A Step
in the Write Direction
December
21, 2015
Update: Had a good week. Finally
got cards out (usually try to get them out by Dec. 1, but not this year (Christmas letter at end) and sent out packages—again a little late. Praise
that our daughter and granddaughter who just moved back from Texas both got jobs
at local schools. Other granddaughter still looking (she enjoys working with
animals) and son-in-law looking for church or staff position at a church….On
Wednesday we all saw the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. Beautiful! One tree
alone had 48,500 lights….I don't have a big tree (not much room in a mobile
home), but have a flat one that hangs on the wall and twinkles, plus small
Nativity sets on the divider, lighted electric candles in the window, and a
Nativity set in the front yard that lights up….On Friday our family took flowers
to my husband's grave at the Veteran's Cemetery, then picked up my sister on the
way back and drove around looking at the Christmas lights in Mesa. Saw the
neighborhood in Gilbert that won the $50,000 prize for the best decorations in
the U.S. (was on TV the other night). Bumper to bumper traffic, but pretty to
see….Wishing a Merry Christmas to all of you, and a blessed New
Year!!
Thought for the Day: Christmas
isn’t about how big the tree is or how many presents are underneath it. It’s
about who’s gathered around it.
Song for the Day
(for you who are tired of the holiday hustle and
bustle):
Come,
all ye weary and oppressed,
O come
and I will give you rest;
I’ll bid
your anxious fears depart,
For I am
meek and lowly in heart,
For I am
meek and lowly in heart,
And I
will give you rest.
Ye that
labor and are heavy laden, come to Me,
Come,
come, come, and learn of me.
My yoke
is easy, my burden is light.
My yoke
is easy, my burden is light.
Come,
come, come, and I will give you rest.
“Come Unto Me,” Eliza E.
Hewitt
Laugh for the Day: Four-year-old
to her two-year-old sister: “Let’s play Christmas. I’ll be Santa Claus and you
can be a present and I’ll give you away.”
Writer’s
Tips:
Final Advent Devotion
Running for Help
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened
That it cannot save Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear (Isaiah
59:1).
It was the day
before Christmas and our eight-month-old daughter, Janet, had a temperature of
104 and a croupy cough. This was just another of the series of events that had
plagued her since birth. “Colic,” the pediatrician pronounced at our newborn’s
piercing screams. “She should outgrow it in three months.” Four months later he
said it could be a six-month colic.
Her crying had
no pattern. Sometimes she would wake up screaming. Other times she would be
playing, and without warning, she would break into a scream. Then she began
losing weight, and at seven months, a specialist diagnosed her with a kidney
infection. She also had symptoms of cystic fibrosis.“She might not live till
kindergarten,” our doctor told us somberly.
Now this
crisis. Our regular doctor was getting married that night so we took Janet to a
friend’s pediatrician. It was noon when I walked into the office.
“I’m sorry,”
the nurse said. “We’re closed.”
“Please,” I
pleaded. “I know my baby has pneumonia. Her temperature’s 104.”
Her voice grew
louder. “I said we’re closed!”
Just then I
saw the doctor in the hallway. Bursting through the door I ran up to him. “I
know you’re already closed and it’s the day before Christmas, but please, can’t
you look at my baby. She’s so sick.”
He reached out
his hands, took our baby, and held his stethoscope to her chest.“Call the
hospital and reserve a bed,” he instructed the nurse. Then he told me, "She has
pneumonia.”
So instead of
celebrating at home with her brother, our little girl spent her first Christmas
in the hospital in an oxygen tent.
I was so glad
I ignored the nurse and insisted that the doctor see her. (P.S. This daughter is
now married to a minister and has two girls of her own!)
Do you have a need this
Christmas? Whether it’s physical, financial, or spiritual, God’s Son came to
this earth to meet that need—and to bring life. Don’t let anyone stand in your
way. Run to Him today and
tell Him, "I need help.”
Jesus,
thank You that Your hands—those same hands that were nailed to
the cross—now reach out to me in my time of need.
Goodrich
Christmas Letter – 2015
What
I’ve Experienced This Year:
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Psalms 116:15).
·
Said
good-bye to 10 friends, including 4 from our church, 3 neighbors—2 we’ve
known since 1974, 2 from my hometown, and an extended
family member.
·
Had
mold removed from mobile home, which also required tearing up carpeting and
replacing with laminate tile. Have to admit, I like it better.
·
Replaced
air conditioner (which went out on a 115-degree day).
·
Daughter
Patty and I both in the hospital with pneumonia and both tore rotator cuffs.
I got by with injections, but she
had surgery and was off work 10 weeks. Is back now
on light duty at the hospital
where she and Robert, our son, work.
·
Robert
was off for 6 weeks with a heart problem, but tests turned out okay.
·
Daughter
Janet, son-in-law Ned, and granddaughters Heather and Lindsay moved to Texas in
June, BUT they moved back to Arizona
on December 6. Lindsay
completed her first semester of
college, and Heather will go back to attending Nazarene Bible College on-line.
·
Hardest
of all, however, was on March 7 when I
said good-bye to Gary, my husband of almost 55 years after complications
from a fall in the driveway in which he split his spinal column open. He had a
five-hour surgery, then 24/7 kidney dialysis, feeding tube, breathing tube,
oxygen, etc. He was one of the kindest, godliest men I’ve ever known!
What I’ve Learned This Year:
“Jesus
Christ the same yesterday; and to day and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).
“Be
strong and of a good courage, fear not…for the Lord
thy God…will not fail thee,
nnor
forsake thee”
(Deuteronomy 31:6). There has not been a time this year when I
hhaven’t felt God’s presence and
an unbelievable peace!
“A
friend loveth at all times”
(Proverbs 17:17), and I’m especially thankful for my friends—
uknown and unknown (on Facebook)—who
prayed for our family daily!
As Kirk Franklin’s song says,
“With Jesus I can take it. With Him I know I can stand. No matter what
may come
my way, my life is in Your hands.”
II’m looking forward to 2016 and
pray it will be a good year for all of you.
Donna
Goodrich.
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