Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 154
December 26, 2016
the secret you’ve got to hold on to the day after Christmas
I milked a sow on Christmas night and her white ran warm.
It was after the packages for the neighbors were wrapped up and walked over across the snowy fields.
After the baking and the eating and the gathering and the candles and the singing and the Scripture and the praying.
After the feast for the coming of our Salvation.
After the last of the relatives slipped home in the dark, we wandered out in the snowy dark —
looking up at the stars over a barn.
It quiet in a barn on Christmas night.
The world feels far away. Sows grunt, piglets root and nuzzle udders for milky warm, and snow falls soundlessly out there in the dark.
I fill feed troughs.
I fill the sows’ troughs and this is what they laid him in. Laid God in skin down in a feed trough. These were the first sounds of earth that reverberated in His ear drums? From the lofty, soaring arias of the heavenly host to this? This snorting of beasts, this banging of feed troughs? Us all so hungry.
“What you smiling about?” The Farmer grins at me.
“The smell.” His eyebrows arch. I laugh. “It smells like —- home.” I wink. It is — this scent. This is us, who we all are. And from the incense of the celestial heights to this air hanging thick with dung’s rank — He came to this.
God comes to the edges.
He intimately knows the muck of my lives, the stench I try to mask.
And this is the thing: He chooses my dirty places, the places that shame me, as His point of entry. The lights celebrating the birth of the Christ Child — God with us — they’re still flickering as we look into the New Year — a new us.
Slopping hogs on Christmas night, I feel this happy relief: The New Year only has hope because Christmas happened out in a dung heap.
Last of the sows fed, the Farmer says there’s one more thing.
Just check for milk before we turn out the last of the lights. Check the udders of the next sows due to give birth, see if they have any milk. Make sure if any sows have milk, a sign they are close to giving birth, we get them into the warmth of the birthing rooms.
He finds a sow out in the gestating room dripping white milk.
She’ll need to be moved into the birth barn.
“Check the sows in room 3, the ones that don’t have any litters yet?” He calls it to me from the other end of the barn. “Any of them have milk?”
I find 4 sows that haven’t given birth yet.
I rub their full, ruddy udders. Sweet whiteness sticks between my fingers. I smile back at him from the door. “Only every single one of them have milk.”
The barn’s right full. And on Christmas night there’s one round and heavy with hope and she needs a place to give birth.
“Well.” The Farmer smiles. He pulls at the peak of his farm cap. “I guess we’ll just have to make room for her somewhere?”
We wander through the barn and move a few pigs this way and we move a few pigs that way, a sow over here and a sow there.
We make room at the inn.
It takes an hour or more and it’s late when we’ve made space and she sways heavy into the birthing barn.
Something always comes to fill the empty spaces.
We turn out the last of the barn lights on Christmas night. The snow’s heavy in the yard. Our feet make tracks.
“Mama?” Shalom walks beside me, holding my hand. “Will tomorrow be Christmas too?”
I know that feeling. Not wanting any of this wonder to wander away — or me from it.
“Well, I’m thinking… ” I stop, look out across the fields and the white and the stars. “I’m thinking that it’s Christmas now forever.”
Her laughter rings all around us.
“Yes, Mama, yes!” She spins around in snow, in the halo of the barn light, us all under stars.
“It is Christmas forever now — because Christ is always with us.”
We hang our coats outside the mudroom.
And in front of our fire and our tree, the figurine of Mary swollen with hope on that donkey, she’s arrived at her deliverance and they make room for her out in the barn.
We sit with her and Christmas and let the candles linger on.
This milky white light shimmering everywhere, feeding us a forever hope in the dark…
December 25, 2016
when you just want to feel Christmas deep down in your heart
When you want to know you haven’t missed Him this Christmas…
when you wish you could find your way back — or forward…
when you want Christmas to not be over — or you sorta wish it all had been different…
when you just want to really feel Christmas deep down in your weary bones, deep down in your heart: just click on the video below or right here
~from The Greatest Gift, Unwrapping the Fully Love Story of Christmas
[Part 1: what a hurting world wants most on Christmas Eve ]
so from our crazy clan to yours…
Merry, Merry, MERRY CHRISTMAS…
Our God who cradles whole galaxies in the palm of His Hand, whom highest heavens cannot contain, He folds Himself into our skin, uncurls His newborn fist in the cradle of a barn feed trough — and we are held, saved, rescued… safe.
And He is Emmanuel — God is with us.
This Christmas season, may you & yours feel enveloped & carried & held by Him who is always, always, always with you…
All’s grace,
Ann xo…
Related: The Greatest Christmas.com & TheBrokenWay.com
December 24, 2016
what a whole hurting world wants most on Christmas Eve
From our home & farm & hearts & all our unspoken broken….
to you & yours & all of your unspoken broken —
Merry, Merry Christmas Eve…
There are no words to express how we love you — so we slip this into your brave hands, the smallest token of our love — maybe what a hurting worlds wants most just before Christmas: just click on the video below or right here
~from The Greatest Gift, Unwrapping the Fully Love Story of Christmas
[Join us for Part 2 of the Video on Christmas Morning & let our hearts celebrate and exhale and hold on… and simply rest together… Feel the Peace tonight — and I’ll see you back here in the morning? We’ll have all the celebrating ready!]
Related: The Greatest Christmas.com
The Christmas Edition: Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Soul: [12.24.16]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
Andy Seliverstoff
Andy Seliverstoff
Andy Seliverstoff
cannot get over all the joy right here
because sometimes you just have to break out in song, wherever you are
and maybe one of the best gifts is?
the happiest gift of more Jesus this year:
The Greatest Gift … & Unwrapping The Greatest Gift —
and over at the The Greatest Christmas there’s a whole library of free printable ornaments, Christmas cards, gift tags, gifts boxes, scavenger hunt, and more —
our gift to you for The Greatest Christmas!
reunions like this — are just kinda the very best
Tiina Törmänen
Tiina Törmänen
Tiina Törmänen
anyone else wanna go? beautiful Finland under the Northern Lights
a high school student with size 13 feet was wearing size 10 shoes — his school surprised him with this. #BeTheGIFT
Kinda my favourite — I need this one every single year… It isn’t Christmas for me without this one
this makeover transformed a hospital
“…we discovered that this was our mission in life and our hope is that we can inspire other people to share their kindness” #beTheGIFT
coffee. changing lives.
Free Stress-Free Holiday Sticky Notes for Your Soul right here:
No Stress Holiday Manifesto
glory
…so just for you, here are my absolute favorite things from this year, from our hearts and home to yours:
a few of my favorite things: 2016 gift guide
Simply — I just love this: JOY
Post of the Week from these parts here
Hard year.
And there’s a whole tribe of us weary & just —
wanting to prepare our hearts & Him room —
& make room for a bit of Hope.
Yeah — desperately that:
when you’re weary & just want to prepare your heart for Christmas — & a bit of Hope
always good to keep on repeat: He Shall Reign Forevermore
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
You all are giving the gift of breaking free to your people & it’s kinda blowing me away how you’re sharing breaking free— sharing the life transformation
Grab the Gift of Breaking Free into the Abundant Life
never a Christmas without this one… absolutely exquisite
…these disappointments we can’t even talk about —
they might just go ahead & try to make us bitter,
and these banged up expectations of ours,
of all that we had expected things would look like — but don’t — might keep on trying to make us guarded & hard…
and the dreams we can’t even tell anybody about, but feel pretty bruised right about now, they might be trying to convince us to just give up… we can feel You touch us, how You lift our chins slow, how You speak right into us:
“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Jer. 29:11MSG
And Your Word touches us. Touches us like a gentle salve tonight in the sorest places… And we feel it: Hope is the salve that keeps our broken hearts soft.
Believe it: When you can’t touch bottom is when you touch the depths of God.
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
December 22, 2016
when you’re weary & just want to prepare your heart for Christmas — & a bit of Hope
We carried her through the dark to see her broken heart.
The headlights pry open the night and the snow keeps falling like a coverlet and there are defiant stars above the clouds, always stars above everything.
3 am rising to drive the stretching cold miles to the city, carry her up to the cardiac wing of Sick Kids Hospital, lay her out on the bed, and wait for the sedation of the chloral hydrate to cradle her into the deep.
We wait well and wise by looking up.
“See the stars, baby?” The nurse points to the ceiling.
These galaxies of indigos and violets swirl around shimmering lights projected on the white panels above her crib and her big sister and I whisper-sing into her ear, “The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay...”
And her eyes lids linger heavy and I pull her in and we look up at stars, and beg to be one of the wise men who never stop looking up, seeking the way through, because there always is a way through, and we wait for her to let go.
There is a kind grace that comes to you only as you let go.
And when she finally drifts off, weightless and yet steadying gravity in my arms, I lay her head down gently, her sleep breath there in my face, like a warm visitation, and they scan her heart, beating there like courage on the screen. Courage is the one thing that is always asked of us — because it determines how we answer everything in our life.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The technician murmurs it quietly, dragging the echocardiogram sensor across our daughter’s raised brave scar, right over her broken heart.
“It’s the ultimate selfie — what your heart looks like.”
And I nod slowly. It’s been the hardest year of brokenness and weariness and painfulness — but not hopelessness.
What would my heart look like exposed on a screen?
Let every heart prepare Him room.
Let every heart let go — and let Him in.
The year may not have gone as hoped — but Hope is not gone. Hope comes.
The thrumming of her heart fills the room.
+ + + + +
When we get word the third week of Advent that little Luna was gone, I look over at our little girl playing in front of the fire, the tree, laughter singing in her belly like a song.
Our girl had held Luna when they both lived in China, when they both lived at Morning Star. Our girl had kissed Luna like her own little sister, had brushed back Luna’s hair with her own bluing fingers, had leaned over her like she had found Light under a star.
I had sat at Morning Star in the Spring, sat ringed by orphans in rooms and hearts prepared for them, and I held Luna in my arms.
Luna with her broken heart, her rattled, raspy breaths, she had shone like a beacon in the night sky.
I remember the weight of her, the lightness of her, the holiness of her.
And Luna fought through the night, through the dark, through the surgery — and breathed hard and tired and blazingly brave out of the 14 hour heart surgery — and then exhaled into the arms of Light Himself. Her broken heart stilled. Heaven-Healed.
Luna left a light-ripple of love, of courage, of laughter glimmering along edges of things — and a staggering medical bill that now had an ending that no one wanted to carry.
Why would anyone choose to pay for the steep price of weeks of ICU care and ECMO and surgeries for an orphan — when the baby doesn’t live? When the baby is carried motionless down to the morgue?
When you could give clean water to children in Uganda or fling open more doors in a school for kids who live in the Guatemala City dump or stand with the fleeing children of Aleppo — why invest in a story that seems to end with a chapter that could read as hopeless?
Because when we’re unbending in what is important — endings aren’t the thing that is important.
Because if we don’t always fiercely stand for Hope, regardless of risk, cost, or ending —- we steal all future Hope.
Because if Hope isn’t worth it, no matter how it turns out — then it turns out, that nothing is actually worth it.
Because when we say that one life has worth — we’re saying that all lives have worth.
And a life that believes in the worth of all lives — is the only kind of life that’s really worth living.
Luna was a holy being. Her life had meaning — and the light of her lodged into the broken places in me.
So when we get word on that third week of Advent, we reach again, like you do for the Child, and offer to carry Luna and her light and her medical bills and her memory because she had holy meaning and weight and gravity and when there’s been a light — how can we not carry it on?
Luna’s one little life becomes part of ours…. becomes us.
And when we invest in one Hope, when we pay the cost of one Hope — we make a way for a thousand more Hopes. Hope is contagious, blazing, risky thing — and it can light a thousand more nights with countless stars.
Now is the season to believe: Stories may not have gone as we hoped — but Hope is not gone. Hope comes. Hope comes down and Hope never stops coming.
No matter what one outcome was… believe that Hope always still comes.
We can’t ever afford to lose Hope — or we lose our future, our faith, our fight, our fortitude.
When we light the last of the Advent candles, the light of the flaming wick fills the room, reflects in our little girl’s eyes like inextinguishable rounding moons.
+ + + + +
I stood in Bethlehem once.
There were stars unblinking in their brave overhead and I stood outside a long time, my neck craning, with a holy imagination and prayers that know He is the realest reality.
I finally bent low to walk into the Church of the Nativity — because there is no finding Hope until you humble yourself to believe.
I knelt where they say the Star-Maker came and first grazed earth, where the Hope-Bringer first inhaled all our dark into His holy lungs and exhaled pure glory that swept us all into the Light of the Land of the Living.
I let fingertips trace the star pressed right into the ground, ran my hands across it over and over again, feeling an echocardiogram of my own, seeing my own naked broken, aching heart.
There is brokenness and failing and hurting and falling and dying and burying and there are times you don’t know how to breathe — but there is always, always, always Hope.
The Star-Maker, the Wisdom-Carrier, the Hope-Bringer — He had to take on skin and come with lung and lips and warm breath because this is the gift that all the heart bruised need: Hope resuscitates.
Let your heart prepare Hope room.
If you don’t let your heart prepare Hope room — it’s your own house that comes crashing down.
It’s worth it to take courage and let your busted and broken heart prepare Hope room and prepare room for the prodigal to come home and the hard-hearted to change and the hurting to not hurt and the wounders to heal and the impossible to find a possible way and let nothing stop you from following the star this Christmas.
There’s no performing Christmas, producing Christmas, or perfecting Christmas.
There is resting in Christmas.
There is breathing easy in Christ.
He will prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord.
There’s a hope waiting right up ahead right now for you in the dark.
Hope’s always making a way — follow the Star.
Related:
Be one of the ones that makes Hope Shine for loved orphans with broken hearts this Christmas…
Or join our family and Morning Star & be part of loving Luna’s hope and carrying her medical bills and her holy life.
December 21, 2016
What Saves Every [Messy, Hurting, Disappointing] Christmas: How to Simply Have the Best Christmas, Even Now, Especially Now
It’s about that time — Eve time.
And the Farmer, he’s driving down the middle of an empty country road, when he just flicks the headlights right off and the black isn’t black after all.
“Look at it!” I whisper it.
The bowl of milky moon’s spilling over snow sleeping fields.
“You could drive the whole way home without the lights on.”
“That moon sure is bright… ”
The Farmer’s leaning over the steering wheel.
The moon reflects the sun, and the Christmas-white fields reflect the moon, and we’re all faces shining tonight, the whole world looking up.
Wise men did this — two thousand years ago, far in the east, magi were like this, craning necks back to touch the black — wise men look up to read star Braille in the dark.
The wise men, the king-makers. King-Makers feeling along the stars for a sign.
Isn’t the whole planet looking up on the Eve, looking up for a King?
Night air snaps cold and heaven pushes close.
It feels like you can almost touch them, all these stars.
There are 70 thousand million, million, million stars in the known universe, that’s what they say.
They say that’s 10 times as many stars as the grains of sand on all the world’s shores and deserts.
But there’s no seeing it from these fields —-
There’s no glancing up to a mere 7,000 light years away, to the filmy wings of the 90 trillion kilometers high Eagle Nebula and how it’s bearing right now, right tonight newborn stars in this explosive nursery.
It’s up there, whether you can read along the stellar dots raised in the night or not:
“He breathed the word, and all the stars were born” (Ps.33:6 NLT).
Our God breathes stars.
Is that the wisp of His breath rising right there in the Eagle Nebula?
Sitting here beside The Farmer, the swine herder, I’m thinking of sheep herders who saw God breathe a Star of Wonder over a Bethlehem sky.
I’m thinking of the whole bright sky declaring the glory of God, pouring forth speech:
“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Lk. 2:14).
Glory in the Highest always comes down to us who are at our lowest.
I’m thinking that we’re all on the cusp of Christmas, looking up, hearing, seeing, nearly touching the glory of God, and it all begs the whisper of a question:
who are we that He is mindful of us?
Who are we that the Maker of man might descend a man, that the Bread of Life might hunger for us, that the Fountain of Living Waters might thirst for our quenching?
Who are we that The Way might make the journey for us, that the Life might lay down and die so we could live?
They say that the Voyageur 1, that spaceship, it snapped the picture of who we are.
A picture of who we are from over 4 billion miles away, as the spacecraft turned around for one final glance back at its home before it drifted forever out of our solar system.
The photograph initially seemed inconsequential — black, dark…. empty.
But men leaned in, read the sky painstakingly — and there we are.
That is who we are: the entire planet is an infinitesimal 0.12 pixel in the photographed scheme of space.
It almost looks like nothing, this globe with its craning wise men.
Pale Blue dot is Earth, in a shaft of sun light, taken from 4 billion miles away
So we float, captured in a ray of light, suspended in the lonely black of space.
That is who we are leading up to Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve, the whole of the world sleeps and rises and waits and worships and we are a pinpoint.
We are a pinpoint and the astronomer Carl Sagan, deeply moved by that photograph of who we are in this universe, he said,
” Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.
In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
~Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan, he looked at that pale blue dot in all that dark…. and that’s what one of our wise men decreed — that there’s “no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
No hint of help?
No sign of saving?
No rumor of relief?
What if our God didn’t bother with a mere “hint”? What if our God rang it across the heavens, broadcast it from the astral apex, shattered the skies with the tidings?
Our God who breathes stars, He breathed Bethlehem’s Star, then took on lungs and breathed in stable air.
Our God who formed and delivered the heavens, He waited patient like an embryo in a womb and delivered Himself to free all humanity.
Our God who cradles whole galaxies in the palm of His hand, whom highest heavens cannot contain, He folds Himself into our skin and He curls His newborn fist in the cradle of a barn feed trough — and we are saved from ourselves.
We are saved from our hopelessness — because God came with infant fists and opened wide His hand to take the nail sharp edge of our sins.
We are saved from our pain — because God pierced the dark and came to the pinpoint of us in the universe and He took the nails.
We are saved from our loneliness — because God is love that can’t stand to leave us by ourselves, to ourselves.
The entire cosmos sings it leading up to Christmas Eve: We are not alone.
We are a pinpoint in the universe that is now nailed to eternity because of the wood of a manger, of a Tree, of a crowning wreath of thorns.
Out of the dark, out of the black and right into the the land of the shadow of death, a great Light has dawned, and God comes and God is with us, Emmanuel… God on the pale blue dot.
We. are. not. alone.
You are never alone.
God can’t miss this pale blue dot, and God can’t leave you in your pain, and God can’t let you ever go it alone…
and the King comes, God comes — Love come down.
We turn at our sideroad, drive up through the woods, following the way of wise men, always looking up.
The snow’s lying still, bright.
The moon, it hangs an ornament in all these trees that have thrown off their coats in the joy of tonight — the joy of His coming.
And all the world today, this night, it aches and it hurts and it huddles and it groans and it glows a wonder in a black that isn’t that black after all —
God is with us on this pale blue dot,
God whispering realest Christmas miracle into this dark:
“I am here and you are not ever now left alone.”
All babe in the manger photos completely copyrighted & used with permission: Tammi Dryden
Photo credit 1, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, star photos NASA, public domain
Related: for the quiet, slow unwrapping of wonder, a gift for the soul: The Greatest Gift , Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, The Greatest Gift DVD Experience … and even now, especially now, all the hope of The Greatest Christmas
Links for 2016-12-20 [del.icio.us]
Our #1 Best-Selling Drone--Meet the Dark Night of the Sky!
December 20, 2016
a few of my favorite things: 2016 gift guide
Maybe you’re like me – maybe you’re running short on days, finishing lists…. Picking out the perfect gifts for the friends and family you hold dear.
Just a few of my favorite things this year, as we wrap up 2016… gifts that give back, gifts that keep warm, gifts to be worn. There’s some gifts for the world, some gifts for your soul, and some gifts? Some gifts to be read or even heard.
“When I feel worry this season, I will simply exhale. Worry is belief gone wrong. Because you don’t believe that God will get it right. And Peace is belief that exhales. Because you believe that God’s provision is everywhere – like air.” ~The Greatest Gift
From my home to yours, these have all brought us joy….
So here… here are my absolute favorite things from this year:
[ Click any photo in the gallery here for a direct link or keep scrolling on down to read more about some of the kinda lovely things here…]
Give the gift of Breaking Free with The Broken Way
Dare to let the Realest Light break in this Christmas
Gifts that Give Back:
“God Knew My Heart Needed You” — the softest swaddle to wrap your little one warm… and help bring hope to a foster home full of little heart warriors in Beijing, China.
Beautiful Bangles – that support Mercy House and their maternity home in Kenya
Gorgeous throws and hand-stitched textiles, partnering with and empowering women in artisan groups around the world.
Handcrafted Soap — This soap does more than cleanse. It empowers. Each bar is hand-milled by refugees on the run from ISIS. When they fled, they left everything behind. But with the money they earn from this soap, they can provide for their children and rebuild their lives.
Raven + Lily’s Geometric Pendant Necklace – made out of handmade, upcycled brass by at-risk women in Nairobi, Kenya.
Hand-hammered Copper Candle Votive, made by refugee women in Iraq. Iraq is not the easiest place to support a family. But through Sisterhood Candles, women affected by war are becoming some of their country’s brightest new entrepreneurs. Women like Nazahat, mother of five. “I will change my life to be better than before,” she says.
Fashion + Compassion’s Jamilah Cross Necklace is made by women overcoming injustice in Charlotte, NC, providing them with jobs and a steady source of income. Come also see my unqiue link of additional favorites on this beautiful site.
This Sseko Designs Bag — the “Best Bucket Bag Ever” is my favorite travel bag. Handmade by artisan groups of at-risk women in Ethiopia, this bag is the perfect size to hold a laptop, and made of the best leather.
Spread the word that “Hope” is always worth the risk with this Show Hope Shirt, and know your purchase is supporting orphan care efforts in Henan, China.
Gifts that Keep Warm:
The warmest Sherpa Throw you’ll ever find
The warmest wool socks – let me tell you, with a Canadian winter? We live in socks just. like. these.
Gifts to Be Read and Gifts to Be Heard:
Rend Collective? Yeah – they are some of the very best.
The most beautiful set of classic Anne of Green Gables books…
Jason Gray has the kindest heart… and his music speaks right to my soul…
Dare to take The Broken Way with friends and family — join us here with this Study Guide and DVD sessions?
My absolute favorite Christmas CD this season… Christy Nockels, you are a gift to us all!
The NYTimes bestseller: The Broken Way – the daring path into abundant life. “This is the best book, other than the Bible, I have EVER read. No kidding.” ~Doug M
Okay – this? The Chronicles of Narnia Radio Theatre? This will be a family favorite for years and years to come.
Gifts to Be Worn:
The best plaid flannel shirt — perfect for the Farm.
Ask all my people — this shirt? I’m pretty much never without it. The most comfortable denim shirt. Pair it you’re your favorite t-shirt underneath and a comfortable pair of black jeans… and you’ll have my go-to outfit, right there.
Maybe my favorite boots of all time? That I wear day after day after day? And the best part…? They give back too! Buy a pair of Toms, and they’ll give a pair to someone in need.
These socks are just fun – and come in the best colors ever. Perfect for stocking stuffers… or a gift all their own?
Gifts for the World:
Give the gift of freedom: make a donation to Samaritan’s Purse and help persecuted Christians around the world.
One of our family’s favorite Christmas activities is sitting down to flip through the Compassion catalog – and pick out the chickens or goats or water filters we can give to our brothers and sisters around the world, in honor of our friends and family…
Yeah, this was the home of our littlest one. Our little China baby heart warrior. We sponsor two of these sweet little faces – help provide them with the monthly care they so desperately need… the medications, the doctors appointments, the snuggles. You can join us? Sponsor a baby, too?
You can stand with World Relief – scroll through their catalog and pick out gifts for at-risk families around the world – in honor of the loved ones in your life.
Give the gift of literacy – choose to give books and education to children in villages in Indonesia with Partners Intl.
Gifts for your Soul:
The most thoughtful gift for a friend who is struggling this season – a Bottle of Tears. “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56:8 – this bottle is one of the very loveliest, and will remind your loved one that they are not forgotten – always seen and known.
Yeah, this journaling Bible is a beautiful addition to your morning quiet time – soak in the quiet and the stillness and write out your prayers… your thoughts… as you read His Words.
This set of Bibles – the “Reader’s Bible”, created without any verse numbers or chapter markings, for a new kind of Bible reading experience.
The Cradle-to-Cross Wreath — a way to begin unforgettable traditions through Advent, Lent and the Days of Easter, that invites the whole family into the Light of Christ.
This Olive Wood Cross – the handmade cross that fits perfectly in hand – this travels with me everywhere I go.
A beautiful leather journal to hold your heart-prayers… or maybe your counted gifts?
Gifts… that are just Plain Fun:
Our littlest one loves these crayons – and I love the convenient tin. The perfect gift for little hands.
Someone went and came up with a way to combine a French Press and a travel mug, and it just might be my favorite gift to give these days. Perfect for mornings when you’re rushing out the door… and the best bonus? Your coffee stays piping hot all day long.
Along the same lines as the coffee press – this water bottle keeps my water ice cold and the designs are absolutely beautiful.
I have a weakness for all things Shaker aesthetic – and this bread board is kinda just the best.
This mug right here – I would like my coffee out of this hand-warming mug right here, every morning please.
The best wooden trivet, the perfect fit for any kitchen.
All the colors! All the pencils! My favorite set of colored pencils for the little artist at heart.
Okay — so maybe this isn’t necessarily “fun”, but keeping my family safe on the internet? That makes this Mama smile. We use recently started to use Circle in our home… and so far, I’ve loved every minute.
I already warned you of my love for the Shaker aesthetic – these are perhaps my favorite salad tongs ever…
My “Love You More” pillow cushion – is there really any more description necessary?
For baking – for memories – for little hands rolling out dough. The most beautiful cookies, made possible with this fun little tool.
This is a new addition to our home – but let me tell you. This Christmas season? We’ve had the diffuser going almost constantly with all sorts of Christmas oils and smells. It makes the whole house smell like Christmas – and we all can’t get enough.
“Your name as been drawn. Come to Him just as you are. Give up trying to be self-made: this is your gift to Him – and His gift to you. Simply come. The miracle of Christmas is that you get more than proof of God’s existence. You get the experience of God’s presence.” ~The Greatest Gift
Need freedom not only beyond the fear & pain, but actually within it?
Pick up your copy of The Broken Way — and break free.
December 19, 2016
the best habit to cultivate when joy is eluding you
With compassion and empathy, Dandi Daley Mackall writes from her heart and shares from the deep well of her experience. Some of her richest experiences have come from seeing life through the eyes of her daughter Katy, who has special needs. In spite of her struggles, Katy has a joyful, loving spirit that could only come from God. Dandi’s new kids’ book, Larger-than-Life Lara, captures the power that a loving spirit has in overcoming life’s adversity. It’s a grace to welcome Dandi to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Dandi Daley Mackall
Katy wore her purple jersey proudly, thrilled to be part of the Dragons. The thump, thump, thump of a dozen practice balls echoed in the gym.
I watched my daughter smile at every player on the basketball court, even those on the opposing team, the Bears.
“Go, Ka—Dragons!” I shouted from the bleachers. Katy had coached her dad and me not to cheer, “Go, Katy!” Only, “Go, Dragons!”
She jogged out of sight. When she returned, she was pushing a wheelchair with a man I judged to be about forty, twice Katy’s age. He was wearing a Superman T-shirt, and his smile matched Katy’s.
I didn’t think he was on either team, but I wasn’t sure.
A whistle blew, and athletes were introduced as they ran to center court to the cheers of the crowd. Brian skipped onto the court, hands clasped above his head as if he was already the champ. Leslie pranced out, looking paler than the snow we all drove through to get here.
And Craig. Too shy, or frightened, to join his team on the court, he paced just out of bounds until Katy ran over and took his hand, leading him out as far as he’d allow.
Unable to help himself, my husband yelled, “Go, Katy!” She shook her head at him. Someone shouted, “Play ball!”
Katy didn’t come off the bench until third quarter. Even then, she couldn’t get her hands on the ball because the Dragons’ two best players were ball hogs.
Poor Katy ran up and down the court, arms outstretched, pleading for the ball. The boys paid no attention.
But it was obvious that one boy on the Bears team couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Each time they passed on the court, he stopped and smiled, mesmerized.
Someone passed him the ball. The kid’s smile turned back to Katy. He handed that ball to her.
Confused, Katy glanced up at us and shrugged. She returned the Bear’s grin, then shot the ball. Nothin’ but net!
It was the only shot she made all year. The gym erupted in shouts of joy. Even the Bears and their parents cheered.
The Dragons trailed by one. Katy had the ball with two minutes left in the game. Then a wonderful thing happened. Katy walked toward Craig, who still paced the out-of-bounds lane.
The gym hushed as Katy stepped out of bounds and took Craig’s hand.
The clock ran out, but nobody moved. Craig tried to squirm away, but Katy held on until he stepped across the line. She put the ball in his hands, and his arms sprang as if on coils. He missed the backboard. But the bleachers emptied, with both sides cheering their hearts out.
Every person in that gym experienced true joy, shared joy.
And I prayed that God would show me how to share joy in other areas, instead of competing for only one joy—mine.
That evening in the gym, joy poured out of me abundantly, spontaneously. But the truth is that joy doesn’t always come so easily.
Sometimes I find myself wishing that parenting a child with special needs brought with it more moments of straightforward joy. Or perhaps that my joy looked more like other people’s joy.
I knew a couple of weeks after Katy’s birth that she wasn’t developing the way other babies did.
By age two, she required speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.
When she was three, she lost 40 percent of her hearing overnight and was diagnosed with nephritis and Alport Syndrome, a nasty neurological disorder.
I don’t recall feeling joyful as other moms chatted about their precocious toddlers.
I do remember my daughter, big grin and wide eyes, rushing home after kindergarten one day and shouting, “Guess what! Allyson can tie her own shoelaces her own self!”
She was ecstatic, but my first thought was: And you can’t.
Why is it easier to share the sorrows of others than it is to share their joy?
I’ve always marveled at Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, wife of Zachariah and mother of John the Baptist.
When Elizabeth received a visit from Mary, the future mother of the Messiah, wouldn’t Elizabeth’s natural response have been, Why not me? I’m from the priestly line of Aaron. I’m married. Zachariah is a priest and would make the perfect father. God considered me righteous. Yet my son will not consider himself worthy to tie the sandal straps of your Son? Jesus must increase while John decreases?
Instead: “Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, ‘God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.’” (Luke 1:42-44, NLT)
Elizabeth was overjoyed because she shared Mary’s joy.
And it’s not an accident that Katy is one of the happiest people I’ve met.
She gets more than her share of joy . . . because she, too, shares other people’s joys.
I am still learning from Katy.
Perhaps we all can.
Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy. Philippians 2:18
Dandi Daley Mackall is an award-winning author of nearly 500 books for all ages. She is winner of the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children’s Literature, ECPA Children’s Book of the Year 2015, the OCIRA (International Reading Association’s) Hall of Fame, the Edgar Award, ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, Mom’s Choice Awards, and others. She was a missionary behind the Iron Curtain (the basis for Eva Underground).
Her new book Larger-Than-Life Lara is a unique and multilayered story for young readers, with equal parts humor and angst. The central character, Laney, communicates the art of storytelling as it happens while weaving an unforgettable tale of the new girl, whose Christlike kindness and forgiveness transform the entire class…until nobody remains unchanged, not even the reader. This is a powerful and emotional story.
[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
December 18, 2016
Light the Candles. Advent Readings. Fourth Sunday: LOVE. [VIDEO experience]
Join us on the farm with lighting the candles for the Fourth Sunday of Advent? Reading via email? Just click on the video below or right here
Disclaimer: This ain’t all together or professional slick or anything… Just a simple, homemade video, taped by our Hope-girl, because God pressed it hard on our hearts to make a space for folks who may not have a community to celebrate the wonder and beauty of Advent? If you’re looking for an updated, fresh story, professional version, it’s our humble joy to serve you here
Don’t miss Him this year? Hush the hurry & find the holy?
Journey with us? Through the season with The Greatest Gift , named the Best Devotional of 2014 & NYT bestseller (free download of 25 ornaments with the book) — or the brand new family read aloud edition, The Evangelical Publishing Association’s Best Inspirational Book of 2016 & NYT Bestseller, Unwrapping The Greatest Gift — a fresh, all new unwrapping of The Love Story — your love story … … God starting a Christmas revolution, us all turning toward Jesus.
And if you’d rather a professionally recorded, beautiful DVD Christmas experience here on the farm? There’s the professional, all-fresh material of The Greatest Gift DVD Experience to truly hush the hurry and find the holy in December: 4 weeks of Advent: 4 holy sessions. Taped on the farm. At the woods. In the barn. By the manger. Come away from the whirl. Come into the candle light. Into the snow falling. Into the quiet of the barn & the depths of His Love.
Sit in the straw, in a circle of flickering candles, and feel the illuminating awe of God’s Word through the unfurling of the greatest love story ever told — Christmas’s full love story, right from the beginning of His-Story, like you’ve never quite heard it told before.
Related: The quiet joy of having The Greatest Christmas : How to Have the Best Christmas … and where to find our wooden advent wreath
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