MY CHRISTMAS DECLARATION

Take up your cross, and make your vow...

For justice carries mercy
And mercy acts in love
And love is what defines the
means by which the justice does

And thereby I have come here
that true love might be known
For joy is set before me
at last the day has come

And here I come with Love before me
And pain aside, my joy my glory
I can see it now, my precious cross, my vow
and finally I have come to the altar of my love ...

This is my blood, poured out for you
This is my body, broken for you ...
-- Audra Lynn, Vow, Prologue (at last)

SHOUT:   LET THE EARTH BE FILLED WITH HIS GLORY! LET THE STANDARD OF THE LORD BE REVEALED!

TODAY every created thing remembers their Creator and longs to see the face, to be One with the One who dreamed them and their destiny. Today may destiny be revealed, and every created thing rejoice to discover that we are His chosen instruments of peace on Earth, good will toward mankind. May we cling desperately to the One whose birth we celebrate today, who was born to wash us in His own innocent blood, born to clean us of what impedes justice and mercy, born to save us from being instruments of destruction! Behold, HE makes All things New!

Let the one who has set himself to overthrow the throne of Love be reminded today that his time is at an end -- as every attempt to breed strife, to dishonor the celebration of the One who defeated him comes to nothing and and peace reigns today on Earth in Us as never before.

In my own life:
The plans of the enemy have been destroyed. Poverty has been destroyed and prosperity grows quickly from seeds planted joyfully in faith, to honor the throne of Heaven. That agreement, that covenant is rooted and grounded in Love, and beauty and plenty and abundance and fertility spring forth with every step I take into the future. My seed is blessed and multiplies, and the fruit of my life is laid at His feet as an offering to His Great Faithfulness to me. My children are overtaken by mercy and grace and leave bitterness and loss behind -- it drops to the ground, becoming fertilizer for fruitfulness as their hands reach toward the light of Your love.

My seed grows up strong and agile in wind and rain, and adversity is nothing to them. You've captured them in the sun of Your love, they reach for it and they prosper; their branches are heavy with fruit that will adorn the table you have set for me in the presence of my enemies.

Around that table are gathered my children, my beloved co-laborers, my sisters and friends and their families, the elderly who honor my table by allowing me to show them the love You showed me when You gave Your life to do for me what I could not do for myself; these are the ones you have given me, and not one of them is lost. And along the length of the table is carved this testimony:

BLESSED IS SHE WHO PUT HER TRUST IN ME


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