Hope has power. If I didn't have hope, I don't know what I would do.  There's so much going on in this world today that causes me to wonder what will happen next.  I turn on the news.  There are constant breaking alerts as the latest scandal or major accident has occurred.  I have to admit that at times I want to simply block it out.  It wasn't supposed to be like this.

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Blessings and love,

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The focus of my week has been ...love.

I've been participating in an Advent study with the Good Morning Girls. What a blessing it has been!  With all the busyness of this Christmas season, I have kept my focus on the reason for the season and His name is ...JESUS.

Week one focused on HOPE.
Week two focused on LOVE.
Week three will focus on JOY.

But back to LOVE.

Jim Cymbala is the senior pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  I've had the opportunity to visit this amazing church several times when I went back to New York City.  My nieces and I took the subway to Brooklyn to attend.  I love the mix of races and the beautiful voices singing and praising God.  I can't help but think it is a foretaste of heaven.  But something that I love about Pastor Cymbala's messages are their simplicity.  He teaches directly from the Bible. He always provides practical examples of how to apply the Scriptures to our daily walk.

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Yesterday, I listened to one of Jim Cymbala's sermons online entitled "The Secret of Christmas".  Based on Matthew 2:1-12, he taught how the wise men offered gifts to Jesus.  His message went on the suggest that we can give three gifts to Jesus.

1. The gift of your past: We can give Jesus our sins, our mess ups and leave it with Him.  We can't undo it but we can confess it and give it to Him.
2. The gift of your future: We can give Him all of our decisions, where to go, how to live and offer ourselves completely to His direction. We don't know what will happen tomorrow.  But our security is in Jesus.
3. The gift of your today: The only day you're sure of is today.  Offer Jesus your today.

I've been listening to one of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's Christmas CD's in my car.  Back and forth from work, I get to sing and worship.  It's a great way to start and end my day.  One of the songs that speaks on this topic of what we can offer Jesus is called "I'll Give Him My Heart".



Because of the love that He has shown to me, I make the choice to give Him my heart.  What about you?

What gift will you offer Jesus this Christmas season?

Blessings and love,