Posted by Posted in Jesus

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all who read this!

As we celebrate the Christmas season it is easy to get caught up in the lights, the snow (or rain in my case), presents, finding the perfect present (aka lots of shopping), putting up the tree, Santa Claus and whatever other things make you busy and distracted.

Let us keep our focus on Jesus this season. In a quiet moment by yourself read and dwell on the Christmas story. Below I have verses for you to read and cry at, enjoy, laugh, sing for joy at and smile in your heart.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary has been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall name him Jesus, for he shall save his people from thier sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son
And they shall call his name Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:18-23

“And Mary said:
My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For behold,from now on all generations will call me blessed;
For he who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is his name.
His mercy is for all who fear him
From generation to generation
He has shown strength with his arm
And scattered the proud in the thoughts of thier hearts.”

Luke 1:46-51

“Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”
John 1:29b

“For to us a child is born and a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting, Father and Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6

Have a Merry, Merry Christmas! Celebrating Christ’s birth!
Priscilla Joy

Posted by Posted in Family, God, holidays, Jesus

Movie Review: The Nativity Story

It’s Chrstmas time! I sit and listen to Celtic Christmas CD as I write this post. There are some Christmas movies we like to watch as a family. Last night, we watched “The Nativity Story”. Here is my movie review on it!

Rating: PG for some violent content

Age: 12 and up could watch the whole movie. My little brother (7) watched it, he just covered his eyes in some parts.

Things to watch for: The first scene in Herod killing the babies, it doesn’t actually show a baby being killed but it gets pretty close. There are also two births (Mary and Elizabeth). Mary’s birth scene is pretty mild but the one with Elizabeth is a little more vivid (again, nothing too bad). The last thing to watch for is it does show John (the Baptist) getting circumcised but it is not too vivid.

I really liked the movie. It is not biblically correct on every point but I think it does capture the nativity story very well. Joseph might be my favorite character. He was really portrayed as a noble, strong man who thought of others before himself. When he, and Mary are traveling to Bethlehem he takes good care of her, protecting her and keeping her safe.

The scene where Mary has Jesus is very sweet and special… It might make you cry. 🙂

Mary’s character was overall played well. The one thing I wished is that she would have been more joyful in some parts. But I think the scene when she tells her parents and Joseph she is pregnant with Jesus she shows lots of character and stands strong in her faith even though it might mean her death.

I also liked how they showed how the townspeople shunned Mary and Joseph after finding out about the baby. I don’t usually think of that part.

The wisemen were good. They added just a touch of humor to the movie but not enough to take away from the beauty and seriousness of the story.

In all I think it was a great movie and it really brings the story to life. Perfect for Christmastime!

Merry Christmas!
Priscilla Joy

Posted by Posted in adventures, Family, Fun Stuff, holidays, journal entries, me, memorys, Nature and the Outdoors

Journal Entries- My Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 16 years old. I sometimes can’t believe I am that old but I like the sound of both 15 and 16 so I am still happy. 🙂

I had a really fun time yesterday so I will reveal what I did in this journal entry blog post.

When I woke up I had my devotions like usual. I had been reading in Isaiah but I took a break from that and read Phillipians because that is one of my favorite books of the Bible and you always do your favorite things on your birthday, right?

We had breakfast together (my dad and Jace took off work) and looked at my baby book. I always love looking at that. It is fun to see our family when I was born, my little brother Jace (almost two at the time of my birth) is SO cute! I opened gifts and then we all got ready and dressed for the day.

We headed out on the road to Stone Mountain about 9:30 a.m. We arrived there at about 10:45 a.m. I like to go hiking on my birthday because it is something I love to do but we don’t get to do a lot. We had never been to Stone Mountin before so we were all looking forward to it.

I decided we should do the Stone Mountain Loop Trail. It was 4.5 miles but we probably hiked about 5 miles in all because you had to hike .3 miles to get to the trailhead.

Stone Mountain Summit

Stone Mountain Summit

It was very pretty. Not too long before we started there was this HUGE stone slab that we stopped at and just hung out and explored and ate lunch at. It was cool. We hiked up some more (up and up and up) until we reached the Stone Mountain Summit. It was 2,305 altitude! It was sooo high up!

The view from Stone Mountain summit

The view from Stone Mountain summit

We saw lots of Hawks (maybe 100?) circling in the air right about our height. It was cool that we were the same height as the birds. Also the mountains around us were about equal with us. We were high up. After experiencing that awe inspiring work of God we continued.

This next leg of the journey was through the forest so it got cool and damp in there. We went down lots of steps and we were all very glad that we were not going up the steps! It was about 1.5 miles between each attraction. We stopped at a “comfort station” (a wet bench) and had granola bars and apples. Then we got to the Hutchinson Homestead. It was pretty cool. There was an old barn, cabin, corn crib, outhouse, garden, smokehouse and more. You know me… I love the pioneer/frontier times!

Hutchinson Homestead

Hutchinson Homestead

After that the trail went through a field and then into the forest again. There were a lot of gurgling brooks on the side of the trail and we soon came to the source! The Stone Mountain Waterfall! It was a huge slab of stone with sheets of water just careening down it! William, Celia and I went to the bottom of it and watched it for a bit. The trail then went up the waterfall so there were lots of stairs. Lots and lots and lots.

Stone Mountain waterfall

Stone Mountain waterfall

There wasn’t too much more. After the waterfall there was only less than half a mile to go. We went back to the car and headed back to Statesville where we stopped for dinner at Crackerbarrel. It was a really good time as a family. Very precious.

We went to a friends house for dessert. We played Risk and had ice cream sundaes and brownies. Then we came home and since we were all very tired went to bed soon after.

I stayed up and looked at my baby book one last time and then I went to bed. I had a great day! Thanks to all who made it special! I look forward to see what God will do in me this next year!

-Priscilla Joy

Posted by Posted in Bible, faith, holidays, Jesus

3 Things To Help You Celebrate CHRISTmas

Remember to focus on Christ this busy holiday season.

Remember to focus on Christ this busy holiday season.

It’s not about the lights or the presents or the snow….blah blah blah. We say that but what are some real, practical ways to celebrate Christ during the Christmas season? It is easy to get distracted with Christmas parties, gift giving and holiday busyness. Below I have three ways for you to celebrate CHRISTmas.

1. Bible reading leading up to Christmas
So instead of just reading the Christmas story start reading things leading up to it in the month before Christmas to give you a big picture of what God was doing. This year I am reading the book of Isaiah and then I will read the Matthew, Luke and John version of the Christmas story. I picked Isaiah because that prophet foretold a lot about Jesus’s birth. Below are some other ideas.

-Isaiah, then the Matthew, Luke and John version of Christmas story.
-Genesis, then Christmas story (from the beginning of time look for promises like the “He will bruise the serpents head” passage and others.)
-Revelation, then Christmas story (look at the mighty lamb slain for us)
-A gospel read the whole way through then double back and read the Christmas story again. (See how Jesus came with the purpose to die)
-1-2 Kings then Christmas story. (Look at the different kings and then look at King Jesus born in a manger)
-Psalms (selected) then Christmas story (Find psalms that point to His birth and read in a poetic style)

With any plan you do try to look for the truth about Jesus coming as well as the promises of His coming.

2. Give your time (and money)
This time of year there are so many opportunities to serve and give so take them! Here are a few ideas:

-serve at a Soup kitchen or homeless shelter serving a Christmas dinner.
– volunteer at the Operation Christmas Child processing center
-order something from the Samaritans Purse, or Food for the Hungry gift catalog
-buy gifts for needy kids/families (I have heard good things about hopematch.com or a local project works well)

Just remember to focus on giving not getting and look to Jesus’s example-He gave His life!

3. Enjoy some good ol’ Christmas carols
Christmas carols are awesome. They proclaim the truth of Jesus’s birth and the gospel. So dwell on that truth. Below are some ideas:

-Go Christmas caroling with friends
-Learn Christmas carols on an instrument if you play one
-Listen to Christmas CDs. (Chris Tomlin and Andrew Peterson’s are some of my favorites-very worshipful)
-Go to a Christmas concert and enjoy the music (We went to a Celtic Christmas concert this year- what a treat!)

I hope you found some good ways to keep your eyes focused on Jesus during the holiday season!

Merry Christmas!
Priscilla

Posted by Posted in character, Family, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things

On Teenagers and One in Particular

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Me and my beautiful thirteen year old sister, Celia.

Last Saturday was my sisters birthday. She turned 13. Wow! My lil’ sister just turned thirteen! This post will be half about how great God made my sister and half about teenagers.

First off, I made a C-E-L-I-A acrostic for Celia.

C- Creative: You are such a talented young lady and even though you don’t think that you are very artsy or musical I do think you have a creative side to you.
E- Eclectic: You define this word, Celia. I don’t think of this word in any way but with you in mind. I love your stars, stripes and polkadots and who but you would put red and pink together. Although it makes choosing a color for our room difficult I love this crazy quality of you.
L- Loving: On the toughest days you are there with a kind word of encouragement or a thoughtful note. You give great gifts and the people you love know that you love them, which is great knowledge.
I- Interesting: If a stranger started talking to you, they would come away amazed. You are such a cool person. With your cupcake business, love for kids and special needs kids and other things you make a very interesting young lady.
A- Always smiling: Or in other words very cheerful. Your disposition is always sunny and you brighten peoples days.

Second, I want to say 13 quick things I love about Celia.

1. your laugh
2. your hugs
3. your gifts
4. your initiative
5. your verse 4 the day
6. your loyalty
7. your cuteness
8. your ease around people
9. your love for others
10. your thoughtfulness
11. your joy
12. your faith
13. your love for Jesus

So there you have it. And a big hearty HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER CELIA!!!

Now on a different note I want to tell a quick story and move on to the topic of teenagers.

When someone was talking to our family and found out it was Celia’s 13th birthday the next day, this was her remark. “A teenager! Now I can’t talk to you until you are 20!” She quickly recovered with a quick…”Not ALL teenagers are bad, but…”

This story saddens me. She could have been joking but the main truth remains. Our culture doesn’t look too fondly on teenagers. Why?

First, let us start with the common perception of teenagers. (Fun fact: the word teenager was originated rather recently… in the past 65-75 years)

When people think of teenagers what do they think of? Some popular answers may include: lazy, rebellious, sleeps in, adolescence, punk, drugs and many others. Why does our culture think this?

Lets look at some history…. Think of some of the great people in the Bible and world history. Lots of them were young. Here are some examples: Daniel, David, Esther, Mary, Josiah, (moving into history) Joan of Arc, George Washington, Clara Barton and Alexander the Great.

Your average young person say on the frontier could manage a household, protect thier family, go on long hunting trips and more in thier early teen years. They were mature and responsible. Hard working and not wimpy.

I am not saying that all teenagers were perfect then and horrible now. What I am hinting at is that the culture back then (frontier as my example) expected more of their teens. Nowadays as we learned from the above conversation the teen years are expected to be bad.

Lets take a final look at how the Bible talks about teens (young people).

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

Teenagers are supposed to set an example!

What about this one?

“The glory of young men is thier strength.”
Proverbs 20:29

The teenage years are special years to serve the Lord. You are young and strong and God wants you to use your teen years for something special!

the teen,
Priscilla

P.S. A lot of the ideas about teenagers I got was from the book “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. If you are intersted feel free to read that book to learn more. Or go on their blog: therebelution.com