Live4JC

A lover of Christ 😍😍

[chalametdaily]

The trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women is officially out!

[rachelmellema]

God’s Promise for the Pain of Christmas

We often have an idealized and romanticized picture of the days leading up to the first Christmas.

We see Christmas cards and nativity scenes, and we assume those days were stress-free. But that’s far from how those involved in the first Christmas actually felt.

The very first Christmas didn’t start out as a merry time for most of those involved. The news that Jesus was coming stressed everyone out.

Mary was confused and worried. An angel had told her that she would give birth to the Son of God. She didn’t know what would happen to her engagement. Her future seemed bleak.

Joseph was hurt and brokenhearted. His fiancée had told him that she was pregnant. He felt hurt and cheated on.

The shepherds were afraid. They saw a bright light and watched angels appear out of nowhere.

The wise men were exhausted. They traveled a long way to get to Jesus. They were ready for rest.

You may be in similar shoes this Christmas. You may feel confused, hurt, afraid, or simply exhausted.

What does this Christmas story have to say to you?

Over the next few devotionals, I’ll go deeper into how each of these central characters in the Christmas story responded to their pain—and how God changed everything for them in response.

But they all have one thing in common: They turned to God.

The Bible says, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity” (Joel 2:13 NIV).

No matter what you’re going through, God loves you. When you turn to God, he won’t turn away.

On that very first Christmas, every one of these characters turned to God. They all looked to him to meet their greatest needs.

God was there for Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men.

He’ll be there for you, too

[worthypursuit]

“Faith doesn’t require understanding, but it demands obedience.”

—

[miseducatedmelanicmuse]

[elinimate]

A male colleague was making fun of the #metoo movement a few days ago, and many more (I’m one of 5 women in a department of 200 men) joined in. So I raised my voice and said I was glad women were speaking up about sexual harassment and assault and that I hoped that everyone who perpetuated this toxic behavior got taken down.

“Yeah but it’s a trend now, lots of them are just saying it for their 15 minutes of fame.” He then continued to say that he didn’t know anyone who had been harassed or any man who had done it.

I asked him if he had a daughter. He did. I asked him how old she was. She was was 17. I told him I’d bet my rent money that his daughter had experienced sexual harassment. 

“That’s impossible.” 

“Did you ask her?” 

“No.” 

“Well then, do it.”

The next day, he came in the office with five bouquets of flowers for all the women in our department, including me. He publicly apologized for making fun of sexual harassment and for making our lives harder by doing so. He said that he simply hadn’t known how widespread it was. Apparently, his daughter deals with it very regularly. She hadn’t told him because of the way he spoke about assault cases that were on the news. She thought he’d think less of her if she’d mention it. It was her idea that he should make a public announcement. He said he felt like a bad father. 

I said: “You were. Same goes for everyone who laughed with you. Be better, now you know better. And educate other men that still think the same way you did yesterday. And next time someone tells you about an experience they have, don’t automatically assume that because you haven’t seen it, it’s not true. That kind of willful ignorance is why we still deal with this shit.”

He also offered to pay my rent as that was part of the bet, but I told him I’d rather have him put effort in being a person his daughter and wife could be proud of. 

[thesporkidentity]

In conversation the other day my mom stopped and asked my dad about what percentage of women he thought had experienced sexual harassment. He said about 20-30% maybe. My mom told him that both of us had been harassed multiple times at work (same goes for both of her sisters) and that she had actually been assaulted by a groper on a public bus. I have never seen anyone’s face go slack so quickly before as he realized that literally every woman in his family had experienced this. And while I’m glad he believed us and has changed his view on that subject I still can’t shake the frustration, the anger, that it required being sat down and spoonfed these incidents that we didn’t particularly wanted to relive. This is something that women have been saying for years, but men just never listen. Not even when they’re forced to sit in mandatory harassment in the workplace training seminars.

[suspend]

this post needs more attention

[pandalamaa]

Same thing happened with my Grandfather actually, he thought it was only a very small precent that ever experienced sexual harrassment, and was very shocked when he asked me about it and I told him my experiences, and that pretty much every female friend I have have experienced it at least once too. Thankfully he listened and have changed opinion of it. But it truly is sad when they have to hear it from the people closest to them to believe it…

[rantsandwich-deactivated2020050]

This also spreads to women, might I add. Hearing people (men especially, almost exclusively) talk about how it “rarely happens” pushes this idea onto women that their common experiences with sexual harassment is somehow lesser, “not as bad”, or “could’ve always been worse”. It leads to a sick acceptance of assault and harassment to the point that they’re shut down and can’t talk about it. They are led to believe that it was not that bad and they should just man up and deal with it. This honestly has gotten to the point that many women and girls won’t realize that other women and girls understand. Of course, friends will talk of it with each other and create support systems for each other (as I have done for my friends and them for me) in situations where it’s necessary. Personally, it took me so damn long to realize that it’s actually a problem that we have to do this with each other and the fact it’s so common. It’s sad.

[alistairradley]

“From a historical Christian perspective, being morally good is not really the main purpose of human existence anyway; even if it is a byproduct of coming to grasp, and to live in that main purpose… in response to the question “What is the chief end of man?” Answer, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” So, actually, our ultimate goal is to enjoy God, not to act morally. Yep, enjoy Him, not be Him. But, once we start enjoying Him, an amazing thing begins to happen, we start becoming more like Him. We start becoming good, because of our joy in Christ. Therefore, if enjoying God is the ultimate goal, then being good for that reason is what ultimately shapes us and make us good. When we have the right goal set in our hearts, then we can actually become what we desire to be: good… I would say that men and women can do objectively good things without God, but that the primal sin is itself the very idea that we can be good without Him. That is exactly what we want as sinners, and it is exactly what the Devil wants us to believe. So, no, we should never think we could be good without God, even if we are doing good things all the while.”

— Anthony Costello (via wisdomfish)

[podencos]

I just want someone to make it through life with

[mbwaina]

JESUS😍

[servingothersus]

Jesus: "Take up your cross and follow me!"

Bystander: "Ok, I like wearing crosses around my neck and hanging them from my rear view mirror."

Jesus: "What are you talking about, I mean lay down your life for me, do for others what I have done for you."

bystander: "OH you mean actually do the things you said?"

Jesus: "Yep!"

Bystander: "Can I Just say I believe in you and love you, will that work?"

Jesus: "Nope!"

Bystander: "Dang it"

[servingothersus]

Peter: "You think we will be like rock stars, for following you?"

Jesus: "No Peter, you will be hated, plus you don't play the guitar"

Peter: "I can learn to play, but I'd rather follow you and be hated"

Jesus: "I know Peter that's why I chose you, you gave it all up for me, even your rockstar dreams".

Peter: "I can still sing right"

Jesus: "you better believe it, you'll be singing when they kill you for my sake"

Peter: "oh thats nice"

[servingothersus]

I Don’t Get It. You see all these post from professing Christians, but non of them say anything about what Jesus taught. Things that make you go HMMMMM?

[servingothersus]

What’s really behind your “Lord, Lord’s”?

[faithwalkjournal]

“It’s not comparing yourself with others who call themselves Christians. Compare yourself to the Scripture.”

— Paul Washer

[mbwaina]

Amen!

[bey]

My favorite thing is when people remember little things I told them. like seriously? you actually listened to me? thank you

[eevart]

Just thinking about people making year-end summaries of their accomplishments and also about reasons to keep yourself alive through the next year. Sorry, it’s a bit of a sappy comic.

[ patreon | commissions | eevachu.com ]                   do not remove comment

[eternalblyss]

A boyfriend can not complete you.

A husband can not complete you.

Only God can.

A man can not love you more than God loves you right now.

Just keep that in mind.

[cartnsncreal]

[mbwaina]

Talk about Passive Men.😒

[1withthem-deactivated20210404]

In-country field contacts are reporting that Hindu extremists have raided a children’s home in India, creating a sense of panic. Extremists stormed in when they discovered that Bibles had been distributed to each child and the children were being taught about Jesus.

This is the second children’s home to be recently raided for the same reason. Pray with us for the next generation of believers in India.

[mbwaina]

Praying for India

[singingmountains]

I’m so grateful that God has His own plans. I can throw mine away, and allow Him to lead me wherever He desires. There is no timeline. There is no fixation on success. There is only God. His will be done, and not my own.