Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

Update: Chinese church leader given severe prison sentence

Alimujiang Yimiti (36), a Uyghur Chinese house church leader who was arrested and imprisoned in January 2008 has received a 15-year prison sentence for allegedly "providing state secrets to overseas organizations." The verdict, which stunned Yimiti's lawyers and family members, was read to him in prison on October 27. One of Yimiti's lawyers, Li Dunyong, has reportedly filed an appeal on his behalf. Li Dunyong also stated that Yimiti's Muslim background was a factor in his legal battle, stating, "The whole case is about religious faith issues which are being used against [him] for his conversion from Islam to Christianity, by biased law enforcement agents, prosecutors and the court." (Source: ChinaAid)

Pray that Yimiti will continue to draw near to his Heavenly Father amid his trials.

Pray for Yimiti's wife and children, who are suffering many challenges in his absence.

Pray for spiritual and physical strength for the thousands of Christians in prison for their faith in Christ.

My husband grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. Most members of this denomination are from a Dutch background. My husband's parents both immigrated from the Netherlands after WWII. One of the traditions of CRC church is to sing Ere zig God during Christmas services. They do say you can sing in English, but there is something lost in sound. I have, however, put the translation of the song for you.

Glory to God! Glory to God!
In the highest, in the highest, in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people whom God delights in.

Glory to God in the highest, glory to God in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people, to the people whom God delights in,
To the people whom God delights in, whom God delights in.

Glory to God! Glory to God!
In the highest, in the highest, in the highest!
Peace be on Earth, peace be on Earth
To the people whom God delights in.

Amen. Amen.

Now share your favourite song on Saved by Grace.

This week, our Caffeinated Chieftain has asked what our favourite Christmas Songs are. To tell you the truth I haven't met a Christmas song I didn't like. However, I'll give you my top three (you can even dance to two!).

The song that reminds of Reason for the season is Who is This Child. It reminds us why He came and what the purpose of Christmas is.

My favourite childhood Christmas song is Suzy Snowflake. I had a record (yes Virginia there were big large black disks that spun around and made music) that had numerous Christmas songs by artists from the 50s and 60s. Growing up where we received little or now snow (I can count on one hand how many White Christmas' we had) I could imagine the little mischievous snowflake calling me to come out and play.

The other Christmas song that I love to hear is of course Elvis' Blue Christmas. Who cannot listen to this song with singing "wohoho?" This was the song we often played while decorating the tree.

Today I was out Christmas shopping. This is the one act every year that could turn me into Scrooge. However, when I was out I remembered the time I went Christmas shopping when I was young, maybe 5 or 6. My grandmother had given one of my aunts money to allow me to pick out and purchase my own gifts to give to our family. I remember buying my grandmother Calgon. I thought she needed the break! I bought one of my aunts a wobble pen. These gifts were simple but came from love.

The gift that I really comes to my mind, however, is a trophy of Snoopy. His arms were wide open and the brass plate read "I love you this much!" I purchased this for my grandfather. I always remember when I was little the bear hugs he gave us. His arms open wide and always inviting us in. He was always one for hugs, even when we got older. The great things about his hugs is that he hung on for a long time to make sure that you know how much you were loved. I still remember the smell of his aftershave, Old Spice (I think I bought him a bottle the next year.)

This is the one of the things that I miss about my grandfather since he passed away 12 years ago. Since accepting Christ, I have a new father whose arms are open and inviting me in. Who wants to hold one to me with dear life and never let me go. I sometimes want to wiggle out of His hold, like I did with my grandfather. However, no matter what I do, and where I go, His arms are always there welcoming me in.

My favourite song by TSO is Ornament. It reminds us what is important and what we have made important.

As I'm writing this the temperature is -33C. However, with the windchill its -50C. Tomorrow looks promising as it may warm up to -30C, with the windchill being -40C. For my southern friends that would be a high tomorrow of -42 F with the windchill. However, I'm snug as a bug in my little house.

I have been looking at all my friend's Facebook status'. They are all complaining about the weather. However, all I have to say is "Baby It's Cold Outside!"

The body of a 23-year-old Somali convert from Islam to Christianity, Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf, was discovered on the morning of November 14 in Mogadishu's Yaqshid district. On October 28, members of al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group, apprehended Yusuf and searched his home for Christian materials after a 15-year-old Muslim boy accused Yusuf of trying to convert him to Christianity. In an attempt to extract evidence against him and to gain information about other Somali Christians, the militants knocked out all of Yusuf's front teeth and broke several of his fingers. They then shot him twice in the head and discarded his body on an empty residential street. Since it is unknown whether Yusuf disclosed any information during his torture, the underground Christians who knew him have relocated for their safety. Yusuf's Muslim family members are also in danger as militants have accused them of failing to report his conversion to Christianity.

Pray for all those mourning the death of this brother in the Lord.

Pray for safety for the relocated believers.

Pray that Yusuf's faithful witness will be a testimony to his Muslim family members and that they will turn to Jesus for their salvation.

Last week I started working out on our new treadmill. I decided that I wanted to listen to praise music while working out to get my mind focused on God while walking. One song really struck me while working out and it especially hit me during an intense part of the work out. I just started singing along (while tried to while I was trying to breath). I hope you all love it as much as I do.

I could live life alone
And never fill the longings of my heart
The healing warmth of someone's arms
And I could live without dreams
And never know the thrill of what could be
With every star so far and out of reach
I could live without many things
And I could carry on, but

I couldn't face my life tomorrow
Without Your hope in my heart I know
I can't live a day without You
Lord, there's no night and there's no morning
Without Your loving arms to hold me
You're the heartbeat of all I do
I can't live a day without You

I could travel the world
See all the wonders beautiful and new
They'd only make me think of You
And I could have all life offers
Riches that were far beyond compare
To grant my every wish without a care
Oh, I could do anything, oh yes
But if You weren't in it all

Jesus, I live because You live
You're like the air I breathe
Oh Jesus, oh, I have because You give
You're everything to me

I couldn't face my life tomorrow
Without Your hope in my heart I know
I can't live a day without You
Lord, there's no night and there's no morning
Without Your loving arms to hold me
You're the heartbeat of all I do
I can't live a day without You

I've many times raved about Louise of Adori Graphics. She has an amazing talent. She, in her spare time, designs blogs. She creates her own vector graphics. I used one of her freebies for my blog and had her jazz it up for me (have you seen my sidebars). If anyone has been to my cooking blog, Cooking With the Evil Twins, you can see her work based on someone's ideas.

We have had an amazing November. It was beautiful and warm. We usually have snow mid November but we really had nothing. The kids wore runners and lighter winter jackets all month. Gloves and toques were optional. However, December has brought us winter weather. We finally have a small skift of snow. The temperature has dropped from highs of 8 C to -18 C within 7 days. What a difference. However, the one part of winter that I enjoy about living in the prairies is the hoar frost. I love the way it looks. Everything is covered with a thick frost. It makes everything pretty, including the storage center across the street from my house. It reminds of how Jesus covers us with His grace and love making us shiny and new before God.

First of all - Thank you Caffeinated Chieftain, for bringing back Caffeinated Randomness. I will have something to do on Friday's again. It was hard to think of something of my own to talk about on Fridays. I have many ideas floating around my head that seem to get lost or mushed together when I try to blog.

Today Andrea wants us to talk about our craziest or favourite ornaments. Before I do that I have to tell you about the trees I grew up with. They were not "Martha" trees. There was no organization and no colour concept. They were decorated with love and kindness. The decorations that we decorated were either ones we had made or ones that had been given as Christmas presents. Some of my favourite Christmas memories are of making popcorn strings that went around our large living room, let alone the tree and making decorations in Brownies to put on the tree.

Leroy's and I first Christmas together, I talked him into getting a tree and letting me decorate it for him using decorations I had been given over the years and few he ended up purchasing. We had friends over after I decorated it. I was so excited as I finally had my own tree and loved it. When our friends came over (by the way they had a blue and silver "Martha" tree), I was informed that I had an "interesting" tree. I loved our tree and this small comment took away some the enjoyment of my tree.


My great grandmother was always making crafts to give to the family. I am the happy owner of numerous beaded dolls and Christmas decorations. However, the ones that I really loved were the ones she made out of Styrofoam egg cartons. I grew up putting these decorations on our tree every year. They were sparkly and they didn't break unless you sat on them. The Christmas before she died, she made me a box of egg carton decorations for my own. I treasure these decorations and love to see my kids putting them up. The picture does not do them justice. I hope that my children will see the love that she placed in these simple decorations.


Now go to Andrea's blog and blog about your favourite Christmas Ornament.

Crackdown continues against church in Shanghai, China

On November 15, nearly 700 church members from the Wanbang Missionary Church in Shanghai met together for worship despite ongoing harassment from Chinese authorities Before the service, 10 police officers attempted to prevent Senior Pastor Cui Quan from attending the gathering by blocking the entrance to his home. They also threatened the taxi driver responsible for driving Pastor Cui and his wife to the service. Several church members received text messages containing threats and claiming that the service had been cancelled. Despite this opposition, the believers gathered for worship, though plain-clothes officials filmed the entire service.

On the morning of the following Sunday, November 22, Wanbang Missionary Church pastors Cui Longguo, Liu Quanqin, and Huang Yun were summoned to the police station in Minhang District. The pastors were interrogated on allegations of "engaging in illegal organization and activities." Pastor Liu's fingers were reportedly injured and his personal property was damaged. Officials detained the three along with Senior Pastor Cui until the afternoon to prevent them from leading the worship service. However, the detention of the leaders and threats from authorities did not prevent over 500 dedicated church members from assembling outdoors for their two scheduled services. (Source: ChinaAid)

Pray that the pastors of this church will be strong and effective leaders to their congregation.

Thank the Lord for the enduring faithfulness of these believers.

Pray that they will be permitted to worship freely.