My Christmas Prayer!

Dear Lord,

This year, in order to celebrate Christmas to the fullest without the intense spiritual and emotional pain as in the past, and to celebrate it the way You would have me celebrate, I ask Your help and strength to make these changes: When I see adorably adorned children in angel's wings, turn my vision from these earthly angels to the message of the Good News the angels brought. Rather than focusing on toddlers kneeling in wonder before the manger, let me focus on the birth of our Lord and kneel in wonder at His feet. Instead of the ache of my empty arms, let me feel the magnetism and strength of His open arms as He says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." When I see pictures of the baby Jesus, broaden my thinking beyond the maternal desire to feel the soft skin of that baby's tiny hands, and enable me to feel the nail prints in the rugged palms of my Savior. When children's voices in chorus reach my ear, take away the lump that will have formed in my throat and enable me to join in singing Your praise. And finally, when I watch children opening presents, please do not let thoughts of having no children diminish my gratitude for Your precious gift to me. In the name of Christ, my Savior, Amen


- Martha Ann Diaz

SNOW

Waking up this morning not feeling well I climbed out of bed, got dressed for work, and walked out the door.  The moment I stepped outside and saw the wonderful miracle of snow it put me in such an awesome mood.  Nothing could be better....or so I thought.

     Chris and I had to make a very hard decision this past week and were relying on God to show us where and what he wanted.  We have been having faith that God would provide in certain areas of my life, so we did what we felt God was leading us to do because of our situation.  We have been praying without ceasing for God to move. I have always saw snow as God's mighty hand at work and he gave me that sign as I walked out the door this morning and to make the day even better we came home to find his provisions in the mailbox. I am standing in awe of God and His Mighty hand.

     Stay strong in your Faith.  "Cast all your cares upon him, for He cares for you."   "His yoke is easy and his burden is light".

THANK YOU LORD FOR THE MIRACLE OF SNOW.

Thanksgiving....Again!

I am thankful today that the procedure went awesome(despite some serious pain).  I am also thankful for the good news that things are now all cleaned out, so to speak.  I am now very excited to see what is going to happen next in "Our Little Life".

Psalm 30:11-12

11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

So on another note:   I absolutely LOVE my 3 & 4 year old choir.  They are so innocent and just sweet that it makes me laugh.   They were absolutely wild tonight but it made it totally worth it when during prayer request time Samuel, Emily, Annyah, and Samantha said that their prayer request was for Mrs. Leah to feel better.  That is so worth the pain I was feeling.  Thank you Lord for the innocence of children.  

Prayerfully Waiting

Today is the day I am going to have my surgical procedure done.  Please pray that God will give my doctor the wisdom that he needs.   Pray also that even with medicine I don't have a bad reaction to the iodine during the procedure.  This would be bad due to the fact that it threatens my life in and of itself.  (Allergies to iodine).  God is in control and I am a little bit nervous. Here we go.......

Onions

What is there to get angry about?  I have to sit back and think how stupid it is that someone would get angry over this little, what I now know is a vegetable, thing called onions.  When ordering Chinese I was unaware that my husband didn't want the vegetable in his pork fried rice. So I told the lady that it was fine.   After getting off the phone, he said to me I never order it like that.  Well this being really my first time ordering Chinese food for him I responded with "Chris, it always comes like this"   He got angry and had to call them because if his lips touched vegetables he just might die.   What is it with some people and vegetables?  What makes them so mad about having to eat it?  Why are we so picky when it comes to food?   Should we not be grateful for anything to eat when half of the world or more are starving?  With this economy some people would kill for a chance to eat an onion and yet we nit-pick over every aspect of our wants and eat what we like and throw out what we don't like.

  I think this Christmas I am going to make an effort to help at least two families with food for Christmas. I am also going to try not to complain about the little things and be thankful to God that I have a roof over my head, a warm bed, food (even take out), and a Savior who has saved me from eternal damnation.   

   Will you show Christ and help someone else? or Will you continue to be an ingrate?  Think about it.    

God will make this Trial a blessing.

It is funny how when we really have the desire to do something or even want something so badly that it takes over and is what we are thinking about 24 hours a day, 7 days a week....we don't see it.   We when first got married I had said "God, I AM NOT having kids for four years!"   Then God did something miraculous He blessed us with our first pregnancy and just as quickly as He gave, He took that gift away.  I am now learning even in recent months that I let wanting a child so badly that it over took my life and my every thought.  This may not seem like such a bad thing on the surface but it is.  This is exactly what we were told NOT to do..."Thou shall not make unto thee ANY graven images."  I put wanting a child before everything....work, church, ministries, God.   I finally took down my graven image and started looking towards heaven again.  I don't know why God allowed me to go through the trials Chris and I have been through, but I thank Him for making these trials a blessing by allowing me to be closer to Him and to my Husband.  

This morning on my way to work a song came to my heart and I immediately started crying the moment I started singing it.  I given the lyrics below....maybe it will touch someone else.



God Will Make This Trial a blessing

"I've just come into a valley, one like I've never been before. I keep searching for a way out seems like padlocks on the door.  Oh there must be another sunrise another sunset that I'll see God will make this trial a blessing, Just be patient you will see.

I was not the first one to come into this place.  You see every Child of God this test he must face.  It is here that God will mold you, to make you what you are to be. God will make this trail a blessing that's the love He has for me.

God will make this trial a blessing, though it sends me to my knees.  Though my tears flow like a river, yet in Him there's sweet relief.  There's no need to get discouraged, there's no need to talk defeat.  God will make this Trial a blessing and the whole wide world will see.


Now I'm standing on the mountain, looking back I can see.  When I was in the lowest valley HIS strong hand was leading me,  Oh it's good to feel the sunshine and to taste sweet victory.  God has made this trial a blessing, that's the grace he gave to me.

God will make this trial a blessing, though it sends me to my knees.  Though my tears flow like a river, yet in Him there's sweet relief.  There's no need to get discouraged, there's no need to talk defeat.  God will make this Trial a blessing and the whole wide world will see."

Psalm 113:9 "He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD."

In the Bible there were a total of 9 women that were infertile in the Bible and out of the 9, 8 were healed by God and conceived children.  I see this as a glimpse into my future.  God may be telling us not now, but He has big plans for our future.   If I rely on my own skills instead of relying and having faith in the fact that God is in control He will take away what He might have been going to bless with or if He blesses and I still don't have faith that he will take care of it, then He may take that blessing away.  It is a hard lesson to learn but without giving God control we cannot have peace.  "Be anxious for nothing"