My Dream by Malachi Wooley (My 6 yr.old granddaughter)

I had a dream one night. My friend, Caleb and I were standing by the beach, throwing a shark toy back and forth. I told him not to throw it in the water, but he did anyway, and it turned into a real shark. My mommy was on this boat with Abbie, an older teenager, and they were using an inner tube in the water. Amanda was also there, and some other people. When they were spinning around in the tube, the tube got full of water, so they had to hurry up and get on the boat because the shark bit the tube, and then grabbed Abbie's leg. I told my mommy to punch the shark in the jaw, and she did. Then the shark let go of Abbie's leg. I am wondering what this means?

About Jesus by Malachi Wooley

Mary was on a donkey with Joseph and he was holding the rope, leading it. And then they knocked on 4 doors, and the people said they don't have any room for them to stay, but the last one said, "Yes." When they got in the stable, Mary found a safe place in the barn to sleep and rest. And she had Jesus and He would go everywhere with His mom and dad. When they were leaving, sometimes he would stay in the temple and hear about God. And sometimes He would help his dad carve before they left.

And Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit. And He can do anything!!!!!

Christmas Revisited

As I was looking through the "Christmas edition" of my Oriental Trading catalogue this morning, I was wondering to God what characters would be acceptable for the winter season which is soon approaching. I like to do crafts, and I like decorating, and since some of my grandchildren live next door, we do crafts together from time to time during the year. It's something both myself and they enjoy. I decided that snowmen, reindeer, penguins, holly, snowflakes, cardinals, polar bears, pinecones, and gingerbread houses would be fine to represent the winter season. Santa, elves, and christmas trees and anything to do with them are definitely out. And, I know you'll find this hard to believe and probably objectionable, but so is the "nativity scene" and celebrating Jesus' birthday.
You see my husband and I haven't celebrated Christmas for about 7 years now, and we are followers of Jesus Christ.(Well, He is helping us follow Him) I'll have to admit that I did go through some withdrawal at first, making my case with my husband. Now, though, I am on the same page.
One practical result of not celebrating is that the stress of all the "things I have to do" is gone. You can ask me if I'm ready for Christmas anywhere from Sept-Dec. and the answer will be the same. I'm always as ready as I'll ever be, because there's not anything to get ready. So, the answer will always be "Yes." Sometimes I do mention that we don't celebrate it (as the Lord leads) and most, I'm sure, just feel sorry for us and think we've gotten off track.
So why don't we celebrate? Where are we coming from? The pagan roots of Christmas are but one of the reasons, but certainly not the primary ones.
Throwing santa out is obvious-the lying, the mistrust between parent and child that could result is not of Jesus. How about the tree? In the book of Jeremiah when the Israelites had compromised and were in an apostate condition, God spoke through the prophet mentioning that they were decorating trees with silver balls and bringing them into their houses like the pagans did. Sounds kind-of like a Christmas tree to me. Actually back in those days it represented the Asherah pole, which gave homage to a pagan god. God had told them not to adopt the culture of the pagans because they were holy; set apart. They were to be His "ecclesia" or "church"-His "called out ones." Isn't He still saying that to us today?
O.K. if you're still with me, then what in the world could be wrong with the nativity scene? That's just it-It's a scene and we are fixated on it. I think artisans have created beautiful creches, and I can appreciate them from that point of view. But it really did happen and it was supernaturally wonderful how God placed His seed in Mary and she became pregnant. I am thankful that God sent His Son to save us, but follow me if you will: He's not a baby anymore!!!! Jesus came to earth and died for our sins and defeated death and the devil so He could bring us new life. He is a victorious King now and He, by His Spirit, lives in me today. He's going to work in me today. He's going to commune with me today. I'm going to talk with Him and walk with Him. We can't reduce Him to that baby who came and keep repeating "the story" year after year putting us in a time warp. A baby is helpless and impotent. Seeing Him that way interfers with our relationship with Him now.

Doing Christmas makes us think that we are really doing something for God. If that's the case, why do the unbelievers celebrate it with such vigor? God is a today God and He wants us to stop our activities some times and just sit alone with Him, and hear what He has to say so we, His children, can fulfill His desires, not ours, on this earth. How much more time could we have to do that if we eliminated some or all of the activities of Christmas?
I'll go a step further and say that it's the devil's plan, this whole Christmas affair or is it an affair with Christmas? The money spent needlessly, the attempt to find the "perfect" gift for someone when the perfect gift, Jesus, has already been given by God to us, and probably the most subtle; the reading of the Christmas "story" thinking that we have honored God by doing that.

Let's don't even go into singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.I shudder at the image of Jesus with a party hat on, sitting in the birthday boy seat and getting ready to blow out the candles? How many candles would there be? How would we represent eternal? Can you imagine that he would really want that? A cake? Presents? How about giving him our lives or our hearts? Is Christmas an idol? God calls that adultery.
It's not about a formula of "rights" and "wrongs," that would be legalism. It's about what brings honor or dishonor to God. If you think all that I've said is a bunch of baloney, than just ask our Father about it. Ask Him what He would have you do or not do. Ask Him what pleases or displeases Him. He, by His Holy Spirit, will guide you. He wants to show us what He desires, if we will only ask. "His ways are not our ways."
The question has been asked by well-meaning Christians, "What would Christmas be without Jesus?" The question should be, "What would Jesus be without Christmas?" The answer: He'd still be the same. He'd still be the Redeeming, Conquering King who is coming back soon!!!! He doesn't need Christmas and neither do His followers.
So, I think I'll order some craft items to work on with my grandchildren, and I hope they'll see Jesus in another way, instead of stuck in the manger, and that is through the patience, love, and attention that flows out of my heart as we create together.

Revelations: Layers of Truth

There is so much of what Jesus said in the Book of John alone that hasn't been tapped into even in our generation. Why then do we "seek a word" from "the prophets?" Is getting alone with God, by His Holy Spirit, asking Him to reveal what He means by what Jesus spoke and was written down, not spectacular enough for us? If He decides to shed some light on His spoken word, putting aside all "traditional interpretations," He can open us up to so much understanding that it can impact our lives by literally changing us. It's not that we just keep reading His Word by rote over and over again, and then by that our minds are "renewed" like it's been taught in many Christian circles. "In all your getting, get understanding," God says. In other words, we need to understand what He meant when He wrote the words of life and truth. With this divine understanding, the change can then impact others in a way that maybe can't be seen or documented, but we need to remember that we walk by faith and not sight. And the Kingdom of God is like a seed that's planted-He gives us new life under the soil (germinates us), and then the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear appear.( But not apart from his life-giving work, He first does in us, that no one sees.) We can't make ourselves into something. We can perfect appearances and fool many people, even ourselves, but, I believe, one of the ways He changes us is by imparting to us the spirit of understanding to reveal to us the truths of what He was already trying to say when He walked this earth. He said many times, "Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying." The true communcation of His words (the truth) is still there for us to tap into, and receive into our spirits bringing more and more life and truth. So, let's seek re-entry into the heart of the Father by asking Him to reveal to us the layers of truth that He has implanted in the spoken words of Jesus. If you want a Bible Code, this is it.

Restoring the Blueprint

Been thinking alot lately about the preciousness of each human being God has given life to. He says that we are "fearfully (so neat we are in awe of) and wonderfully made." He so uniquely and creatively made us, validated by our own DNA. That is the blueprint that is totally us, and God ( I believe) gave it great thought as to how He designed every detail of who we are in every aspect of our being.

When we are born we enter into a world that is potentially and highly probably dangerous to hiding or changing the ways God intended us to display and develope into who He created us to be. Simply put, sin in and towards us has distorted who we are in this world. It has wired us faultily and we become something alien to who God foresaw.

When we are born-again or let Jesus into our lives, He begins the restorative work of healing us so that we can be restored into the image of the original design God had in mind.

What has become crooked, He starts to make straight in us. This is often a long and laborous work, but with God leading the process, we can rest assured that He won't work too hard or too long and cause further damage. He gently works with us as we're ready. He strengthens us with each new restoration process, so we are ready for the next one.

For those who were deeply hurt and abused in their formative years and will let God restore them, they will begin to see for the first time who they were really intended to be. And it's never too late to open ourselves us to the hand of God and say, "God, I open myself up to You. Restore me to your original purpose, condition, and design." (The Kingdom of God is within.) Then when we "see" new parts of us emerging, we can share ourselves with the people in our world, and we'll know that because He made us, that we are good and won't feel that we're being prideful. Actually He said that we were very, very good, meaning that He was so pleased with what He had created in us. He liked it. He gave Himself a blue ribbon. And who we really are can be offered as a gift to others, and bring our Creator and Designer glory!!!!! We will be the star of His "Extreme Makeover," not being ashamed to let our light so shine.