Soup and Gifts — A Guest Blog to Help Us Prepare our Hearts
Just thinking about life as I made some turkey vegetable soup. Funny that soup would remind me of the years I’ve been blessed with. My life has had a delicious flavor; there have been so many components or ingredients that have been added as with all of our lives and so each pot is unique. Have you ever just used what you had in the cupboards and in the refrigerator and just been creative? You are never quite sure how it will turn out but simply trust that the ingredients are good, and therefore it should turn out tasty.
As the holiday season is fast approaching, my thoughts turned to the giving of Christmas. I used to make all my gifts for everyone, from baked, sewn, crocheted, artwork, etc. In years past I think that was more common, and I truly enjoyed trying to create something to give. However, those times are long in the past, those gifts are not appreciated. With the change in attitude of the receiver, the joy has been lost.
I wonder if God ever feels that way. He created the earth for us. The majesty of sky, sun, moon, planets, oceans, river, trees, all vegetation, mountains and valleys, flowers and animals. He created those friends and loved ones that you are hoping for the seemingly impossible task of pleasing them. We have his gift and turn our backs repeatedly and instead desire the man made things to fascinate us. We turn our backs on His gift f His one and only Son, Jesus — salvation for all those who believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that Jesus is their Lord and King.
‘Tis the season !!! I am asking God this Christmas to give me a pure, humble heart, to reach out to the dying, lonely, hungry, homeless, handicapped, trafficked, abused, addicts, prisoners, orphans and widows. To give them hope and compassion as He has given to me.
Now that’s a Christmas I can look forward to.
Our anonymous guest blogger sometimes attends our in-person support group. She has been divorced from her abusive husband for over two years, but still copes with regular stalking from him. We consider it truly a merciful work of God that she can focus on Jesus and not on the pain she endured in her marriage and still must manage as the victim of a persistent stalker. There is healing in Jesus over these holidays. FOCUS Ministries is here to point you in the direction of God who came to earth to save us, to deliver us, to redeem us and to give us Hope and a Future. You are His valuable and precious child.