Merry Christmas friends!!!

Can't believe another year is now almost History?! In place of sending Christmas cards or a Newsletter, I decided to post a "Christmas Card Newsletter" here on my blog. How's that sound? (At least all my electronically advanced friends can keep up with my life.) As you can see by the pics above, God has truly blessed me with a Wonderful Life filled with lots of love and lots of friends. Of course, life isn't all just fun and roses...I've had my hard knocks this year as well. (We don't take pictures of those times...) But through it all, God has been teaching me to Trust Him even more.

Some of the things I'm grateful for this year include:

• God's Grace amidst pain and trials


• Finding greater joy in deep soul-searching prayer


• Watching my sister Sunny's courtship and marriage to her True Love, Tim - the Love that was worth waiting for! (And yes, I will wait for mine as well.)


• Stepping out in Faith and watching God provide


• Visiting Bangladesh - an experience that broke my heart and also helped me see my heart for what it truly is - totally lost without a Savior!


• Enjoying the gift of FRIENDSHIP with some of the greatest people in the world


• Realizing there is more joy in "giving" then in "getting"


• Having incredible books and resources constantly within my reach to help me grow. (Check out my previous blog post about the book "Intercessor" by Rees Howells, or get the newest book by my friend Eric Ludy "The Bravehearted Gospel")


• Seeing God answer prayer...and personally knowing His LOVE!!

Yes, God has been soooo good to me!! One thing I'm really thankful for this year is, "The gift of being adopted." At the recent GYC it was a joy to be reunited with my second family, The Hollands. Since I wont be spending my usual Christmas with them home in Oklahoma this year, it was special to spend some time together at GYC and to just share and enjoy the LOVE God has given us as a family. They have been such a blessing and inspiration in my life over the last 17+ years...loved me when I was unlovely, and encouraged me on when I didn't think I could go on. Yes, I have been very blessed and doubly spoiled, not only to have my own family, but also to experience the joy and love of adoption.

But there's an even more important ADOPTION that has changed my life...and that is what I am most thankful for this Christmas. That is the adoption that God has given me. He chose me and loved me before I had the slightest idea what that love meant. (Just like my friends who adopted baby "Harper" - a little Korean girl handicapped and outcast in her culture, I was a babe, and I had no idea the gift He was giving me or the life He was preparing me for.) I struggled along, seeking to walk, seeking to win His love...but despite my best efforts, I kept failing. I was handicapped and hopeless. While my outward life may have seemed beautiful to the world, my inward heart was a mess...filled with pride and selfishness and sin! And just like the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh, it was impossible for me to fix, impossible for me to clean, impossible for me to heal alone. But even though I doubted God's love and power, and often pushed Him aside over the years as I sought my own stubborn way, He has STILL loved me and kept following after me, claiming me as His own. Yes, I still have much to learn about this LOVE, yet it is a LOVE that is becoming more and more real...and it is an "Adoption of Love" that has forever changed my life!! What precious precious LOVE, a LOVE that will not let me go!

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him IN LOVE: Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Eph 1:4-7

I pray that this IN LOVE experience with God can be real for all of us. Times are tough all around...we can see the signs of the end drawing closer. And we must know this LOVE and not only know it, but be sooo grounded in it, that nothing, no storm, no tempest, no economical crisis, no relationship, no worldy attraction, no earthly tie....can pull us away. Otherwise, we are going to be like the five foolish virgins, caught unprepared when Christ comes to take us home!

Sending Christmas Hugs and Greetings to you all.
My love and prayers are with you!
Mel

PS: To encourage you in your journey of building a "Faith that Endures," I invite you to listen to a recent talk I gave on this subject. Also - if you haven't done it recently, go back thru the last 13 chapters of the Great Controversary! It's powerful!! ;-) Merry Christmas everyone!