Editor’s note

In this joyful month I greet you all in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let this joy continue in the coming New Year in your families.

To lead a victorious life and for the Lord to do a great thing in your life we should gird up our minds with strength. The apostle Paul confidently says in Philippians 3:13,14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Before going to war David did not gird himself but felt the hand of the Lord girding him with strength. Psalm 18:39 “For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.”

The Lord is not only girding your loins but giving you spiritual strength too. Yes, the Holy Spirit gives you spiritual strength and girds your loins.

85 year old Caleb says joyfully: Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and coming in.

When we grow older, our bodies become weak, and this is natural. Many types of ailments will affect us. We spend more money on doctors and medicines. But when our Lord girds us in His strength, you shall receive new strength, you shall mount up with wings like eagles, you shall run and not be weary, and you shall walk and not faint.

When the Lord gives us health and strength it is very special.

I have along with me two sisters in my service. They are aged above 70 years and still their strength is like when they joined me in the ministry more than 15 years ago. May God bless them.

The Lord has promised to give us his heavenly strength. Acts 1:4 “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”

Jesus wants us to receive the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

When the Israelite’s were in bondage for 430 years in Egypt, Moses was busy delivering the Israelite’s from bondage; his elder brother Aaron was with him. They both had a sister named Miriam. She was not only doing praise and worship, she was a prophetess too. The mother who gave birth to these children was Jochebed. The meaning of Jochebed is ‘giving honour and praise to the Lord’. In your personal life you have to praise God and give him glory and honour. Jochebed who was born in Egypt was from the tribe of Levi. The Levities were always zealous for the Lord and Jochebed brought up her three children Aaron, Moses and Miriam in the same zeal for the Lord. Though Jochebed was born in Egypt she had no qualities of the Egyptians neither did she have any impurities prevalent in Egypt.

My beloved ones, though you may be living in this world you have been separated from this world to live a holy life, so live holy lives.

Once while Jesus was ministering a lady shouted with a loud voice, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that nursed you. Luke 11:27 “And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.”

In the same way Jochebed gave birth to three children and she prepared them for the Lords work.

The Lord testified about these three  children before the Israelites in Micah 6:4 “For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”

So beloved children, this Christmas season and coming New Year, let you and your children be blessed by the Lord and let your children be used by the Lord. This is the greatest blessing the Lord can give you this Christmas season.

May the Lord Bless you all.

Have a Happy and Blessed Christmas. I look forward to meeting you all again through these columns in the coming New year.

In the service of My Lord

Pastor Saroja

 

Praise the Lord. As I was reaching home after our Saturday evening Church meeting, my husband and I took a short cut near our house through a dark area. Suddenly I stumbled and fell.  I injured my left hand and both my knees. I was in great pain. On reaching home I applied prayer oil and also requested Pastor Saroja for prayers. She assured me of her prayers. I subsequently felt better and am now fully recovered. I thank God for my healing and Pastor for her prayers.

*Sis. Sushila Pillai, Jogeshwari.

Praise the Lord. I had gone for my eye check-up about a year back and the Doctor had told me that I had cataract and advised me to operate the same. But I took it very lightly and continued with my routine work. As the days passed it started becoming extremely for me it see and do my regular work. When I went to the Doctor he told me that the cataract had become extremely hard and needed urgent operation. I requested Pastor Saroja to keep me in prayers during the operation that everything should go fine. By God’s grace the operation was completed successfully. I thank my Lord Jesus for  restoring my sight after the operation. I also thank Pastor Saroja for her prayers which kept me safe and normal during my operation.

*Bro. Austin Roberts, Vakola.

Praise the Lord. I am Reshma Soren from Jharkhand. My niece who is a two year old baby was suffering from Jaundice since 45 days and had high fever and loose motions over the past two days. After the Rose of Sharon TV programme, I contacted the prayer helpline for prayers. She is fine now. I praise the Lord for this healing and I also thank the prayer helpline for praying for my niece.

*Sis. Reshma Soren, Jharkhand.

Praise the Lord. Last month, my mother was admitted to hospital with a breathing disorder, which the doctor said was a mild heart attack. He said that she would have to undergo angioplasty as a solution.  I requested Pastor Saroja to pray for her and she assured me of her prayers.

After certain tests done the Doctor said that angioplasty may not be required at this stage and that he would observe her progress in subsequent weeks. It is now 5 weeks since her discharge and by God’s grace, she has recovered and is much better.

I thank Pastor for her fervent prayers and thank my Lord Jesus Christ for His merciful healing!

*Bro. Ramiah Daniels, Bangalore

A TRUTH REVEALED

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like  Christmas. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.

One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. “That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That’s ridiculous! So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening.  Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low ‘circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.  The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. “Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed. “Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?” He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn and one by one the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese, blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

“Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” 1 Peter 3:18.

Pastor Saroja M

The essence of Christmas

What is the essence of Christmas?  What is the hope of Christmas?  Christmas is a ‘Happy Day’ for all of us.  Jesus Christ our Lord was born in the form of a human being like you and me; that is why it is a ‘Happy Day’ for us all. 1Timothy 3:16 says “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: Godwas manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels,   Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” This is the secret of our happiness for Christmas. It is very important for us to understand the happiness of Christmas. Yes, the reason is that Jesus Christ was born in a physical form, for our sakes. God was manifested in flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and was received up in glory. Thus we Christians in this world can be proud and rejoice in this very fact  that the God who made heaven and earth,  who lives in the heavens  above,  the King of Kings, came down into this world for our sakes to give us ‘Happiness’ in this world. Before He was born into this world, no man could see His glory; He was sent down to the earth that we may experience the happiness. But he was sent into the world so that He could preach the Kingdom of God to us and we could be saved. In different ways Jesus has given us happiness in the world. Mathew 1:21, 23 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel is translated as “God with us.” To give us deliverance from our sins, our God Immanuel came down to this earth in the form of man so that He could stay close to us.

Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. Much before Jesus Christ was born into this world, Prophet Isaiah had prophesied about Jesus Christ; that He would be born for our sakes – Christ meaning  ‘born of the Spirit’,  Jesus meaning ‘deliver us from our sins’,  Emmanuel meaning ‘God with us’. Our God is so good, mighty and supreme. He who lived in the heavenly kingdom was sent into this world for you and me. Let us see how Jesus Christ lived in our midst in this world.  John the Baptist says in John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. We must remember that God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels,   preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and was  received up in glory.    But He continues to live with us in this world through the ‘Word’. Lord Jesus Christ himself is the living Word – when we know this truth we will be delivered of all our sins. That is why the evil one tries to rob us of the ‘Word’. Jesus Christ today speaks to us through His Word; He came into this world to show us the glory of His Father God. Luke 1:78-79 “Through the tender mercy of our God,  with which the Day spring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” Thus those who accept this Word and live according to the Word, accept the Heavenly Father God. As we celebrate Christmas today, we must accept Jesus Christ and also the Word. When we desire to know Jesus Christ, in turn we desire to know our Father God. Hence, together we will enjoy the happiness of heaven.  Through Jesus Christ we receive the light of the world; when we walk together with God and be obedient to His Word, we give Jesus Christ a prominent place in our lives. When we love Jesus Christ and give him an important place, in turn we give our Father God the first place in our life. The home which welcomes Jesus Christ and gives Him the first place in their lives, that home becomes a dwelling place of God and becomes heaven-like. When we accept the light of Heaven into our homes, all darkness is gone and our lives are lit up by the Light of God. This is the reason for God to dwell in our homes.

Let us read again Luke 1:78-79 “Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” Thus, when we accept Jesus Christ we accept the Light that has come down from the heavenly Kingdom. We have seen the meaning of the names Jesus, Christ and Emmanuel by Prophet Isaiah; but Jesus the ‘light of the world’ when He shines into our homes, all darkness flees and there will be no spiritual death in that home. We wonder sometimes how we can be perfect; how we can love God and be obedient to His Word, walking with Him diligently?  Many of us cannot be obedient to His word and keep His commandments. Hence, how can we follow and be obedient to what God speaks to us? Let us see Enoch’s life in the Holy Scriptures; he was like you and me – a family man with a family, children and relatives. But he walked closely with the Lord God. He loved the Lord more than any other in his life. God spoke to Enoch face to face. Enoch feared the Lord. Thus he was blessed. We find it difficult to give God the first place in our life; for us it is always our family, friends and society that gets priority.  We do not keep God’s commandment nor do we walk according to His laws. This takes us from darkness into deep darkness because we embrace the world and its wrong doings.  Our God is the heavenly Light who came down into this world to take away darkness and shine His light upon us and fill us with brightness and happiness. But why is there still darkness in our lives? It is because we have not accepted this Light into our lives, unlike Enoch, who was diligent in faith and loved the Lord and walked closely with God. Genesis 5:22 “After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters”.  After his firstborn, Enoch knew God and He gave God the first place in His life, thereafter his family increased and he continued to walk with the Lord for 300 years. Is anything hard for the Lord? Nothing is hard for the Lord. Thus in the book of faith, Enoch’s name has the first mention. We should never enjoy Christmas in the worldly way, rather we should enjoy Christmas with the true spirit of Jesus Christ. The true spirit of Christmas is explained in I Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels,   Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” Here the Lord God, shows us His great love for us, He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and was received up in glory. The true meaning of Christmas is “Born by the spirit, shown to us by the Angels, preached salvation to the perishing and finally lifted up in glory.”  Jesus never looked at anyone’s face and gave His judgement; rather He looked within their hearts. Thus He was righteous in Spirit.  He was always led by the Spirit to proclaim His judgment upon men. We too must never take any man at face value; we too must make our judgments righteously. Prophet Samuel was in search of a new King for Israel, so he went throughout Israel in search for a new King by His own wisdom. He continued to look for wise, strapping and handsome men to be the next successor of Israel. But God had already instituted David to be the next King and He showed Samuel that He had already chosen David to be the future King of Israel.

2 Chronicle 19:5-7“Then he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,  and said to the judges, ‘Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.” Thus the Lord God tells us never be partial in our judgment. We must always be obedient to Lord’s Word. In this church, we have to be diligent and obey God’s Word righteously. Those who accept the Word of God will be blessed and those who do not accept the Word, for them the doors of this church will always be closed. What is the true meaning of Christmas?  Our Jesus Christ was born as a human being on this earth, God was manifested in flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and was received up in glory.  This is the true meaning of Christmas; this should be etched in our hearts forever. We may not have known the true meaning of Christianity before, but today God has revealed to us the truth and we must consider ourselves privileged children of God who are given the opportunity to hear the Truth of the Word and be saved in this world.

Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The promise of God for us is “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, then why should we love the world first and forsake God? When God loves us, all darkness vanishes from our lives. Money is the root of all evil, today it is with us and tomorrow it will be with others. In the Holy Scriptures we know the story of the widow, who came searching for dry sticks in the jungle, so that she could bake bread for her son and herself, which they both would eat and then die, because that was all that was left in their life. But here we see how the Lord God tests her through His Prophet Elijah who tells the widow “first make a small loaf of bread and feed me”. Similarly for the second promise to be fulfilled in our lives, we must completely adhere to the first command of God in Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  The widow obeyed the Prophet and baked him bread first and fed the servant of God. She must have told her son… “Let us both drink water and retire to bed, but we must be obedient to the servant of God, let us feed him first”. God saw this obedience and blessed the widow’s family who lacked for nothing thereafter. God desires the same obedience from us; He speaks to us every day through the Word. Our motto must be that we must bow down to His word and accept it totally, only then we will receive His immense blessings in our life. The waters of living water will flow from the throne of God into every home who believes in Him and His Word. Mathew 24:40-41 “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.”  Our God is not a partial God; whoever follows God diligently, His promise for them is that He will never forsake Him. God who has told the judges, priests, evangelists, preachers not to be partial, will He Himself be partial? Never! Then what is the reason for God to take one person and leave the other person? It is because we do not obey the first promise, thus the second promise cannot be fulfilled in our lives. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Our God is an unchanging God; He also does not turn away from His promise given to us. He is not a man, to lie or change His words.

Numbers 23:20 says “Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it”.  God has already blessed us; no one can change the blessings that God has given us. Our God’s promise is that “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Will our God go back on His word or will He turn away from the promise He has given us? What is the reason then, if two are together one will be taken and the other will be left back? It is because many follow the second promise forsaking the first and many forsake the first promise and hope the second promise to be fulfilled in their lives. Thus, God will take away one and leave the other. He is the same unchanging God. It is important for us to know the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus Christ has come into this world to stay with us forever; even today He speaks to us through His Word. Genesis 5:24 “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him”. We may not believe that when Jesus says “Where there are two – one will be taken away and the other left back”. But in the scriptures we have read that it has happened before. Enoch walked with God everyday; He talked to him face to face, Enoch feared God. And yes, he was carried away by God. What we read in Mathew 24:40-41 is true; in the end times the Lord God will take away His righteous ones in a similar way.  That is why Lord God is with us today, showing His power, strength & might amongst us.  He shows us His love and thus when He corrects us, we must change and accept the truth and separate ourselves from the sins of this world. Only then we can be saved. Hebrew 11:5 says “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him”  For before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. When Enoch was in this world itself, people knew he was perfect with God and feared God. It was not after he was lifted up by God that people realized this truth. Thus, we too must love God, have faith and believe in Him, walk in His Spirit of righteousness and always do the will of God. We must mould our lives according to the will of God and bow down our knees before Him. Our troubles, trials and tribulations will be only that much as we can bear in this world. He knows our limitations. It is our duty to stand for the Lord God as much as we can. The more we try to be diligent to the Word, obey His commandments, walk in His way of truth; God will help us more to get closer to Him. When we take one step towards Him, He will take ten steps towards us. Our God has already promised us that “He will never leave us nor forsake us”. He will always be there for us, He will strengthen us when we are weak, and He will lift us up when we fall. He will be our very help in the time of our troubles.

Let us read James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded”. We must always try to get close to God and He will draw closer to us. But if we try to go away from Him, still our God has patience and He will wait for us for to be fruitful for Him. He will expect that we will give him fruit this year or the next, or even the year after that. He will never give up on us easily. He shows us His grace; He intercedes with God the Father for us and asks for some more time to work in our lives. Jesus asks for time from His Father – He says “I will dig my people’s heart more and more with the Word and ensure that they are fruitful for the Kingdom of God”. If my people do not relent from their sinful ways and hear the Word and pay head to My commandments, then I will pluck them and destroy them into the fire. What is the use of such a life? It is a futile life when we run away from the Lord. We must remember “He will draw closer to those who come closer to him.” James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” Jesus speaks in a parable in Luke 15:20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” The son only thought of drawing closer to his father while the father saw him and ran towards him to embrace him.  Similarly, James also says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Today, the same Word is preached here, and the closer we try to get to God, the more closer He will draw close to us. 2 Chronicles 15:2 says “And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”. We must always have the desire within us to come closer to God. The closer we come, the more close He will draw to us. Our God can do everything for us, nothing is difficult for Him. But, foolish are the ones who put their faith in man. The word says “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, then everything will be added unto you”.

God’s promise for us is the same today, Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”. God who came into this world in a physical form for our sakes,  He who promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, speaks to us even today  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”. When we are drowned in this world, we will never be able to hear God’s knock. Thus if we have ears, let us hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Remember, He is not a partial God. When we have money with us the world is with us, but when our money is over the world will forsake us. But our God is a Gentleman; He will never force himself upon us. He will wait outside and knock. Only if we open the door and let Him in, will He come in. He is our God who will set a table in front of our enemies for us. Our homes will thus lack for nothing; His blessings will overflow in our lives.

This Christmas, we have to open the doors for Jesus Christ to enter in. He is waiting and knocking at our door today, the lock is from within, and we have to open our doors to let Him enter in. David’s experience says in Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You”. In our lives too we must experience this as David did, we must count our blessings one by one, as they are innumerable in our lives. God speaks to us through His word, even today. His love is manifested through His word alone. We must take every correction our Lord God gives us. We must never hide our sins; rather we are blessed when we get correction in our lives.    We are only dust before Him. God purifies us constantly through His word and fire. God’s judgment never comes upon us in the same measure of our sins; if it did we would never be able to stand before our flaming God. We must confess our sins and we will immediately see God’s grace upon us. God continues to be our refiner.

John 14:21, 23 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” When we read and accept the word of God, keep His commandments and love Him, He will manifest Himself in our lives and we will feel the presence of both Jesus Christ as well as the Father God in our lives. This is the true meaning of ‘Christmas in our life’. When we enjoy the presence of both the Father God and His son Jesus Christ, our lives will be BLESSED!

May this message be a blessing to all readers! Praise the Lord!

Pastor Saroja M

Rose of Sharon Old Aged Home

Praise the Lord. Greetings, to all our dear readers in the most Holy and matchless name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 

As we have come to the end of the year, we at the Rose of Sharon Old Aged home in Mira Road take this opportunity to thank our Lord Jesus Christ for taking care of the home and its residents throughout this year and for all His wonderful blessings.

Aunty Veronica Lobo who is 82 years old, came to reside with us in the month of April, 2017.  She is very fond of non-vegetarian food and enjoys the food served here in the ashram.  Veronica Aunty is a very soft- spoken person and speaks very politely to all at the home. She also actively participates in the prayer services held everyday in the ashram. We thank Lord Jesus for bringing Veronica Aunty to our Old aged home.

We wish you all a Happy and Joyful Christmas and a blessed and a prosperous New Year.

Praise the Lord!

Christmas! The word itself brings in so much joy and excitement to the heart of every Christian around the world. This time of the year the kids at our Sunday school are gearing up and excited for the big day.

The season itself pumps in so much excitement, not only into the kids but also to the youth, married couples and the elderly. Everyone is busy deciding as to what props to use, what costumes to wear, which steps to be performed better…. and so on!

The Christmas program celebrations at the Rose of Sharon church is the biggest event of the year that we all specially look forward to during this season. Celebrating a special night, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ who came down to earth for a special purpose, this special evening binds the hearts of all of us brothers and sisters in Christ… a special bonding which reaffirms that the birth of Christ was a hope to all of us lost in this world of sin; a ray of hope that we may be forgiven and blessed so we can accordingly be united in Christ.

The children would be presenting action songs, etc. Kids who joined us this year i.e. Namrata, Tahash, Irwin and Joshua are eagerly waiting to get on stage and give a rocking performance, whilst all the kids wait eagerly for Santa to bring them loads of gifts.

Wish you all a blessed and joyous Christmas.

Joy Salins