C H R I S T M A S   2 0 1 1 

In This Issue
A Note From Dineen
A Note From Lynn
The Man Who Didn't Believe
The Birth of Christ on Social Media

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Without Words:

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Mismatched Marriage

 

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Speaking & Radio Engagements

Lynn

Lynn Donovan

 

 

Speaking Schedule 2012

 

Book Study Groups  Open Q&A

 Don't hesitate to ask us to join your small group,
live or via Skype.

We cout it an amazing privildge to serve the Kingdom by your side.

Dineen

Dineen Miller

 

Download my speaking sheet for more information about my topics! Thanks! 

 

 

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our radio interviews, please visit us at

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to listen to  

the recordings. 

 

Our Ministry Partners: 

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Visit Kathi Lipp's Website

 

 

Visit Joanne Kraft's Website

 

 

Visit Bill and Pam's Website


Greetings!

   

Hi it's me Lynn. I'm wondering how many of you have finished your shopping, wrapping, baking and everything else holiday that ends in ing..... Yikes, I'm not behind but I'm not finished either.

 

I do have the out-of-town boxes filled and ready for the post office. But, this week I will be one of the many crazed, scrambling to finish up all my "ing" stuff.

 

But you know what that means. Next week is when all the rushing ends and I actually have a few days to just sit with Jesus and take in the Christmas story.

 

I pray you have a few days to do this as well. I know so many of us are facing challenges with finances, health, marriage and kids. But one thing I know for sure, God is in control and He will work all things out for our good and His glory.

 

This Christmas I pray that you experience the love of God and His Son, Jesus, in a profound and meaningful. Be Blessed, Lynn

 

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

A Note From Dineen

Dineen 

More than a

Dream Come True

 

On December 7th, 2011, I spent my quiet time thanking God for the gift He gave me exactly one year ago-a book contract for a novel I wrote to compliment our nonfiction book, Winning Him Without Words. God put this story on my heart in 2008 to write for those like me...like Lynn...like you. To give hope, to show the spiritual warfare we face everyday, and to see what victory can look like when we trust God even when the outcome seems impossible.

 

The Soul Saver is the story of a woman fighting to save her marriage in the midst of intense spiritual warfare, in the face of adulterous temptation, and in the daily trial of living her faith and keeping it real. Lexie Baltimore's story is yours and mine.

 

Next May this book will release and is more than a dream come true for me. It's our story come to life for those of us struggling in mismatched marriages and are looking for hope. And it's a window, giving those in equally yoked marriages a glimpse of what a mismatched marriage looks like. 

 

I'm blown away by what God has done with this story and the people He's brought into the process of making this dream come true.  

Praying and believing,

Dineen  

 

A Note From Lynn 

 

Lynn 

God Brought My
Life Full-Circle 
This Christmas 

 

About 15 years ago, I was a recently married young woman with three years into my marriage. It was during that time I ran home to my Father from my prodigal wanderings. I discovered the struggling realities of living with a man who didn't share my faith.

 

I sat alone in my kitchen, sad, hopeless, and confused. It was there I tuned into a radio program on our local Christian station. I was longing to find some way to move forward in my faith and marriage. I believed I was the only woman in church who walked this road, The Unequally Yoked. I didn't know a soul who could help me.

 

So I tuned in the daily program, hoping, listening, waiting for God to show me how to live this life. And on that dark day, God's light began to shine. From over the radio airwaves came a broadcast. It was Focus on the Family and on this particular day their guest was, Nancy Kennedy, the author of When He Doesn't Believe.

 

I listened and hung on her every word. Was it true there was hope? Was Nancy living and loving in her spiritually mismatched marriage? Could it be that someone, anyone, finally understood what it was like to live this way?

 

I turned up the radio and the words of hope from heaven washed over me. I rushed to the bookstore, picked up her book, read every chapter. Then read it again.

 

My hope was born.

 

I was no longer alone. Even though Nancy didn't know me, she helped me tremendously to cling to Jesus and step forward in my marriage journey.

 

My friends, I share this story of a scared and uncertain time in my life because as I write to you today, the story has come full-circle.

 

Next week Dineen and I will fly to Colorado Springs, visit the Focus on the Family studios, and record an interview about our book, Winning Him Without Words. God is now allowing me to take my story and share it with some young wife who sits alone in her kitchen, just as I did 15 years ago, and to give her hope. To say that with Jesus, she can do this thing. This unequally yoked marriage and do it well.

 

We fly out on December 13th and will record our interview on December 14th at 9:00 a.m. Mountain time. Please, please pray over us. Pray that we speak only what Jesus would have us say. That we interview with energy, courage and our many stories. That we bring honor to Jesus.

 

You might be feeling alone yourself in this season of life. You might be listening to a radio program or reading a blog post and God sees your pain. Let me tell you something, if you trust Him, surrender your pain to Him, follow His teaching, He will redeem your hurt and also one day bring YOUR STORY FULL-CIRCLE as well. And that's a promise.

 

Pray for us. We love all of you. And we will keep you posted as to when the interview will air.

 

With love this Christmas, Lynn

 

Be blessed.

 

One other note, Nancy Kennedy endorsed our book and when she did, she sent me the kindest and most encouraging note. I love her. 

 

And I am so thankful for all of you who have travel along with me on this journey. You are my eternal friends.

 

There Once Was a Man 
Who Didn't Believe in God 

 

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.

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 back out with some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumbs trail leading to the barn, but 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 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, and 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!"

 

~Author Unknown 

 

 

The Birth of Christ on Social Media

 

My friends, you might have seen this last year but we thought it was worth another watch this Christmas.

ENJOY! ~ Lynn and Dineen

A Social Network Christmas
A Social Network Christmas

 

From Lynn & Dineen

 

Lynn&Dineen at Booksigning

 

Merry Christmas! 

Thrive in love,

Lynn and Dineen

 

 

 

 

A Christmas Prayer:

 

Oh Lord,

 

More than anything this Christmas, I ask for the only gift that matters, that my husband and my children would know you. In some way, Father, let the truth and the power of this season, reach through the glitz and distraction to penetrate the heart of my family.

 

Lord, also in the busyness of this season, call me to sit with you. To spend time with your son, Jesus and reflect on truly how profound this event was that over 2,000 years ago, God became a man. When I ponder this truth, I scarcely can take it in.

 

And Jesus, my Savior, to think you were born into an earthy smell of a stable, to humble parents who were nearly children, causes me to see the brilliance of your plan. How You delight in taking ordinary people and bring about the extraordinary. O Lord, my Jesus, let me be the conduit of Your extraordinary.

 

I love you. I give you my loyalty and will serve you forever. May all I do this season bring glory to your name, Jesus. Amen.