Sunday Night-The 3rd Sunday of Advent

 Today, the 3rd Sunday of Advent,  we lit the candle of JOY.   "Christ our Joy.  May the joyful promise of your presence, O God, make us rejoice in our hope of salvation. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Our prayer of confession this morning in church was:

"Prepare our hearts, O God,

to receive the Christ Child once more.

When we are lost in darkness,

shine Your light into the darkness of our world.

When the gloom clings tightly to us,

shine Your glory into the shadows of our lives.

Overcome our fear, Holy One, and inspire us to leave our flocks,

and seek the Christ Child this night.

Prepare our hearts, O God, to behold your precious gift in awe and wonder of peace and love.

In Christ's Name we pray, Amen."

Yes, Lord, prepare my heart to behold your precious gift of your Son, once again in awe and wonder and in peace and love. Amen.

We had a really sweet service today as our children and young people put on a Christmas musical play. They did a great job. We have a very small church and small group of children, but they each put their hearts into the program and the message came through loud and clear...they shared some "Really Really Really Good News!"  

I wish I could share the video, but it is too long for this format, so just a picture will have to do. I just love these kids' programs. Takes me back to when our kids were young and they performed in many Christmas and other similar programs at church. I must say that I was a little bit teary-eyed watching these kids sing and perform.  Just brought back too many sweet memories, which I am very thankful we have...

Moving right along...Yesterday my hubby's brother and wife and son stopped by for a visit on their way through to the mountains for a little vacation. We went out to lunch and had a great visit. My sweet sister in law gave me "an early Christmas present", because it needs to be enjoyed now and not after Christmas, so she insisted I open it now.  Sadly, we did not take any pictures while we were together, but I took these after I got home and opened the gift and was so thrilled with it I had to take pictures and text them to her...

This beautiful little church lights up and is like a snow globe...it is so beautiful...the pictures don't do it justice:

She also gave me the lovely poinsettia table runner and a couple of placemats that match it.

Such a thoughtful and beautiful gift! I do love little churches...

These are just a few little ones that I have that I enjoy lighting up...along with the angels...

And so this 3rd Sunday of Advent we have great joy in our hearts...and I hope to focus on that and not allow the stresses and hurriedness of the rest of this season to get to me. This week I must focus on getting some shopping done, the few cards that I hope to send sent out, along with our dress rehearsal on Tuesday night for our church choir Christmas Cantata, which will be performed this coming Sunday, and on Wednesday our ladies' United Women in Faith will have their annual Christmas fellowship, which is always a delight. Meanwhile, I will also be helping out at Dixie Cottage most every morning as needed. So it is a busy week ahead, and I need to pace myself and not allow myself to succumb to the pressures of time. It's my own fault that I get into this time crunch each year...I just seem to never learn about planning ahead for Christmas...I think it's one of those genetic cycles that is bred into me and I really don't see any help for it in sight at this stage in life. LOL. It is what it is, and somehow I always manage to get through it. My prayer is that the Lord will help me to stay focused on HIM, the real reason for the season, and not get lost in the hustle bustle.  

Matthew 1:23

23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated,

 “God with us.”

And that is "really, really, really good news!"