God Breathed

So, after the first week of December passed, I completed the first (very rough) draft of my thesis, submitted it and life abounded once more.

The following series of pictures leads right up to the present :

My husband and I honored his Jewish ancestry by celebrating “The Festival of Lights”

My husband and I traveled to visit friends in New York:

My husband and I attended a great Christmas Concert at Grace Community Church:

Christmas COOKIES =)

Christmas with my family:

Merry Christmas!!!

We pray that you all have a wonderful day, giving thanks to God the Father for the many blessings He has graciously lavished upon you, especially the birth of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

“1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.“-Luke 2:1-14

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”-Isaiah 9:6

During the entire month of November my social life came to a screeching hault (along with many other things) because I had to crank-out 100 pages of research material in less than five weeks.

It was a whirl-wind experience, and I would not necessarily recommend pursuing a thesis in the same manner, but I really did enjoy it and it is my continued prayer that the Lord would be glorified and honored with the end-result!

However, I did not do this alone! I could not have done it without the Lord’s enabling and the help of my amazing husband, prayerful family and supportive friends . I would like to publicly thank each one of you for your role and participation in the process … it has been a journey in some way for all of us!

The journey is still not over, as the editing process will be underway next month. But, the Lord has graciously provided a brief season of rest until then.

Also, in the midst of the writing process, He also allowed a ministry opportunity with some of the girls in our Youth Group. We have formed a club, called “Daddy’s Girls” (Jn 1:12), and we gather together about once everyother month for a time of fellowship, encouragement and instruction. The most recent meeting took place on November 24th in our Church Youth Group Room. I taught on “Purity in Dating” and it provided a great break about half-way through the writing process. I have included some pictures below:

One of our older college-aged, Youth Group girls volunteered to help with this event. She played a fun “Dating Game” with the younger Youth Group girls to really get them thinking about the types of qualities and characteristics they tend to find attractive in the opposite sex:

Craft Time!!! One of the younger Youth Group girls volunteered to lead the craft activity. Each of the girls were able to make their own “button bracelets” to take home as a memento of the day:

Then, came the time of instruction (Gen 1:26-31, 2:15-25; Eph 5:22-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Cor 7; Matt 19:3-12 )

It was such a blessing to spend an afternoon (away from the computer with the girls … oftentimes, I think they bless me more than I ever could them! But the Lord was good to not only allow me to work on the thesis, but to carry me through the process and even provide a break in the midst of it … He is so good!

(Addendum: My thesis is titled, “Ministering Christ to Cutters”. I will be posting my thesis on this blog after the editing process is complete with the prayer that the Lord might be pleased to use it as a ministry tool for fellow biblical counselors, working with those who are tempted to cut themselves.)

It has been far too long since I have last blogged!

My main excuse is that I have been writing my thesis since the beginning of November. I just finished a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would take a few moments to update folks on everything that has been going on in life since the last post.

I must confess: it wasn’t ALL work (& no play) … before I started the writing process in November, we were still able to squeeze a few fun things in since the last post. I have included a selection of photos below, just to give you an idea of what my husband and I have been up to:

By God’s grace, we survived all of the Southern California Wildfires in October. The fire-lines literally surrounded us on all three sides (west, north and east) within just a few miles at some points, but we survived the entire ordeal completely unscathed! This picture was taken in about 3 miles from our apartment. The fire fighters were filling-up their airtanks in nearby Castaic Lake to help combat the flames … it was very exciting!

Then, me and my mother, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew all went on a family camping trip off the coast of Ventura, CA. It was my nephew’s first camping experience, but I think he is a natural:

Before I started on my thesis, we enjoyed celebrating “Reformation Day” (most pagans celebrate “Halloween” the same day ) with family. In preparation for the big day, my little nephew, Joel, accompanied us to the Pumpkin Patch to help select our “Reformation Pumpkin”

This was the beginning of the end … of my social-life, that is!