When you take away presents, family, general christmas spirit, festivities around the town, caroling, church pagents, etc., the only thing left is the true reason, Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the time God has given me to focus on Him and truly celebrate His son. He's shown me how much joy can be experienced through truly and sincerely celebrating the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ and through joining with the saints and angels in giving thanks for his gift to us. A gift that was given to a completely undeserving earth, but through the Love of God he lavished goodness on His creation. Praise be to God.
Some fun things the Lord has allowed our team to experience this christmas season have been:
1. Noel Kutlama. This was a christmas conference we could invite our friends to and that people from around the country attended. It was sweet to see his followers from around this country, both national believers and other workers, celebrate his birth and learn more of why we celebrate this time of year.
2. SNOW!!! Noel Kutlama was on Uludag (pronounced Oo-loo-dah) which is a ski resort. It actually looks quite similar to a ski resort in Colorado or other mountainous states in the U.S. When we arrived there was absolutely no snow and it wasn't even cold enough to snow. It was a little disappointing but we resolved that during our free time we'd find something other to do than ski. Well on Saturday morning when we woke up there was about a foot of snow on the ground! It was like waking up to a fresh blanket of white snow on Christmas morning. It was so fun and an answer to prayer which was cool for new believers and seekers to experience; to see that God even cares about little things!
3. A feeling of family with each other. This christmas will be very different for everybody on our team. It is the first time we've been out of the country during this time of year and away from family. But God is good and has knitted our team together in unity as a small body of Christ, like a family. We are buying presents for each other, having a Christmas day "feast" and singing Christmas songs to celebrate the birth of our savior!
I think it is fair to say that this year God has truly shown all of us how to truly rejoice and celebrate Christmas. He has blessed all of us and given us each other as family for this time and place to celebrate the birth of His son, to celebrate Christ humbling himself and coming to Earth as a baby to save men from their Sins. Being here, sharing the Love and Light of Christ in a place full of darkness has made Christmas all that more important for all of us!
