Feeling Trapped by Life!

As a mom, I have very easily found myself feeling trapped.  I feel like I am on a merry go round that is spinning and I can’t get off.  Life is not going well.  In fact, it is down right NOT FAIR! 

• Kids keep getting sick (with 10 kids a 24 hour bug can last a month!)
• Husband is working late hours
• I’m behind in housework so the house is a disaster
• I keep burning dinner
• My friends seem to have a life better than mine (seem is the key word here)

These are just a few of the things that seem to set me off.  I get where little things that happen seem really big & almost impossible to deal with.  There were days when just getting out of bed seemed to be a huge task.  I felt that I was drowning in life, swimming up stream, rowing without a paddle…how ever you want to put it.  I felt trapped & couldn’t seem to figure out how to get out of it.  I didn’t like myself so I couldn’t imagine how my family felt about me.

Then I remember…go to His Word.  It is alive and healing.  I read…

 

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Then my conversation with God begins.

God, I know that you ask me to give thanks, but honestly I can’t think of anything to give thanks for.  The washer broke today and I was already behind on laundry.  I dropped the last jug of milk and spilled it all and we don’t get paid for 3 more days so now we are out of milk.  The AC won’t work in the car, my kids won’t obey, the phone won’t quite ringing, the newsletter  still isn’t ready to send out, my friends don’t even call me anymore.  Tell me; what is there to be thankful for?

And in God’s gracious and gentle way He begins to remind me.

1. Husband
2. Children
3. Godly friends who pray rather than call me
4. Church where I hear God’ Word taught
5. house
6. car
7. electricity
8. food
9. music
10. His creation to enjoy

I get it God.  It isn’t about me, it is about you.

 

I feel trapped by the bad in my life when my eyes are focused on me.  When I am thinking so much about what in my life is happening that I don’t like I begin to feel trapped and this can easily become depression.

In Genesis 8 we find Noah and his family getting off the ark for the first time after  more than 150 days.  When they got off what did they do?  Did they start cooking their first meal on land?  No, Noah gave thanks.  He thanked God for taking care of them.  He knew how to put first things first.

Today, I see Christians who come out of difficult circumstances still asking God why it had to happen rather than thanking God for bringing them through.

When Noah gave thanks it was a “pleasing aroma” to God.  It was then that He promised to never flood the earth again.

Our thankful heart and praise is a pleasing aroma to God.  It is how we keep from feeling trapped by life.  I’m sure that Noah & his family definitley felt trapped on that ark, but Noah was a righteous man by God’s standards, not man’s and inspite of his difficult circumstances he praised and worshipped his LORD, Yahweh.

The Invisible Woman

When God laid on my heart to start Living Stones Ministry, I didn’t have a name for it or a purpose. I just knew that He wanted to use me.  I asked what He wanted me to share with moms.  What would be the purpose for sharing my heart? He then gave me 1 Peter 2:5.  “You also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood…”

The Lord had been rebuilding me(and still is) into the woman he purposed me to be.  I was like a jagged, rough rock that couldn’t be used.  He had to polish me and smooth me out so that he could use me.  He wants to use me in the lives of my family.  He wants to use me to build a house that brings glory to Him.  He wants to use me as an example to my children as how we should be like Jesus.  I can tell it to them all day long, but they will remember what I do much longer than they will remember what I say.  Much of what I do is invisible to them, but they see it manifested in other ways.  My time studying and reading the scriptures is invisible to them for the most part, but they reap the benefits of my relationship with Him.  When I am faithful to my God he can use me in the lives of my children and husband. 

I have linked a video done by Nicole Johnson of the Women of Faith team. It is powerful and so true.  I know that you will be able to relate to it.  Turn the music off in my sidebar so that it won’t hinder the video.

Watch The Invisible Woman here!

 

Be Wise Towards Outsiders

My door bell rang one afternoon.  This was nothing new.  We live in a busy neighborhood.  My house has been compared to “Grand Central Station” with all of the neighborhood kids & my kids going in and out.

My son answered the door and then came and found me.

“Mom, those guys are here.”

“What guys?” I asked.

“You know, those guys who wear dark pants, white shirt & have backpacks.”

Mormon Missionaries.

“Ok, no big deal.  Let’s see what they want.”  I knew what they wanted.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Colossians 4:5,6

 I thought of this verse as I made my way to our front door.  On my porch were 2 very clean cut & well dressed young men. I knew I had a choice, though at the moment I didn’t really consider my choices.  I just knew what I was to do.

“Hi, how are you?” I asked.  They looked a little taken back, that I was not closing my door on them. 

“Uh, fine, thank you.  We are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we would like to share with you some information about Jesus Christ.”  His words were very scripted and rehearsed.  I listened to them and we talked.  Because I had a big family I had an instant connection with one of the boys because he was also from a large family.  We enjoyed casual conversation about our families and how fun it can be.  But we also discussed salvation.  I asked them questions, some they had answers to, some they did not. 

I had a choice that day.  I could either be very short with them and say, “I am a Christian and I am not interested in what you have to say.” and they shut my door with them on my front porch.  Or I could talk with them, with grace, and listen to what they had to say. 

I do not agree with the Mormon beliefs for a multitude of reasons.  But that does not mean that I should run away from them or be rude to them.  When I open my door to them, I am taking every opportunity to show the love of Jesus to them.  Even if we disagree, I can still love them with the love of Jesus.

They thanked me over and over for being so kind to them.  Then they said this, and it really saddened me; “You are the first Christian to ever be so kind to us.” 

Moms, we have a responsibilty to our children to let them see us be wise in the way we act toward outsiders.  If they see us slamming the door in someone’s face & talking unkind things about them, they will repeat it.  Honestly speaking, I did not want to talk to those guys.  I knew that I could not convert them.  I really did not have an extra hour in my day to stand on my front porch talking with them.  But as a believer, I have learned that God gives me opportunities in front of my children to honor Him.  They are watching very closely!  They are listening to our conversations and then repeating them to their friends. 

It is a sad day when Christians are knows for their rudeness to unbelievers.  But we are here, moms!  We are in this day.  Are we going to raise up more rude & arrogant Christians?  We will if we are that way ourselves.

Years ago, I was one to slam the door on the Mormons or Jehovah Witness when they came to my house.  I did not want to talk to them.  But the Lord changed my heart.  He showed me that my sin is no less than wrong theirs.  I am no better than they are.  I am just as depraved and capable of evil as they are.  The difference is that I believe in the saving blood of Jesus Christ.  I believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, there is no amount of good works that will get me there.  That is how I am different from unbelievers.  I am no better than they are. 

Please be careful how you act toward others.  Whether in the grocery store, at the park, or on your front porch.  Show you kids how to be graceful and loving to others.  They will copy you.  They want to copy you.

 

Father, Help me today to be aware of opportunities that you give me to show my children how to be wise toward others.

 

Postpartum Depression

The chances of a mom suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her baby is huge.  My midwife once told me that after you give birth you go through over 90 hormone changes as your body begins to adjust to not being pregnant anymore.  WOW!!  I personally have experienced this debilitating illness. I had 2 babies, 16m and newborn and I couldn’t not stop crying or enjoy my baby.  I didn’t understand why I felt theway I did until my OB told me he thought I was depressed.  I did recover, only to find out a few weeks later that I was now pregnant with our 3rd child.  Those were exciting days!! 

I have also experienced depression as a result of a car accident.  This was equally difficult to live through.  I remember days when I could barely care for my children.  I made sure they had food to eat, but that was about it.  They were very difficult days and praise God it is not a part of my daily life any more. 

I have found a blogger mom who also knows this depression all to well and share great insight and helpful tips to manage with.  Healed of Depression is a blog that is the fruit of one mom’s journey through depression and how the Lord had healed her.

 

She writes; Postpartum Depression; A time to Simplify

I suppose this would be good advice for anyone who is depressed- post partum or not. Life in a depression (or other debilitating disease) is a time to simplify. A time to get our focus back on what really matters.

 

So tip number one (and these are not listed in order of priority, just whatever order they come to mind in) is (drumroll, please) use paper plates. : )

 

When I was depressed, I couldn’t even do the dishes. I could get some kind of a premade meal onto a cookie sheet, because I didn’t want to starve, but even the idea of clearing the counters was just too much for me most days. Using disposable dishes is cheaper than hiring a maid, and more sensible than spending time in the psych ward, so make things easy on yourself, and just simplify. For the post partum mom, this will give you either more time with baby, or more time sleeping! Very necessary.

 

I mentioned those cookie sheet dinners. I knew nothing about nutrition when I was depressed, so we ate a lot of hot dogs, etc. I am not recommending that. So:

 

Tip number two would have to be: simple, healthy meals. You are going to have to eat reasonably healthy foods, if you are making an effort to lead depression behind. This would warrant a separate post in itself, but the main idea is: eat simple:

 

-Eat a piece of all natural whole grain bread for breakfast, with some organic butter.

 

-Eat a free range egg. It’s not too hard to fry an egg!

 

-Eat raw fruit with each meal, or a raw vegetable. That’s easy, because all you do is peel it.

 

-Reduce foods that take a lot of effort for your body to digest. Fasting is so good for you because every day it takes a great deal of energy for your body to process all the food you put into it. Now, when you fast, your body has vast stores of energy freed up to heal your body! Now if you don’t think you can fast, that’s ok, but eat less fatty meats. Eliminate processed sugar. Try a small piece of fish instead of beef, and some raw honey instead of sugar. Eat greens- they are good for your brain, and detoxifying for your body.

 

I know I am probably writing to some moms who have to feed their family too, and often it seems like a big stretch just to take care of themselves. Well, let me say that joy comes from serving. You will not feel as badly if you find a way to keep your family fed. So:

 

Buy two or three kinds (only) of good quality, whole grain cereal for breakfast, and eat it with some organic milk or soy milk. No sugar please!

 

For lunch, serve whole grain toast with natural peanut butter, and some pre-cut carrot sticks; maybe a small piece of cheese, or an apple. Drink water!

 

Now supper! You may have a hungry husband or group of teenagers who will not be satisfied with just toast for supper, so invest in a crockpot. Yes, we are still staying simple here. A crockpot (slow cooker) is simple because you just put something in there, and leave it. I often put a small roast and potatoes; some onions and carrots, and then leave it all day on low. At the end of the day when everyone is hungry, this is very good. Another easy one is: put some small white beans (navy beans) at the bottom of the cooker (maybe one cup), and cover with water. Then place a small chicken over top and sprinkle with seasoning. Cook on low all day. The beans will cook in the chicken juices, and this makes an easy, hearty meal. Add a precut salad, and a low fat dressing.

 

Time for tip 3: Pare down toys, and clothes. Just get rid of some of what you have. We often had too many clothes in the house, because I would just bring “a few things” home from the second hand store. I actually enjoyed shopping like this more than I enjoyed washing our clothes. But if I had only had 5 loads of laundry in the house TOTAL, it wouldn’t have made such a huge, imposing pile. One load of laundry a day isn’t too bad.

 

My kids always had way too many toys. At one point of exasperation, I put away everything except their Duplo (Lego brand). It was actually such a blessing to them (and me). The children didn’t wonder about what they would play, or how to get it all cleaned up. They played a different game with eachother every day, because lego is one of those imagination type of toys, where things are different every time. They’ve been playing duplo for 9 years now. The odd time, the twelve year old will still join in, because they’ve built such close relationships playing together, and have such good memories of it.

 

So, throw some out, and give some away. It will take work at first, but then there will be a lot more peace.

 

Tip number four: Draft any older children available for chores. If you are post partum with your first, or with only toddlers, then this won’t work, and you will have to keep thinking those creative, paperplate kind of thoughts. But if you even have a six year old, you have a valuable helper, one to be thankful for! A six year old can wipe the toilet seat with a baby wipe. They can wipe out the inside of the sink with a towel. They can set the table, and clear it. An eight year old can do laundry, if you have a front load. They can sweep the center of a room. : ) They can make beds, and at least make things look more decent. They can dust, and follow around a toddler. : )

 

Tip number five is appropriate to end with, even though I’m not done: Get enough sleep. Yes, you’ve heard it before. But I just want to point out that it is EASIER to get out of bed in the morning if you do it at the same time every day. Even if you are being woken up in the middle of the night by a nursing baby, and feel like you will just die if you were to try to wake up early… Let me assure you, you can! I say this as compassionately as I can from the heart of one woman to another. I’ve been there. I have felt that way too. I survived, and you will survive!

 

The one thing that got me through those seasons like that in my life was to read my bible. I would drag myself out of bed feeling AWFUL. (I don’t have to tell you, if you have battled depression or any other disease, you know.) But I would put that bible in front of my eyes, and I would get up again the next day and do it again. Sometimes that bible reading would really change the course of that one day, and give me the strength I needed- one day at a time. Other times it was a link to a bigger miracle, that God worked over a period of time. Either way, the bible was my life line during those seasons. When it is hard for me to find time to read my bible enough, I will:

 

Read it in the middle of the night when I wake up.

 

Listen to it on cd as I’m falling asleep.

 

Keep worship music playing in the house during the day.

 

Pray in the Spirit while in the shower, or doing the laundry.

 

Pray. Get on my knees alone for even a minute, and ask Jesus to be bigger to me than the pressure I feel at that moment. He always is! He has never left me!

 

If you don’t know Jesus, and you need His help, remember that He came to seek and to save the ones who were lost. He came to undo the work of the devil in your life. He came so that anyone who would believe in Him would not be lost. Do you know Him? All who call on His name are saved. Pray to Jesus, and then listen.

Please go to her blog and glean more wisdom; Healed of Depression

El Shaddai

I am working my way through a great Bible Study right now by Kay Arthur called, “LORD, I Want To Know You.”  It is all about the names of God and learning how to apply them to your prayer life.  I have really enjoyed it and am learning more about my God everyday.  That is the best part.

So, today’s chapter was about El Shaddai.  Amy Grant wrote a song called “El Shaddai” a long time ago, but I remember singing with her on the radio and wondering what it really meant.  It means a lot & the meaning is something that us moms can really relate to.

There has been some discussion as to how El Shaddai is to be interpreted.  Many interpret it to say “All Sufficient One” and that can work.  I know that knowing that God is all sufficient and there is no problem that I will ever have that is to big for him brings me great peace.  I have experienced his sufficiency many times in my life.  He was sufficient when I rolled my suburban and totalled it with my 6 kids in it with me.  He was sufficient when I was in the pit of despair and depression…He never left me.  He was sufficient when we lost our family business and had to start all over.  He was sufficient when I lost our baby.  I can go on & on & on telling you the times that my God has been All Sufficient in my life.

We first knew God as El Shaddai in Genesis 17 when he spoke to Abraham.  He was Abram at that time and God promised Abram that he would be the father of many nations.  God told him, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations.  No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham.”

Abraham needed to know God as El Shaddai…he was 99 years old and his wife was 89 and here was God telling him that he would be the father of many nations.  Talk about a crisis of belief!  How would you feel if you were 60 years old and God said that you were going to be the mother of many nations!  AHHH!  But, Abraham believed it; because he knew God as El Shaddai.

Back  to the meaning of El Shaddai.  EL is one of the oldest and most widely known terms of Diety.  We have Elim, Elohim, Eloah.  The El stand for “might” or “power”.  But the translation of Shaddai is not as clear in its meaning.  Then I read a description by Andrew Jukes in his book, The Names of God.  He words this better than I have ever seen before & it totally changed my view of the neame El Shaddai. 

He said that “Shaddai” describes power, but not the forceful or violent power, but of bountifulness.  “Shaddai” primarily means “Breasted”, and is formed directly from the Hebrew word Shad, that means “the breast”, or more specifically, “woman’s breast”.  He goes on to tell how from these roots “Shaddai” gives the meaning of Thr Pourer or Shedder Forth. 

Think about it.  When our babies are crying, how do we satisfy them?  With our breast.  I know that when my babies were nursing, nothing would quiet them down faster than to put them to my breast & let them nurse.  The baby cannot be satisfied with my food, it isn’t old enough, she must have my milk.  Even if she isn’t hungry, but maybe sleepy or just fussy, nursing always quieted down the baby.  I gave of myself to my baby to satisfy her with what she needed.

This is what El Shadaai means.  God pour HImself into us.  He dwells within us.  He sustains us in this way.  God gave of Himself to Abram, and then Abram gives himself to God, and by God is made fruitful. 

When we allow God to fill us with His Holy Spirit, to be our El Shaddai, then we will have a natural outpouring of God to others.  We will love others with a God ordained love, we will bless others and encourage others and God can use us to His Glory and purpose. He takes us from fruitless to fruitful and usable to His Glory!

I thought that was totally cool!!  That is what I want…don’t you?  I want El Shaddai to pour Himself into me, to fill me with His life and love.  I want to be a outpouring of Him into the lives of my children and others that I am around.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says,  “And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with dificulties, for Christs sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Do I hear an AMEN??? )

Paul knew El Shaddai.  He understood that on his own he can do nothing and that anything he did accomplish was only through the power of El Shaddai.  I know El Shaddai.  I have experienced him in ways that it is hard to put into words.  I have cried out to him recently and felt His sufficiency and strength as He pours Himself into me.

Do you know El Shaddai?  He longs for you to know him as “All sufficient”…as El Shaddai.  He wants to be your El Shaddai”!

Online Resource for Moms

I wanted to share with you a new site that I just found.  It is called Little Blots of Faith.  It is online social network full of lots of resouces to aid you in the discipling of your children.  It is free, but membership is required to access all of the sources.  I am a member of 2 other social networks and they can be a lot of fun as you make friends with other like minded moms.  You pull from each others talents.  If you have a creative way to teach your children the Word, you can share it on Little Blots.  There are lots of printable pages and ideas for fun things to do with your kids.  I’m sure you could spend hours at this site…not recommended though.

Go check out Little Blots

 

I’ll get a button up as soon as I can for the site.

Agonizing over our sins

I am reading through Psalms right now in my morning devotions.  It has been a fabulous journey as the words of David have spoken so deeply into my soul. It seems that each morning he expresses a feeling to to the Lord that I had just had or recognized.  He was really good at crying out.  He had a lot of practice.  After all, he was chased down by an insane king for 10 years. 

This  morning I read Psalm 38.  When you get a chance, go and read it.  It isn’t long, only 22 verses.  As I read this morning I just didn’t feel the same gripping, “I have been there” kind of feeling I have had while reading his other Psalms.  This one was different.  It is a petition.  He is praying for himself and asking forgiveness.  But he sounded so desperate.  He sounded like he feared that the Lord would take his life or forget him. 

 He said things like, “do not rebuke me in your anger…”

“Your arrows have pierced me”

“Because of your wrath, there is no health in my body.”

He was desparate for God’s forgiveness.  He was truly repentent.  Then he called his sin and guilt “like a burden to heavy to bear.” 

I looked and searched, but could not find out what was happening in David’s life for him to be so physically and emotionally broken.  There were no commentaries on this chapter, but it is obvious that David is agonizing over his sin.  The weight of his sin against his God, the one whom he truly loves, is ripping at his heart. 

He says, “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” (vs 18) 

Are we troubled by our sin?  When my children disobey me, they become very troubled by their sin once the consequence is happening, but until they are caught, they are not troubled.  They think they have escaped. 

Because God does not walk among us as a physical being, I think that many times we don’t understand the affect our sin has on God.  He is not standing in front of us for us to see how deeply our sins hurts him.

I can’t help but to think about Hosea in the Old Testament.  God told him marry Gomer, she was believed to be a prostitute.  Hoesa obeyed God and married her.  She was not faithful to him.  She would run off and have relations with another man and Hosea would go after her.  I think God used Hosea’s wife’s unfaithfulness to show Hosea how deeply Israel’s sin hurt God.  Hosea was never unfaithful to Gomer.  In fact he bought her back, knowing that she would be unfaithful again. 

This love story gone bad caused me to understand how deeply my sin hurts the LORD.  My sin is like spiritually adultery.  Have you ever thought about your sin like that? I think David did.  I think he understood how far from God his sin took him.  He said that he was “like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute who cannot speak.”  Our sin keeps us from communicating with God.  He can’t speak to us and he can’t hear our prayers.

Just like Hosea longed for Gomer to be faithful and give him her whole heart, the Lord longs for our hearts. He wants to “speak tenderly to us“…to our hearts. He longs to redeem us.  He wants us to return to him, to agonize over our sin and to understand that it is only he, GOD, the GREAT I AM, who can redeem us and make us whole again.

Israel did come back to the Lord in the book of Hosea.  They came back to God knowing their sin had destroyed them.  He restored them as he promised.

David was restored.  His sins were forgivenand he praised his God with all that he had within him.  He loved the LORD with all his heart, soul and mind. That is why he agonized over his sin. 

 He desired the mind of Christ, he wanted a heart like Christ. 

 

Father,

Show me my sin.  I agonize because my flesh has won over my spirit again.  Forgive me, O God for following my own selfish desires and looking to myself for guidance.  There is freedom and joy in obeying your commands, not in seeking my own desires.

Positive Mom Blog

I’m sure that you have heard of Karol Ladd, author of “The Power of a Positive Mom” book.  She has written many books actually.  Well she has a nice blog that is full of lots of encouragement and I thought that you would enjoy it. 

 

Go to Positive Mom and be encouraged.

 

Oprah’s New Purpose

If you get email, then I bet that you have recieved at least 3 emails from somebody about Oprah’s new church.  I didn’t think much about it until I got 5 emails in one day, then I decided to look into it & see what all the hoopla was.  I don’t watch Oprah anymore, so I didn’t know what the big deal was.  I thought maybe she had given a lot of money to something…it wasn’t me, I knew that.

I stopped watching her several years ago when I noticed a tone in her shows that didn’t set well with my spirit.  I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but I just knew that I didn’t agree with her “philosophy on life”.  She would talk about reading the Bible or about believing in God, but it wasn’t the Bible I read or the God that I believed in.  I noticed that she began to make the Bible and God fit into her lifestyle.  She made it say what she wanted it to say, not what it really said.  She seemed to be all about doing what made her feel good.

Here is a video that has circulated quite a bit through emails, so you may have already seen it.  Turn the music down in the sidebar before you click the video.

 

 

 

This is what is sad to me.  This woman has so much influence among the women (and some men) of America; not just women, but Christian women!  These women who have watched her show fatihfully for years have gradually become caught up into her way of thinking.  I watched some of ther “class” that is beign done each Monday night through her website.  She and Tolle are going through his book, “A New Earth” as a discipleship class.  They open it up for “skype” callers.  I watched as two mom called in and said that they had grown up in christian families but were confused by some things.  Her response to them was, you have been deceived, you need to follow your heart and you will find your peace.  That is not a direct quote, but a summarization of a really long show.  These moms read the book, and recognized things that didn’t set right within them and instead of saying, “This is not what the Bible says.” they instead said, “Oprah, what do you think I should think?”

She quoted Tolle from his book saying, “Man made God in his own image.”  What?  You have got to be kidding, so is Genesis just a fable?  I know that there are some cult religions who think so, but she says that she is a Christian.  Only God can know if she is, but I’m leaning towards NO.  She has already said several times that she believes that there are many ways to get to Heaven.  “Jesus can’t be the only way.”she says.

Tolle says that God is really our consciousness, not a person. He thinks that there is no death, he islife, he can’t lose his life, because that is who he is.  What???  So Oprah explains by says that God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience.  Can we pray for her now???  She is so dismayed & deceived & now she is decieving millions of others.

Here is a video on a book that i have not read, but I would like to get it called, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid”  Watch it here & see what you think.

 

Here is a really good radio broad cast from saveus.org.  Scroll down the page to the March 4th broadcast called, “The Emerging Consciousness”.  Charles Crisimier has some very real truths concerning what all of this could mean.

 

Scripture tells us to guard our heart, to be aware of false prophets and most importantly than any other; to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength.  If you are walking closely with your Lord and Savior, then you should be able to identify falsehood when it stands before you.  Put on the Armor of God daily, because the devil is at work among us.  But we are also reminded that even though the enemy comes to try and destroy us, Christ has come and we will have victory over the enemy.