A Lesser Known Lady with Great Faith...and a Lesson for a New Year!

 

It's an unlikely New Year's Eve passage, the one above...

...the story of Anna.

(Anna the Prophetess, by Rembrandt)

She's one of the handful of people who recognized JESUS at infancy. 

I am intrigued by these three verses, where God wrote Anna's biography to inspire us...

Not at first read, maybe...but; 

it's obvious, the Almighty uniquely set apart her life for this one moment in history.

I'm deeply challenged...

...AND, I find Anna's story startlingly ApPrOpRiAtE as a New Year dawns; 

As I contemplated this brief account, the Lord gave me a WORD (well, let's make this plural, a few "words") with which to enter 2021.

I'm always curious as I await a New Year how He will challenge me to live in the next season.

More so with 2020 running down to a close with the new-year-clock.

(Anna the Prophetess, by Rembrandt)

The Holy Spirit, through Dr. Luke's pen, sums up all of Anna's earthly years right here in verses 36-38.

Actually, that's a lot of ink for a New Testament woman! 

(Anna the Prophetess, by Jerry Bacik)

Here's what we know about Anna:

1) The Jewish community knew her as a prophetess. Anna inspired and encouraged others with the words the Lord placed on her heart. Her mouth was her ministry, and she wasn't afraid to speak the words of the Lord. She often spoke of hidden-things, things revealed to her, either by inspiration, or birthed in dreams and visions (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary: prophetis). Anna was a truth-teller, not necessarily a future-teller. Yet, here, Anna's prophecy shows up in the giving of thanks, as she proclaimed to those who were in the temple that day, "Here is the Redemption of Israel! Wait for Him NO MORE!" Anna's boldness in being God's mouthpiece is exactly how people described her (just as Luke did). They knew her to point others to the hope of their future redemption! Anna always looked forward knowing her Redeemer was nigh... Imagine her JOY when she knew she had no further to look!!

(Anna the Prophetess, in brown on the right, depicted at Jesus' dedication, author unknown)

2) We know the name of Anna's dad: Phanuel (this is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Peniel, meaning "the face of God.") Perhaps her father had a story to tell, like Jacob in Genesis 32, where he, too saw the face of God and lived to talk about it. I find this random fact interesting, since Anna herself comes face to face with God (God-the-Son held in the arms of his earthly mother).  This moment in time presented Anna her Phanuel-moment! The Lord honored Anna's faithfulness by revealing Himself to her. Years ago I was told that God honors those who honor Him. Anna's story is a testimony to that little platitude.

3) Anna arose out of the little known Northern Tribe of Asher. Asher is often called The Lost Tribe, because most of the people from Asher were assimilated into Syria when the Northern Kingdom was taken captive. Very few of them returned to Israel....but Anna did. This one little fact assures us that Anna was a survivor. Whatever life threw at her, Anna made the most of it (see point #4, too). 

(Icon of Anna the Prophetess, at the Basilica, where her remains are held)

4)  Anna was widowed at a very young age. Probably married as most girls were around the age of 14, by 21 her husband had passed away, possibly leaving her childless. At this point, she had either lived another 84 years following his death (which made her about 105 according to most commentaries)...or she was 84. Fact is, she was old and had been focused on her ministry a long time.  Instead of looking for another husband to fulfill her, Anna chose a life of dedication to the Lord. Because she was a known prophetess, she probably had a room along the outside walls of the temple (rooms were reserved for temple priests, prophets, and other assigned workers). Hers would have been a hard existence as a woman dwelling in a man's world. But, day and night, she stayed in the temple living out her calling...purposely focused...looking forward never backward with regret or remorse.

5) One last thing that has to do with Anna's "forward-focus." Anna filled her time with worship, prayer, and fasting. Anna did the hard work of a life committed to her Lord... Yet, this I know, when the Lord, Himself, has been the sustainer of a soul (as He was for Anna - widowed, barren, undoubtedly poor, living a meager existence in the temple), these things - worship, prayer, and fasting - are a source of Great Peace to the GIVER. 

In Anna, I see a life of contentment and peace no matter the situation surrounding her.

So, as I sit on the cusp of 2021 (🎉🎉🎉), it's my desire to renew my commitment to the Lord with longing that my life reflects an Anna-heart...

I, too, want to:

...speak truth and encourage hope in others; to live as an overcomer (no matter what 2021 may throw at us, welcome the obstacles as opportunities for presenting Jesus); fulfill God’s purpose; stay forward-focused; re-commit to trusting the Lord fully; and always point others to the Savior...until His face I see!

XXXXX

One day, we will see Him face to face, and like Anna, will give thanks to God for His remarkable gift of grace!

Perhaps this year!

Who knows, maybe my life (and yours) is uniquely set apart for such a moment in history???

How will people describe us?

I'd like to be known as Anna was known; to be as faithful as Anna, always forward-focused, looking and waiting for my future redemption....

 

I still believe #adventisnear!

When the Lights Go Out...an Advent Thought

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In true 2020 fashion, the lights on our Christmas tree withered over the weeks between the post-Thanksgiving-decorate-for-Christmas-tradition and today.

The day after Thanksgiving, I made the mistake of boasting about how pretty our tree looked.

Well, not just the tree...but, the house looked fairly stunning, as well.

By now, I ought to know better than to boast about anything (but, I'm a sloooooowwwww learner).

BECAUSE, then....the lights on the pre-lit started going out.

One. Section. At a time.

Little by little we added strands of extra lights....

Then the lights at the tippy-top went KAPOOT!

I went to town to purchase yet another strand.

No more Christmas lights in town (the perils of small town living)...

So, dear-husband began to restring some of the lights by spreading them out further;

...after all, we had company coming for dinner, and a partially lit tree WOULD NEVER DO!

I shrugged my shoulders...OK! We'd manage (insert emoji and long sigh)...

Side note: I like lots of lights on a tree. The more lights the more my spirit is lifted, and the more Christmas wraps me up in its magic! I am a bit child-like in that way!

However, the next morning, the entire bottom third of our tree SAT IN DARKNESS (and, because the bottom is SO WIDE, it feels more like half of the entire tree)!

There is no fixing it. 

The Christmas tree is no longer lovely.

It's dismal.

Ugly.

Discouraging.

Yuck.

It threatened to strip away the Christmas magic.

Yes, there's a little bit of light still sparkling amidst the darkness.

But, gotta be honest; it's sparse!

And, did I mention I LIKE LIGHTS, LOTS OF LIGHTS!?!?

XXXXX

Here's where you reckon I'm going to make the analogy about how Jesus came to a world sitting in darkness, to be the light of the world. Right?

It's true, but no...

Here's, probably, where I refer to the time Jesus acknowledged to His disciples that, indeed, He is the Light that Isaiah prophesied would come to lead people out of darkness. Right?

Again, true, but no...

Here's where I mention that Jesus also said that we, His children, those who "receive" Him, are also to be lights in the world, and for "heaven's sake" we aren't to hide our light under a bushel! Right?

Well, a little bit right.

My tree represents how I currently am seeing us, as Jesus-Followers during Christmas.

As we "attended" a candle lighting Christmas program last Sunday, I watched as the candle light spread from one candle to the next, lighting the entire auditorium in a robust glow.

That's the way it's supposed to be among believers.

We are to share the Light...

...to shine like stars in the universe for a crooked and depraved generation, holding out the Word of Life...

(Thank you, David Bates, for the use of your beautiful picture!)

Yet, instead of seeing that happen, it feels more like the lights are going out...one little bulb at a time. 

The Christmas season seems to amplify this from year to year.

As secularism and commercialism ramp up from about August through December, the real meaning of Christmas seems to be drowned out. 

Followers of Jesus easily get lost in the chaotic rhythm of it all: the shopping, decorating, the music, cooking, the parties, the Hallmark moments, the trimmings, the trappings, the wrapping, and the noise. 

But, during a season when it should be the easiest for us to convey the message of the gospel, and the reason we celebrate a baby in the manger, the holiday spirit seems to drown out the nudges of the Holy Spirit to spread the Light.

Oddly enough, all the hustle and bustle lull us into a sense of complacency.

I get it.

I see it in myself; and, I want to make sure I'm taking care of this little personal light bulb. I don't want it to go out, maybe causing a shortage in a third of the tree... 

With this on the forefront of my brain, I turned yesterday to read one of the devotionals in an Advent book I've enjoyed this year:

The author says far better what I am trying to say (his thoughts were timely and, purely, incidental, to my mental-ramblings).

So, if you don't mind, let me quote a few lines from David Mathis' devotional, "The Christmas We Didn't Expect." 

First, from Scottish theologian Donald Macleod:

"Every year the world - and the church- experiences Christmas... (But) Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the church to speak and she blushes, smiles, and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already perfectly familiar from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes (from Glory to Golgotha, p. 9)."

 Then, Mathis continues:

"When the world makes so much of a holiday once so deeply Christian, and thus tacitly invites Jesus-Followers to speak, let's not blush, smile, and mutter...let's speak with clarity and conviction. 

Let's talk in concrete terms about why we celebrate, and whom. Let's speak about the day when God became man, without ceasing to be God, that he might live among us as fully human and die the death we deserved. 

Let's make it plain in our homes, and among our extended families, and for our friends, that Christmas is not just a sweet story for children, but, as Macleod says, 'the perforation of history by One from eternity."...the intrusion and eruption of the Eternal into the existence of man.' 

Christmas has a spectacular light that the seasonal glitz snd glamor threatens to obscure, but it is much too precious to let it be dimmed... (D. Mathis)"

So, yes...

🎶 "This little light of mine...I want to let it shine!"🎶

Let's start taking advantage of special holy-days and let our light shine - bright, clear and vocally!

Smile.

XXXXX

Merry Christmas to all!

When the Enemy Tries to Steal Your Advent Joy...#AdventisNear

 

"All the promises of God find their YES in Him..."

(2 Corinthians 1:20)

This is one of those mornings where I've struggled with what to write.

Normally, the struggle comes when my mind is completely blank as I've looked back over the week and come up short...

That's not the issue this morning.

My mind is full and funneling down to one basic "Advent thought" is particularly difficult. 

I've wanted to mention how every time I hear someone crooning, "I'll be home for Christmas..." My mind wanders, and I wonder, Lord, do you long for your children to be home as much as I enjoy having mine around me over the holidays? 

Or, I ponder, wouldn't it be something, as I "Advent-wait" for your return to retrieve your children, if I were to get to "be home for Christmas?" I believe Advent is near...I'm ready, whenever God the Father gives the nod, because this world IS DEFINITELY NOT MY HOME!

I've also thought about the three most frequently mentioned words in the Christmas story. They are important in this current season: 

BE NOT AFRAID...

Have you noticed them?

It's the big theme of Christmas: We no longer need to fear the future. There's no need to be afraid of the spiritual death for which we are destined as a people born with a sin-nature...an inclination to be glory-thieves (thank you for the terminology, Paul David Tripp). Jesus came to be Immanuel: God with us. When God is with us, there is no fear... Jesus eliminates fear. 

But, I've settled on a different thought. 

More personal.

A bit vulnerable.

Even...a little bit shameful-to-mention.

Sometimes, the old enemy-of-my-soul tries to steal away my Advent-joy...

Sometimes, he shoots his fiery, flaming darts into my brain and lodges a thought there that smolders ands burns, causing me to "entertain" what by-faith I know is a lie...

The shape of these lies leave scars and, even though I dismiss them, their form remains having done a branding from not quenching them more quickly.

They take the shape of questions... Often they are those pesky "what if" kinds of questions:

What if this Christian-life,

this Biblical redemption-story,

the promised future of a glorious eternity of bliss...

What if it is all a lie?

What if God isn't really a God of love, but a fierce dictator?

What if we get to heaven only to find out we've been tricked?

What if God is more like the Wizard of Oz - hiding behind a curtain of weakness and impotence?

What if He couldn't get Dorothy home? or take away fear? or give brains? or a new heart?

BUT, you see, I know better...

I know more...

I'm assured these are lies for one reason, no two... Nope, for sure three.

#1 Prophecy Fulfilled. 

Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING, the Lord had promised and predicted through His prophets of Old has come to pass. 

All He has declared to date, He has done. 

He has proved through prophecy that He is not untrue to His Word.

God can not lie! 

Because of prophecy (and even now I just looked at 40 Messianic prophecies alone that have come to pass from the Jews for Jesus website...) that is undeniable, irrefutable, miraculously beyond comprehension, there is a GUARANTEE of FUTURE EVENTS as they have been lined out for us...

There is no way prophecy fulfilled has happened by chance!!

Ask any researcher!

There are no "Buts or What if's" - the enemy of my soul can put those darts back in his arsenal!

#2 Jesus

In Him, we have seen God's face. To see Him is to see the Father God.

Not just His face, but His character. To know Him is to know the Father God. 

And, Jesus-on-earth was an exact representation of His Heavenly Father (and mine).

He was anything but a Wizard of Oz...fake, cowardly, impotent, controlling...

Jesus was the authentic, vulnerable, God-man, loving all, healing the sick, having authority over storms, waves and the fish of the sea, defying death, and resurrecting back to life (talk about power!).

Jesus was sacrificial, loving, generous, grace-filled, yet angry at all the evil, immorality, and unbelief in the world He was born into (how would he feel today?)...

Jesus dealt firmly with the Religiously-corrupt, stripped the stigma and prejudice from the "lowly" (like shepherds, women, the poor, the Samaritans, and the sinners), and, He went head-to-toe with the demonic influences taking control over innocent people. 

Jesus proved He was the Name above all Names, the King of the Jews, Yeshua (God Saves), Immanuel...

There is no way the "what ifs" the enemy tries to whisper in my ear are credible...I am more sure of them than I am my own existence on earth (have you ever seen Sixth Sense?)...

And those scars branded into my brain? 

They are nothing more than a big reminder of why FAITH is worth living in the last days of Advent...

...and LIVING LARGE! 

Oh, yes...the third reason?

#3 Me!

I can not deny that from the moment I met Jesus, received Him to myself, my life has never been the same!

I'm living proof that Jesus is all He said He was and more...

He is Christ in me, THE HOPE OF GLORY (Col. 1:27)! And, I am being transformed into His likeness...

Don't let the enemy EVER steal your Advent-Joy!

Cement your belief in Him through His Word, immediately!!!

The Power of "Yet" in Advent....Final Lesson from Habakkuk!

My mind went time-traveling one morning this week, back to the early 1980's (which, by the way, seems a lifetime ago).

I saw myself sitting in a hospital waiting room. 

Young wife.

Young mom of two.

Three days earlier my husband had received a dreaded "C" diagnosis.

And, with what seemed like a snap of the fingers, and a literal U-turn on the highway (we were headed home to Pagosa from Phoenix, when we got the initial news), he was now in surgery....and, I sat waiting for news from the doctor. 

Waiting doesn't come easily for me. 

Patience, a virtue I desperately needed then, and even now, alluded me...

Other than the hard of the waiting, I found my heart with a strange, settled peace the Lord had given as a gift, that Monday morning. 

I wasn't worried as much about what the news from the doctor might reveal, as much as I didn't like the waiting...

I wanted to know what was coming...

What were our next steps...

What was the new season we'd soon be navigating...

Life, for us, had been quite an adventure to this moment...

From high school sweethearts, to navigating our final years of college and basketball as newlyweds, to a year of ministry with Athletes in Action (CRU), and on to my husband's professional career (short-lived as it was at this moment)... 

Our life had seemed a bit of a whirlwind. 

We often shook our heads reflecting on the truth, "There's never a dull moment..."

But, there is always an "advent" in every adventure...

The coming of something new.

So, here in this "waiting room" I waited. A new advent was on the horizon...

With surgery, we'd enter the coming of a new season, and I was wondering just what this one held?

Of course: Every Advent. Every Coming. Every Arrival. All require a season of waiting. 

What took me back to that waiting room was the passage in Habakkuk where I landed this week...

That particular morning, as I waited for the doctor to complete the surgery, and come fill me in on what next might look like, I picked up my Bible to read where I'd left off in my "Read the Bible Through in a Year" program. 

It was the exact same passage in Habakkuk (3:17-19):

It couldn't have been a more timely passage on that morning in St. Luke's waiting room;

and, it was timely when I read it this week, too. 

Once again, I feel like I'm in a waiting room.

Advent is near...

A new adventure is coming...

And, I'm anticipating the Arrival.

So was Habakkuk when he penned these words.

He was waiting.

The Lord was about to move. 

Habakkuk has just remembered (3:1-16) how the Lord swept through Egypt, delivered His people, brought salvation, victoriously conquered the land He'd promised His children, and  because of it all, Habakkuk undeniably believed the power of the Lord, and the guarantee of His promises. 

The Lord would do the same again...

Because of this, Habakkuk's prayer of remembrance turned into a song of praise!

As he focused his eyes on the God who would come - the Divine, Conquering Warrior - the "even thoughs" of hardship turned to the "yet" of worship. 

So, in the now of the "even thoughs," Habakkuk saw the "then and there" of God's Victory. 

It was enough to lead Habakkuk to his finest words of faith:

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation...

I will sing songs of joy to God, my strength...

I will praise Him, the God of my soul's spiritual delight...

I will rest in Him, the God who will make my feet steadfast, swift, and sure...

And, I will wait PATIENTLY for Him...

There is power to be found in the "yet" of rejoicing!

The yet of rejoicing led Habakkuk into patient, quiet rest in the midst of the wait!

When Habakkuk looked around he saw everything about to fall apart...

When he looked within, he trembled with fear (vs. 15)...

But, when he looked up, he saw God, his heart filled with faith, and all the wondering and worry (chapter 1) regarding the "even though" of tomorrow vanished.

This is the best way to Advent!

Remembering the past of the Almighty, puts the "even though" into perspective, so that in the here and now, we can "yet praise Him."

In praise, we can rise to the heights with God - 

That's one more Advent lesson I've learned from this little book in the heart of the Old Testament.

As, Warren Wiersbe says in his commentary, 

"If I were Habakkuk, and my legs were trembling, I'd find a safe place to sit down and relax, but Habakkuk began to bound up the mountain like a deer! Because of his faith in the Lord, he was able to stand and be as sure footed as a deer; he was able to run swiftly and go higher than he'd ever gone before. This is one reason why God leads us into waiting rooms (of trials), they draw us nearer to Him and lift us above the circumstances so we can walk on the heights with Him."

To walk by faith, Habakkuk tells us, is to focus on God's greatness of glory, while we wait. 

In the middle of a waiting room, a lifetime ago, I remembered the gift of peace those words brought...

...and the gift of faith in the midst of the wait.

AND, how, as I read them, began putting them into practice, sUrPrIsInGlY, the wait got easier. 

These words allowed me the uncanny ability to take one day, one moment, one step at time into the advent of our next adventure with the Lord! 

There's an advent in every adventure with Jesus...

There's power in the "yet" of praise...

Rejoice in the God of your salvation this advent!

Remember, He is coming again!

Advent is near...

If Ever We Needed an Advent It is Now....

"Advent is the season that can remind us God is working while we're waiting, and we're really waiting with God."*

-Louie Giglio-

*To Giglio's quote I would add these words, "...we're really waiting with God, FOR GOD!"

I don't think anyone would disagree that 2020 has been a year of "waiting." We've waited for the pandemic to end, for life to return to some semblance of normal, for the election within the U.S. to be over, for the disturbances that have rocked the streets of major cities to quiet down, for schools to fully reopen, for jobs to be restored, and financial distress to lighten. 

Never has the world wanted to see a Savior step in and spare us from all that has seemed wrong with our world. 

Never have we needed an ADVENT more!

Jesus came once as a baby in a manger...

For many, Advent stopped there. 

But, His First Coming is simply to encourage us, to "whet our appetites (says author, Max Lucado)" for His Second.

Jesus' first coming was His deposit, His guarantee, of His Second.

Waiting always goes hand-in-hand with hope. 

After all, the Hebrew word for wait is also the Hebrew word for hope!

While we wait, we hope.

"The word advent means 'expectation.' What advent can do for us is create a sense of hope."

-Louie Giglio-

This Advent season, I'm putting my hope in the fact that Jesus is coming again!

(I know, I've mentioned this A LOT lately!)

As I prep my house for the "holy-days" of Christmas, I'm fully engaging in this truth...

Here is what I'm hoping for with a confident expectation:

Jesus will return for His Bride.

When I say "bride," I mean those who have truly "received their King..."  Two weeks ago, I wrote in my blog what that looks like to truly "receive." Here's a repeat:

To receive: Greek word, lambano...

**to take to oneself in order to be carried away

**to welcome another, giving that one access to oneself

**to claim, procure, or associate with oneself as a companion

**used of that which, when taken, is NOT LET GO

Jesus' bride has recognized that Jesus is her King and she grabs ahold of Him by grace in faith for all she's got...

If this is you, then when He returns for His bride, well, you have your lamp lit and you are ready for your GROOM (Matthew 25:1-14)! 

The Scriptures never use the word "rapture," but the principle is definitely there in passages like this:

Following this meeting with the Lord, there will be a time of tribulation....seven years to be exact.**

  

There will arise one we call the Anti-Christ....a false savior. 

He will rule the earth in a one-world-government.

The first 42 months (3 1/2 years) will be seemingly peaceful.

The Anti-Christ will be joined by what Revelation calls "the great harlot...also known as Babylon."

This is a reference to a false religion...a one-world-religion...

And, alongside the Anti-Christ will stand a false prophet...one who will assist and be a John-the-Baptist figure, pointing the world to the "Advent" of her new "savior."

But, BEWARE!

Following the first 3 1/2 years, will be 42 months of terror. 

Horrible and incomprehensible. 

Those who come to know Jesus during the Anti-Christ's reign will suffer greatly.

Many will be martyred.

There will be no buying or selling unless you have committed your life to the Anti-Christ...

This Anti-Christ will then rise up to wage war against those who belong to the Lord...

But...this...this is the sign the end is near.

Jesus' Second Coming will be soon.

He will return, splitting the Mount of Olives as He stands upon it, and then He will wage war with EVIL in the Valley of Armageddon, bringing victory with Him (EVIL defeated once and for all)...

Here's the thing.

No one knows for sure about the sequence of these events.

No one knows the timing.

We just know ONE THING FOR CERTAIN...

As Jesus-followers, we want NO ONE to experience the terror that will occur before the Lord's return.

Our job is to reduce the numbers of those who possibly might. 

(J. Vernon McGee)

Our job is to repeat the GOOD NEWS of Jesus' First Coming so that the Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love that are key to the Advent Season are experienced by any who might still RECEIVE their KING!

How does this tie in with my recent study of Habakkuk...

Well, Habakkuk was "waiting for Babylon" whom God would use to advance His plans toward His first coming...

She would destroy Judah, but a remnant would rise up.

Babylon is also coming again and she will bring destruction upon our world as we know it.

AND YET, a remnant will rise up!

Babylon will yet again be destroyed...

God will return once more, bringing salvation with Him...

Habakkuk tells us what he will do while he waits for all this to occur:

YET I WILL WAIT QUIETLY....

Habakuk 3:16ff

He says, "In the meantime, I will make a choice (a matter of my will) to quiet my soul, to settle myself into a place of rest, and wait."

Habakkuk will ADVENT well!

He will wait with hope!

Let's do the same between now and when Jesus comes for His own, making sure our souls are at rest and our mouths are at work with the GOSPEL of JESUS!

XXXXX

** For the purpose of your referencing these truths, see Revelation 13-17...

A Few Random Thoughts for Living Well Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

TWO SOON-TO-CELEBRATE-HOLY-DAYS:

THANKSGIVING  

Tomorrow!!!! 

It's always a favorite holiday, because more than any other time I intentionally focus on the GOOD of all GOD has BLESSED me with in spite of me...in spite of a tragic pandemic, a volatile election, a spring of racially-charged rioting, and a kazillion little incidences in 2020 that all added up to DIFFERENT and, sometimes, HARD.

Oh, but, this THANKSGIVING, let us "taste and see that the Lord is good" in the midst of all we've experienced! Sometimes it's more difficult to do in the HARD, but when the GOOD is found, the celebration is even greater!

Where there is Thanksgiving, we set the stage for entering into the gates of our Lord's Presence...and where the Lord is there is GREAT JOY!!!

CHRISTMAS 

Advent begins this coming Sunday!!!

It's a beautiful season set aside to PREPARE for our Lord's coming...

Not only do I like to focus on the first coming, but, to reflect and ponder there is to be a second coming.

How can I prepare my heart for His arrival?

How can I make room for Him in the Inn of MY HEART?

In the middle of what can be a highly stressful season, I don't want to "drop Jesus" (Here's the link to my Advent Devotional if you want to copy it and download it to your computer or phone or tablet: I Dropped Baby Jesus).

I want to properly elevate and honor His coming, as well as, His imminent return! 

As we prepare our hearts for Jesus over the Christmas season, essentially, we are saying, "Today, I choose to be John-the-Baptist in 'a pony tail, yoga pants, and a t-shirt (or whatever fits you)... I am an integral part of preparing the way of the Lord in my world..."

As we prepare our hearts for His arrival, He moves in and brings great peace!

A snippet of what I've learned from Habakkuk thus far is this: 

Lament the loss of expectations...the way we "thought" things would look, should look, could look...

Take your sorrow and complaints to the Lord...

Make room and space for Him to answer...

When the Lord speaks, He always brings HOPE to every complaint! 

THEN...

Don't live your life in the "overwhelmed..."

Live your life in the "overjoyed..."

Too many Jesus-followers stay wallowing in the complaints...

Weighed down and burdened by the things that are overwhelming...

AND YET...

THERE IS 

(and always will be)....

A

BUT, JESUS!

The world needs to see His Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in us...

Especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Let's not live Advent overwhelmed...

Let's live Advent overjoyed! 

And, as we do, we will be John-the-Baptist to someone who needs the way prepared for Jesus in their own lives. 

This is the simple message the Lord put on my heart this week...

Perhaps, you need it, as well...