Today I have 4 treats for you, the Christmas Story continues at the end of this post and I have 3 digital clip art crafting kits for making your own photo Christmas ornaments using Donna Glenn’ wonderful pattern. The links below are in the order of the photographs of the products.
LINK TO RED GINGERBREAD KIT IN STORE
LINK TO BLUE GINGERBREAD KIT IN STORE
LINK TO BLUE WINTER SNOWFLAKE KIT IN STORE
These kits sell for only $2.98 but are on sale until December 15th only at $2.38 each and with a piece of photo printing paper or quality card stock, some ribbon, glitter, and maybe some jewels and you will be able to create ornaments for your entire family. Us them as a package topper for another gift or include them in a Christmas gift basket or as a gift all on their own. You can easily insert the year (though it’s shown as 2007 on the kit photo it is actually blank), drop photos behind the png format print and create. If you don’t have photos, you can add words or images into the opening just as easily!
THE CHRISTMAS STORY: Luke 1:8-17
8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the Lord’s presence. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
11 Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice with you at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or hard liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom.”
18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 And now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you won’t be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly come true at the proper time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures that he must have seen a vision in the Temple sanctuary.
23 He stayed at the Temple until his term of service was over, and then he returned home. 24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children!” NLT
MORAL OF THE STORY: When an angel tells you something, don’t say, “Shut up! You’re kidding right?!” LOL! If you do, he just might shut you up for a while! Just kidding, but God always does so much more than we can imagine and he wants us to believe that he loves us enough to do the very thing that we have asked him for. Like any awesome parent he loves to do good things for us and delights when we have a childlike ability to believe and receive.
PRAYER: Lord, help me to not react with unbelief if and when you speak to my heart your plans for my life and I find them to be beyond what I could have asked or hoped or even thought. It’s easy to laugh at Zechariah’s unbelief, but would I have acted any differently? I think not! Fill my heart with faith to believe your promises. AMEN
