As a child, I loved to skip rocks across water. I was never very good at it, and usually lost the "rock-skipping" contests, but I still had fun doing it. Although it's been a long time, I still remember that each time the rock skimmed the water, it left a ripple wherever it touched, so that the ripples were plentiful all the way to where the rock would sink.

Our lives are like those rocks. No matter where we are or what we're doing, our actions make ripples. What we might think is insignificant just might not be. It affects others in some way, who will affect others in some way, and so on and so on, thus creating ripples in the world. God's world. For you see, God uses each of us to make the ripples that make or break the lives we touch.

Never be afraid to skip across the water and make positive ripples in your life, for you never  know who you are affecting, or in what way. Be a shining light. Spread God's love and goodness wherever you go. If were were each mindful that every word we speak, every deed we do, is a ripple, we can as a team make this world a much better place.

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise you Father in Heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

I have just recently begun playing an interactive word game very similar to Scrabble, with my phone, that I just love. My opponents and I take turns making our moves against each other at our leisure, each trying to out-score the other. It's great fun for me. I love the challenge and I go to great lengths searching for just the right spot for my letters, especially the high point ones.

There have been several times I have had my eye on a particular spot, one that I am determined to use... lots of points! I wait, just like a spider for the perfect time to move in for the kill. I want that spot! I wait for just the right letter. And wait... sometimes in vain. The opportunity never pans out. But if I move my eyes around and check to see what else is available, many times I see chances for my words to be made in different spots, maybe not exactly what I had in mind, but even better! If only I would just shift my focus.

I have been the same way in my day-to-day living and I know I'm not alone. I see my life and the moves I should make MY way, while more often than not God sees it entirely differently. What looks perfect to me becomes my focus, and God has to remind me to shift my focus and allow Him to make the moves. His ways are always better. He knows just where to place me, and when. It's not always easy to let go of my focus, but if I allow God to move me, I win every time-for Him.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

The past several years have been very trying for my family, and I know I am not alone in this. Many of my friends have also recently had some very difficult, stressful, and in some cases life-changing situations. And my mother, once vibrant and healthy, has had some serious health issues that continue daily, with no end in sight. We have all asked ourselves and God why... it just doesn't make sense. We can easily become discouraged. We want answers and resolutions. We seek the missing pieces of the puzzles that are our lives, forgetting that we are not the puzzle-makers. God is.

It's at these times we need to remember that no matter what it going on, God is in control. Always has been, always will be. We do not walk alone, and these times of turmoil can and should be used to draw closer to God. No one builds muscles by continually walking downhill. Personally speaking, it's through the deep struggles that I grow closer to God.

This life we lead and our reactions to the problems we face are what will determine our future in God's eternal kingdom. Instead of constantly trying to make sense of our circumstances, we should just accept that sometimes there IS no sense, and just use our struggles to become better children of God. Someday...someday it will all make sense, and it will all have been worth it!

"Therefore we do not lose hope. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

I have been having a mighty struggle during the past week with anger, resentment, bitterness, and even feelings of hatred. Someone has caused my husband and me great hardship and financial loss because of a very stupid and inconsiderate act. We are now dealing with how to resolve the problem, and once again worrying about an unexpected lump of money we will have to come up with. And this is not the first time we have had to clean up after this person. Most likely it will not be the last. My feelings are justified. I have a right to feel furious, worried, angry and resentful. But do I have permission?

In James 1:20, James says, "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." And he is right. God created us to take His light into the world no matter what our current circumstances might be. We were not given terms and conditions; no disclaimer on how we distribute our forgiveness. I am holding onto my ugly feelings, in part, because I don't want to let this person "off the hook" and make her think she has won and all is well. I want to have the upper hand. And it's wrong. I know it's wrong, and therefore I carry the additional burden of guilt for feeling this way. Boy, that Satan. He certainly knows our Achilles heels, doesn't he?

But Jesus is stronger than Satan, and He will not let me go through this alone. I know I must let go of this, and that the only way I can is with the help of mighty God. I must replace these feelings I have with kindness and forgiveness, and that doesn't mean when I'm good and ready. It means NOW. I must release my righteous indignation. I must be willing to let go of my desire to win, remembering that the only winner in all of this should be God, because when I am obedient to Him He wins. That's all that matters. This is NOT about me.

And so, the only thing I can do, the only weapon I can utilize, is prayer. I have been praying for the hardness in my heart to be softened and the anger to dissipate. I have been praying for God to help me as I wrestle with Satan, and I already feel the changes happening. I have given it to God. I have asked the One who has forgiven me to help me to forgive also. I am letting go. I have decided that pleasing God is more important than harboring my ugly feelings, no matter how justified I might think they are. I have only myself  and my own actions to answer for when I stand at the judgment throne, and I want to have the Lord smile at me, not shake His finger. It's hard. But it's worth it. After all, if forgiveness was good enough for Jesus even as He was crucified, it's good enough for me. God said it, I believe it, that settles it!

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven."  (Matthew 18:21-22)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Another winter is here, and although we have been blessed with a mild one so far, it's far from over. I have a good friend who detests cold weather, and especially snow, and she watches the weather forecasts each day, practically holding her breath, just to make sure no winter storms are headed her way. She frets and fusses from November till March, and though the occasional snow storm does come her way, she gets very little snow. So in the end, all of her worrying and waiting has been, for the most part, for nothing, and all she has really done is to rob each day of the joy it might have held. Her days are wasted and she has failed to see the lovely parts of the winter season.

I have also ruined many days of my life worrying, mostly about things that never happen. I think we have all been guilty of that. As soon as the dark clouds of life begin to roll in, we start worrying, and in so doing, we weaken ourselves and find that we are unprepared for the actual storm if and when it does hit. We forget that sometimes storm clouds blow the other way, or even dissipate and so we worry, usually needlessly.

Instead of anticipating problems that may never happen and hiding from the storms of tomorrow, we need to prepare ourselves so that, no matter what comes our way, we're ready. We need to put tomorrow out of our heads and rejoice in today, remembering that most of what we waste our time worrying about never happens anyway. If we live our lives in a proactive way, we need never fear tomorrow. We need not worry if, instead of infesting our heads with concerns, we fill them with Jesus. Pray and praise, find pleasure in each day, each moment. And be grateful. Use your spare time to further your walk with God. Trust Him. The One who holds you now will hold you always, so why worry? Stock up for your storms with Jesus, and you will always be prepared. Don't worry!

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27)..."Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Have you ever known a sports fan who was crazy about their team... unless they're playing badly? I do. I know people who absolutely love their baseball or football team, and follow the games religiously. But when things turn sour and the team isn't doing so well, they desert them, sometimes for a different team, and sometimes just until their luck turns and they become a winning team again. These people are called "fair weather fans."

In our faith walk, it's very tempting to be a fair weather fan. We think God is just awesome when things are going our way, blessings abound and all is right with the world. We are God's biggest cheerleaders, his number one fans! We pray and praise and worship whole-heartedly. But life has a funny way of turning the tables on us, and we can suddenly find our happiness and well-being challenged. And God often becomes the scapegoat. It's His fault. We become angry with Him, and feel deserted. We find ourselves going through the motions in our spiritual walk, and we pray through clenched teeth. We falter and fumble until, once again, we see things improving in our lives. We are, at those times, fair weather fans.

When things aren't going so well and we are faced with difficulties and struggles, it's more important than ever to keep cheering for God, remembering He never promised us that life would be a continual party. We must pray harder, love stronger, worship with whole hearts and trust that God is at work, no matter what is going on. We must remember to find a way to glorify God every day, in every circumstance, and cling to the hope of better days and stronger faith. We must stay on God's team, no matter what.

"I tell you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble; but take heart! I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

In 2 Kings 4:1-6, we read about the widow who needed money to pay her late husband's creditor, who was coming to take her two sons as slaves to repay the debt that was owed. Elisha instructed her to collect as many empty jars as she could and fill them with the oil she had left so that she could sell them and repay the debt, so she gathered up as many jars as she could from her neighbors. The small amount of oil she had flowed and filled all the jars, and when they had all been filled, she told her son to bring another one, but he said there were no more. It was then that the oil stopped flowing.

God was willing to continue filling as many jars as the woman could provide, just as He fills our empty hearts and souls with His blessings and provisions. But when we stop offering our emptiness to Him, He stops and waits for our empty jars to be held out to Him again. God's mercies are endless, and His love is overflowing, if only we continue asking Him to fill us up!

We sometimes hold ourselves back from God when things are not going well...we feel that God is distant and not listening anyway, so what's the use? We retreat, and find it difficult to even pray at times, but it's at those times we need to seek God even more diligently and ask him to fill us again. And we also sometimes withhold ourselves when all is well and our jars already seem to be filled. We wait, and we forget to keep those jars held out to God until we need something again. We forget that God knows what we need and is ready to give it to us, whether in times of want or times of plenty, and it's at those times that we need to thank God for what he has blessed us with and seek even more, so that we can complete the work He has for us.

No matter what's going on in our lives, we must never limit God's ability to fill us with His blessings by failing to hold up our empty jars for Him to fill. God loves to give us the good things He has for us. We need only offer our empty jars to Him, every moment of every day!

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

This Christmas, I got—um, shall we say, drafted—to assist with a children’s Christmas program. This particular church only has about 15 children and they’re all below the age of six. A single, childless lady in her twenties volunteered to direct the program and found a play that was age-appropriate for these children. And she has spent the last several weeks herding cats attempting to direct this play. She got all of the parents to agree to help direct traffic to the stage, and on the stage. And she recruited another young childless friend of hers to help with the sets and costumes. And then, because nobody else would, she began learning lines so that she could also—in addition to directing—be the narrator of the play.

This woman was quite possibly the bravest—or most naïve—woman I have ever met.

Because I don’t regularly attend this church, I missed all of this pre-program fun. I missed the practices and the costume-making and the set-building. I just knew I needed to be there at 10:00 on that Sunday morning, to assist. By 10:03, I was ready to jump ship!

When I walked into the dressing room at 10:00, there were 15 children and at least as many adults. The oldest boy—wearing his costume—was standing on one side of the room bellowing, “WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE!” When I finally left the room twenty-five minutes later, he still hadn’t stopped. Both of his parents had been in the room and neither said anything to him.

One of the lovely little girls had been dressed that morning in the cutest little red velvet Christmas dress and white tights. When her mother began to take her dress off to put her costume on, I thought that surely a lion had gotten loose in the room and attacked her because never have I heard screaming such as that! And as I was recovering from that fright, another little girl—already in her costume—holding a toy dinosaur in each hand, came over to me, waited for me to crouch down to her level, and then ROARED in my face. Wait a second. I didn’t know there were plastic dinosaurs in Bethlehem 2000 years ago…

NOOOO! DON’T!

I turned quickly, just in time to watch one little angel attempt to hang his sister with his belt. When his mother called his name, he froze and looked at her innocently, while his sister proceeded to fall into the floor and play dead.

By the time the exhausted-looking adults trooped the bedraggled-looking children down the aisle and onto the stage, I’d already heard the rumor that nobody had learned their lines except the director/narrator. And so while 15 cranky, wiggly, giggly children stood in their places—some of them with parents standing near and occasionally putting a hand out to keep them from somersaulting off the stage—the narrator narrated the entire play and then led the children in singing “Away in a Manger.”

At the covered-dish luncheon that followed the service, the lady across from me made the comment, “They were so well-behaved!” All I could do was exchange knowing glances with the weary director/narrator and laugh.

Sarah Salter is a missionary and a writer who works in full time ministry. She believes that God has called her to be transparent and show the world Who He Is by letting them see how He works in her life. From that belief was born her little home on the web: Living Between the Lines. Sarah lives in Central North Carolina with her best friend: a sixty pound lap dog named Sadie.

For many people, sadness sets in when Christmas is over. The cookies are gone, the tree is taken down, lights and decorations packed away. The feelings of peace and joy are replaced by a kind of melancholy, and life resumes as usual. I admit that I, too, am sometimes struck by pangs of sadness realizing it's all over. But why is that? Is it really over?

The greatest gifts ever given were the gifts of forgiveness, redemption and salvation, sent in the form of a baby, our Savior. But this precious gift, unlike other Christmas gifts, can be opened every day and celebrated long after the visible signs of Christmas are gone. For you see, with the right mindset, every day can be Christmas in our hearts.

Every day we can (and SHOULD!) wake up and thank God for the precious gift of Jesus. Every day we can remember that we are saved; redeemed by the birth of a sacred baby. Why reserve those feelings of gratutude for Christmas day? Every day presents us with opportunities to give gifts...gifts of helping a neighbor in need, serving the underprivileged, extending the hand of brotherly love to our fellow man. Why save it for the Christmas season? Instead of presenting Jesus with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, can't we offer Him the gifts of kindness, generosity and love every day? For each kindness shown, each little gift given, every act of selflessness, is actually a gift to baby Jesus, like those extended to Him by the wise men who traveled to see our newborn King.

With a right heart, we can celebrate Christmas every day, and keep the feeling alive all throughout the year. In fact, I think I will leave my tiny little manger scene out so that I can see it many times each day to remind me not to limit the Christmas spirit to December 25th. Perhaps I'll adopt a new tradition of doing a little something extra for someone in need each month to share the love of God. I will NOT pack away the Christmas spirit this year. I am determined to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior all year and to remind my little world that Jesus is born and Jesus is love...every day of the year.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

With Christmas approaching, I was recently inspired to try an old-fashioned gingerbread recipe. Gingerbread makes a great breakfast or dessert. It is not so sweet to be only limited to dessert-time and it goes wonderfully with a cup of coffee or tea. This recipe produces a super -soft and moist, perfectly spiced, moderately sweet pan of gingerbread. This gingerbread is perfectly comfortable to stand on its own, but it also enjoys the company of a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar or a dollop of freshly whipped cream on occasion. (Click on the links for previous recipes where this is further explained.)

Start by creaming together softened butter and brown sugar until creamy, then add in three eggs, one at a time until well-combined. Now, blend in some molasses.

Set this aside and combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Now, combine a cup of boiling water with two teaspoons baking soda.  I am not sure why the recipe calls for this step instead of just adding the baking soda into the dry ingredients, but it does turn out very nicely. Next time I make it, maybe I will try adding it to the dry ingredients to see if it makes a difference. This time I decided not to mess with a good thing. And, your children may really enjoy this extra step because the chemical reaction of the baking soda with the boiling water causes the mixture to rapidly bubble and fizz. I admit it was pretty fun to watch and it was a great reminder that cooking is science.

Stir in a third of the dry mixture into the butter mixture, followed by a third of the water/baking soda mixture, alternating back and forth and finishing with the remaining water/baking soda mixture. Give it a final stir with a spatula to make sure everything is mixed well.

Pour the batter into a greased, 9x13 pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until the middle is set and just a few crumbs remain on a toothpick inserted into the center.

As this bakes, your kitchen will be filled with the most delicious, sweet and spicy fragrance. Your children will wonder, as mine did, “Mommy, what’s that good smell?”

We enjoyed our gingerbread first as a dessert, accompanied by fresh whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The leftovers were enjoyed plain the next morning as breakfast and subsequent snacks.

I recommend you add this to your list of special Christmas baked goods, but it would make a wonderful treat anytime of the year, especially in the fall or winter with a warm beverage.

Soft Gingerbread

From food.com

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs  

1/2 cup molasses

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 cup boiling water

2 teaspoons baking soda

Freshly whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 pan. Thoroughly cream together the brown sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, then stir in the molasses. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together, except for the baking soda. In another small bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda. Add dry ingredients and water/baking soda mixture to mixing bowl alternately, mixing well with each addition. Pour into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Serve with whipped cream on top or a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar, if desired.

Here are links to my Christmas recipe posts from last year:

Candy Bark

Crab Meltaways

Father Tim’s Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole

Molasses Spice Cookies

More cute cookies

Enjoy!

Beth is a stay-at-home mom of three wonderfully active children ages seven, four and one. She is married to Jason V (who also writes for us here at MAD21) and spends her days teaching, changing diapers, sweeping up Cheerios, stepping over Legos, keeping peace among the kids, and enjoying the creative outlet of cooking.