This Christmas seemed different to me. I think for the first time in my life I had a clear vision of
our Savior as a gift to us to the world and to me personally. This year all the presents and commercial part of Christmas actually lost some of it's glitter with me this year, although I don't feel like I have lost any thing at all. Instead I feel that I have have gained so much more just by seeing Christmas from the eyes of a chid in a manger. A baby that gave us a Way.
My season's prayer has been that every one have a heartfelt and merry Christmnas with Jesus in the center of it all during this time of year and all year long.
I hope every one did have a very merry christmas .
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A Way in a Manger
Posted by Kim Stokes at 12/27/2008 09:17:00 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Pedestals
I'm at Houston Hospital and Mom is through surgery, She did well and dad and I got sent out of her room so she could start some physical therapy.
She is in no pain thanks to a femoral nerve block .
I haven't decided if I'm coming home tonight or in the morning.
Dad seems really tired, He didn't sleep at all last night and it's showing, so I feel like I need to stay so he can go back to the hotel and get some sleep.
I have always been the child that mom and dad call when they need something and it never has really been an issues but as they get older now I can't help but wonder what the future is going to be like as the age. Even though I have a brother and a sister they especially my sister is never there when we need her so it is going to probably be me and Steve. unless things change
and we all know that things can change in a flash.
Enough ramblings of the brain,
I just wanted to thank God for mom coming through so well and and praise him for the days ahead as she recovers and comes home, ( should be Sat or Sun).
God is good
I listened to new city sermons on the way here ( thanks Keith) and was reminded that we need to minister to others as well as to ourselves. I had never thought about ministering to myself but it makes sense to me now. Well dad is here now and is wanting to take me to dinner and make me go home tonight, see life does have a way of surprising y\you doesn't it. here I am thinking that he wants me to stay. Sort of puts me in less needed place, ( off my pedestal quickly)
So it looks like I will be sleeping in my bed tonight instead of a chair.Sounds good to me
Posted by Kim Stokes at 9/25/2008 02:45:00 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Simple Things
Well today is Wednesday and I am leaving for
Columbus in the morning. Mom is having a knee replacement in at the Houston Clinic in Columbus . My sister was going to go with me but that fell through. Keep mom and me in your prayers today. I hope to be back tomorrow night if all goes well,
Any way I haven't been blogging lately because I'm having a hard time narrowing down things that are in my head / on my mind.
That's what ADD does to you, too many thoughts not enough time to decipher all of them.
Last week I volunteered at 567 and I really enjoyed it, Carley and I worked during Bragg Jam but this time I was on my own.
I was thinking about other traditional church functions I have been a part of or participated in and realized how important what we are doing really is, I love taking the love of Jesus out into our city, in a non confrontational way, not in your face, bible toting, finger pointing way.,just going out into our city where people are and being with them,. not trying to coax them into our attractions but instead going out to the attraction., It just keeps getting clearer to me what Kieth means by "doing life" together. It makes so much sense to me now that I understand that Jesus was telling us to do what he did . It's real advise that works in our lives the way it worked in His life and the lives of the people that followed him. I am so excited about what God is doing in all of our lives and the life of our church. It just amazes me that the simple things we miss are the most important things we need to know.
The way Jesus told us to live our lives is so simple once you understand it, We just don't believe any thing can be that simple we have to mess it up by complicating it.
It just proves to me again that God doesn't need us to fix things. it's us that need Him to fix our messes.
Posted by Kim Stokes at 9/24/2008 10:10:00 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 11, 2008
" And a Child Shall Lead Them "
Well, I have decided to blog ,after all, isn't every one blogging now? So here is my first BLOG!!!
I was thinking about my life and how much it has changed recently, (since I started going to NC Cd.
At first I started going because of my kid's, Carley, Brooks, Melissa, and Caleb . I had a very selfish agenda, I could see Caleb more if I went to church with them.
See I was raised at Mabel White and had stopped going for a number of reasons, Mainly because I had become very disappointed in people, from members, to"friends", and staff. which now I do not put my faith in people I put my faith in Jesus. But that along with all the lessons in my life had to be learned the hard way.
anyway, I came to NC Cd with so much excitement over seeing my grandson every other Sunday that I was totally swept away when I started hearing and seeing a difference that God was starting to show me... It was a "transforming " experience, But it still took me a while to understand what I was feeling. I have thought allot about how to describe the difference I feel. It is very liberating to say the least. I caught myself talking about the "new" meaning of scripture that I was learning, I was and still am like a sponge, soaking it all up and not wanting it to end, When Keith wrapped up the sermons I wanted to stand up and yell... NO Don't Stop ! I'm finally getting it ,I want to know more. For the first time I started reading my Bible and understood what I was reading, where before it all seemed like the words were written in a foreign language. I could never quite understand it, but I kept on reading because that's what your suppose to do when you're saved, right,?"Good Christians "have a quite time right? Well when it stated making sense to me I couldn't get enough,I had to stop reading my Bible at night because when I started to read it was always as I went to bed and before I realized it, it was only a few hours before I had to get up for work. Now I just get up allot earlier so I can read and pray before I go to work. I find myself praying all day and songs about Jesus are in my head all day now. I did not come to NC Cd looking for a spiritual awakening I just wanted to see Caleb more.
I am by no means where God really desires me to be but for the first time in my life I am so excited about my journey of getting there. Each step closer is sweeter than any thing I could have ever imagined.
I have begun to understand just a little of how God wants His people/ church to live out the Gospel and I am understanding how He wants His church to function and it is so exciting to be a part of a church body that honors His instructions,
My mind is racing with so many things that I have learned and so many conversations that I have had about my learning's that I don't want to get side tracked. God shows me every day that His love and grace are sufficient to teach even some one as stubborn as me that I have been believing and living so many traditional religious lies. As Keith unpacks God's word on Sunday, God unfolds the true meaning of His Word in contrast to the way I had learned it for many many years.
I thank God and Caleb for this new found love of Jesus that I have found. Caleb because he was the culprit from the beginning,
The bonus of it is that I do get to see Caleb every other Sunday now but my first desire is to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus. Wow it is just so exciting.
Posted by Kim Stokes at 9/11/2008 08:41:00 PM 1 comments