Dear Friends,
Amidst the world’s clanging chorus of non-offensive “Happy Holidays!” please let me wish you a very big MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Boy does that feel good! I don’t know about you, but in this season of celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who saved the world and changed my life forever, I refuse to be “politically correct”! GLORY to Almighty God for sending His only Son to free me from the bondage of sin and death!
As we look back on a year gone by, I can truly say it has been one of growth, new experiences, and a closer walk with my Best Friend. I get teary even as I’m writing this, because I just want to say a big thank you to my Lord. Father, you’ve been amazing! Jesus, you’ve loved me through it all! Holy Spirit, you’ve worked hard and you’ve done a great job! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Friends, I pray that you too are able to recognize in this season the incredible things that have taken place in your life and around you in this past year that only God could have done. It had to be Him! So let’s be sure to give Him the praise He deserves as we celebrate a holiday that only exists because of His incredible love, power, compassion, mercy, and saving grace. Let’s not ask Him for anything else. Let’s just express to Him, if we can possibly put it into words, how grateful we are and how near and dear to our hearts He truly is. Let’s not miss the opportunity to love Him up as we are reminded of His great love that He has shown us in 2009. We love you, Jesus!
Now, some of you might be calingl me crazy right now, or even looking at me with disgust like King David’s wife Michal when he danced naked before the Lord. But I declare, like David did, that “I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this…!” (2 Samuel 6:21-22)
Fellow prayer warriors, as we move into 2010 the cry of my heart is to give God my ALL – to offer myself fully to be used as an instrument for His glory – no holds barred! No more fear of man, no more self to stand in the way, no more distractions of life or letting fleshly desires become more important than His will. As we close out 2009 and take time over the holidays to rest, reflect, and refuel for a new leg of our journey with Christ, let’s ask God to give us a greater desire to be His servants and His lovers, and to pursue Him with complete abandon. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Undignified for Him,
Karen Warankie
News Director, CIP
