Timothy once wrote the following:
Before Time
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.”
~The Apostle John, John 1:1-5The family of God was lost and broken but God had a plan. He looked at Jesus, His son who was as close to Him as His Word, and gave him a mission. The mission was to make it possible for God the Father to adopt sons and daughters into His divine family.
So, the Word of God become flesh and dwelt among us. He brought life and light, he brought a new reality, an opportunity to join the family of God. The little baby laid in a manger that first Christmas made a way for you to become a child of God!~Excerpt from Christmas Devotions by Timothy Downing
Today we would like to add to those thoughts a testimony of how we have recently experienced being children of our loving God.
Throughout the journey along our mission path we have felt the very presence of God’s hand, active and alive, guiding, protecting, and encouraging us. Unlike the travertine gods of the world, our God is immanent in our lives. This testimony is one of immanency and timing. Often our timing and God’s timing do not align in the way we would prefer. In the beginning of our missionary journey we tried to liquidate one of our vehicles for living expences. Despite being a good work truck, it did not sell. In fact, it garnered only one inquiry all summer long. Eventually we parked the old truck beside our garage and forgot about it. Fast forward to this week. We had two major bills come due but we had no way to pay them. So we went to prayer. Now, it can be said that if you look for miracles you will always find them, of course the opposite is true, if you seek to dismiss miracles you almost always can. Our family tends to look for miracles. As we sat under the foreboding shadow of our bills we received a phone call about the truck. On the other end of the phone was a man asking; “you had a truck for sale in the springtime….you wouldn’t happen to still have that truck would you?” The next day we sold the truck for cash enough to pay our bills. Once again we saw the hand of God move on our behalf, once again we were encouraged in the knowledge that we are part of the Family of God, that we have a loving and engaged Heavenly Father. Once again our kids saw how God has worked in our lives.
Friends, God is inviting you to see how He is intimately involved in your life. This Christmas as you look to the baby in the manger remember, God is with us!
In His grip,
The Downings
