We hope to see you on Monday night for the first Connecting Point event of 2014! 

*If you will need childcare, don't forget to contact the Women's Life Office at 919-761-2340 by 4pm on Friday, January 31.*

The Christmas season is upon us!  For the next few weeks, Walking Worthy will bring you posts full of Christmas traditions from our very own Southeastern family.  This week, Page Mathias tells us all about celebrating St. Nicholas Day.  Enjoy!

{It was December 6, 1984}—the day before my 13^th birthday.  I was living in the Tyrol region of Austria with my family for the year and enjoying life on a dairy farm.  My engineer father was helping build a plant in the area.  The family who owned our little house had jokingly threatened that if I wasn’t good, St. Nicholas would bring me switches and a bag of coal instead of gifts on his saint day, December 6.  On the morning of the sixth, I woke up to find a special gift at my front door.  Just as they said, there was a giant bundle of apple branches tied up with a bow and a small sack of coal powder.  This was my initiation into celebrating St. Nicholas Day in Austria.

Our neighbors in the little village of Kundl had all kinds of special customs surrounding St. Nicholas Day, including giving small gifts to the kids, a parade, and house-to-house visiting.  It seemed to me that celebrating Nicholas’s saint day let us focus on gift-giving early in the Advent season so that Christmas Day could be all about honoring the Christ Child.  I mentally filed all this away in my middle school brain thinking that maybe one day I would celebrate these traditions with my own family.

{Fast-forward 20 years}—I was married to Greg with a 2 year old daughter living in the Middle East, right in the center of a desert, trying to build relationships with Muslim neighbors and relate our faith to them in a way they would understand.  We realized early on that our friends loved celebrations and were curious about how we celebrated our American holidays.  The ladies I befriended didn’t often show much interest in talking about faith issues, so I was always praying and asking the Holy Spirit to show me ways I could talk about my faith in a natural way.  When Greg and I put these two things together, we found that being really vocal and excited about our Christian celebrations gave us great opportunities to talk about our faith.  We started with having an Advent/Christmas party for all the neighbor ladies and kids.  I was able to use the Advent wreath and the meaning of each candle to tell the story of the need for a Messiah.  The party was a success. 

From then on, we looked for every opportunity to include our friends in our celebrations—Advent, St. Nicholas Day, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.  Every celebration always involved taking lots of food to our neighbors’ houses.  We added tons of new traditions to our family celebrations, which helped us think about the life of Jesus and the Gospel story in a really meaningful way.  I remember specifically doing some acts of service with our family on St. Nicholas Day while living in the Middle East.  This served as a witness to our neighbors as we explained why we were doing it.  The day was a teaching tool for us as we learned to serve and give like Jesus.

{I did a lot of reading about St. Nicholas during our time overseas.  A great resource is this website, which has anything you could possibly want to know about the life of Nicholas.  The website also includes crafts and recipes.}

Legends abound about the kind and generous bishop who lived in the 300s in Myra, which is present day Turkey.  Most of the legends are about him giving to the poor, the needy, and the suffering as an act of obedience to the Lord.  We love talking about his kind and merciful heart with our 4 girls.

As soon as Thanksgiving passes, our girls start talking about St. Nicholas Day.  They each leave a shoe out on the night of December 5^th, and when they wake up, they know they will find chocolate coins, St. Nicholas chocolates, and whatever else the Aldi candy aisle is offering that week.  We always have breakfast by candlelight and enjoy cinnamon rolls and bacon.  {Don’t worry; I do not make the cinnamon rolls from scratch. J}  

We always talk about how St. Nicholas was a real man who was a Christ-follower who dedicated his life to caring for those in need.  Some years {when I get things together} we do a secret act of service for someone in our neighborhood and encourage the girls to do something kind for one another.  

I find that simple things done consistently year after year can really make an impression on kids {and their parents}.  This year I read about the idea of encouraging your kids to clean out the toys they no longer play with and donating them along with a new toy or two to a family in need on December 6.

I encourage you to look into how you might incorporate St. Nicholas Day into your family’s Advent celebration.  You can even jump in a day or two late.  

Happy St. Nicholas Day!     

First Aid for Frazzled Moms

October 26, 2013

9:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Christ Baptist Church | 400 Newton Rd | Raleigh, NC

Join the ladies of Christ Baptist Church on Saturday, October 26, 2013 from 9:00-11:30 a.m. for a parenting seminar featuring experienced mother and teacher Sarah Knott.  Gain Biblical and practical insight into ways in which you can train your children or grandchildren, or help other mothers train their children, toward obedience and respect.

 Tickets are only $5 per person. Purchase tickets from Christ Baptist Sunday mornings or M-Thursday 9-5 in the church office.

For more information, contact Macon Newby (919) 782-6376 or mtnewby@gmail.com.

Limited childcare openings available only through advanced registration by October 11.

Every day I am reminded to be joyful, reminded by Scripture, my husband, the people around me, and my precious (I’m a little biased) baby girl. Life has drastically changed since adding HG to our family.  I worry a lot.  I get stressed out about things that I would have never even thought to stress out about a few months ago.  My days are full of changing diapers, feeding, and cleaning. At times it’s hard to find joy with my monotonous routine. 

The Lord is gently reminding me that joy is not something I produce, but comes from Him. It is the joy that I have through Christ that overflows into my own life. Looking back at the first month of HG’s life, I see how the Lord has provided a joyful heart for me even when I didn’t realize it. You see, when a baby is crying wailing throughout the night and you have done everything in your power to comfort her, you do not have joy. There is no way you can produce any kind of joy at 2 a.m. after a week of sleepless nights. It is at those breaking points that I have to ask the Lord to provide me with a joyful heart. I want to be patient and love my newborn well, but my selfish heart fights being joyful in those times.

I can distinctly remember one night where I was up with HG, and we were both crying and having trouble with feeding. I remember holding her to my chest and telling her the story of Jesus. I started from Genesis and went through the promise of Jesus returning one day. There was stillness. No crying (from her or me), just a peace. In that moment I was greatly reminded of the joy that Jesus brings us, and of the hope that He gives to me, a lowly sinner, every day. A rush of emotions hit me, possibly some from post-pregnancy wacked up hormones, but the emotion of thankfulness of the Gospel hit me so hard that tears began to fall down my face. 

In Jerry Bridges book, The Discipline of Grace, he talks about how we must preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, not just on Sundays and at small group, but daily. When we wake up in the morning, change diapers, study for a test, cook dinner, and finally lay our heads down at night, we should mediate on the Gospel. Preaching the gospel to ourselves daily reminds us of the joy that we have in Christ. I pray that I would preach the Gospel to myself daily, because goodness gracious I need it! 

Joyful reminders hit me from all over; from a little smiling face, to my wonderful husband, to our supportive family and friends, but most importantly, from the Gospel.  

Laura and her husband L moved to Wake Forest in May 2010.  Once they arrived at SEBTS, God directed their hearts to overseas missions.  L and Laura are in the 2+2 program and will be deploying in 2013.  This past September they welcomed HG to their family.  Laura is a member of The Summit and works part-time in the Women’s Life Office.

Trust.

I'm a mom now. They say once you become a mom you worry all the time. Well, they
weren't kidding. It's strange because I've never been one to worry. I'm usually the type
of person who goes with the flow and thinks that everything will work itself out.

Throughout my academic career I never worried that I would fail a class, I trusted that I
would get through college and grad school with no problem. I never worried about my
love life because I trusted that God would find the right husband for me. Even with
finances, no matter how broke we were, I always trusted we would have enough money
to pay the bills.

But now I look at my tiny baby boy and I worry. I stay up at night watching him sleep and
worrying that he's not breathing correctly. I worry about his health and development. I
worry if I'm being a good mother. Am I being the very best I can be? I worry about his
future. Will he love Jesus? Will he make good choices?

I have to stop myself and remember who is in control. I have to trust that God will have
grace on me and my shortcomings as a mother. I have to trust that God will protect my
son. I have to trust that no matter what happens, God is always in control and it is all a
part of His plan.

I'm learning to trust God in a whole new way...now that I'm a mom.

Kristel Acevedo lives in Denver, CO with her husband, Alex, and their son, Liam. They are members of The Summit Church - Denver. She is a graduate of Southeastern Seminary with a MA in Biblical Counseling and is now a stay-at-home mom.

Guest Blogger Alison Lawson Shares on Love in Parenting  

I remember the moment I feel in love with my first child.  I was both excited and apprehensive when I found out we were expecting a baby.  The beginning of the pregnancy proceeded smoothly, but at about four months, I was hospitalized with complications.  While listening to my baby’s heart beat over the monitors throughout the night, I fell in love.  It was a huge, powerful, unexplainable love.  My husband felt the same love a little later when the doctor delivered our 8 lb 2 oz baby boy almost three weeks early.

A mom’s love for her children is incredible.  She immediately wants to provide, protect, and defend her offspring, as she attempts to furnish them with all they need and want.  Even when they test her beyond reason, she strives to give them the best life possible.  This mind-set is healthy for the most part, but it can also cause some very confusing feelings. 

Imagine this situation.  You have instructed your child to clean his room, giving him simple directions – put the cars in the box, the stuffed animals on the bed, and the books on the shelf.  You remind him the timer is set and the room must be clean before it beeps.  He acknowledges that he understands.  At the halfway mark, while gently reminding him of the time he has left, you notice your easily distracted child has made little progress.  When the buzzer finally goes off, you are doubtful he has completed the job.  Your suspicions are quickly confirmed. 

Having no desire to hurt his feelings or upset him with time out, taking away privileges, or a spanking, you decide to give him five more minutes, and then another five, and finally you just do the job yourself.  After all, he is a child.  He should be playing, and you want him to have loving memories from his childhood instead of memories involving punishment.

Neglecting appropriate discipline, however, is not a true display of love.  Love is an action, not a feeling.  Parents, hoping to avoid hurt feelings or loud cries, may not feel like punishing their children.  Mom may have such warm, fuzzy feelings for her child that she thinks she can excuse his disobedient behavior.  But that is not love. 

Love is training our children to be responsible, obedient adults.  Love is teaching them who to be accountable to - their parents and eventually God.  Love, rarely the easiest path, involves time, patience, and sometimes pain.  Parents show love to their children by taking actions that their offspring may not necessarily consider very loving.  However, the benefits of true love are often not immediate, but rather seen over the course of life. 

Parenting is not easy.  Love is not easy.  But no greater love can be displayed to one’s children than through disciplining and training them to surrender their lives to God and be obedient to Him, which includes obeying mommy and daddy.

Love also includes showing grace and mercy.  There will be times when we say to our children, “You do not deserve this treat, but I will give it to you anyway because I love you.”  Or “You deserve punishment, but you seem to have learned your lesson and I will not administer it this time.”  Grace and mercy are important aspects of love to be used with discretion and wisdom and as part of the process of training children to become men and women of character. 

By administering appropriate discipline, grace, and mercy, children will be confident of mom and dad’s love for them.

“He who loves his son disciplines him promptly.” Proverbs 13:24b

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  Hebrews 12:11.

To see Alison's earlier post on Marriage click here. 

Alison Lawson has been a part of the Southeastern community for over twelve years.  Her husband, Michael, earned Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southeastern, and has been employed at SEBTS as the Director of Campus Security since 2002.  Mike and Alison have been married for fifteen years and have three sons whom she home schools: Brandon (7th grade), Nicholas (4th grade), and Zachary (2nd grade). They are members at Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church.  Read more about what God is teaching Alison and her family at www.fivefootprints.blogspot.com. 

 Don't forget tonight is "Get Thrifty"!  From 7 pm to 8:30 pm at The Ledford Center you can learn more about couponing and dressing on a dime while hearing an encouraging word from Stephanie Mills.  All women are invited!