Omnipotent means having unlimited authority and power.  God has power, and since God is also infinite, whatever He has must be without limit; therefore, God has limitless power!

Jeremiah 32:17-18, 26-27

17 ‘Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, who shows loving-kindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God The LORD of hosts is His name;

26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”

The story of David and Goliath (from the Jesus Storybook Bible) helps show that God is so powerful He can do all things – even things that we can’t, or things that seem impossible.

Lord, thank you for your omnipotent ways!

Adonai means “Master” or “Lord” – one having power and authority over others.  God as Adonai calls all God’s people to acknowledge themselves as His servants, recognizing His right to command them as the Lord of their lives.

Deuteronomy 2:7

“For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness these forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”‘

2 Samuel 7:18-20

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future And this is the custom of man, O Lord GOD. Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD!”

Psalm 18:2

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:31

For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God…

Acts 2:36

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.”

2 Corinthians 4:5

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

Philippians 2:10-11

so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We celebrate that the LORD of lords came to dwell among us on earth – What Joy!!!

Thank you, Lord, for being Lord of our lives.

It’s Christmas! LIKE FOR REAL. I’ve decorated the house, I’ve bought presents (well, most of them) and even hosted a Christmas party. But I still haven’t sent out Christmas cards. Or made teacher’s gifts. The only teachers in Lydia’s life are her teachers at church (she goes to two services on Sunday) and her ballet teacher. And to Lydia? They are all famous.

When Lydia was 1 I made the cutest card for her teachers at church. I digi-scrapped a picture of her with a nativity scene with the words, “Thank you for introducing me to Jesus.” Her teachers were teary-eyed and some have said they still have it on their fridge!

Along with that picture I made those pretzel-hershey-kiss-m&m treats. Have you had them? My friend Kathy from House of Hills made some with her daughter this week and did a great post about it! I also love the pretzel-rolo-pecans treats she did, too!

I’ve made and gifted Muddy Buddies–you know that yummy peanut-butter-chocolate-powdered-sugar Chex mix? Oh my goodness. It is divine. And very easy to make—you get to throw it all in a giant plastic bag and shake it up. Lydia loved it! Oh, I’m getting hungry!

So, I’ve been on the look out for a new kind of treat to bring to her teachers (and to my tummy) and I think I found a good one from Marie at Make and Takes! Look how fun, easy and adorable this is:

(photo by Make & Takes)

All you do is melt chocolate chips, dip your candy canes in and then gift-wrap! I am so in love with this. I just bought a pack of candy canes today so this is perfect!

And now, I can think of no other good way to segue this except: SPEAKING OF CHOCOLATE, Nestle is giving away a big bag o’treats to one of our lovely readers! They’ve got this big photo contest going on at Nestle Family.com where you can win one of several $50 giftcards! They wanted to share the wealth and have generously offered up a big holiday gift pack which will include coupons for FREE Toll House chocolate chips and cookie dough, Carnation Evaporated Milk and Breakfast Essentials, Stouffer’s, Juicy Juice and Boost Kid Essentials, as well as products from Wonka and Rasinets. Also, a cute silver picture frame and a yummy Carnation holiday recipe guide. The prize value is around $40.

If you’d like to win, please leave us a comment below. Any comment will do—even a simple Merry Christmas! But if you’d like to dazzle the judges with your impressive comment, please tell us about your favorite handmade treat you love to give at the holidays! And as always, you can receive an additional entry if you tweet or facebook this post!

Merry Christmas to you!

God is always steadfast and firm in adherence to His promises!  Our hope for the future rests upon God’s faithfulness.  Because He is faithful, His covenants will stand and His promises will be honored.

Psalm 89:1-8

I will sing of the loving-kindness of the LORD forever;
To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
For I have said, “Loving-kindness will be built up forever;
In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
“I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.
The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD,
A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
And awesome above all those who are around Him?
O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

Deuteronomy 7:9
“Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving-kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

Psalm 36:5
Your loving-kindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Lamentations 3:22-24
22The LORD’S loving-kindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24″The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”

2 Timothy 2:12-13
12If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

The story of Simeon and Anna is a wonderful illustration of God’s faithfulness!  Here is a coloring page and some other activities (from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa’s Children’s Ministry site) from the story to help your kids learn about the two, to whom God showed His faithfulness – and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you, Lord, for being faithful, even when we are not!

Elohim means “Strength” or “Power.”  He is transcendent, mighty, and strong.  Elohim is the great name of God, signifying supreme power, sovereignty, and a covenant relationship that He is ever faithful to keep.

Genesis 17:7-8

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.  I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

A little puff of our “wind” can move a cotton ball across a room.  God’s mighty power is shown in His wind, which is greater than any wind we can blow.

Idea from here.

Lord, we praise you for Your power!

I finally sat down to watch Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Givingdvd this week. I have to admit that I previewed it before Lydia saw it because I have a “thing” about Santa. Kinda similar to the Easter and Halloween issues I have. I’m not fanatically opposed to the jolly old elf. But we don’t get our picture taken with Santa. I don’t have a lot of Santa paraphernalia at our house. In fact, when Lydia was 2 she saw a giant Santa figurine at the store and said, “Noah!” (*giggle*)

So, I was just wondering where Veggie Tales was going to go with a Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus movie. It started off in modern day with all the veggie kids (Junior, Laura, etc.) discussing all the great things they were going to get from Santa. Junior had a gold coin that he was going to use to buy a gift for himself on top of all the Christmas gifts he was going to get the next day. Bob interrupts their greedy musings by asking them if they know Santa’s real name. This leads them into the story of Saint Nicholas’ life.

Nicholas was a small boy pepper in Greece. His parents loved Jesus and gave freely to everyone around them. They soon died and Nicholas was devastated. He ran away and eventually landed in Israel. He stumbles upon a church and sees a woman giving away bread in Jesus’ name. He recognizes the same love in her that was in his parents. He learns that “we love because He loved. We give because He gave.” (<—that is not an exact quote.)

God eventually tells Nicholas to go back home. When he does he sees his town has been taken over by an evil non-gift-giving gourd. And this is where Nicholas’ gift giving begins. Nicholas hears of three girls (uhm, scallions) that must pay a fine to the gourd or be thrown in jail. He dons a costume (a la Larry-Boy. *snicker*) and drops a bag of gold into a sock drying in the window. He does this for the next two nights and saves all three of the girls.

There is much chasing and rigmarole as Nicholas tries to outwit the Gourd. It’s quite funny and loaded with silly Americanized-Santa humor.

In the end, the veggie kids are inspired by Nicholas’ life. Junior decides to give his gold coin to Laura’s dad so he can fix his broken down work truck. The entire town gets involved and a la It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas is saved.

WHY EVERY CHILD SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE:

The turning of greed to giving was perfectly displayed. Nicholas began as an unimpressed kid, had a significant encounter with Jesus and then used his life to show Jesus’ love to others. Veggie Tales is rarely this blatant in their Jesus-ness.

I also loved that this DVD will now be on rotation with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman in living rooms around the country. I love that kids will have a true view of the saint turned legend. When kids can see what the true story is behind this man, I think it will take the glow of magic off of him–in a good way! Overall, I think it will help kids see that the gifts we receive have a history in Jesus’ love and giving.

Not to mention, the movie was hilarious. Mr. Lunt had some great one-liners, as usual. Plus, there are some great partnerships in the Christian music world and with Operation Christmas Child to go along with the movie. They are putting into action the message of this movie.

WHY NOT EVERY CHILD SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE:

This is why I hate am so over Santa. Do we really have to combine Santa with Jesus’ birth any more? The ending of the movie kind of gave this idea, “Give this Christmas because of baby Jesus. JUST LIKE SAINT NICHOLAS DID.” And although that’s a great sentiment, can’t we give because of Jesus’ gift PERIOD?

For Lydia, who barely understands the difference between Mickey and Santa and Jesus, I think this movie may confuse her further. I’ve been pounding “Santa is a character in a book” for so long that watching a movie that explains Santa IS real and actually has a connection to Jesus might muddy the waters. I’d almost let her watch Prep and Landing or Holly and Hal because it’s so out there that it has nothing to do with our our family traditions. I mean, the North Pole, elves and a flying reindeer seem fictional. So, Santa seems fictional. Does that make sense?

I might wait till next year until we watch this Saint Nicholas movie. Last year Lydia still didn’t even know who Santa was. This year she’s recognizing him and talking about him all with the underlying knowledge that he’s “not real”. When I ask her who Santa is or what his deal is she says, “He’s just pretend. He’s in a book!” Next year she’ll start hearing her friends talk about him and realize they believe he’s real. So, then we can take it a step further by finding out about his origins.

Overall, I think it’s a great one to own. But if you have small kids and you are trying to steer them away from believing in Santa, you’ll just have to decide if this movie helps or hurts your efforts.

Did you see the movie? What did you think? Did your kids like it?

I’ve got a few more Santa posts lined up—perspectives from all over. Stay tuned, we’d love to hear what you have to say, too!

Sovereign means excellent and possessed of supreme power.  God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.  Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.  Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.”

1 Timothy 6:15-16

…which He will bring about at the proper time–He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Psalm 103:19
The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.

While God gives us things like toys and houses to be “in charge of,” God is still sovereign over everything in our lives – even those same toys and houses He gives to us.  The sovereign power of God also shows how He uses sinful people to accomplish His purposes.  No matter how broken apart we are (see the half eaten roof on the left?), He still has the power to use us in His work!

Thank you, Lord, for Your sovereign power!

Glitter craft foam mosaic star. Inspired by Glittering Shards.

“We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2

A recycled egg carton town of Bethlehem. Those black marks are windows. Obviously.

“…he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ” ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” Matthew 2:4-6

ps…for some awesome info about why Jesus was born in Bethlehem, check out Why a Manger? by Brock and Bodie Thoene!

God’s compassion is infinite and inexhaustible. In His great mercy, Christ took upon Himself the judgment that was due us.  God waits and works now for all people everywhere to turn to Him, not wanting any to be lost.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.  For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”

Psalm 86:15
But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.

Luke 6:36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

I found a great craft/activity that would be perfect for older children – but it will have to wait a little bit before my boys can do it.  In the meantime, Elias has many opportunities each day to show Donovan mercy, and sharing some actual times that he has shown mercy was a very effective way to illustrate God’s mercy to Elias.

Thank you, Father, for your Infinite Mercy!