It’s time to start taking down the Christmas decorations. For us, it’s a pretty lengthy process, because I don’t just throw them into a box. I take time to wrap each fragile ornament back in its paper to ensure it stays safe for another year. We also have Christmas decorations in every room of the house, so it simply takes awhile to get it all packed back up. But, there are two nativity sets that I keep out all year long.

I actually started that years ago, because I wanted my daughter to grow up knowing that Jesus is not a one-time-of-year Messiah. He’s Emmanuel, God with us, ALL the time – everyday of the year! So, it seemed crazy to me then and still does today to only have Nativity sets out one time a year. I actually collect Nativity sets, so I do reserve some of them to come out only at Christmas time, but my other two stay out for all twelve months of the year.

The busyness of the season – especially the secular part of the season – is coming to an end soon, but Jesus lives on. I want the profound birth of that baby over 2000 years ago to be reflective in our home ALL year long – not just in the form of a nativity set but also in the mirrors of our faces.

I can’t believe it. I’ve almost completed this 40-day blog writing challenge that I committed myself to a few short weeks ago. At first, I thought it would be easy – if I just stay focused. However, as the days went by, I knew it was definitely going to be a challenge.

If you recall (or have been keeping up with my blogs throughout this challenge), I initially decided to do this, because I felt God was directing me to do so for some reason or another. I know that the number 40 in the Bible is significant and generally involves a period of 40 something (days, weeks, years, etc.) that almost always ends with a blessing or promise.

I am also a person that has trouble completing “stuff”, because the perfectionist tendencies that I struggle with always find a way to make that “stuff” better, thereby causing things to never get finished. So, this challenge was also a way for me to show (to myself if nobody else) that I could FINISH something! I realize that I still have 3 more blog posts to write after this one in order to reach my goal, but I’m convinced that I can do it!

So, have I learned anything? Gotten any life altering revelations? Made any new commitments or life changes? Been blessed by God or been given a promise? What has happened as a result of this challenge? Well, I’m actually still figuring some of those things out, but for starters:

1. God has revealed to me that if I can do this for 40 days then NOTHING should get in the way of me spending quality time with Him each day.
2. He’s revealed to me the gifts I need to be using and part of the way these gifts need to be used (I’m still waiting for more of this to become a little clearer).
3. He’s given me an opportunity of a lifetime involving a place I hold near and dear to my heart: AFRICA. More on this at a later time too.

Friends, I think I’ve just scratched the surface of the work that He’s doing in my life, but I’m convinced that this challenge was a place for me to obey. Obey Him! God BLESSES obedience friends (read Deuteronomy 28)!

I don’t know what the blogging days bring yet in 2010, but I’m continuing on. Thanks for continuing the journey with me!