Merry Christmas!
Dear friends,
I am so thankful for all of you and hope that you are having a wonderful break for the holidays! I want you to know about all your answered prayers that have blessed us this semester. God has been pouring out grace on me every single day and I want to tell everyone about how faithful he is. This semester has been so swift and yet so much has happened. God has given me amazing friends who love him and have taught me a whole lot. I've learned from my students and have gotten closer to them than I thought I would. I feel like a big sister to so many. Our Christmas production was worth every bit of hard work. All the tiny details fell into place and everyone worked really well together. It was wonderful to watch our students fill with joy as they used their gifts to glorify Him. I couldn't have hoped for a better night- I was so proud of our kids and how they presented the good news. Carrie and I have been stressed out trying to get everything ready, but we had so much peace that night. It was beautiful.
As you may have seen in pictures, two of my friends and I went out to hunt down the perfect African Christmas tree! It may be Charlie Brown-esqe and multicolored but I adore it. We decorated and are enjoying some time off to relax. We are staying off campus for break and it's been so nice to stay in family's home. It reminds me of my family and how much I miss them. Carrie and Ben have helped make christmas fun here and I'm looking forward to our Christmas movie marathons and get-togethers. We are taking a bit of time off but will soon be preparing for next semester. We are planning on taking our girls to perform throughout the semester and having the end of year show full of dances to old hymns. Please be praying for us as we make descisions about plans for next year. Please pray that God will make his will clear for us. It's quite difficult to decide when your heart is in two different places. I need God to show me what he has in store.
Our first song in the show was O come O come Emmanuel and as I listened to the lyrics, I realized what I've been learning lately. I need to invite Him into every part of life, into every day. It's easy to separate little things from God. He has been showing me parts of him in random things. I am always put in awe by how our Dad speaks to all his children in different ways. He teaches us so patiently and letting him in to every area is so rewarding- even if difficult to face at first. Letting God take over brings confidence and clarity on what God has for tomorrow. When a person grows closer to The Lord, we become more aware of our own sin and unworthiness. My prayer right now is that the space between those two will never cease to grow, that I will understand more of my sin and at the same time understanding more of Gods grace and redemption. Those two things are vital to understand the depth and magnitude of the gospel. I want that understanding to grow more every day so that I can share it with others.
Isn't that the reason we celebrate christmas? Christ fulfilling the prophesies of the Savior? So many people miss out on the true joy of Christmas and only experience fleeting happiness. We should be urgently sharing this story with the lost and we can only understand the urgency if we understand the grace. I love you all and I really am praying for you as well. Merry Christmas y'all:)
Em
