12th Day of Christmas Giveaway with Wendy Pope

Christmas Sale: If you’d like info on getting any of my books (tax-free & with no shipping costs!) for you or as a personalized gift for someone, click here.

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Welcome to our 12th and final Day of Christmas Giveaway!!

Each day for the past week and a half, I have featured a fellow Proverbs 31 sister and an aspect of Christmas. If you are just joining us, catch up on the posts. You’ll get to know each gal and she, in turn, will offer a fabulous giveaway! Simply leave a comment on her post to be entered in the drawing.

And, one soon-to-be-very-giddy gal who comments on all 12 posts will win the GRAND PRIZE! You may comment on all posts until Monday, December 13th at 5:00 pm EST when the winners will be announced. (to see the grand prize and get caught up on the posts click here)

Now, for our last P31 sister, the Jesus-loving Wendy Pope!

All About Wendy, In Her Own Words…

I am Wendy Pope: wife to Scott, mother to Blaire and Griffin.  My passion and deepest love besides my family and God is His amazing Word.  I love to read, study, and teach it.

Currently I am leading a year long on-line Bible class where we are reading and studying the One Year Chronological Bible.  I speak and work in development with Proverbs 31 Ministries.  My hobby is studying the Bible.

I love park my car toward the sun, letting its rays warm me, while I read and study the Bible.  I also love to spend time hanging out at home in my bed pants. (Which does not happen too often.)

One of my favorite pastimes is family movie night and game night.  My favorite television shows, if I get to watch, is Criminal Minds and CSI-Vegas. (Not the real gruesome episodes.)

Two things that I would love to do in my life is hold the hush board at The Masters at hole 16 and be a dead body on CSI, with my clothes on! Again, nothing gruesome, I just want them to solve my murder.  Weird I know!

Favorite Christmas Tradition

My favorite tradition is choosing a Hallmark Christmas ornament for each child that represents something about them for the year.  I include in the box a note telling why I choose the ornament.  Each year as we hang the ornaments we read the cards and stroll down memory lane.

Wendy’s Giveaway

Wendy’s passion is to guide women through daily reading the Bible and thereby discovering a deep, personal relationship with God.

So, naturally she is giving away a copy of the Bible she uses as she walks women through the word on a daily basis, the One Year Chronological Bible. You can learn more about journeying with her here.

A Word From Karen

I have so enjoyed these last 11 days reading your favorite Christmas recipes, memories and musings.  Now, before  jumping to the comments for this last post in our giveaway series, I want to tie up our 12 days with a memory from my past.

Not too long ago, my mother brought over a box of items that had been mine growing up. In it, I discovered my diary from sixth grade. I both chuckled and cried as I read my entries from three decades ago.

As I perused its pages, I happened upon an entry that read:

If on Christmas morning I find under the tree Love’s Baby Soft Perfume, gaucho pants and a pair of white go-go boots, then I’ll be happy.

I smiled as I thought back on my sixth grade self. Why did I want these treasures?

Because other girls had them.

Girls whom I thought were pretty.

And popular.

And who had happy home lives with both parents still in the picture.

Maybe, just maybe, if I could look like them, and smell like them, then I could be happy like them too.

However, smelling like Love’s Baby Soft and wearing the snappiest, latest fashions was not the remedy for my aching heart.  Nor was it the solution to my sadness.

So, I tried other remedies.

Perfect grades.

A slew of extra-curricular activities.

Cheerleading.

Student government.

And boys……

Lots of boys.

But what I finally found was missing from my life was not an activity, nor a person.

It wasn’t even my father.

It was my Creator.

A Creator whom I was told one day, when I was a 16 year-old lonely teen, could actually be a father to the fatherless.

A God who created me.

Who loved me.

And who had a plan for me that included hope and a future.

So one chilly night, I turned off my Michael Jackson record. I didn’t turn on the Facts of Life TV show. I didn’t hit the books hard so I could get the best grade of the class in Biology.

Instead, I got down on my knees.

I asked the God of the universe to forgive me for looking for love in all the wrong places.

I begged Him to prove to me that He was real and that He really did love me and had a plan for my life.

And then, something happened.

No, there was no audible voice.

I didn’t get a warm sensation running up my spine.

I didn’t hear angels singing.

But something very real changed for me.

My heart no longer felt a sense of dread.

You see, I always had a feeling of fear. An indescribable sense that my life was not going to end well. That I’d never know real peace or discover true happiness; what I thought most of my classmates had with their nice clothes, fancy homes and in-tact families.

But that night, in an instant once I arose from my knees, the dread was gone.

Instead a sweet sense of peace rushed over my mind and penetrated my soul.

Although since that night 30 years ago, my life has still been at times filled with turmoil and trouble, I have never again felt that dread. And, my life with God has been an incredible journey, one that I know will never end.

My companion, keeping me close to Jesus, has been the Bible; the same Bible Wendy wants to give to one of you.

As my daughter Kenna wrote in her baby brother’s Bible when we gave it to him a few years ago:

“Spencer, This book will keep you from sin. Or, sin will keep you from this book.”

Its your choice.

I hope, if you haven’t already, that you choose the Book.

And the Baby.

The Baby who grew up and willingly gave His life as a ransom so you will not have to face eternal punishment, but can have a glorious, eternal life.

If you want to know more about this life-changing decision, click here.

And, if you decide you want more for Christmas than any of the great giveaways you’ve been seeing here for these past 12 days and instead you want the assurance of an eternal life with God, please email me at [email protected]. I’d love to know and to pray for you.

And now, to be entered in our final giveaway, please leave a comment today on any gift you remember wanting sooooo badly as a child.

Maybe there are some other white go-go boot lovin’ gals out there!

And be sure to come back Monday at 5:00 pm EST when all 12 winners and the grand prize gal will be announced.

Christmas Blessings!!