Happy New Year

"O give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever."
1 Chronicles 16:34 (NRSV)

For my 2010 New Year's Resolution, I am going to do "A Year of Thanks," where every day I write at least one thing I'm thankful for.

This may sound simple, but it's something that I feel I need to do. Like most people, I stay busy and often neglect spending time giving thanks to God for all he's done in my life. Therefore, my resolution for this year is to make time daily to do this.

Home

What is a home? Is it a structure built with four walls and a roof? Or is it more like the quote says, “Home is where the heart is”? I’m going with the second choice.

We moved around a LOT growing up – every year and a half to two years to be exact. And I’ll be honest…it was hard. Every time I got to be close to new friends, or got used to the way things were done at a certain school, etc., we had to move again.

At the time, I couldn’t understand why my parents (and why God) felt the need for my family and me to go through that. Why couldn’t God give my dad a church to pastor where we could stay for a long time? Why’d we have to go through some bad things at different churches he pastored? Why did some people claim to be Christians and treat us (their pastor and family) so bad? Why?

Then one day I realized something…Because of moving so much, I have friends all over the state (scratch that – all over the world). Yes, there were people that weren’t very nice to my dad and my family over the years, but there were far more good Christian people that were nice and did treat us like we weren’t just their pastor and his family…we were their family too.

Back to my point about the word “home”…

I always said I didn’t know where my home is. I’ve moved so much and lived in so many different places that I didn’t know where to call home. Then to make matters even more confusing (or so I thought), God calls me to Africa (thousands of miles and an ocean away). Because of this I really wouldn’t know where my home is. …or so I thought.

On July 30, 2009 that all changed. At a little before 6 a.m. that morning I stepped off the plane in Dakar, Senegal and honestly at the moment my feet touched the ground I knew something…I knew I was home. Home is where God calls me to be. Home is where the heart is. And Dakar is where my heart is. Will God change that one day? Possibly…I don’t know. But for now, this is my home. And I couldn’t be happier!

$20

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked,

"Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value..

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special. Don't EVER forget it"

If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it can bring. Count your blessings, not your problems.

"And remember: amateurs built the ark .. professionals built the Titanic.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

December 2009

"I’m dreaming of tan Christmas...just like the ones in Africa. Where the sand is so deep and the mosquitos seem to not sleep, but the love…it stretches so wide. Oh, I’m dreaming of a tan Christmas…”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Welcome to the December 2009 Installment of the Elisabeth Chronicles. I changed the popular Christmas song to be a little more fitting for life here in Senegal. The sand is everywhere and the mosquitos never leave. However, even with those minor inconveniences, I love living here so very much. God has blessed me more than I can imagine this year and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me next year.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to go back to Alabama for Christmas, which I’m very excited about. It will be very nice to see family and friends again…and even eat American food again.  But even as exciting as that is, I know the real reason for Christmas is not presents, good food, visiting family, etc. The real reason for Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

And now for a little fun reading…The Birth of Jesus in the Words of my 3rd Graders

Now the clock struck the time that Augustus said he needed to count everybody in his empire. So Joe, which was short for Joseph, took Mary, his fiancee to his family’s city which was Bethlehem. They lived in Nazareth so it was a long ride. Joe and Mary probably rode on donkeys since cars hadn’t been invented yet. Mary was pregnant with God’s son. God was so sweet that he sent his son to our Earth to live and die, even though it made him sad.

When Joe and Mary got to Bethlehem they stopped at a hotel but the man that owned it said he was out of rooms. Then he told them that they could stay in his barn. After they’d tucked all the animals into bed, Mary and Joe were ready to go to bed. But God had other plans for them. Jesus was born that night, but since it was too late to go to a baby store and they probably didn’t have them anyway, Mary wrapped Jesus in a blanket so he was warm and snuggly and put him in a manger, which is a feeding place for animals.

That same night there were shepherds watching their sheep nearby. Angels appeared to the shepherds which probably scared them. But the angels weren’t trying to be scary. They wanted to tell the shepherds that Jesus had been born. When the angels went back to Heaven, the shepherds decided to make a visit to see Jesus. Also there were wise men who came to see Jesus and gave him gifts of gold, cents (frankincense), and a mirror (myrrh). They gave such nice gifts because Jesus was a king. He was a king because he was God’s son.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For those of you that already support me each month financially, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you do not, and would like to, please contact me at enichols85@gmail.com or call my parents at 205-225-0255 and we can tell you how to do so. Any donations you make would be tax-deductible.

Merry Christmas from Africa,

Elisabeth Nichols
enichols85@gmail.com

Christmas in Many Languages

Merry Christmas (English)...Joyeux Noël (French)...Natal feliz (Portuguese)...Feliz Navidad (Spanish)...


Last night was the elementary Christmas program at my school. Students from a variety of nationalities sang and spoke about the birth of Jesus. It was so amazing to see everyone come together and share the true meaning of Christmas. There were Indian angels. There were Korean, American, and African sheep. The wise men were originally from Brazil, Nigeria, and Cameroon. And Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and Adam and even were all American. And the choir was made up of all of those, plus Saudi Arabian, Senegalese, and more.

As one of my fellow teachers said, Seeds are being planted and this program was proof ...that different nationalities can live in Peace! Merry Christmas!