Story first: So we have had an interesting year of dealing with less income, went through a Crown Financial (exhaustive 10-week in depth bible study on finances) and began to see where we needed to improve to be better stewards of what God has given us. Now that I'm writing this in July & the study took place in October, I have a broader view of how God has worked and am absolutely amazed. But we'll stick with Christmas for now & then a few pictures.
We were not sure how to give the kids a nice Christmas when bills needed to get paid, debt needed to get repaid, savings needed to get started. As a side note, we were also living in a home rent-free (another blessing by itself) and still struggling to make ends meet, have car insurance and keep everyone fed. One day after church (we also started attending a new church) we got a call that some family members wanted to stop by with something for us. Not only was there a large turkey & all the fixings, snacks galore, food for days and days, but they had pitched in with other families to surprise us with several $100 gift cards to Target. Whispered into my ear was "God loves you very much"... what a gift! We were humbled and brought to our knees in a very powerful way. Within days, a call came in from a business called "Dinner My Way" that several frozen meals were purchased anonymously for my family & they wanted to deliver that night. Within days, again, we checked the mail and received not one, but two gifts in the mail from anonymous donators. A $50 bill and the other a $100 visa cash card. God was certainly making His point.
Why did I share all of that with you? Well, despite our hardship, we had put everything into His hands and the kids had a wonderful Christmas. But more importantly, we experienced God's love in a very powerful and real way and were able to share that with the kids as well. Now for some pictures of the fun we had....
Grandma Nichols made all the kids a special blanket...
Here, they'd made a train of blankets leading down the hallway.
Spencer slept in, didn't know what he was missing!
Eating a Christmas breakfast together with family.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for your many gifts, most especially the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, whom you sent here as a sacrifice for us, that we may be forgiven and be restored to You. Thank you for your relationship & faithfulness to our family, through friends and family and people we don't know, we feel Your love.
Thank you for blessings us, bless everyone we know!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season 2009!
1 comment:
thats so great and all those blessing and people helping you in times of need. Hugs
Post a Comment