Meet Rhonda
In Person at
Mills Mall
Hazelwood, MO 63042
on Friday, Dec. 15th
3 to 5 p.m.
Click Here for Directions.

Check Out Rhonda's
New Website Feature:

Thinking about organizing a women’s conference, retreat or other special event? What ministers more to the collective hearts of women? We women love getting together, learning, fellowshipping—and maybe downing a handful...
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Rhonda will be featured on:

Focus on the Family's "Weekend Magazine" in December reaching 800 stations in the U.S. and Canada, plus a few in Australia. Rhonda will have a each of the first four weekends leading up to Christmas! How exciting!

"Audio Journal," a CD releasing to parents of 4-7 year olds, which goes to 100,000 families.

Who Put the Cat
in the Fridge?

For all those who are rolling their eyes over the mega-challenges of family life, or for those who would just like a good, endorphin-inducing chuckle connected to a spiritual charge, this book will provide just that.

Settled Down for a Long Winter’s
Sugar Coma

(Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection settle everything)

I figured it was probably time to go on the current season's healthy eating kick. How did I know it was time? I called them "little sugar cravings," but when I caught myself shooting out of the car after a morning of shopping and landing almost instantly at the pantry doo, I figured I'd probably already let the sugarfest go on for too long. I was like a treat-seeking missile--with a chocolate target. When it gets that severe, teh Christmas candy is doomed. Not even the chocolate chips are safe. Picture me huddled in a corner of the kitchen, hiding the bag, waiting for the insulin shock to settle in. Talk about a long winter's nap.

I guess the real clincher is when I catch myself digging through the toes of the kids' Chrstmas stockings for any leftover chocolate snowmen. That's especially a dead giveaway if I find snowmen from five or six Christmases ago--and I still eat them.

Every now and then, I have to examine my sugar passion to make sure I'm not so out of balance that I outgrow all my clothes. I sort of examine my own evidence and testify against myself. Do I have to admit how many times I've had to find myself guilty? Pleading "not guilty on account of undue sucrose influence" doesn't cut it. I'm busted! If I've tackled a couple of my kids for the last Ho Ho, for instance, I don't have much choice but to send myself to calorie prison. Bang the gavel. That settles it.

I'm so glad Jesus settled the truly big issues. We never have to wondr about his love for us. It's eternally more intense than any choco-need I'll ever experience. He proved his immense, unconditional, unshakable love when he came to earth in human form, then died on the cross--all to make it possible for us to have a right and tight relationship with him. But if you examine the evidence (never mind the Ho Ho's), you'll find that he went all out to prove his power to save. The same power that saves us from sin raised him from the dead. Now that settles it!

How glorious that Jesus didn't stay a baby in a manger. He didn't even stay in the grave. We can serve a risen, LIVING Savior! Because Jesus is alive, we've been made spiritually alive. We have so much to celebrate at Christmas. jesus settled it all by his astounding birth, through his incomparable sacrificial death, and in the earth-rocking event of his resurrection.

Christmas should be a season of remembering. I love remembering and celebrating the love-driven, earth-changing, life-giving, sin-conquering, resurrection-proven power of the living Christ of Chrstmas. It's one more reminder that every eternal issue has been settled once and for all. There's soul rest in that kind of remembering.

By the way, soul rest isn't related in any way to sugar-induced naps. It's a completely different rest. Soul rest happens when we remember that Christ settled it all. A sugar-induced nap? That happens when we eat through the toes of the kids' stockings.

Excerpted from I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate: Christmas Reflections with a Little Holly and a Lot of Jolly by Rhonda Rhea (Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006), Chapter 37, pp. 158-161.

JUST RELEASED:
I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate—
Christmas Reflections
with a Little Holly
and a Lot of Jolly
(Baker/Revell, September 2006)

A laugh-yourself-silly holiday humor book with a hefty dose of heavenly perspective from God's Word (and despite the title, it really is low-cal).

What do Others Say about Rhonda's Latest Book:

“Great holiday therapy! Rhonda's a hoot! I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate is a slap-your-leg funny and read-yourself-sane volume. If Christmas sneaks up on you like a herd of harried elves and leaves your nerves in a wad, you're going to love Rhonda's lively recipes for turning mistletoe-madness into marvelous-music. She's relevant, relational, and right on! Come join the party—don't miss this toe-tapping offering!”
Patsy Clairmont
Women of Faith Speaker - Author of All Cracked Up!