It's just a few more days before Christmas now. It has truly been a beautiful season of Advent as our family read together from Ann Voskamp's new book, Unwrapping The Greatest Gift.
It has helped us to slow down each day, even just for a few minutes, in order to think about and reflect on Christmas and its true meaning.
This year, I had decided early on that I would not send out our annual Christmas letter. I would still write one for my own purposes, but I was not going to send them out or publish it publicly.
Writing our Christmas letter is a Christmas tradition of sorts for me. It is something that I have done every single year since hubby and I got married. Recently though, I had started to wonder if anyone even reads it anymore or at all, hence the decision not to send out or publish one this year.
But something happened which made me change my mind...
As I wrote our letter yesterday, another letter arrived in our mailbox. Just as I was wrapping up our letter, I started to read this other letter that had just arrived.
With this letter came a cheque for a large sum of money... intended for my girl to use towards projects she is involved with to further the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a preference to put the money towards Compassion International's ministry. The donor chose to channel this money through my girl because of how she dedicates her time and passion for God's work.
This letter brought tears to this mama's eyes and immense joy to my heart! Isn't God's grace just the most extravagant of all?
Maybe it's through our telling of stories and the sharing of our lives on social media that this person came to choose my girl as an instrument of God's peace to a world in need. Maybe it's through the reading of our Christmas letters over the years...
So, yes... yes, yes!
If our family's annual Christmas letter, our telling of stories and the sharing of our lives on social media causes just one more person to join the journey --- to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God, then I will continue to tell the story of God's grace at work in our family's life. Yes, I will!
Because...
This year, I had decided early on that I would not send out our annual Christmas letter. I would still write one for my own purposes, but I was not going to send them out or publish it publicly.
Writing our Christmas letter is a Christmas tradition of sorts for me. It is something that I have done every single year since hubby and I got married. Recently though, I had started to wonder if anyone even reads it anymore or at all, hence the decision not to send out or publish one this year.
But something happened which made me change my mind...
As I wrote our letter yesterday, another letter arrived in our mailbox. Just as I was wrapping up our letter, I started to read this other letter that had just arrived.
With this letter came a cheque for a large sum of money... intended for my girl to use towards projects she is involved with to further the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a preference to put the money towards Compassion International's ministry. The donor chose to channel this money through my girl because of how she dedicates her time and passion for God's work.
This letter brought tears to this mama's eyes and immense joy to my heart! Isn't God's grace just the most extravagant of all?
Maybe it's through our telling of stories and the sharing of our lives on social media that this person came to choose my girl as an instrument of God's peace to a world in need. Maybe it's through the reading of our Christmas letters over the years...
So, yes... yes, yes!
If our family's annual Christmas letter, our telling of stories and the sharing of our lives on social media causes just one more person to join the journey --- to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God, then I will continue to tell the story of God's grace at work in our family's life. Yes, I will!
Because...
Your calling is radically this: Gloriously hijack every darkness with grace. To love mercy and do justice and follow Christ means to be The Revolutionary Guerrillas of Grace — radically turning the fallen world Upside Down.
~ Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience.
Christmas... a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!
Merry Christmas... my dear blog readers, family and friends! Because I want to be a revolutionary guerrilla of grace, radically turning the fallen world upside down, you can now find our 2014 Christmas letter published here or you can click on the image below to read it.
Merry Christmas... my dear blog readers, family and friends! Because I want to be a revolutionary guerrilla of grace, radically turning the fallen world upside down, you can now find our 2014 Christmas letter published here or you can click on the image below to read it.
Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.
Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!
