The Perfect Gift

By Annette Stonger

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

Have you ever received a gift for Christmas you’ll always remember?  You might be smiling right now just thinking about it!  When I was a little girl, my parents gave my brother and sister and I a choice between receiving many little presents or one big gift.  I was the only one who chose the one item.  On Christmas morning, my sister and brother opened a lot of gifts while only one small card lay under the tree for me.  Yet, that single gift contained the biggest, most exciting gift I can remember—horseback riding lessons!  I jumped up and hugged my mom and dad.  I will never forget that morning.

You might be wracking your brain trying to remember what you received for Christmas last year.  Yet, every year we do celebrate a life-changing, yet small gift that everyone on earth has received.  A tiny baby in a manger, Jesus, was born over two thousand years ago.  That little package, specially gift-wrapped by God in human skin, came to earth to save us from every mistake we would every make.  Now that’s a gift to celebrate and remember!

Annette Stonger is a former English teacher who currently writes for Mainstream blog (www.womenmainstream.blogspot.com).  Presently living in Indiana, she previously taught middle and high school English in Texas and Washington State.

Growing up in Oregon, Annette was a teenager when she wrote her first article for the youth magazine at her church.  Several years and states later, she began writing for and publishing the Divine Lines newsletter at her church in Indiana.  Annette not only co-leads a weekly women’s Bible study in which she has lead numerous studies, but she also works with elementary students on Sundays.

Annette and her husband, Tony, have lived in the Midwest for the past 10 years. Mom of three, Annette edits her children’s papers and corrects their English.  She desires to communicate God’s love and truth to all ages through her writing.