Friday, December 18, 2009

Writing Your Christmas List to God


It's 3 degrees tonight and with the windchill that makes it like 12 below 0. Ooooh, chilly!!  Speaking of cold . . . the other evening I tromped through the unshoveled snow in my slippers to enjoy another dip in the outdoor hot tub at my friend's house.  The snow squished it's way into my slippers and boy was that cold! As I squealed my way through, she promised to shovel next time and reminded me of my hearty Swedish heritage. I reminded her that I was only half Swedish.  This time it was just me and Laurel.  Next week we'll be doing a girls night with four of us who used to get together for prayer every week.  Miss those days.

This time it wasn't quite as cold as last week, about 38 degrees and it was foggy all day and night (remember my photo?). As we sat there in the steamy air chatting about writing and books and husbands we had the delight of enjoying the outdoor Christmas lights on her house and seeing her beautiful Christmas tree twinkle from the window. 

Laurel told me she had a special Christmas list this year. This is the list she has presented to God asking him for what she would like during the coming year - almost like New Year's resolutions, but with a twist.  They are not goals so much as they are her sharing her desires with the Father of Lights who desires to give good gifts to his children.  She said that she couldn't wait to see how he answered her list; which is simply her prayer.


We talked about how sometimes children are disapointed when they don't get everything or the exact thing they've asked for at Christmas because they had an expectation.  I asked her, "What about your expectations? What if you don't get what you asked for?"   She said, "I trust Him."   And that is the key, she is presenting her requests with the expectation and belief that she can trust God to satisfy her needs in the way that he sees fit. She knows she might not get exactly what she wants.  She also knows that she will get what is best.  Imagine that.  We ask for something and He gives us something better.  The Lord knows our deepest longings and satisfies our desires with the gifts that matters most.

What can you give to Jesus for Christmas?  Give Him your TRUST.

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you
the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
TRUST in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness
shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him.

Psalm 37:4




What's on your Christmas list to God this year?

12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful girl and what a wonderful gift. Yes, the gift of friendship and sharing our lives and our loves and even our disappointments. He knows, but we should trust him to listen to our words as well as our hearts. How beautiful!

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  2. Beautiful!

    I love the rest of that passage--"Commit your way to the Lord, trust Him and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still and wait patiently on the Lord."

    Beautiful!

    Have a great weekend, Carla!

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  3. Wow, I love this post! Give God my TRUST. Yes, thank you, I do believe I will do just that. Onto the prayers...

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  4. "we should trust him to listen to our words as well as our hearts." Indeed, jdcoughlin!

    Yes, Kristen! That passage is absolutely wonderful. Thank you for sharing it here. I think I may just have to go back and add that in!

    Eileen, I'm glad the post spoke to you. For all of us writers that is so important. Imagine if we could fully trust Him to fulfill HIS plans for our writing this year? I'd like to truly learn to delight in Him and see what He has in store. That would take so much anxiety out of goal of becoming published. The answer to finding the balance between striving and resting in Him is TRUST. Oh, that I could really learn that.

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  5. Carla, You have such wonderful insights. Even after publication the trust issue is still there, just in a different way. Psalm 37:4 is so full and rich and it's good to see it here. Your pictures are beautiful!
    I could go for some chilly weather and a hot tub:) Glad we get to enjoy it vicariously through you!

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  6. My wish would be for all my children to get back in with us and each other, we have 2 that just will not have anything to do with us or the other 2 kids and their families. I pray that maybe this Christmas at least part of them will come back into our family.

    Merry Christmas

    mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net

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  7. I like the prayer list instead of the New Year's Resolution/goals. When you boil it down, one relies on us and the other relies on Him.

    Blessings,
    Susan :)

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  8. Thank you, Laura. I guess no matter where we are in life we need to keep trusting, and maybe even more so when we see some of our dreams fulfilled.

    I wish we could all jump in a virtual hot tub and have a nice chat, but blogging will have to do.

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  9. Dearest Edna, I do hope that your Christmas is filled with the special joy this year that comes with having your family together. I will pray that even if it does not happen quite the way you wish that the new year will bring healing and reconciliation.

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  10. Peg, I hope it inspired you. My friend, Laurel, has a wonderful way of doing that.

    Susan, I must agree with you on the prayer list rather than the resolutions. I never can keep them anyway! Now I just need to trust my list to the Keeper of my heart. That was a good observation, "one relies on us and the other relies on Him".

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  11. I really like this idea of a Christmas list to God, instead of New Year's Resolutions. I am thinking about doing this myself... and I loved Psalm 37:4 - I am very familiar with the first part of it, but you rarely see the FULL verse, and it's so important. Thanks for visiting my blog and I will be visiting yours often now that I have discovered it!

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