Gift - Merry Christmas...and Thank You

"Every good gift and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights with whom 

there is no variation or shadow due to change."

1T1mothy 1:17

I was in high school when I fully realized the faith and trust it took to run a household solely on "gifts" like the ones mentioned above. It was then that I also realized that there was no better way to live. I remember a few instances of praying around the table for provision and, in faith, thanking our Jeh0va Jireh, for the gifts we knew He would bring. I remember a specific time when that prayer was offered with a sense of urgency. Within the week, a $10,000 check showed up in the mail. A sticky note was attached to the generous donation, giving thanks for the faithfulness of Mel LaMar Ministries. But the note wasn't addressed to Dad alone. The note included my name, too. My heart was flooded with thankfulness, as well as an overwhelming sense of unworthiness. I remember weeping as I read my name, knowing I didn't deserve any recognition or blessing for my small part, yet feeling G0d's grace as He showered me with both. Wow. 

  My heart is filled with the same blessing now, five years later, as my husband and I prepare to follow our Savior's call. We have received many generous gifts and commitments to pr*y as we endeavor to raise $7,500 for our 6-month trip to S. Asia. With each new gift, our hearts are encouraged by the faithfulness of G0d's people and His provision for our lives. Thank you. So, so very much. Merry Christmas, and may you be blessed.

**If you'd like to know how you can be involved, whether in pr*yer or with a gift, please let me know**

R-E-S-P-E-C-T -- find out what it means...To THEM!

seriously...

Recently, James and I decided that it would be fun if I had a pixie cut. It took a while to get that ponytail chopped off (I'd been growing it out since I was 16), but almost two hours later, I looked like a dark-haired Tinkerbell (in hairstyle alone... I wouldn't be caught dead looking at myself in a tiny green tutu dancing on top of a mirror - such an unflattering angle). 

Initially, I was worried that it was too different, that people wouldn't like the change. What shocked me more than their enthusiastic acceptance of my new 'do was their surprise that James did the deed himself. People would say things like, "James did that?? Wow, you must really trust him" or "You must have been soo nervous!"  Honestly, the thought that James might mess up my hair didn't even cross my mind. 

Okay, okay. I realize, of course, that probably most of those comments were meant as jokes, or in genuine awe that James could be so good and something he'd never done before. I would also like to point out that this is in no way an "I'm a better woman than you" blogpost (yuck)! All I'm saying is that after SO many comments (my personal favorite, "I would NEVER let my husband do that!"), I was faced with a question: where did this general distrust of men - of husbands - come from?  

James can attest to my vehement hatred for the joke about how G0d created man -- then He had a better idea (or any number of jokes along the same line). We as women have given ourselves over to a skewd view of the "equality" given to us because we live in America. Our T.V. Shows, some of our music, even our children's books make men out to be the silly, brainless gender and definitely NOT the heads of their households. Suddenly, instead of equality, we have superiority, and I know that this is definitely not what was intended at creation. Let's not conform ourselves to the patterns of this world - where men are idiots and women are better - but let's be transformed into what we were meant to be from the start. 

Yes, I trust my husband. No, I wasn't afraid when he chopped off my hair. He is not brainless or dimwitted.  I don't look at his mistakes and think, "Oh, James, ever the simple-minded kook," because I know beyond all doubt that that is not his character. Instead of joking about men's "inferiority", let's celebrate their strength, masculinity and the fact that THEY were created to be large and in charge! 

Proof.