Spiritual Warfare

Well...I must have really pissed off Satan this week. I'm not sure what I did, but he is so mad at me! I've been attacked before, but my goodness!...he's serious this time.

There have been times in the past when the enemy has come after me and landed a few punches, but I have bounced back rather easily. Unfortunately for me he caught me with my guard down and was able to hit me in such a way that it took me a while to recover. It's actually been a humbling experience because. I have learned a lot about my walk with Christ and taken note of some areas of weakness (and there are plenty!). I have gone to scripture more this week than I ever did in the past. I found so much comfort in the book of Mark. I really think this latest attack came about because my faith has grown and Satan is such a chicken that he just couldn't take it. :-)

This trial has also strengthened a few of my human relationships. I've become closer to a dear friend, and, more importantly, I've grown closer to my husband. God placed these people in my life for a reason and I don't think they would have taken the job had they known what they were getting into.

Just yesterday my husband brought a devotion to me by Charles Spurgeon. You should go to "The Daily Spurgeon" and read the post from December 8th which spoke so loudly to my heart. This blog has been such a blessing to me and I recommend it to everyone.

Christmas gift woes

How many of you out there have ever thought, "you know...this year I'm going to do something so special for my friends and family. I'm going to make them a homemade Christmas gift!" Well, those are the exact words that were heard flowing from my mouth just a little over a month ago. It was a gorgeous day out and I was in a great mood so I started thinking about Christmas and all the joy that comes with it. In my simple-minded state I came across a book of holiday crafts...small enough, nothing to fancy, most basically cute, and some that looked rather simple. And that was my downfall. I purchased said book with the grand idea that I was going to awe the loved ones in my life with my creativity and talent.

I poured over this book for a few days and finally decided on one item that I thought would really make people happy...something so cute that no one could resist its charm. I began to plot my strategy for completing this project: supplies that would be needed, time that would be spent, cost, the list of those who would be blessed to receive said item, etc. I went to the store and purchased all the materials and was so pleased that it was not going to cost much, but would bring so much joy.

Fast forward to the present, December 7th. I started work on this project yesterday (by my calculations plenty of time). After an hour of slaving over a mere 1/10 of ONE gift I felt completely lousy! What happened? Where did I go wrong? Why had I failed at what I thought was a simple task?

After thinking about this problem most of the last night and all of today I came to realize that my problem was I am not a sewer. Never have been. I have made a few pillows by hand (not recommended, by the way) and mended many a shirt, pair of pants, and stuffed animal. I'm a crafty person and I think that other people think of me in that way. This realization made my failure cut even deeper.

So, while I was planning on giving out some FABULOUS homemade presents this year that just isn't going to happen. Not unless I can come up with something simple, fast, fun and cute...and by that I mean NO SEWING!!! ;-)