It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The Christmas season is almost here! You may think, "wow, she has jumped the gun on Christmas this year!" Not so my friends, it is only 48 days until Christmas day, but Christmas begins this week at First Baptist Church of Jonesboro. The annual Ladies Luncheon will be hosted on Saturday, November 15, so in the next few days we will transform the ROC into a Christmas celebration. It is definitely one of the highlights of the year, with over 400 women guests and 53 tables individually decorated to display the hostess' joy of Christmas.

The following week we begin decorating the Living Christmas Tree and sanctuary for the Christmas program, another highlight in our church year. With all of the trees, celebrations, parties, programs and decorations, nothing compares to the real reason that I love Christmas. I love Christmas because I love the Christ of Christmas!

My heart grieves when I look at the depraved world around me and then I have hope, because of Christ. We have the answer for this lost and dying world and that answer if Jesus Christ--the real reason for the season! So this year, starting on Thursday for every light wrapped around a tree, I will be praying that I can become an even brighter light to shine forth the love of God. With each ornament, I will be praying that God will bring revival to my church, community and the colleges that my daughters attend. With every bow that I tie, I will be praying that God wrap His loving arms around my family for protection, guidance and provision.

This wonderful Christmas season, I choose hope, I choose Christ, I choose Light, I choose Peace, I choose Joy and I am so very thankful that the great God of the universe, who is Almighty, Holy and Divine..........chose me!

You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.
John 15:16