Today, I have a gift I want to give you. I’s a gift EVERY WOMAN NEEDS! And it’s tucked inside this short video. I recorded it last week for a friend’s Christmas give-away, but after I finished it, I just knew God wanted me to give it to you too! So, instead of reading about it, please click the arrow below so I can tell you about it.
I’ve got a question and a give-away for you, but first here are some things I want to share::
Printable Christmas Prayer
For those hopping over from my P31 devotion today, welcome! That story I share in the video is the year that led to the writing of my Christmas prayer. If you’d like to receive a FREE printable version of it, please enter your email in the box below and click signup.You’ll receive an email within 24 hours that include links to download the prayer as a printable 4×6, 5×7 or 8×10 you can frame for yourself and give as gifts.
Confident Heart Online Study
I also want to invite you to join me and women from all over who will gather here beginning January 16th to read through my book, A Confident Heart. We’ll walk through each chapter together and discover how we can overcome self-doubts and strong or even subtle insecurity by learning how to to live in THE security of God’s promises! I’m so excited about all God’s laying on my heart for our study, and I’d love for you to be part of this special community where we’ll share encouragement, prayers and stories of all that God is doing in and through us!
To join us, enter your info and click Sign Up..
To find out more details about online study, click here.
Enter Today’s Give-away
How you are going to give yourself grace this Christmas? I’ll share my answer in the comments below. You can share yours and any other thoughts you have about video message or the topic of my devotion and you’ll be entered to win this gift pak just in time for Christmas:
- Copies of my book (for you & two friends)
- 3 Sets of Confident Heart conference calls (optional)
- $10 Starbucks gift card
- Godiva Chocolate Bar
Click below this post where it says “Share Your Thoughts” and do just that. Then be sure to share this post with friends (see those tell-a-friend buttons? They make it really easy). If you do, leave another comment and tell me. You’ll be entered twice! {Update: Congratulations Angel Miller (your were selected in our prayerful yet random drawing for a winner. We’ll email you details! Thank you all for entering. Be sure to sign up for email updates in the sidebar so you don’t any future give-aways!)
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Thank you so much, wish you a very Mary Christmas
I really enjoyed your poem, The Manger of My Heart. Thank you so much for reminding me how important the Gift of Jesus really is and thank you for doing God’s will in the lives of women. Being the chair of our womens ministry at church, I share your love for the hearts of women to know God’s plan for their lives. May God bless you this Christmas and continue to bless you this coming new year.
Thank you so much for your posting. Thank your for letting the sprit and God’s grace lead and direct you. I haven’t decided what I will do this Christmas, the most important thing is to use my God given talent to pray for others. Gods grace sustains us in a way that is unexplainable. To feel the presence of God and His love for is makes life worth living. Gods grace wraps us up in a warm cotten blanket, while we sit by the fire sipping hot cocoa. Gods grace is before us protecting us from danger. God grace is behind us erasing our past and foreving our sins. Thank you so much and May Gods grace continue to sustain you in your lies journey.
Thanks for reminding us to go to the manger of our hearts. Invite Jesus into our hearts and as we do, the natural overflow should be of His love and grace this season. Help me be intentional to fill my heart and mind with Him and not things of this world. Help me to stop and reflect the beauty of this season and thank God for His precious gift!
I am focusing on the gift of Jesus for Christmas this year, more than ever before. I am being allowed this gift through grace, as I told my family and friends that I would not shop on demand this year. Throughout the year as I see gifts for a friend or family, I have given freely. This has allowed me the time this year to bake and relish in the Christmas season without the hustle bustle of shopping. I just did not realize I was giving myself a gift at the same time. Thank you for pointing that out!!
I am giving myself grace this year, by allowing myself to the season with family and not stressout over howeverything looks, also by teaching my grand children what the season is all about….Jesus…..
I’m giving myself grace by allowing myself to accept His grace and not finding my value in how perfect our Christmas is/looks but rather enjoying the season, having more fun and sharing His love and grace with my husband, children and family.
I have decided to give myself grace this year by not giving every single person in my family gifts this year. I’m a single mom and often go broke around this season trying to get everyone in my family gifts. Well I’ve decided not to do that this year and just really focus on the True meaning of Christmas. We often get so bogged down in the giving of gifts, that we lose what Christmas is all about. I want my daughter to know and understand what Christmas is all about, not just giving and receiving gifts.
Renee, thank you for your uplifting message and encouragement for us to seek grace. This year I am focusing on helping those less fortunate and getting away from the commercialism of Christmas by making many of the gifts I am giving to family and friends.
I walk slowly and enjoy the lights. I sit and enjoy a hot cup of something and listen to what God wants to share with me as the snow is falling. I am trying to learn to live more in the present and also knowing what a wonderful Present we received at Christmas. Also, I am being reminded not to compare.
I’m letting my kids do more this year… decorating, planning, etc… and by giving less stuff and more of me, my time, my love… which I’m already seeing is building confidence in each of them.
This is the first year I actually enjoyed putting up the tree and decorating it… it’s also the first year I didn’t do it by myself… and it looks better than it ever has!!!!
Thank you for this timely message. I have just stumbled upon this website recently. I have had a hard time focusing on God as I have a just now 6 month old, I feel most days are only about her and I have been feeling very overwhelmed and frustrated as MY expectations and plans aren’t working and sadly, my time with God has been decreasing, not increasing as I had hoped.
We celebrated christmas with my family in early december as all of us were able to get together (the first time in 3 years!) My parents, 8 siblings (4spouses), 2 neices, 1 nephew, my husband daughter and me –20 total!!! It was a blast, but I’m realizing my type A personality won’t let me do it all, especially with the challenges of having a very structured new baby.
Thank you for the words “rest in HIS plans, not ours(mine)- I forget this frequently and have such a harder day. When I take the time to stop and rest and listen, it is when my heart feels lighter and my mood brightens- because it is about Him and caring for the wonderful gift he gave me
I’m sharing this on FB!
Renee, Thank You for your video. Grace! What a word! Not just “grace”, but “the grace of God!”
As Christmas is approaching I am so thankful that I can understand what it means and why it matters.
This holiday season when I think of the word “gifts” I want to think instead of the word, GRACE! Because THAT is what GRACE means – a GIFT, unearned, priceless, that’s free, and yet also freeing! There probably is not another word in our English language that is so little understood, as the word Grace!
Grace is a GIFT: A giving-ness that God has towards us – just constantly blessing, and giving, when we do not deserve anything.
Grace is a Great Attitude: Grace is God looking beyond our sinfulness, our selfishness, and loving us anyway. It is just being accepted by God when we shouldn’t be.
Its Importance: If God had no grace, Jesus would never have been born, God would have just judged this world, and condemned everyone in it to an eternity in hell, and would have just left us to self-destruct!
But thankfully, God DOES have grace – great grace! And it is the foundation for a Christian Christmas!
Grace IS Christmas!
I shared on Facebook, Renee! Thank you!
I’m going to give myself grace this Christmas by not getting caught up in the rat race to buy the perfect present for everyone. I always struggle this time of year because I love giving gifts to people that are thoughtful and essentially “prove” that I listen to their wants, needs, and hobbies. This year I’m going to just give a small amount of presents and focus on not blowing my budget. We give presents to represent the ultimate present that was given to us. And I don’t want my desire to prove anything to take away from Jesus.
I did your book study with Melissa, but I love the book so much, I have signed up to do it again! So excited to study A Confident Heart with the author! 🙂
It’s so difficult to ‘rest’ or allow ourselves grace when society constantly bombards us with images of what we ‘should be’ providing for our families… especially our children… for Christmas. I am ashamed to admit that Christmas has become little more than a tremendous source of stress for me and fills me with dread as I try to figure out how to afford presents to put beneath the tree.
I’m praying for a season where God’s presence and the presence of my family all in one place becomes the true focus of our Christmas.
I will myself a break if everything is not “perfect” this holiday season. I am doing my best and I have to remember that……
What a wonderful message Renee! Thank you for helping me understand God’s scriptures better. It’s no coincedence that I was just looking up the definition of “grace” today. God has put that on my heart for a reason and I know He will help me to understand why. Maybe I’m trying to hard to earn my salvation, and He’s letting me know I have unmeritted favor from Him through His love and grace.
I am letting myself off the hook for not finishing a project before Christmas and purchasing a small gift instead. The project can wait until after Christmas when times are less stressful and I can give more focus..