Welcome to the December Issue of Your Christian Counseling Connection, the Newsletter of Christian-Counseling-Online.com My prayer is that you will find in this newsletter hope, help and reason to truly celebrate during this most wondrous time of year.

Freely you have received, freely give...
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In this addition of YCCC you will find...

• Celebrating Forgiveness...The real reason to celebrate and how to share it with others.
  
  
• Turn Holiday Hassles into Holiday Happiness -- Take charge of your holiday season by attacking stress before it attacks you!
  
  
• Quotes and Contemplations -- mini musings that just might change your life.
  
  
• Book Works Book Review on Larry Crabb's book "Men and Women."
  
  
• What's new for 2005? -- Marriage Tune ups and more...

Celebrating Forgiveness

A celebration is defined as a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event. In the course of 6 weeks we will have celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years! That's a whole lot of celebrating to do. With all this celebrating it would behove us to take a few minutes to consider these questions: "what is the spirit of celebration?" And "what does celebration have to do with forgiveness?"

In Larry Crabb's book, Men and Women, Enjoying the Difference, Crabb says that good relationships flow out of one's passionate determination to do something for another in response to what God has done for them. In other words, celebrate God's forgiveness by showing God's kindness to others. Since we all have strong tendencies towards self centeredness, where do we get this passionate determination to do unto others?

There are two wells we must draw from to receive the water of passionate determination to bless others.

First, we must draw from the well of our own sin nature. When we discover the offensive of our sin to our holy God, we will be undone (Is 6:5). Like Isaiah, who in the presence of God saw his sin for what it was, he tore his clothes and cried out in repentence..."woe to me...I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips!..and my eyes have seen the King the Lord Almighty!" If necessary Pray for a revelation of your sinfulness in the light of God's holiness.

Next, we draw from the well of forgiveness. In the midst of his repentance, Isaiah was washed clean by the waters of God's forgiveness. Experiencing the profundity of God's forgiveness transformed Isaiah and erupted in passionate determination to do God's will. So when Isaiah heard God say, "whom shall I send, who will go for us?" He celebrated God's kindness, by crying out, "send me!"

As Christians we are the recipients of the greatest gift of all -- forgiveness through Christ and reconciliation with God the Father. This gift is worthy of celebrating. It is worthy of getting passionate about. The next time you are reminded of your sinfulness, don't push it aside in despair, instead lift up your voice in thankfulness and celebrate what God through Jesus Christ has done for you...

Then in passionate determination, celebrate your gift of forgiveness by sharing it with others. Share it through a joyful countenance. Share your spiritual wealth by offering grace and forgiveness to others who don't deserve it (neither did you). Celebrate the riches of God's kindness to you by showering others with lavish kindness. By doing so you will experience the true spirit of Christmas all year long!

Quotes and Contemplations

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He could live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart. What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem; not to mention that Friday at Calvary. (Joe Gatuslao)

Book Work's Book Review

Larry Crabb, in his book Men and Women, Enjoying the Difference , defines a good relationship as one that is other-centered...like the Trinity. The most common denominator of relationship problems, Crabb says, is the sin of self-centeredness.

Additionally, Crabb suggests that both men and women have been given authority in marriage. Authority to exercise headship and submission, respectively. According to Crabb, the loving exercise of that authority is what creates a truly remarkable marriage.

If you want to discover how to raise the relationship bar to a new level in your marriage, then check out Crabb's book Men and Women, Enjoying the Difference.

Turn Holiday Hassles into Holiday Happiness

All too often we look forward to the Holidays only to become overwhelmed, stressed out and lose our joy. Here are a few things you can do to stay in the spirit of the season.

• First ask yourself and your immediate family, how would you most enjoy celebrating the holidays? Why?

This question will help you figure out what is most important to you about celebrating the holidays. It will also help you figure out if you may be stressing yourself with false guilt, "should do's" and fears of disappointing others. Take some time to talk with your family about what is really important to you and to them.

Next, begin looking at your schedule. Do you realistically have the time to do all the things you would like to and still maintain your sanity!

• Pencil in events on your calendar to help yourself manage your time effectively. Include things like decorating, cooking, shopping and wrapping gifts.
  
  
• Be willing to compromise. For example if you have your heart set on decorating your house like Clark Griswald in "Christmas Vacation," but time is of the essence, consider something simpler or eliminate something else.
  
  
• Avoid perfectionist tendencies. For example: you want 12 ounce disposable cups for your party. But, when you get to Wal-Mart you can only find 8 ounce. Consider the time, energy and frustration you will expend traveling to other stores, in the holiday traffic, to find those 12 ouncers!

Here are a few more ideas:

• Set a budget and stick to it.
• Pay in cash and avoid the New Years credit card blues!
• Choose recipes you can prepare ahead of time.
• Focus on relationships rather than activities.
• Give the gifts of kindness and service.
• Keep your mind on Christ as you go about your holiday busyness.

What's new for 2005?
At Christian-Counseling-Online.com you will find helpful tools, resources and information about relationships, depression, communication and much more. Check back often as Christian-Counseling-Online will be rapidly growing to give you the best Christian Counseling resources available on the web.

After the first of the year you will be receiving information about upcoming special events in Palm Bay.

When was the last time Your Marriage had a Tune-up?

How often do you take your car in for a tune-up? At the very least, most of us get our oil changed a couple times a year. Why? Because we want our vehicle to run smoothly. We know if we keep it maintained it will run longer and cause us less headaches in the future.

Surely, keeping our marriage relationship tuned up is even more important. For that reason, I am offering a Marriage Tune-up special. It's a great way to start out the new year, by making sure your marriage is running smoothly.

The Marriage Tune-up special includes an in-depth questionnaire, and three evaluation and feedback sessions.

The regular price for the checkup is $390. However, if you schedule your check-up between January 3 and Valentines Day the special price is $299. For more information or to schedule an evaluation click here or simply call me at 321-720-8878.

May God bless you and yours with peace and joy in abundance this Christmas and in the New Year,

Jean