Ash Wednesday...

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. ~Isaiah 61:1-3

Today we are celebrating Ash Wednesday, the traditional beginning of the season of Lent. It's a day of repentance, of turning away from our sinful ways and turning towards the holiness of our Lord.

I've always thought it odd that Mardi Gras is such a huge holiday. The last day to indulge in sinful behaviors before entering a season of consciously avoiding sin is nothing more than an attempt to hold onto those things we'd prefer to be doing instead of pursuing what we sometimes look at as the restrictive ways of our Lord. Ironic.

You see, the things that people often choose to pursue in advance of Lent are those things that enslave us. Think about the billions and billions of dollars spent each year battling things like over-eating, alcoholism, sex addiction, out-of-control gambling, and drug addiction. And yet on the day before Ash Wednesday, millions celebrate the very things that are destroying their lives. There's something hopelessly fallen about that.

So I love Ash Wednesday because it is the first day of our celebration of freedom. It's the day that we begin to identify our captors, and facing them one by one, we turn and walk away. It's that simple. Sin is defeated. It holds no power over us anymore. We are in Christ. We have but one job to do; we have to turn around. We have to abandon the old things that destroy our lives and, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we run in hot pursuit of the One Who gave Himself as a ransom for our sin.

What a time of joy! We've been delivered from the darkness. He's given us beauty ... His beauty ... for the ashes in our lives.

Love, Love, Love!!!

We are fresh out of celebrating Valentine's Day... the holiday of LOVE...

While we're out of the height of ooey-gooey, lovey-dovey stuff, it's a great time to ponder true love... the love our Savior has for us.

I Corinthians 13 is the gold standard in Scripture for defining love. I don't know the actual stats, but if I had to guess, I'd imagine that it is likely the most quoted Bible passage in weddings. Even weddings of non-believers. For some reason we just love to hear the definition of perfect ... love!

So let's take a minute to look at the "Love is..." section of that chapter:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.

Now let's do a little exercise with these verses. I wish I could take credit for this myself, but a speaker came to our church a while back and I'm just sharing the exercise he gave to us.

Read the passage aloud. Go ahead. Don't be embarrassed.

Now... everywhere you see "love" or the pronoun "it" referring to "love," substitute "Jesus." Read it aloud again that way.

4 Jesus is patient. Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, Jesus is not proud.
5Jesus is not rude, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Jesus never fails.

Isn't is awesome that our Lord IS the standard of love. Makes sense, you know. I John 4:8 tells us that "...God is love."

Now let's do another little exercise. Re-read the passage again, only this time, put YOUR NAME where you said Jesus' name before:

4 _____ is patient. _____ is kind. _____ does not envy, _____ does not boast, _____ is not proud.
5_____ is not rude, _____is not self-seeking, _____is not easily angered, _____keeps no record of wrongs.
6_____ does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
7_____ always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8_____ never fails.

How'd that go for you? Did what you read accurately reflect your character? Yes? No?

I have to admit, I might manifest one or two of the wonderful characteristics of love, but I make a woefully low score on this love test. It's enough to make a girl really sad.

But then I realize that Jesus went to the cross ... out of love ... for me. And when He went there, paying for my sin with his life and then rising from the dead, defeating sin and death forever, He gave me His righteous robe to wear. Now THAT is LOVE!

Take a minute to praise God for His love and to ask Him to transform your "love life" so that you shine with the love of His precious Son.

Celebrating EVERY holiday

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4 (NIV)

Many seasons come our way that we would rather not celebrate: when a job is lost … when friends or family members aren't getting along … when the news from the doctor isn't what we'd like to hear … when _________ (you fill in the blank). We will (and did with the Celebrating Christmas! blog) rejoice in holidays like Christmas and others, but what about those holiday seasons that aren't so happy?

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

Every morning we can trust in the Lord's love, compassion, and faithfulness. Because His faithfulness is great, every day is a holy day or, in abbreviated form, a holiday.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NRSV)

As I write this, awake in pain at 4:26 am, I am not in the middle of what most would consider to be a season worth celebrating. In the past couple of years, I've gone from being a healthy gal to having two chronic diseases that can bring about other complications, including the staph infection I currently am fighting. But, as I write this, awake in pain at 4:26 am, I am celebrating the One who works in all my circumstances to bring about my good.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

I'm not God, so I'm not going to try to take a stab at what His purpose is for me in this. I've seen glimmers of it here and there, and I trust He'll reveal more and more in His time. I don't know, either, what His purpose is for you in your not-so-celebratory seasons. I'm simply comforted knowing that God's ways and thoughts exceed mine. My two-year-old daughter didn't fully grasp Christmas this year, but she still celebrated. I won't always be able to grasp God's ways in my circumstances, but I can still celebrate the One who is in control of them.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 (NIV)

The verse that we kicked off this blog with is so rich. The final phrase differs by translation: have it to the full (NIV); have it abundantly (NASB); have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of (MSG); have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows (AMP); have it more abundantly (KJV). It doesn't say, "have it to the full when times are good." It doesn't say, "more abundantly by the world's standards." It doesn't say, "till it overflows with what we think it ought to overflow with."

We don't get to define what full life is; that's God's job, and I am so thankful for that. Nothing is better than what Christ has for us. To experience that real life, more and better life than I ever dreamed of, I've learned that I have to experience some seasons that look or feel more like "less and worse" than "more and better." But Christ is alive and working in those seasons too, in ways that are higher than mine and that He promises are for my good … which makes this, too, a season for rejoicing. A holiday worth celebrating!

God is The Creator!

Celebrate means, according to Merriam-Webster, "to mark by festivities or other deviation from routine."

Celebrate His Creation!

Whatever the day brings, see His work and His blessing in it. Deviate from your routine and mark it with festivities.

Welcome to Celebrate!

We are thrilled that you found us! What a blessing to have blog buddies here in cyberspace. If you are an old friend from Celebrating Christmas, we are excited you'll be joining us here.

Like Celebrating Christmas, Celebrate! will focus on living life to the fullest in Christ. After all, Jesus Himself said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

Abundant life... perissos (in Greek). You've gotta love the definition:


-exceeding some number or measure or rank or need

-over and above, more than is necessary, superadded

-exceeding abundantly, supremely

-something further, more, much more than all, more plainly

-superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon pre-eminence, superiority, advantage, more eminent, more remarkable, more excellent


Jesus is the opposite ... EXTREME opposite... ABSOLUTE opposite... of what the world has to offer! The thief, and mind you thieves can take many forms -- worry, fear, doubt, anger, envy, etc., comes to steal to kill and to destroy. But Jesus ... He brings more life than you've ever dreamed!

So as we kick off this new little blog, we hope that you will find Jesus and the abundant life HE gives in the everydayness of life.

We will be posting once a week. Some weeks we may post a little more. We will look at holidays and holy-days throughout the year, focusing on keeping Christ the center of ... well ... LIFE! When the Christmas season rolls around this year, Celebrating Christmas plans to return to daily posts.

If you have ideas, please share! We would LOVE to hear from you. We have a team of writers to get things started. If you'd like to join the writing team or share photos, shoot us an email: CelebratingChristmas@gmail.com. We'll be in touch. Remember that we LOVE to hear comments from you. There's something supernatural in the way women who love Jesus encourage one another when they share.

We'll be posting on Wednesdays. Yes, we know today isn't Wednesday. But we promised you on Celebrating Christmas that we'd start sharing the year-round version of the blog on February 1st. And here we are! And here you are! And we are so happy to be sharing Jesus with you once again.

Check back on Wednesday for a sweet post from our friend Karen, as she challenges us to focus on God the Creator during this beautiful winter season.