Christmas Time Is Near: Advent Day 6

Romans 8:25 - But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

What if we had to wait as long as Abraham did for hope to be realized?   Would you be able to hope even after years of waiting?  Would you give up?

It's a test of character when you answer those questions isn't it?  I've always said I'm very patient.  Give me a long line to stand in, a child who needs attention, endless interruptions and usually I am patient enough.  But when it comes to a prayer I want answered...well not so much!

But hope says that I will wait, however long it takes, for God to answer my plea.  It might mean that what I await, the dream I long for changes shape a few times as He patiently shows me how I must change in order to be ready for that much longed for prayer to be answered.  Maybe He needs to help me to alter my dream so that it's more in keeping with His plan for my life and less in keeping with what I think will make me happy.

Christmas Time is Near: Advent Day 5

Hebrews 6:19 (NIV) We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

What do we do when the storms come raging at us?  

A couple of years ago, I had a health crisis.  I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms and they were literally found just in the very nick of time.   It was a frightening and scary time with an outcome that was based on percentages relying upon how long the surgeon would be in completing the surgery he was currently conducting.    After the doctor left the room, John looked at me and asked "What do we do?''  "Let's start with calling in all the prayer warriors."   Those prayer partners instantly came to cover us in prayer.   The hope that prayers would be heard in heaven were our anchor in that moment. They sustained us through every step of that journey.

The First Week Of December Looks Like This

December 5 and I am still slowly decorating my home.  I haven't made the first batch of cookies and won't until I buy eggs and milk at the grocery tomorrow.  However, it's beginning to look like a holiday is at hand...Messes abound.

The tree is up. 

For the third time, yet.  I started setting it up on the Friday after Thanksgiving but it leaned wildly.  I located the original tree stand and got it all decorated and we decided that it looked wrong somehow.  We bought a half whisky barrel and decided it would look better at least a galvanized gray.   I painted it and set up the tree in it yesterday and the dadgum thing toppled over and the ornaments went everywhere.

Christmas Time is Nere: Day 4 Advent

Romans 5: 3-5  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given us.

What can I possibly write about today's advent?   Hope never disappoints.  That's the theme.  But how do you tell that to anyone in the middle of grief?   How do you share that with someone whose world is crumbling about them?  

In my young adult years, there was a popular book out called When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  The author was interviewed in every magazine and on every talk show.  Harold Kusher wrote the book following the death of his fourteen year old son who died from a genetic disorder.  

Christmas Time is Near: Day 3 of Advent

                         Psalm 31:24  Be strong and take heart all you who hope in the Lord.

In the KJV the same verse reads:  Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

How often the Bible tells us in scripture to 'take courage', 'do not fear'...And there's good reason for it.  Scary things happen to us in this world.  We face trials such as illness and heartbreak.  No one is so saintly they miss out on trials and tribulations.  They come to us all.  Often we cry out, "But WHY?"  We stumble.  We fail.  We weep.  We realize that we are weak in places we never suspected we might be.  We are tested and tried.   The awful things happen.   We are numb with grief.  Yet the sun still rises each morning and the stars shine out at night.   The earth continues to turn and life goes on, even if we feel surely we are dying inside.

Christmas Time is Near...The Week of Hope: Days 1 and 2

Yesterday we were out after church and we had one of those lovely moments.  We walked into Lowe's garden center which was filled with fresh spruce and fir trees for Christmas.  It smelled so good!  And what fun to watch as people chose a tree, had it cut to length and then to watch them rewrap them.   This is something I've never before seen happen and I found it all most intriguing.  Still more intriguing was the sight of a lovely handmade wreath.  I've no idea just where the young couple found it but my gracious!  I'd have loved one of those myself.  It has made me more determined than ever to get busy decorating my own home which has been rather half heartedly attended to at the moment.  I came home and sat down to make out a list...It always begins with a list for me.

I'm at that stage where things feel a bit much: too much to do, too little time to do it all in.  But I don't want to lose sight of what this season is really meant to be about.   Our church passed out books to each family this season to use for Advent.

This Week In My Home: The Next Thing

This week in my home...

...I am in recovery from the Thanksgiving holiday, lol.   For someone who hasn't had opportunity to have very many family Thanksgivings over the past 10 years or so, this one was a doozy.  We had 18 visitors and this little house rocked with noise and good cheer.   There was far too much food and far too much work.  We had guests who stayed through Friday and guests who stayed further through Sunday.  We ate leftovers, we ate out.  There was too much and it was all wonderful.