Merry Christmas!

Hi Sweet Friends!

Susie Larson here...

As many of you know, I am taking off a few weeks from posting on my blog.

I've arranged for some great authors to step in on my behalf.

But still, I wanted to take this moment to thank you for your incredible love and support.

Though most of you don't post directly on the blog (I know, it's sort of scary!), I hear from you via email.

I am excited about what God is doing and where He is taking this ministry.

I so appreciate your prayers and insights.

In the coming months we will be working behind the scenes to revamp my website and launch a more interactive blog. I'll continue with this weekly devotional blog because I want you to have a place to come anonymously and get your cup filled, but new and exciting things are on the horizon as well.

Starting with my January Ezine, I will be doing giveaways in each issue.

If you haven't signed up for my Ezine, do so today! Susie's Ezine

Just four times a year you'll receive my Ezine which includes health and balance tips, great book recommendations, a deeper life devotional thought, and a prayer to send you on your way.

Though you may be tempted to be caught up in the hurryings of the season, I pray you'll make and take moments to embrace peace and rest.

Be at peace once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you!

I love and appreciate you all.

My family and I wish you a most blessed and beautiful Christmas holiday.

Peace to you~

Cleaning Out Closets

Hello! My name is Eva Marie Everson. I am a writer and speaker but most especially, I am a friend of Susie's who just happened to "drop by" her blog.  Susie has graciously allowed me a moment to chat with you. I'd like to tell you about something God is doing in my life...a most amazing thing.....

Every year, just before Christmas, I force my daughter, now age 10, to go through her closet and sort the "gotta keep its" from the "never play with its." This way, I tell her, when Santa comes and brings MORE "stuff," she will have room for it.

There are moments during our exercise in "stuff weeding" that are more difficult than others. I watch her hold a particular item in her hand. I see the look on her face. "Hmmmm..." it reads. "I don't actualy play with this any more but I do like it." Other items are easy. "Don't play with it...don't like it...don't need it." Then, of course, there are the "would never, ever part with it" items.

By the time we're done, a large box of items is ready for Goodwill or Salvation Army; most of them having rarely--if ever--been touched. My little one feels GOOD! She is ready now to see what Santa will bring to fill the empty spaces of her closet.

Well, guess what. GOD is doing the same with me right now. He has come to me, just before Christmas as it happens, and has said to my heart, "It is time to take stock in you life. What don't you need? What would you never, ever throw away."

Some of this "closet-weeding" has been easy.  "Don't want it...don't need it..." and we're done. Other parts of this have been difficult. I sit, like my daughter, "holding the item in my hand" and think, "I need to let go of this...but how?"

For example, God has been bringing people to mind. People in my life. People who drag me down, hurt me, and use me.  People who continuously step over my boundaries. People who I allow to step over my boundaries. God has impressed upon me that while I am not to EVER stop praying and loving these people, I am to put them in a box and send them on their way.

Amazingly, as I have done these things--even the most painful--God has begun to open doors I could not have imagined. Mainly, with less time focused on the ones who drag me down, I have more time to focus on the ONE who lifts me up. God, himself. I find myself less encumbered by "stuff" and therefore more "centered" on God.

What about you? Is God speaking to you right now? Is His Holy Spirit saying, "She's got your number on this one? She's hearing exactly what you are hearing, but she's acting on it...." (Remember, tho...I am speaking of staying in line with God's Word. I'm not talking about tossing a spouse because you just don't "feel it" any more.)

If God is doing this in your life, act! Prayerfully consider the items --the people, the activities, the commitments you should have never made--in your life, asking God, "Keep it or put it in the box?" It won't always be easy, but in the end, you are making room for the surprises God has planned to fill those empty spaces in your "closet."

First and foremost: Himself.

Blessing to you this Christmas Season!

Blessings all year through!

Eva Marie Everson

"Life is Just Fodder for Writers...."

EvaMarieEverson@aol.com

Resolving the Identity Crisis

Greetings to Susie Larson's beloved readers! Susie has graciously given me the opportunity to post in her absence this morning, and because I know Susie and her heart for serving God and His people, I consider it a privilege. Thank you, dear Susie!

I recently heard a story about a rather obnoxious man who had apparently become a legend in his own mind. He was at a busy airport, standing in a very long and slow-moving line, when his impatience overtook his manners and he shoved his way to the front counter, demanding to be waited on immediately.

"I'm sorry, sir," the attendant said, "but you'll have to wait your turn."

Incensed, the man demanded, "Young lady, do you know who I am?"

The woman calmly picked up the microphone and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a man at the front counter who doesn't know who he is. If anyone can identify him, will you please step to the front of the line and help us out?"

Needless to say, the humiliated man snatched up his bulging briefcase and returned to the back of the line.

A humorous story? Sure. But there's a nugget of truth in it that we all need to hear, especially in this very busy time of year. Here it is: The greatest problem humanity has ever faced is not global warming or suicide bombers or widespread famine; it is identity crisis. All humans since the great orchard thieves (Adam and Eve) have spent their lives wandering this earth, trying to discover their identity. For the most part, they've failed.

People try to fill their longing for identity with accumulated wealth, fame, relationships, busyness, alcohol and drugs...any number of things. But none of it works. The apostle John is the one who nailed it when he referred to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved."

Isn't that the starting place for any of us who sense that longing for greater purpose, that built-in knowing that there's more to life than serving ourselves and building our own kingdoms?

I have a friend name Sarah, who is a very talented writer and whom I recently asked for an endorsement for my next book, BEYOND ME: LIVING A YOU-FIRST LIFE IN A ME-FIRST WORLD (New Hope Publishers, July 2008). Sarah graciously read my manuscript and gave me an excellent endorsement, but what most impressed me was the way she signed it: "Follower of Jesus."

Unlike the self-inflated man at the airline ticket counter, Sarah knows who she is. She is, first and foremost, a follower of Jesus, even as the apostle John knew himself as "the disiple Jesus loved." As the busyness of Christmas threatens to overwhelm us all, may we refuse to be caught up in activities and pursuits that don't matter, and instead focus on developing and enhancing our true identity and who we are in Christ. May the assurance of that identity carry you safely and joyfully through your sojourn here on earth and on into eternity with Him.

Kathi Macias

www.kathimacias.com

BEYOND ME: LIVING A YOU-FIRST LIFE IN A ME-FIRST WORLD (New Hope Publishers, July 2008)

And The Winner Is...

Hi Friends!

Susie Larson here...

The winner of the gift basket filled with goodies is...(drum roll, please)...

EEEEMommy Blogger

Congratulations, Friend!

And to the rest of you, sign up for my Mailing List and receive a quarterly Ezine full of health and balance tips, great book recommendations, and great giveaways. The next issue comes out January fifteenth.

Also, to my regular visitors, just a reminder: For the next several weeks I will have several of my author friends guest posting for me (some of them bestselling authors, amazing women all of them).

Please stop by, read their posts, and bless them with a note.

Love you all!

Peace to you this season~

Like Cool Free Gifts???

Hi Friends!

My friend (and mentor from afar), Lysa TerKeurst (founder and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries) has the greatest website ever!

Right now she is doing a great promotion for the holidays. If you visit her website and post on her blog, your name will go into a drawing for a wonderful and FREE gift!

Today she is a giving a gift package away from YOURS TRULY.

If you want a chance to win a package that includes a vintage-looking watch, a Choxie chocolate bar, mint foot lotion, one of my CD messages, and a couple of my books, get to her website!

Here's the link:

Cool Christmas Giveaway...

Have a blessed and wonderful day!

Peace, friend.

Susie Larson