TS 11/94

(Please don't forget to read this with the children also.)

Dear Family,

1. For many of us, even when we were young children in the System, Christmas was always a special time: Celebrating Jesus' birth, giving & receiving gifts, & fellowshipping with family & close friends. But when we joined the Family‚ Christmas took on new meaning. It became a time not only to celebrate Jesus' birth amongst ourselves, but the greatest opportunity of the year to tell the World about our precious Saviour. We recognised it as an occasion where people were more willing to listen to our message of the meaning of Christmas, & were more open to hearing about the spiritual significance of the day that much of the World celebrates. Even in parts of the World where their culture does not include Christmas, people will listen, as they are eager to hear the true meaning of it.

2. Not only have our Tapes, Videos & Posters provided readily available gifts, but our children's performances have brought meaning to many a Christmas "party" that needed joyful entertainment. In my opinion, the Christmas songs we sing are the most beautiful there are‚ not only because of their appealing melodies, but most of all because their message tells of a Father of Love Who sent His Son of Love into this World to share that Love with each of us, so that we can receive Him into our hearts & have a wonderful life of Love, not only now but forever!

3. What more beautiful messages could we bring people than songs of hope & love!—Songs like "Love Came Down at Christmas", "There Is Born a Child", "For the Lord of Love Is Born", "What Is Jesus?", "He's Our Saviour"‚ "What Can I Give Him?", "Wake, O Earth!", "Though We Were Born Years Apart", "O Christmas Time"‚ "Shepherd Boy", "You Were Sent from Up Above", "You Only Left Heaven", "Happy Birthday, Jesus", "What Will You Give Me?", "Run with Torches", "Love from Heaven", "Who Brought Us Salvation, His Praises We'll Sing", "What Is This?"‚ "Happy‚ Happy Christmas", "Come & See Jesus", "Thy Kingdom Come" & many others.

4. What greater Christmas gift could we give them than to share the Lord of Love with them in song? The beauty of those songs becomes multiplied many times over when sung with enthusiasm & warmth & love & Spirit by you children & young people. No one can withstand the power & light of the children of David!—Thus, our Christmas outreach has become our most fruitful time of the entire year.

5. This Christmas season is indeed a very special one for us. This is the first Christmas that our beloved Dad will be cheering us on from the Halls of Heaven instead of from here on Earth. This will be his happiest Christmas!—And it will be our happiest also! He's going to be expecting us to fulfil the vision that he has imparted to us these many years of bringing more men and women, boys and girls into Jesus' Kingdom. Dad is eagerly waiting in anticipation to see your wonderful witnessing victories. He knows you are going to do the job. He is counting on you not to fail the Lord nor disappoint Him. He is counting on you and he knows you can do it!

6. This Christmas the hearts that are weary & war-torn cry out for a Comforter. The lives that are sin-sick & sorrowful yearn for a Saviour. They seek a Rescuer, they weep for a Deliverer. They are overwhelmed by fear & uncertainty‚ filled with despair & hopelessness‚ laden with burdens of bitterness & guilt, imprisoned in emptiness, plagued by pain & discouragement, & beset by problems too big for them to solve. Many of them have no goals‚ no meaning in their lives.

7. Jesus loves them & wants to take them in His arms. Dad loves them & wants to show them Jesus. But Jesus—& Dad—must have your help! They can't do it alone. You are their eyes that can love them, their voice that can woo them, their tears that can move them, their arms that can embrace them, their ears that can hear their cry.

8. Will you do your best? Will you give until it hurts? Jesus did.—He stepped outside the most wonderful Place that has ever been created to come here to Earth to endure the discomfort & humiliation & mocking & pain, so that He could save us—us & them. Can you give until it hurts‚ like Jesus did? Will you, too, step outside the walls of your happy Heavenly Home to endure the discomfort, the humbling, the weariness, sometimes even skepticism & scoffing, to try to share Jesus' Love with the hungry?

9. Not only is this year special because Dad is now able to share more personally in your activities from our wonderful Home in Heaven where he can see each one of us‚ but it is special because I believe you will be going out more wholeheartedly than ever before, more conscious of the great responsibility that you have, & more on-fire for Jesus! You will be shining brighter than ever because you will be going in the power & spirit & might of the Lord, & of your Father David!

10. You are going to shine brighter because the World has gotten darker, & your little candles are going to be seen & sought out by many as your rays of hope & faith penetrate the deep despair & fear. Tell them how Jesus came to Earth to love them & how He died to save them, & how He rose again to deliver them into a wonderful new World that they can experience right now on Earth, & also enjoy forever in Heaven.

11. Proclaim that we celebrate the birthday of a living Saviour, not a dead hero!—A living Saviour‚ Who was born on Earth that He might die in order to rise again to rescue us from the evil kingdom of sin & death & fear & loneliness. Go to them with love & with broken hearts. Try to feel their pain, their frustration, their despair. Try to see their darkness, their bondage & their torment. Try to imagine their sorrow, their emptiness, their insecurity!—And with all your heart, reach out with Love to save & heal them.

12. As His Father sent Him, so He sends us. Be Jesus' hands, be His feet, be His eyes, be His lips. Bind up the broken–hearted; comfort those that mourn; free the captives; cast out devils; feed the hungry with food that will last them forever; raise those who are dead in trespasses & sins; heal the sick in body & spirit; cleanse the lepers‚ the rejected, the alienated, the ostracized; give new sight to the blind by giving them Jesus the Light; preach the Gospel to the poor; loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free. Give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, & the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Freely ye have received, freely give. (See Mat.10:8, 11:5; Jn.20:21; Isa.58:6, 61:1‚3.)

13. As you give‚ you will also receive God's healing power—spiritual, physical, emotional or financial—whatever you need. Jesus, Grandpa & our other loved ones who are part of the great cloud of Heavenly witnesses about us will all be interceding for you & cheering you on & doing all they can to help you! All together we make a great team, & those Up There are proud of us down here. They know we can do it—& that we are going to—with their help. And Grandpa says, "Amen!—God bless you!—I love you!—Let's go!"

14. Yes, dear Family, let's go, & let's not stop with Christmas! Let's keep witnessing just as fervently throughout the year & make each day a witnessing celebration of Jesus' birth, His death & His resurrection which promises new life for all!

15. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning‚ and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. ...And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually‚ and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."—Isa.58:8-11.

16. My love & prayers are with you, dear Family, for a fruitful Christmas season & a wonderful new year ahead.

Yours,

Mama