Bible Challenges

Christmas Is Coming!

10:07 AM


Can you believe it’s only 10 days until Christmas!? After the holidays and taking care of everyone else, why not start the new year taking care of yourself? Get ready starting January 3rd for WitW’s monthly challenges aimed at becoming a stronger, happier, Christian. And don’t forget to check us out over at https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenintheword2 


birth

A Christmas Story

12:00 AM


A Christmas Story
Suzanne Desmarais

              
  “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
“Who being made in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself to be of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” (Phil 2:6-9)

                But, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
            He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and as for His generation, who considered? He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked- but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
            But it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:3-12)

                “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
               “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” (Acts 2:24)
           “He was delivered over to our death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
                “Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come, and He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things ...” (Ephesians 1:20-22)
               “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, Who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 8:1; 7:25)

                “O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”( Psalm 95:6)

                “Saying with a loud voice:
                         ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’
And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard them saying;
                        ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever!’” (Revelations 5:12-13)

Merry Christmas!
                 

Christ

Ideas to Help Children Keep Christ in Christmas

12:00 AM


Have you struggled in the past to keep Jesus the center of your children's Christmas? You're definitely not alone. I remember the years when my children's wish list kept growing longer and I wondered what would be the best ways to refocus their attentions away from receiving to giving at Christmas. Over the years all sorts of ideas came to me, and I thought I'd take a minute to list a few that seemed to do the trick. 

Delivered Gifts: Each year we tried to get the children involved in giving to our neighbors, or those less fortunate, by first making gifts we were sure they would enjoy and then delivering them door to door just before Christmas Eve. Here's one of our favorites:

Chocolate Pretzel Treats were always a welcomed treat!
We liked using the Peanut M&M's

The Recipe calls for







Preheat over to 200 degrees.
On a cookie sheet have your children lay out the pretzels in a single layer (no over lapping). Place a Hershey's Kiss in the center of each pretzels. Place cookie sheet in the oven until candy is soften about 2 minutes. Remove from the over and lightly push a M&M down in the center of each Hershey Kiss and allow to cool. Once cooled wrap in air-tight, decorative packages or tins. 

Here's a few more winning recipes your neighbors would be sure to love: 





__ A Free Movie Night: One year I went online and purchased Red Box FREE MOVIE coupon codes for $2 a piece. I wrote each code into individual Christmas cards and tied the cards to wrapped bags of microwave popcorn for a free family movie night. I can tell you this was also very much appreciated!

__ Visiting Shut-in: Each year we'd try to visit a nursing home. Many of our seniors are on special diets, so we tried to stay away from food items. Christmas time is a great time to buy pairs of silly socks or mittens if they are still living on their own. Even a simple carnation and a warm hug will brighten their day. 

__ Christmas Caroling: Grab some neighbors and friends and head out caroling through the neighborhood! This was usually the night we delivered the homemade treats as well. Our favorite memory was a night we began singing at a house were no one came to the door, but we could see some movement inside, so we sang our hearts out until the curtains parted and we all discovered we'd been singing to their barking dogs!! We laughed, but the dogs didn't think it was so funny and wanted us to leave their property!

__ Attend a Cantata or Christmas Eve service at a local church! Sometimes it's nice to go to a local church you don't usually attend, for Christ unites us all on Christmas. Today I see more and more live nativity events which can also be fun for little ones. 

__ Make a Birthday Cake for Jesus! There's all kinds of great ideas out there to include in your birthday cake. Ours always includes,
_Chocolate Cake to symbolize our sin. 
_Pudding, raspberry filling, or other tasty treats in the center of the two layers to represent how sin always seems to be enticing at first. 
_White Frosting which reflects that Christ Jesus' sacrifice made our sins as white as snow. 
_ Red strips for his blood that was shed for us.
_Green candle for our new life and that we're to be lights in this world.
_Finally a golden star that appeared in the sky that pointed the Wise men to Jesus. 


These are just a few of my favorite ideas! If your family does something unique and special that reflects Jesus during the Christmas season, I'd love for you to share them with us!

From all of us here at Women in the Word,  Merry Christmas! 

Christmas

Contest Winning Sugar ‘n Spice Nuts

2:00 PM

When I saw this recipe for these mixed nuts, I knew they were a must try. I’m glad I did! Absolutely delicious. They didn’t stick around long, and due to an insistent family I’m already on batch number two!

Contest Winning Sugar ‘n Spice Nuts



1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 egg white
1 cup salted cashews
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and cayenne; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk egg white; add nuts and cranberries. Sprinkle with sugar mixture and toss to coat. Spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 300° for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once. Cool. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 cups