Poems and Words of Faith

I was looking at Facebook this morning and saw this notice that said Read 1 Samuel 17 and note anything the Lord sys to you. So I thought sounds a good idea. This was the result and I hope it helps someone.

1 Samuel 17 is about the famous story of David and Goliath.

Goliath came to the Israelites every morning and every night asking them to choose someone to come and fight Him but the Israelites were full of fear.

Why? Goliath was like a giant. He was dressed in heavy armour with a spear and javelin. He was terrifying. No wonder the Israelites were terrified.

We often have to face giants in our lives, don’t we? They stand tall, seem overpowering, too strong for us to fight. Do we run away hoping the situation will improve? Do we get anxious, fearful, panicky not knowing how to carry on sometimes? How do we face that illness, that fear, that person, times of doubt, loneliness, debt etc
The devil may throw accusations at you, how will you do that? How will you cope? Its too big for you? You’ll never get better, you’ll never be good enough. The giants we face can be frightening, just like Goliath was to the Israelites. What do we do in these times?

For 40 days Goliath came morning and evening to torment them, hoping to break them down. Does this sound familiar? It reminded me of Jesus when He was first baptised was in the desert for 40 days too being tempted by the devil to give in to it.

David went to his brothers to check they were ok and heard about Goliath. There was great fear. David said about how he had fought the bear , the lion and how he struck them , seized them and killed them. God had been with David strengthening him and preparing him for this time and His future as King. David knew that God would rescue him from the bear and the lion. He knew that God was with Him, he trusted God.

Do we have such faith? Can we say , God has delivered me before, He has been with me before and will do it again? He has rescued us in the past do we trust Him enough to do it again? Are we spending enough time with God? Preparing ourselves? Reading His word? Being quiet and still and listening for His still small voice. If we are then we like David can be prepared for when troubles come. Its so important to spend that quiet time with God. In the quiet He speaks to us. He longs us to come and be with Him. If we take that time He will come, you will hear.

So it was agreed that David would fight Goliath. Saul tried to dress him in His tunic and armour but it was too big and heavy for David

Do we try other things first before coming to God for help? Do we try in our own strength to sort things out and go to God last if all else fails? Do we go to others instead of God – there is nothing wrong in going to our brothers and sisters in Christ and asking for prayer and help in difficult situations , I have done many times thats what we are there for to support each other but do we rely on them more than our Heavenly Father?

David went to Goliath with nothing but the stones and sling but the Lord was with him. David had such a strong faith that he knew the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. He had seen it happen in the past and he knew His God He trusted God.
‘I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty. This day the Lord will deliver you into our hands’

The rest of the story we know , David killed Goliath , the philistines were defeated.

If we fight our battles alone we may not get far, we start to sink. I was reminded of a verse
‘For the battle is not yours, but God’s’. It is Gods, we need to trust Him knowing that He will be with us in the battle, in the storm and you will come out the other side stronger in God and in your faith.
Also we must put on the armour of God everyday. Know that God is with you He will fight for you Have faith and trust in Him.
Read Psalm 46 its wonderful and BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD

I wrote this over a year ago but came across it today again so thought i would share on WordPress.

Today Saturday 28.1.17

I awoke to think about a verse that I had heard about the night before and just found this coming into my head so thought i would share

Psalm 37 v 4

Delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Do you delight yourself in the Lord? What does this mean? Are you so grateful to God for saving you? Do you love him with all your heart, mind, body and soul? Do you wake in the morning with a smile on your face for it’s another day to be with the Lord?

Think about what Jesus did for you and me, what He did to save us? He knew we couldn’t rescue ourselves, we were all going to spend eternity without him as we were all born into sin. But God in His great love and mercy came to the world He had created. He decided to enter space, time and matter to save us. He hung on that cross for you taking your sin upon himself that you and I can be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to His glorious kingdom of light.

You meant everything to Him that’s why He became a living sacrifice for us.

How can we have a relationship with Him now though as this happened over 2000 years ago

As we know Jesus rose from the dead that first Easter morning. He conquered death once and for all. When you and I eventually die we will pass from here to Gods Kingdom forever, if we are His

But that’s not where it begins. We have eternal life with Christ not just in the future but here and now. It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me. When we accept and believe that Jesus died and rose again, that our sins are forgiven through His death and resurrection His spirit comes and lives in us.  As it says in Romans 8 v9-11 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[a] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[b] his Spirit who lives in you.

1 Corinthans 3 v16 says Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you.

Christ is in us by His Holy Spirit, leading us, guiding us being a constant presence in our lives. He longs to have a relationship with you . He desires for us to spend time with Him and get to know Him , to hear from him, learn from Him and be guided by Him

Isnt this amazing , if you really sit quietly down and think about this. Who are we that God would do this, that He would lay down His life and be raised again for us to be brought back into a right relationship with Him.

Do you feel like I did for years. Not worthy, not good enough, these are lies  , this is satan feeding us lies. Its not about if we are worthy or good enough its about God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal Life. We are Gods children, we are redeemed, restored, forgiven, justified, a saint and so on

So with all that in mind lets go back to our verse

Do you spend time with your heavenly Father? Do you take time out of your day just to sit with Him, be with Him? To grow your relationship. Do you find yourself longing to have that quiet time and just be with Him. No requests just be in His presence.  Is He your first and last thought of the day?

Do you delight yourself in the Lord?

So if we continue to the second part of this verse it says, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Now that doesn’t mean we can go and ask for a Lamborghini and expect it to be on our doorstep in the morning, however nice that would be, well for some LOL or maybe you would prefer a lovely house by the sea with the sand and ocean outside your window. MMM nice thought but that’s not quite what God is saying here. I am sure you would agree too. Now there is nothing wrong with asking for things and we can ask God to help us especially if it’s a need, we can ask Him to heal, provide etc but what are your real desires? The world desires money, status, temporal things but as Christians our desires change to eternal things.

Do you want to serve Him in a certain area, do you want to grow closer to Him, or do you want to help those in need? Are you looking to further Gods kingdom? Lead worship? Try your hand at some teaching. I think what God is saying here is that when we delight ourselves in Him, we will have different desires from what we used to have. Our desires will change. We used to think worldly but we now think heavenly. Our desires  become more in line with His. We will want to serve Him and be with him more, be His hand and feet and mouth piece in this world. To shine Christs light in this dark world.  It’s like when you are in love, you long to be with that person, please that person, etc.

Just using myself as an illustration here. I was a Christian for a while and not really a very good one, I looked ok on the outside but inside not a lot was going on. I wasn’t growing, I wasn’t spending that time with him. Then I started to think about this seriously, I didn’t want to be like this anymore, I knew there was more to life as a Christian and I wanted that.  It’s like God started to put on my heart one thing after another. Not all at once of course over a period of time, I found myself not wanting to do certain things that I used to do, I started to think more differently as I spent time with God, I found this so amazing that the God of the universe, who is outside time would want to spend time with me and change me.  I have learnt that if God isn’t in something or with you or you are not following His ways then it isn’t going to work and it isn’t worth it. Believe me. Don’t go the long way round and spend 40 years going round the same mountain.

I began to desire to find Him more, know Him more and He miraculously healed me late last year and He brought forgiveness to me for something I had long forgotten, He brought healing, restoration that he had promised he would do. He said to me a few times last year, I will restore the years the locusts have taken and He is doing that bit by bit. I desire to serve Him, not out of duty but out of love, I love the Lord, I want to spend time with him, learn from him, be with him and I don’t want that job or anything if it isn’t from God.  I want to be all that He wants me to be, is that your hope too? My greatest desire is to serve God. I have recently been through another very dark time due to stress and anxiety but God has been amazing and He gave me faithful friends who prayed and walked with me through this time. Just before this happened I prayed one night that God would take all the bad stuff i had and all my worries and i layed them at the foot of the cross. Immediatley i had a picture of Jesus picking them all up, doing something with them and then handing me what looked like a heart, shiny and new. So maybe this time has been precisely that to help me see things differently , trust Him to make all things new? Who knows we are all a work in progress.

So final thoughts on this. We have a God who loves us more than we can ever imagine, who Himself desires that we seek Him, worship Him and serve Him but this has to be done out of our relationship with Him. He has saved us from eternity without Him, he has forgiven us and we do these things out of our love for Him. I don’t know about you but let’s delight ourselves in our Lord and he will give us the desires of our hearts.

I was struck this morning by Isaiah 41 v 13 For I the Lord your God, hold your right hand. And i say to you ‘Don’t be afraid , I am here to help you.’  It just struck me  that God holds my hand !!!

Whatever we are going through He will take care of us, He will take hold of our right hand and will help us, He will guide us, lead us, heal us, walk with us through trials and temptations , whatever we are going through. I know I often let God down in this area, I read His promises in His Word but do I truly believe them sometimes? I wonder will He…… this time?

He wont let us down, When He says He will do something He will and as we trust Him we see the answers come, maybe not in our timing but they come. We can totally trust God. As we step out in faith and trust Him that’s when we see His hand at work.

As i said its not always easy , i have been through many trials and i am coming out of one now  but God has always taken me by my hand and seen me through each one. For a while i wondered where He was but  I have been  learning and realizing again i need to trust God. He is taking me on a journey and  I need to let go and let God. I need to stop trying to control things which are out of my control.  God is in control so give Him all your worries, fears and concerns. Let Him take hold of your right hand. As it says in 1 Peter 5v7 Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

I was going over my Bible devotion from yesterday as a verse struck me and stayed with me and i feel God has led me to share this with you. It is in John 9 verse 3. It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Last last bit , ‘so that the works of God might be displayed in him’  Jesus said this. I thought about this verse on and off during the day and this is what God showed me.

Do we sometimes go through things , trials, temptations etc so that the works of God might be displayed in us? I believe the answer is Yes.

If things were perfect all the time would you come to God and spend time with HIm? Would you seek Him , to read His word, Pray, spend time with Him.

Things happen for a reason. Yes once we become Christians God could give us all we want but what sort of God is that. It would ruin us rather than grow us. (We are meant to grow in Christ to become more like Him. )We would have no need to go to Him. These trials and tribulations He allows, (have you ever read the book of Job) satan may come and stir things up and make us question God , wonder where He is sometimes, why that healing doesn’t come, why that person is ill etc  but God allows those times to grow us. He is God , He knows what He is doing. As we seek Him, spend time with Him He will show us the way. He will gently guide us, help us, show us He is there for us.

I have had a trying time again lately, one thing after another has mounted up. Putting great pressure on me so much so that i have stepped down from many things for a season. I have struggled with God , with myself, with my spirit and soul. BUT during this time I have  seeked God more by going to a day retreat and spending much much more time with Him . Yes i have asked Him why? How? What do i do? Help?  I have wondered where He is , why is He allowing all this.

He is a loving God and he has gently shown me things. For a while i could only see the problems and although God was speaking and showing me things i couldnt see them or what He was showing me.  Does this happen to you , do you spend more time on the problems , thats how they grow. They become bigger as you spend more time on them. However in His perfect timing He has spoken to me through a Sunday service , through a couple of dear friends prayers and a ‘word’ given from God for me and last night i met with a friend and she prayed for me and gave me scripture etc but the most amazing thing was as i left her house, i was ‘drawn’ to turn right instead of left to go home. What i am i doing i thought. I drove up to Epsom Downs. This is a place i love , were God has often spoken to me , its our place and do you know what . As i drove there i felt God wanted to show me something and to my amazement  there was this most amazing Sunset, the most beautiful sunset you could ever have imagined. I sat there with God and was awestruck by His creation. I felt in my heart as i drove home and settled into bed that God had shown me this to let me know that He is there, He is God, He created that beautiful sunset for me to see last night. My heart warmed and i knew in my heart that God has it all under control ,  He knows what He is doing we just need to trust Him.

So yes trials and temptations come our way but PLEASE Look to God not to the problems He will show you the way. Seek the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding , in all your ways acknowledge Him and HE WILL keep your paths straight. I sought the Lord and He answered me He freed me from all my fears.

One Bible verse God continued to show me last week was BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. So i bought a wooden plaque thing with this verse written on it and its on the wall in my room so i see it when i go to sleep and when i awake.

God is awesome and He loves you more than you can ever ever imagine, and HE IS there for you so dont give up. Stop looking at the problems and fix your gaze on Christ. He wont let you down.

God bless

Have you ever sat down to spend time with the Lord and felt that He wanted to reveal something to you? Say something to you?

This morning as I spent my quiet time with God I started to pray ‘Heavenly Father’ as I said those words something stirred in me. It was like God was giving me a fresh revelation of our relationship. I sat and thought about the word Father, He is my Father, He is your Father. He is Abba. We have such a close relationship with Him that we can call him Abba, the closest interpretation to this is Daddy. Yes the tears welled up at the thought of that because it filled me with joy.  I felt joy rise up as I realised again the impact of those words. HE IS MY FATHER, my Heavenly Father.  I suddenly felt very safe, secure, loved and not alone and in the very presence of God.

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Why am I telling you this? Well, I could have done with this revelation during last week and maybe God had been trying to reveal this to me but I wasn’t listening. Do you have that problem too. Do you find that the troubles of this life, the lies of the evil one, our lack of trust blocks out all that our Heavenly Father has for us or wants to say to us?

As I started to write this blog I ‘heard’  ‘I am with you always’.

‘I am with you always’ seemed so appropriate to mention too as…….

Firstly, as I mentioned above we can spend so much time and energy on focusing on the lies that come into our heads, the devil knows where to hit us and only last week he hit me hard again exactly where he knew I would fail , or thought I would, as this time I still felt the fear but did it anyway. ( only just though i hate to admit it but i nearly didnt)  I believed God wanted me to do something and as I did it He calmed me and enabled me to do it.  We become anxious don’t we? , don’t believe we can do something that we know God has asked us to do or called us to do, ‘ I cant do that!’ ‘Im not good enough’ come some of the traps we fall into. We can cause ourselves endless heartache and tears.   Why do we do this to ourselves? We need to stop! We need to turn to our Heavenly Father and trust Him. Give it all to Him and leave it with Him. Dont let the devil win, again!!

Wherever we go , whatever we do, Whatever happens in our lives He is with us. When trials and temptations come our way , turn to Him, turn to your Father and keep your eyes fixed on Him. He wont leave you or forsake you, He is your Father. If things are happening in your life and you don’t understand why,  ask Him. If you are feeling far away from Him at the moment, talk to Him because He is your Father, if you are scared, anxious don’t listen to the lies of the evil one, know that your Heavenly Father is there, turn to Him, read His word, claim His word  but let Him know, whatever it is, that you trust Him because He cares for you.

Secondly, We have just had Easter and remembered that our dear Lord Jesus died for us, then yesterday we celebrated that our Lord Jesus has risen. Death and sin has been defeated. Amen. Forty days from the resurrection Jesus ascended into Heaven He said,  He is with us always, even unto the end of the age.

We are never alone. Our Father is with us wherever we go. He will not leave us or forsake us.

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS. AMEN to that

Whats in a name? What does your name mean? Is it relevant to who you are ?  My name actually means Strong/Valiant.  Some of you that know me may laugh at that , don’t worry I do too. It’s not exactly who i am at all, is it. However God  has many names but they are all relevant to Him. His name is , to name a few, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Heavenly Father, Wonderful Counsellor,  Elohim, Adonai and Abba. Which name is your favourite for God?  Which one helps you to see Him as He really is? Trouble is , He is all of them and much much more. Each of Gods names are a different aspect of who He is, of His Character.  He is Almighty, Everlasting, who was and is and will always be. He is our rock , our refuge and our strength. He is our ever present help in times of trouble. He is compassionate , Holy, Merciful, Forgiving, Righteous, Judge, Healer, Restorer, Redeemer and Friend. He is Love.

He loves you so much that he couldn’t bear the mess you and I were in as human beings. He knew we couldn’t save ourselves. He knew we couldn’t keep the laws, we kept messing up and doing what was wrong in Gods sight. He knew we needed a Savior. So rather than us keep on failing to keep His laws and sacrificing a lamb without blemish or defect  for the forgiveness of sins. God sent His son Jesus Christ into the world to be a sacrifice for our sins, to be the lamb of God to shed His blood for our sins.For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That everlasting life starts here and now and will go on for Eternity. Millions including myself will testify to the love of Christ, His transforming, restoring, redeeming , healing love.

So whats in a name? Everything. He is my Lord and King but my favourite name is Savior. As that is who He is to me, My Savior.

Reading my Bible Devotional this morning it was  Acts 14 v 8-20

The man had been lame since birth. He had never ever walked. He was listening to all Paul was saying. What was different about this man from some people that were there listening? He had faith.

Paul saw that and said Stand upright on your feet. Now this man who had never walked immediately obeyed Paul and got up and began to walk. How amazing is this. He obeyed and God healed him. What would have happened if he hadn’t had that faith to believe. What would of happened if he had faith but for some reason didn’t follow it through? He would never have had the joy of healing, of walking on Gods earth and knowing the Lord. His life was changed forever because he beleived, obeyed and trusted God.

How many of us have been wanting to do something new, or see that miracle youve been waiting for or go places that you beleive God is calling you to or do things that you beleive God has put on your heart but you just dont follow it through? You beleive God is asking you to do this or that but you dont obey, you dont follow it through. Think of what you will miss.  Dont let the opportunity pass. Grab it and see where God leads you.

How many of you dont know the Lord and want to , you know or feel that God is there , you have heard of Him, people you know follow Him, you might even have heard Him calling and knocking at your hearts door  but you just cant quite follow it through. After all what if i am wrong? Dont let another moment go by without finding out. Dont waste another precious moment of this life wondering. God loves you.

Go for it.

Reading my bible notes today it was about Moses.You remember the story of how Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh to ask him to let Gods people go. Today was about the darkness in the Land.for 3 days but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Praying afterwards and thinking upon this I had a picture come to my mind. A person was walking down a path that stretched out in front of them. The light was on them making each step visible  but all around them was darkness. In that darkness ‘things’ were trying to grab that person , reaching out trying to touch them.

My first reaction was could this be a picture of us as Christians. We are walking in the light, Christs light and the dark is all around us always. The devil is always trying to grab at us and trip us up. Cause us to look to him instead of God, to look at the dark and not the light. To cause us to sin and rebel against our Heavenly Father but then I had another thought.

We as Christians are in Gods light, we are all walking down the path of life were God is with us , guiding us and calling us to be Christ’s light to those around us. Maybe that picture was of people in our lives that are in the dark. That don’t know God , that are trying to find him. Could be people at work, friends, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters? Anyone? They need to find God and may be we are the only Christians they will meet, will Christ’s love and light shine through us? Will we share the Gospel with those we meet and love?

I came home from work tonight and I just love the way God confirms things sometimes. I picked up another book that I read on daily notes in the evening and yes you’ve guessed it , it was about Dark and Light. (Dr David Jeremiah – Hope for Today devotionals) Jesus when He went to heaven passed His light to His followers. You are (now) the light of the world….. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt 5v14-16) Every Christ like word and deed from you dispels an equal amount of darkness. Let Christ shine through you today.

So let’s be obedient to God and let His light shine in this dark world through our words and actions. Let’s share Gods light and love where ever we go.

These days we are so busy with our lives, rushing here and there, jobs to be done, places to go. Do we ever take the time to sit and be with God?  I’m not talking about a quick prayer in the morning , a quick look at our daily bread notes before work or a prayer before you go to sleep I mean taking time out of your day, to give it to God and Be Still. Just to be with Him.

Being still before God and spending time with Him is something we should do every day for many reasons. One reason is  when the storms of life come our way it helps us to get a better perspective of the situation and see it from Gods view to also know that God has the situation under His control that we have nothing to fear. It also gives us peace and joy in the storms. The storms may rage around us but we are free from the effects of them because we know that our Heavenly Father is with us.

Being still before God and spending time with Him shows God that we care. We care that He is there, we care that He wants to spend time with us, we care because God has given us Himself and he wants an intimate relationship with us and spending time with Him will help the relationship grow in so many exciting ways..

Being still before God and spending time with Him also means that we surrender to Him. We let go and give it to God. We rest in Him knowing that He will provide the help, strength, peace and all that we need.

Can you imagine it,  how amazing this is that Creator God, Almighty God, Alpha and Omega  wants to spend time with us?

Why? Why would He? Because He loves us. He went to great lengths to restore us and bring us back into a relationship with Him through His son our Lord Jesus Christ. If we believe in Him, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and our relationship with our Heavenly Father is restored. We are His children and He lovingly awaits us to come and spend time with Him. Amazing.

Doesn’t this get you excited?  He is waiting to meet with us, if we just take the time to come before Him and Be Still.  I get really excited about meeting with Him. To see where he is leading me or what He wants to reveal about something. Sometimes its just about being in His Presence.

Take the time to Be Still and know that He is God. You don’t need to say anything just be still. You will then just know that you are in the presence of God. It takes time, don’t rush. He may speak to you, He may not but you will know you have met with Him.  He may give you a verse or bible passage. He may say something to you. You may feel a little uneasy at first and not sure if it’s you or God but you will soon know if it’s from God. Eg He won’t say something to you that is contradictory to his word.

God does speak to us today, countless people will testify to this. He has spoken to me by giving me scripture. He may ask me something, on 3 seperate occasions He asked me the same question. He has spoken words to me that I needed at that time. He has shown me amazing things through these times. Scripture becomes clearer, it will come alive at that particular time even though you may of read it so many times before. I have  written things down things that He has shown me He has done or will do.  It’s just amazing.

Lets spend the rest of our lives getting closer to Him, Knowing him more, loving him more, hearing him more and fulfilling His plan for us. To share the gospel with others, to pray for others, to be Christs hands, feet and mouth piece on this earth. To see people come to Christ, to heal the sick and do all that He has commissioned us to do.

To do this we need to grow more and more like His son and we can only do that when we spend time with Him, read His Word, trust Him and grow in Him

God bless

Well Christmas is nearly upon us. Decorations have been done for ages, presents almost done. Food shopping still to get?  So much hustle and bustle around the place as people are beginning to panic now as they worry if they have got everything.

It is a magical time of year though. Christmas carols being sung, Christmas plays and pantos. Children getting so excited , in fact the adults do too, I know I do. However, we need to take time to stop and remember the ‘reason for the season’, as they say.

Have you remembered? Have you remembered what Christmas is all about?  What we are really celebrating?

Lets not forget the greatest gift of all.

God who made everything, the universe,  all that is in it,  you and me, He loves us all so  much more than you can ever imagine.

In fact He loves us so much He came into the world as a baby and ultimately to save us and this is what we celebrate at Christmas.

You see there was a time when we walked the earth in peace with God. God gave us authority over the earth to look after it  and have communion with God there was peace and all was well but we were tempted by satan and as Adam and Eve obeyed satan they gave their authority to him. So he became the ‘god of this world’ Sin then entered the world. There is now death, sickness, wars, famines, earthquakes, hatred, etc. you name it. But by Jesus coming into the world, dying for our sins and being raised to life and seated at the right hand of the Father, He has given us (all those that  believe in Him, that are born again into Gods kingdom) authority and power in Jesus name.  So He has saved us from sin, death and the kingdom of darkness. That’s worth celebrating.

So, thankfully God didn’t leave us in this mess we were in , unable to help ourselves  Jesus came as the greatest gift ever , the gift of Himself. He showed us how to live by example. How to have eternal life with Him instead of without. That’s what we celebrate this Christmas . Our Saviour was born.

Do you know that there were over 300 prophesies about Jesus , including his place of birth, life and method of His death, even the amount of money he would be betrayed for.

I don’t know about you but He is everything to me. He has shown me and countless others His love, Grace and Mercy. He has turned my world around , He has forgiven me , restored me , always been there for me, and  I have a relationship with Him and to me  Jesus  is the GREATEST gift of all.

Have  a wonderful Christmas.