I Bi Dem: Woman, Wife, Mother

I asked my six-year-old niece about what Christmas means and she quickly informed me that it is all about presents. Of course, I agreed with her because it is true.  Christmas is all about giving and receiving presents. And don't we all delight to receive one or two? Christmas is all about God giving us the best gift of all - Himself in our form to reconcile us back to Himself. I explained to her that Christmas is also a lovely time for us to give God presents - our hearts and lives. As we celebrate, let's ask ourselves if we have prepared our hearts as presents for the Lord who we should be celebrating this season. Or are we so concerned about all the other things that we can't or don't even have a heart to present to Him? He will not take a heart filled with sin, bitterness, and unforgiveness but he is willing and able to help us prepare our hearts for Him by giving us grace to love, forgive and live for Him. In the end, we would have given ourselves presents

The word of God is forever new and we learn new truths each time we read it. Let me share an old story that has a new meaning for me.  It is from the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. You will find the story in Genesis 15 - 21. There are so many lessons to learn from these three people but let me concentrate on just one today. I guess you remember how Sarah decided to give her supper to the cat by giving her Egyptian maid to Abraham to have a child on her behalf. And of course you will also remember the drama that ensued from that decision. Well, human meddling does not change the plans of God.  He still insisted on the initial plan of a legitimate son being the one He would use for His plan for mankind. Even when Abraham begged on behalf of Hagar's son, God did not budge. It occurred to me that the focus was not on the father, Abraham alone, but also on Sarah as the mother. God wanted use Sarah's son through Abraham. The mother matters.! Note that Abraham had many

The rain started gently, slowly and it was welcomed as the humidity was high and we looked forward to the rain for some respite from the heat. I was on the phone and did not give the rain much of a thought but I decided to unplug the television based on past experience of lightening damaging electrical appliances.   However, within a few minutes, the dynamics changed with lightening followed swiftly by thunder. Suddenly the room brightened up from the lightening; there was a massive thunder and everything went black and silent. The extent of the damage was only discovered the next day. Garage doors, alarm system, TV, lights and internet were all blown away by the thunder. Needless to complain about the cost in cash and kind to effect repairs.   The experience taught me to appreciate what I have and take nothing for granted. Of all the systems grounded by the thunderstorm, I would say the internet affected me the most. We use the Wi-Fi for the TV, the phones and of course, the com