Christmas begins…

Today we officially entered the Advent season, marking, in our house, the true beginning of Christmas.  But if I’m to be perfectly honest, it’s been Christmas in our house for a couple of weeks now. (We) absolutely love Christmas and my husband would probably contest the ‘we’ in this, but in our house, we LOVE decorating early, planning early and really maximising this wonderful season. Over the years as our children have grown older, we’ve tried to make it more about Jesus and less about the other stuff. But it hasn’t always been easy. It is so hard not to get pulled into the commercialism of Christmas and get dazzled by bright lights, gorgeous seasonal coffees, lovely food and let’s be honest, the mince pies.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been memorising Scripture as a family for various reasons that I talked about here last week. But the main reason we’ve been trying to do that is because we are trying to write God’s word on our hearts in a world that is trying to pull us in with reason, opinion and practice that might conflict with what God wants us to focus on. As we ended the week, another  American tradition seemed to have permanently been welcomed into the UK. Black Friday returned for the second year running and apparently was as popular if not more so than last year. As we drove home from the school run on Friday, I heard a newscaster refer to this frenzy in the shops as the ‘true mark of the Christmas season’. I sincerely hope not.

As we enter into the season of Advent, we probably won’t be able to avoid taking part in all of the things associated with the commercialisation of Christmas. I know many people who try really hard and manage really well to stay away from all of it and to keep Christ at the very centre of Christmas. But unfortunately, as a family, we’re not able to do that yet. But tonight as we reflected on the past week and my daughter excitedly pointed out that they get their advent calendars this week, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to begin this Advent season differently and to continually, over the next 25 days,  explore the ‘why’ of Christmas.

And while chocolate is great and presents are good, to us, to those who know Jesus, it must remain about Him. Because He was born to us. And I feel in many ways that this is how we should begin this Advent season; by looking at what is considered a normal Christmas and realise that to us, It is different. And to realise that He wasn’t just born to stay in the manger but he came with purpose. Isaiah talks about how ‘the government will be on  His shoulders’, bearing a name that is higher than any other name or any other kingdom.

This is especially good news this week as our government debates on a strategy for war that would make the Prince of Peace sad. But the good news is that because he wears the government on His shoulders, we can go to him with the issues of ours and He can fix it. For to us, He is more than just a baby in a wooden nativity scene at the local shopping mall, more than the presents we’ll fill our cars with, more than the decorations we’ll untangle tomorrow, or the John Lewis advert on our TV we’ve gathered to watch each year now and shed a tear over. He means more than the reason for ordering a ‘seasonal coffee’ or the reason we’ll have turkey this year. And chicken. And lamb. And beef. And fish. And that’s just my house. We celebrate Him because he sits at the centre of the season. And when He does, He brings wonderful counsel, and a reign of everlasting peace. To us, Christmas begins first and foremost, with Christ. 

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Memory verses

At the beginning of October my husband and I started memorising verses from the Bible with our kids. While this is what most Christian parents probably already do with their children, we realised, albeit a bit later than we’d hoped, that while we read the Bible with our children every night and encouraged them to dance and sing to their hearts’ content to Worship music (Twelve24 is our favourite) and while we taught them to pray before every meal and pray before they go to bed, we had subconsciously neglected to remind them to memorise scripture.

Growing up, my parents taught us very early on how to use scripture in our every day living. I can remember clearly times when we would wield cute sword as we practised using the ‘Sword of the Spirit’. And it really helped me a lot when I was younger. I remember at night being so afraid of the dark and reminding myself that ‘He has not given me the spirit of fear…’. Or my first night alone at boarding school remembering that ‘He will not leave (me) nor forsake me..’- memorising scriptures at times saved me from worrying about things that God asked me to hand directly to Him. A weapon that has been invaluable to me.

So when my daughter kept waking up at night saying she was scared, instead of remembering what helped me when I was in that situation, I contemplated buying a night light- or even sometimes would escort her back to bed amid reassurances from me that she would be fine and that she was safe- nothing wrong with both of those things, in fact I highly recommend reassuring our children whenever we get the chance. But what I realised the other day was that there was a way that was better than what we were doing; and that lay entirely in teaching her Scripture.

And so, we made a decision to begin to memorise key verses together that applied directly to our situation. In this instance, it was fear of the dark.  And actually it was a lot of fun! we came up with a rap together and that helped the words sink in quicker and because the rap was easy to remember, she managed to recite it perfectly to me that day and the next day and the next day, until the day came when she was afraid in bed and as usual got up and came to our room.

But unlike the countless times in the past where I have just reassured her, cuddled her, sent her back to bed, this time around, while I still did all these things, I also took a minute to ask her what she felt Jesus said to her when she was afraid. And to my absolute delight she responded that Jesus wanted her to know that He had not given her a Spirit of fear- and when i asked her what that meant,  she replied that it meant that she had the power from Jesus to fall asleep and not be afraid! I was amazed at how quickly this turned our night around, and how she hasn’t woken up since with a nightmare!

Recently, we have been going through a lot as a family; my daughter’s teacher spoke to us a couple of weeks ago and mentioned that our daughter was struggling to focus in school and that she was having to constantly remind her that she needed to listen. When I heard this, my spirit was grieved and I wanted to say so many things to the teacher but felt so much like God was asking me to continue giving Him this concern and to teach my daughter some powerful words from God. I felt in the moments that followed, God teaching me that only He had the final authority on what is spoken over my daughter and to come to Him, who knows her beginning from the end. So as much as I wanted to,  instead of confronting the teacher, we chose to pray and this Friday, her teacher practically run out of the room to greet my husband with great news that our daughter was excelling so much that she’d written an award winning essay!

I feel that what has happened is as a direct result of prayer and practising speaking the Word of God over us and waiting to experience its power. One of the best outcomes throughout this was that God turned the teacher’s heart towards our daughter. No amount of discussing could have done that. And so from that first day, we have memorised a verse each week that directly applies to our situation as a family and particularly to our children. Tonight as we changed over the verses, as we do each Sunday now, I felt God instruct me to teach her that He has a plan for her life. And so we came up with another (very badly performed) rap and learned about the plans He has over us.

And I guess this has been the most surprising part through this new journey- I prepared to teach my children some powerful memory verses about being able to do anything through Christ or having no fear or knowing that God loved them so much that He chose to send His son for them- what I did not prepare for was for God to teach me so much through this time with my children. As I reminded them what His word says about their circumstances, He reminded me in turn how He is the Father that speaks over me, too; how he is the one who reminds us who we are in Him, what His plans are for us. He is the Father who even comes to teach me how to be a parent when I find myself lacking, lagging behind or just really tired. He reminded me how there is literally no circumstances of mine that he isn’t interested in and that he cannot speak into. Including issues with my child’s teacher.

Our daughter has had the best week in school. We have asked each day and got nothing but glowing reports. She has had a smile on her face on her way in and on her way out. And today at church, she stood with me and danced as we worshipped. I feel that He has settled her fears and in the process he has also settled mine. I often talk about how much I love to boast about my weaknesses. I know it’s probably not the best foot to always lead with- when we talk about our struggles as mums as friends or as wives…but I find God so close the most when I look at how weak I am. Because often times I find Him right there, next to me, lifting me up, speaking over me, teaching and instructing me. I fall right into His plan and His purpose and His future for me. And I rest right in His peace when I realised that He is enough and where feet may fail fear surrounds me, I find him calling me out upon the waters.

week 1:
 Philippians 4:13
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Week 2:
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Week 3:
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Week 4:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Week 5:
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Sweet and Sour

Tags

2Timothy 1:7, bible, blessing, god, grandad, jesus, lord, praise, psalm, sour, Sweet, testimony, uplifting, women, worship

My granddad used to sing a popular hymn all the time when I was growing up; a wonderful old song by Johnson Otman Jr, written in 1897. It goes a little like this:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
*Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
[*And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.]

To this date, it is one of the most prominent memories of him and whenever I think about him, I always see him in my mind’s eye, singing that song. It is a really strange thing to remember- especially as my granddad was not known for being particularly cheerful. Today as I was reflecting on my year I realised the scales had tipped a lot in the wrong favour. At first glance, it is easy to think that this year has been very bad for us. Over the last few months, in the cloud of awful events, it has taken everything in me not to tar this year with that very same brush as though the whole thing was simply spoilt by a few terrible and unfortunate turn of events.

But tonight, while I wrote about a particularly painful chapter on my journey in the search for home, I wanted to tip the scales in the right favour again. This year has been wonderful. 5 years ago, I joined with my beautiful Spiritual mum to begin praying for my husband’s career. This June, my husband landed the job of his dreams on a journey to the career that lights his heart with excitement. A promise fulfilled. In March, God connected me with a wonderful group of people that freed me to dream and think and be, while all the while financially supporting me to pursue my goals. In April this year, my feet touched the soil of Africa for the first time in over 15 years. In August, we received a financial gift that meant that we could buy ourselves a beautiful new car. As I type this, my wonderful daughter has recently learnt the power of Spiritual Warfare and had to date memorised 6 Key verses that help her when she is feeling weak. My most favourite one so far is hearing her recite 2 Timothy 1:7 to herself whenever she wakes up from a nightmare.

And that is NOT even half of what the Lord has done.  While I don’t know what always made my granddad sing this song particularly, I now know that it must have been from a place of knowing how powerful praise is in helping us defeat the pain of what surrounds. One thing is for sure, the more granddad thanked God for his blessings, the more blessings he got. So I am thankful for him and for subconsciously teaching me one of life’s greatest lessons.

Tonight I realise anew how blessed I am. And I don’t want to let a moment pass by before I thank my Father in heaven for looking out for me, day in and day out.

And this is especially true when things are sweet and when things are sour. I have a lot that I could be upset about. But tonight, I chose the power of praise. Because as my friend Becky Aladiran so beautifully sings in one of my favourite songs, ‘My praise is a weapon’. And I choose to raise it up.

Psalm 34:1-8

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.