It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It is my favorite time of year! Yay for Christmas! I love the lights and the decorations and the special treats that only come out this time of year.  And I REALLY love buying presents!

I just took a few days off work to get the house ready for Christmas. I cleaned and decorated my room and my mom's. Nothing too fancy, just her Santa collection in her room and my Christmas tree in mine. My sister is working on the downstairs. It's looking very festive! And presents are piled up everywhere waiting to be wrapped and stashed under the tree.

I even had my very first Christmas pudding! My English boyfriend sent a small one to me in my Christmas gift package. It was kind of like a combination of gingerbread cake and fruit cake. It was quite tasty!

I love Christmas! And just think. We have this wonderful time of year because of God's love. I know that there is a lot of contraversy in the Christian community over Christmas. No, Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. And a lot of our traditions may be the results of the "Christianization" of pagan practices (although now even that theory has been challenged). But I think it's a great idea to take a day and a season of the year to remember God's love for us.

I wish all of my readers a wonderful Christmas season! Get out there, enjoy the sights and sounds (and treats!), and share the love of Christ with someone today!

Election Reflection

After several days to think about the election, the disappointing outcome, and the implications, I have a few thoughts about the state of our country and its future.

First of all, I am not surprised. I knew it would be a 50/50 chance. We prayed. We fasted. But most importantly, we asked God for HIS will to be done, not ours. Of course, OUR will would have been a Romney win. But apparently God has other plans for our country.

I think that we are seeing the fall of our once-great nation. God has given us time to repent of our national sins, and yet we continue to murder the unborn en masse, take Him out of our society bit by bit, make it harder to practice Christianity, and promote immorality as the new normal.

I'm not trying to sound like a prude. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not perfect. I've shacked up. I've had sex outside of marriage. I've done a lot of things that are unbecoming to a Christian. So I'm not trying to play "holier than thou."

But we do need to take a good look at our country. We kill our children and call it "choice." We promote single motherhood and call it "welfare." We allow foreigners to break our laws and call it "tolerance." We have instigated class warfare and race warfare and gender warfare. We take money away from productive people and companies and use it to build government bureaucracies that take away our freedoms.

We take money away from our own children and give it to countries who hate us, who use it to oppress their people. We have left our kids with a crippling debt so we can give subsidies to bankrupt companies. We have killed thousands of jobs in the name of environmentalism. We have killed thousands of American soldiers to protect oil fields in the Middle East rather than displacing a few polar bears and drilling our own oil.

Is it any wonder that God has given us what we wanted? I heard a lot of preachers urging America to "vote its values." Well, it looks like we did. Our values have changed, and not for the better.

When George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States, his first official act was to lead a procession to a nearby church for a prayer session. This year, God's name was taken out of the Democratic National Platform, and was boo'ed when it was put back in. We have taken God out of our schools. We have made it politically incorrect to express our faith. Christian organizations are being forced to either comply with laws that go against their core values or else shut down
altogether. Revisionist history has removed our Christian heritage from our children's text books.

We have stopped disciplining our children, and fill them up with drugs instead. We focus on school lunches to "protect the children" while thousands of children are trafficked for sex right under our noses. We allow those who victimize underage children to get off with a slap on the wrist while the children themselves are returned to their abusers. We tag underage children as "sex offenders" for sending naked pictures to their agemates while we protect actual child-rape pornography as "free speech."

Is it any wonder that the election turned out the way it did? We voted our values, and our values suck. We got what we deserve.

So is there any hope for our country? I find it interesting that there has been a movement within the evangelical community to pray for revival for our country. What if the revival we're praying for comes as a result of persecution? The church is flourishing in China, where it can be deadly to confess one's faith. Perhaps a period of persecution is what it will take to bring lukewarm Americans back to God.

But no matter what happens, God is in control. And we have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. We must continue to pray for our country to return to God. We must pray for our brothers and sisters in other countries who are under persecution for their faith. And most importantly, we must pray that we ourselves will stand strong if we are called to be persecuted for our Christian faith.

I know my last few posts have been rather serious, and I will get back to the original intent of this blog: to give advice to single Christian women about life in general. But please take a moment to praise God for the fact that we still live in a country where we can posts blog posts like this one without being hauled away by the goolag. That day may come, so let's make the most of our freedom while we have it.

Can't Vote For A Mormon? Seriously?

I'd like to take a moment to encourage everyone to get out there and vote next Tuesday. I know a lot of Christians don't want to vote because they don't approve of Obama's policies and yet they don't want to vote for a Mormon.

I say, Grow Up! Seriously, people? You're going to just sit home and do nothing? But you aren't just "doing nothing." For every conservative Christian who stays home, Romney gets one less vote, and Obama gets ahead. So what if you don't share Romney's religious beliefs? We're electing a President, not a preacher! What are his values? They are in line with Evangelical Christian values.

And do you know why we have a Mormon for our candidate instead of a Christian? We had Christian candidates early in the primaries, candidates like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry. Why didn't any of them win? Because Christians like YOU didn't get out and vote for them! The same thing happened in 2008. We ended up with a RINO for a candidate, and we lost the election. If you sit home on election day because you "can't vote for a Mormon," then you are handing the election over to Obama. Do you really want four more years of him? If so, sit home on election day and pat yourself on the back because you didn't vote for a Mormon. If not, then get out there and vote!

Oh, and I've heard of some sort of movement that's going to write in Jesus as the presidential candidate. People, that is just wrong. It is immature at best, and it's disrespectful to God. Using His Name to make a political statement is taking His name in vain. So please don't join in this foolishness.

Now, I also know that not every Christian wants to vote for Romney anyway. Some feel that they should vote for Obama because he claims to be a Christian. I had a liberal clergyman tell me that no real Christian would vote for anyone besides Obama, and that voting for a non-Christian will open the door to a Muslim president down the road. I told him he was on crack and needed to look at the fruit of both candidates to see who was more Christian-like.

If you are a Christian, I ask you to please get out to the polls and vote conservatively! Oh, and if you stay home on Election Day, don't expect me to listen to you whine about the outcome!

Thoughts on Sandy

Today I am in prayer for the people affected by Hurricane Sandy. It really is a frightening thing. And such an unexpected thing! Who would've thought of a hurricane causing trouble in New York? I'm so glad I live in Ohio!

I had written most of this article, and then I saw the pictures on TV. It is horrible. It looks like a war zone. I've heard the death count is at 40, but I'm guessing that it will be more as the waters recede and they find more bodies.

I heard that the subways are completely submerged. I've been worried about the homeless people. A lot of them seek shelter in the subways. How many more bodies will they find down there?

And what about all the poor people in the ghettos? How could they get out? They most likely don't have insurance. What will they do if their homes are destroyed?

And animals, too. People's pets who had to be left behind. And looting. Will those who were spared be cruel enough to steal from those who were able to get to safety? I feel bad for everyone.

I have already seen sites collecting money to help Sandy victims. I encourage you to give if you can, but be sure to go through a reputable site. Better yet, give through a local organization or church group that you already support so you know the money will be put to good use.

I am beyond curious to find out if the little church at Ground Zero survived. I've recently read Jonathan Kahn's The Harbinger, and learned that this church was the first place President Washington went after his inauguration. He led a procession from the Federal Building to the church, and they had a church service to celebrate the official start of our nation.

When the World Trade Center was bombed, the church was protected by a sycamore tree, which blocked the shrapnel. It was seen as a sign that God was calling America back to its Christian roots. One day I will do a complete post on The Harbinger, but not today. I will wait until after the election.

Anyway, I am interested to see if it stood or fell.

But the thing I'm most curious about is how Sandy is going to affect the elections. If the polling places are destroyed, how will people vote? Will the election be postponed? Will they have alternative polling venues available? Will this make voter fraud more prevalent, or will it make it harder to commit?

Please take a few minutes before you go to bed tonight and say a prayer not only for the victims, but also for the rescue workers and relief workers. Please pray that everyone is safe, and that many will turn to God to get them through this crisis.

At Long Last, A New Post!

After a haitus of several months, I have decided to give my blog another shot. I was going to post a political entry, but I see that the last entry I did was political, lol. I will do something else today, and save my political rants for another day. :)

Since this is a blog for single Christian women, I'd like to like to bring up an important issue: having our daily quiet time with God. As single women, we have more time for Bible study and prayer than our married and/or childed counterparts. It is important to take advantage of this blessing of free time and spend some time with God each day.

Just start with 10 or 15 minutes, thank God for your blessings, ask Him to forgive your sins, and read a passage from the Bible. I really like the epistles (letters) in the New Testament, and I also like the Proverbs. You may buzz through several books in a few weeks, or you may meditate on the same passage or verse for days or even weeks. Let the Spirit guide you. He will let you know what you need to read for that day.

As you grow in your faith, and as the Spirit leads you, you will find that you are adding activities to your daily devotion time. I have the following basic Devotions routine:

1. Greeting prayer
2. Praise journal (I write a page full of the things I'm thankful for)
3. Prayer journal (requests for myself and others)
4. Prayer time (first my thanks, then my requests)
5. Scripture memorization (I'm still working on this part, lol)
6. The Main Event: reading scripture :)

I try to spend about an hour or so a day with God. Sometimes my mind wanders and it takes longer, and sometimes I have to shorten it because of my schedule, but the important thing for me is spending time with God first thing in the morning.

I want to encourage all of you to do the same thing. You can spend time with God any time of the day. You can just read the Bible, or find an inspiring devotional book to help you. You can do a formal Bible study with a study guide. Do whatever works best for you!

I hope this little post will inspire you to spend some quality time with God.

On My Soapbox

Today I exercised the right to vote. This is a right I do not take lightly. Men and women fought and even died to give me this right. I consider it a slap in their faces to stay home on voting day just because I didn't keep up on the issues or I just don't feel like going.

America is the greatest nation on the face of the planet. We have more freedoms here than any other nation offers. The libtards are trying to take those freedoms away from us, and it's our job as Christians to vote for godly individuals to lead our nation. Will they win? That's in God's hands. But if we sit home and whine, "Oh, my vote won't matter," then guess what? We just hand the government over to those who want to take away our freedoms.

 If you don't believe me, look at the current attack on the Catholic church by the Obama administration. He insisted that Catholic organizations (mainly hospitals and universities) be forced to provide birth control (including abortifacients) and sterilization procedures to their employees. These are two things the Catholic church consider sinful and against God's will.

The issue here is not whether Christians can use birth control or whether sterilization is wrong. It is about the state tromping on the beliefs of the church. The concept of "separation of church and state" (albeit a false concept not actually appearing in the Constitution) was to protect the church from the state, not vice-versa.

So, ladies, when you sit home on voting day, you are putting our country in danger. Maybe you think that one little vote won't matter. Well, if hundreds, thousands, even a couple of million of us put that one little vote together, we can influence the outcome of the election. We can protect our country (and more importantly, our religious freedoms) from those who would like to take our rights away.

By the way, Obama's response to the public outcry against the birth control requirement was to transfer the requirement from the religious organizations to the insurance companies. As many of the insurance companies are also owned by the church, this did little good. It only kicked the can down the road a bit more.

So ladies, let's get this guy out of office in November! Go vote, and vote for a conservative!

Preparing for Easter

OK, I started this blog almost two months ago, and I've made 7 posts. Yikes! Time to get back on track. I have covered the "get organized" theme in honor of the New Year, so now I would like to take a more serious turn and focus on Lent.

We are in the Lenten season now, a time leading up to the greatest day of the year, Easter! Christ died for our sins, and paid the price that we could never begin to pay ourselves. That is why we call the Friday before Easter, the Friday He died, "Good Friday." Indeed, the death of Jesus is the single most scandalous event in human history. The only perfect man to ever live, Who never committed a single sin, paying for every single sin ever committed. The Son of the Godhead being separated from His beloved Father for the first time in all eternity. The most unfair moment in history.

It amazes me that God would love us enough to give us His Son. And that Jesus loves us enough to do it for us. If someone wanted to torture my CAT to death for a bunch of people, I would not want to turn him over to them. Yet here is the God of the universe turning His Son over to die for us sinners. John says "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us," and it is so true!

But the story doesn't end there. In fact, if it did, we would have little hope for the future. Paul even said that if it's only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Jesus did not stay dead. Instead, He was raised from the dead, and lived and breathed and walked on Earth for 40 more days before being taken up to Heaven! Thank God! It is so amazing to think of this, and to ponder how it was possible. Yet for God, all things are possible.

Some may not take the resurrection of Christ too seriously. He was not the first person in the Bible to raise from the dead, and He wasn't the last. But His resurrection was different. In all the other resurrections, someone else brought the dead person back to life, be it a prophet or an apostle or Christ Himself. But Jesus raised HIMSELF from the dead! God Himself brought Jesus back to life. No human being was involved. It was a miracle within a miracle!

So what can we do to prepare for this season of Lent? A lot of churches do a Lenten fast, giving up something enjoyable for Lent. Loads of books and devotionals have been written just for this season. Some Christians like to read the story of the last week of Jesus' life from the four Gospels during this time. Others watch Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

As for me, I'm giving up my beloved coffee for Lent. It's really hard! But whenever I crave coffee, I just pray and thank God for His blessings, especially His Son. I also thank Him that I have plenty of food to eat, and pray for those who don't.

My church doesn't celebrate Lent per se, so it is a new experience for me. I celebrated Lent for the first time last year. I heard several radio preachers talking about it, so I decided to give it a go. I was glad I did! I felt closer to God, and felt like I was really focusing on the season. And let me tell you, that Easter morning cup of coffee was the best I've ever had!

I also like to spend the week of Easter ("Passion Week") reading the last week of Jesus' life. I was struck that He spent the last week of His life reasoning with the religious leaders and trying to get them to see the error of their ways. And how did they thank Him? They killed Him.

The other thing that struck me was this. While He was on the cross, in absolute agony, where was His focus? On His mama. He made sure that she was looked after by turning her care over to John. That has always touched me, and it is a testament that Jesus lived (and died) focused on others.

And that brings me to my final point. What can we do for others this Lenten season? I'm happy that our Ladies' Group at church is making up Easter baskets for our shut-ins. I have a couple of additional people I want to make up gifts for, too. Is there someone we need to visit? Is there an apology or an amend we need to make to someone? Is there something in our lives that is keeping us from God?

Now is the time to prepare our hearts for Easter. What will you do to get ready for the greatest day of the year?