
(Matthew 22:34-36; Matthew 22:37-39 ESV)
Surely the best homemakers (those with the most lasting spiritual impact on those around them) are those who spend the most time on their knees seeking the Lord’s direction for their homes and not scouring the internet for Five More Steps to a More Peaceful Family Life.
Let’s be those homemakers, women who love the Lord above all else and desire his Spirit to guide and direct our days.
“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” (John Piper)
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
The Ends of the Earth
First published September 10, 2009
“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)
A couple nights ago Richard and I were reading Spurgeon’s sermon Sovereignty and Salvation. This was the third time I had read it and I plan on reading it again (many more times). Yes, it is that good, but really which Spurgeon sermon isn’t? The text he was teaching from was the verse from Isaiah quoted above. He first explains how the Lord brings glory to himself by proving time and time again that there is no other God besides himself. Idols have fallen and monarchies fail, but the One true God still stands. He then goes on to explain how simple the act of turning to the Lord is. God has made salvation as simple as looking to him and yet it is the hardest thing for a man to do. To do so means that you must acknowledge that the Lord is your only hope of salvation and that your eternity rests in his hands and not your own.
Toward the end of his sermon he addresses the who of this verse. Who does the Lord offer this salvation to; who can simply turn to the Lord, the only Lord, and find salvation to quench his thirsty soul? God says, “all the ends of the earth.” Spurgeon acknowledges that this certainly applies to the farthest, and most remote person on the face of our planet. We can surely go to them and tell them to simply turn to the Lord and be saved and they can be! Praise God that the Gospel is universal and meets the deepest needs of every nation, tribe, and tongue. But Spurgeon didn’t just stop there. He goes on to explain:
…I think “the ends of the earth” imply those who have gone the farthest away from Christ. I say, drunkard, that means you. You have been staggering back, till you have got right to the ends of the earth… you cannot be much worse. There is not a man breathing who is much worse than you. Is there? Ah! but God, in order to humble your pride, says to you, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” There is another who has lived a lie e of infamy and sin, until she has ruined herself, and even Satan seems to sweep her out at the back door; but God says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Methinks I see one trembling here and saying, “Ah, I have not been one of these, sir, but I have been something worse; for I have attended the house of God, and I have stifled convictions, and put off all thoughts of Jesus, and now I think he will never have mercy on me.” You are one of them. “Ends of the earth!” So long as I find any who feel like that I can tell them that they are “the ends of the earth.”
His point of course is that God loves to take the vilest, most repulsive sinners, the ones farthest from himself and give them salvation. He loves to take them from their addictions, lusts, pain, or hypocrisy and bring them into a right relationship with him. He loves to change them and make them into something beautiful, something lovely, something full of joy and purpose. If we know this about our God, it should change the way we preach the gospel. There is no end to the Lord’s mercy; there is no height to his love for sinners. Who are we to say who is beyond the Lord’s salvation? The Lord has made it very clear that even “the ends of the earth” can be saved when they simply turn to him. Therefore we must offer him to every person no matter how far they are from the Lord. We must plead to every soul as Spurgeon concludes:
O, taste and see that the Lord is good! Now believe on him; now cast thy guilty soul upon his righteousness; now plunge thy black soul into the bath of his blood; now put thy naked soul at the door of the wardrobe of his righteousness; now seat thy famished soul at the feast of plenty.
No brother, sister, friend, uncle, aunt, cousin, mom, dad, grandparent, stranger, or co-worker is too far from the Lord to receive his mercy. You are not too far away. Look to him and be saved.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Connect to Desiring Virtue: