Sharon's Sharings

Merry Christmas Friends,                                                                                 This fourth week of Advent, which started last Sunday and is to end today – Christmas, is lighting the candle of Love.  We marvel at God’s great love for us, that He sent a Savior in the form of a baby in a manger.  The white candle, which is to be lit on Christmas Day, represents light and purity and is called “Christ’s Candle”     " Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:1 & 2      “ When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, franki

Good Morning, In this third week of Advent, the theme is Joy.  I love this.  I immediately think of the song “the joy of the Lord is my strength”  We can find joy and peace in the midst of times of great trials.  This has been true of this past year.  Some days it has been hard to be joyful.  But…Our Lord is faithful.  If we ask, He will indeed give us joy in our circumstances.  Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” The shepherds found joy in the news of a Savior’s birth.  Luke 2:8-11 “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  (9)And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid, (10) Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  (11) For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” 

  This week our Advent theme is faith.  It represents Jesus birth in the manger. It is also called the Bethlehem candle as a reminder of Mary & Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. Faith: “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV The Biblical account of Jesus birth is one of faith.  Mary had faith to believe she was carrying God’s son.  Luke 1:38 NKJV “ then Mary said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word.” It took faith for Joseph to take a pregnant Mary as his wife.  Matthew 1:20,21 ~ but while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (21) And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” The three wise men had hope and believed for the Messiah.

  This week we began lighting our Advent candles.  Advent is the four weeks before Christmas that represents the spiritual preparation for the celebration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.   Our theme this first week is “ HOPE .”  We wait in anticipation for something to happen.  It is an expectation. When we were children we “hoped” we would get the gift we wanted for Christmas.  We asked, and then we waited in excited expectation. Sometime we got what we hoped for, sometimes we were disappointed. Biblical hope is based on God’s faithfulness in the past.  Because we can see how He has kept his promises, our hope does not rely on our current circumstances.  Psalm 130:5 NLT “ I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on Him.  I have put my hope in His word.”  Psalms 39: 7 TPT “And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion:  my only hope is to hope in you alone!” Do we hope for changes in our lives?  Do we pray and then wait with anticipation?  Or are we tempted to look at our ci

 November 27, 2020 I hope your Thanksgiving was Blessed and all you hoped for. Mine was not what I hoped for.  Due to Covid it was much smaller – 4 of us compared to our usual 10-15 people.   I do feel incredibly Blessed that all my family has survived this Pandemic.  We enjoyed a nice dinner ~ although the turkey took an hour longer than I planned!  50 years of cooking turkeys and it still doesn’t always go according to my schedule!  Welcome to 2020! The small family we celebrated with didn’t interact like I hoped.  I had expectations that weren’t met.  The day did not “feel” like our normal celebration.  I’m not sure we ended our day feeling thankful.  I felt like a deflated balloon. The underlying theme of this year is disappointment; with some accompanying depression or despondency.  It is hard sometime to continue to deal with the many disappointments.  I know the current slogan is “For now-not Forever” but it often feels forever.  I have been so Blessed in so many ways, that cont