Amelia McNeilly

Pink Patriot - My desire is to share with you the journey God has me on. Whether in joy hardship, I hope that my blog offers a place of respite, and bring joy to your heart!

Articles, Daily Inspirations, Devotionals, Holidays, Tis the Season Series

Tis the Season – Jesus Christ is Born

 

I had this post ready to schedule to post on Christmas Day. However, I had to go to the Emergency Room because my stoma with the ileostomy prolapsed. They sent me home but now worse. Please pray for the doctors to agree to treat me if needed, and for my parents and I to have the wisdom and knowledge we  need. All that to say, I am especially thankful for this Christmas and even in the hard I was able to  have some quality time with the family which is a huge blessing.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this post and it helps bring joy and peace to your day. Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year to you and yours.

Holidays have always been a favorite of mine, especially Christmas. I’m thankful to have grown up in a home where my parents were an example of Jesus’ love to me every day. Over Christmas they always focused on making sure I understood the importance of the season and as I’ve matured over the years the Christmas story means more to me now than Ever.

As I’ve been pondering on the Christmas story, I am so thankful and humbled by all of the people God used to help us experience His love, forgiveness, and Eternal life. 

Each time I read the story I am always challenged and encouraged by Mary. Her willingness to obey the Lord and to trust God with the task given to her was amazing. While we do not know much about Mary, or have in depth evidence of her thoughts and actions, she was a young teenager and one can somewhat imagine what her struggles might have been. Being human I am sure she had her moments of “why me,” “what will people think,” “ how am I going to deal with this opposition, and convince Joseph and the family of my faithfulness, etc.” But regardless of the challenges she was met with, and there were many, she put God and her obedience to Him above all else. She responds to the Lord’s calling by stating, “May it be to me as you have said.” I love that statement and it has
been especially important in my life lately.

God is giving me so much comfort, peace, and joy. Being home bound there are many lonely days — days where I feel misunderstood, forgotten, or see no end in sight. But the hope of Jesus and the little ways He encourages me, agets me through the next step, then the next,etc. Those are the best gifts. Believe me the peace, strength, and joy that I am given each day from this bed is not from my strength but is all from God’s strength and healing powers.

    Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ~Luke 2:10-13

“Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.” ~Corrie Ten Boom

 

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Daily Inspirations – December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas! I’m so thankful for the birth of Jesus. His love is better than life and He deserves all of our praise. “Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.” ~Corrie Ten Boom

Articles, Holidays, Tis the Season Series

‘Tis the Season with Ellen Poston

“Mary pondered these things in her heart.” Luke 2:19
We will never know exactly what thoughts Mary had on that first Christmas so long ago.

The angel had told her that she had been chosen. She knew that the angel had appeared to Joseph, too. She had confirmation from Elizabeth, but the Bible doesn’t tell us about those months between that visit and Bethlehem.

Just because of the time in which they lived, those months were probably very difficult for Mary and Joseph. Mary was pregnant before her marriage and Joseph had accepted her and went ahead with their marriage. Then came the census and the travel to Bethlehem. Traveling by foot and donkey would have been difficult to say the least, but doing it nine months pregnant – no way!

They get to Bethlehem and it is so crowded. Realizing that Mary is in labor, they must have been frantic to find a place to stay. The only thing available was a stable.

There in that stable – Mary gives birth. While we like to think about all those paintings of a serene Mary holding a bouncing baby boy, it would not have been like that. Labor is hard and it is bloody. Mary and Joseph would have both been exhausted. They probably really needed a bath and a hot meal.

I wonder – that night – did they lose sight of the angel’s promise? The promise that this was God’s Son. My first thought is – not Mary and Joseph – they knew, they had seen the angel.

God has promised us all to be with all of us, to never leave or forsake us, but when hard times come – and they always do – it’s easy to lose sight of God’s promises. It’s easy to look around and just see cows and think “where is God in this?”

Yet, unknown to Mary and Joseph over in a field outside Bethlehem, there are some shepherds. They are just minding their sheep when an angel appears before them. The angel tells them all about Jesus and his birth. Suddenly, there’s a whole host from heaven praising God.

While Mary and Joseph are in a barn having one more difficult day in months of difficult days, over the way, in a field, the shepherds are having church!

I wonder – if Mary and Joseph had been thinking “Am I sure I got this right? The Messiah is being born in a stable with just a manger for a bed?” Then here comes this band of shepherds busting into the stable, telling their own story of angels. Just when the night seemed the darkest – God sent some shepherds!

That first Christmas night, when the Savior of the world was born and God gave us all the greatest gift – light shining in the darkness. What was Mary doing? She was pondering all those things in her heart.

This Christmas, let’s do some pondering. In the midst of difficult days, let’s remember a baby born in a manger.

About the Author –

I’m Amelia’s auntie.
I’m a wife to Lewis and a Mom to Jonathan and Greg. I’m Nena to CJ, Lexi, Emily, Harper and Stella. I’m also a monster-in-law to Jamie and Suzanne.
I love Jesus!
I love a good book and Hallmark movies!
I love a happy ending!

Articles, Holidays, Tis the Season Series

‘Tis the Season with Bethany Wester

When I was a child, my mother came up with a simple but creative way to help me count down the days to Christmas. She strung a long piece of ribbon across the fireplace within my reach and taped Hershey Kisses to the ribbon, one for each day through December 25. My excitement built each day as those shiny, red-and-green foil wrappers filled with chocolatey sweetness dwindled in number. To this day, I’ve continued the tradition, and a Hershey Kiss will always taste like Christmas to me, any time of year.
Those little Hershey Kisses were a shadow of a deeper truth. The Advent season is a time of waiting expectantly. Through all of history since the Fall, God’s people have waited for deliverance. God had promised a Redeemer since our first parents disobeyed. The prophets foretold his coming for centuries, and while those ancient promises echoed through four hundred years of prophetic silence and foreign oppression, God’s people still waited.
The silence was broken by a baby’s cry in a tiny, nondescript town in the Roman Empire. On the surface, it was ordinary. This was what they had been waiting for? Isn’t that often our response after a long period of waiting for something? When we forget God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and love, his answer can seem disappointing because it’s not what we expected. Sometimes we even miss it or, worse, despise and discard it. After long periods of unfulfilled desire, prayer, and anticipation, we miss the glory, grace, and goodness of God’s redemptive work because it comes in unexpected packaging.
Advent teaches us to expect great things of our great God. We go about our daily routines in an atmosphere of eager anticipation for the joys of Christmas Day, and that should reflect a deeper anticipation as we look for God’s redemptive purposes in the common and unexpected events he providentially sews into our lives because we know they are part of a greater story.
Two thousand years on, the church still waits for another promise to be fulfilled, but this time the glory will be obvious. We have small tastes of it here, like those foil-wrapped chocolates, in the channels of grace he has given us in his Word, his Spirit, and his church. Although we can’t count down the days, that promise, the sure hope of his return, reminds us that when God seems silent and distant, his plan has not failed.

About the Author – 

Bethany Wester a life-long Floridian who enjoys deep conversation, good books, classic movies, traveling, and Florida State football. She is passionate about Jesus, learning the truth of God’s word beside other women, and caring for women and families involved in unplanned pregnancies. Today is her parents’ 46th wedding anniversary, and she’s indescribably thankful for them.

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