Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 25

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [12.09.2023]

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:

Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer Tobias Bjorkli – Photographer

start the weekend with a deep exhale of beauty right here

The rhythm of love dances on—a father and son, growing, changing, and yet

— staying the same. Beautiful!

POST OF THE WEEK FROM THESE PARTS So, If You Want to Know the Real Story…(& what’s a Better Question to Ask Than How Was Your Day)

I keep thinking about this several times throughout the day… changing the way I see my life!

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A post shared by Charlie Mackesy (@charliemackesy)

— just this,

in the hush of winter

Okay, we all need this:

Harmony at the Holiday Table : Navigate chats with grace, even when opinions differ!

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A post shared by Beach4Art (@beach4art)

... a beach side advent calendar?

Just SO creative!

Turn the volume UP for this one!

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A post shared by Alexei morita (@alexeimorita)

Possibly Montreal? HA!

Image source: Instagram

Wow: Why I am Now A Christian

Whispers of Winter Joy: check out all of these pics of Europe’s Christmas Markets

Sparkle with Old-World Charm! LOVE!

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A post shared by Awesome Travel & Nature (@earthfever)

Sometimes you begin with unexpected guests…

… and end with tea:

(as the song goes – a drink with jam and bread)

This Advent, the tried and true traditions will hold us and the new ones will ignite us and this is the truest story I know: Cradle-to-Cross Wreath – A timeless wooden advent calendar countdown wreath.
Now on Sale – Some Aboslutely Magical Christmas Cards – Illustrated by my daughter-in-law, Aurora McGee!
50% off – The Light Gift A Voskamp Family Story – A Little Christmas Favourite Read Here that coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

When our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we can have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!

CLICK HERE: Whole Collection of Heirloom Pieces to Help you Stay in the Story this Advent Season

absolutely beautiful — Mom starts tradition of baking Christmas cookies for troops…

that a family continues in her honor. #BeTheGift

One of our absolute favourite ways to celebrate Jesus’ birth:

Giving the gift of Hope around the world through MCC

This year, let His wonder awaken you again, captivate you, capture your heart! More Of Jesus Only — and have a STRESS-FREE, WONDER-FULL Christmas.Read the whole Christmas Love Story, Tracing Our holy Family Tree, from Creation to Creche, with all 3 of our Advent Books: The Greatest Gift

(adult edition)
Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014,
NYTimes Best Seller

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

(family edition)
Best Inspirational Book
of the Year, CBA, 2016,
NYTimes Best Seller

The Wonder of the Greatest Gift:

Best Devotional &
Gift Book of the Year, Christian Book Association, 2019
(pop-up edition 14 in. tree, 25 days of readings & advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age!) 

So you don’t miss out on Jesus this year & the The Greatest Christmas.

ALL FREEEEEEE Resources for the Greatest Christmas

Find even more FREE printables & resources at www.thegreatestchristmas.com
Here’s a few FREE GIFTS that you might really enjoy this weekend!

Jesse Tree Ornaments
to Coordinate with The Greatest Gift
(use code from your book) Download The Greatest Gift OrnamentsJesse Tree Ornaments
to Coordinate with Unwrapping the Greatest GiftColoring Pages Download Coloring PagesColoring Ornaments Find MORE Free Resources at TheGreatestChristmas.com

Beyond glorious …

… notes of heaven on repeat here!

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.

3 Misconceptions about Forgiveness that May Be Keeping You Stuck

Elizabeth Laing Thompson loves meeting women in the messy places of faith, the places where
emotions fly, insecurity whispers, and shame points its crooked finger. In her new book When a
Friendship Falls Apart: Finding God’s Path for Healing, Forgiveness, and (Maybe) Help Letting
Go, Elizabeth comes alongside readers as they process the thorny pain of a strained or broken
friendship. It’s a grace to welcome Elizabeth back to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Elizabeth Laing Thompson

I’m sitting cross-legged and blanket-draped on my bed, praying. Praying about the broken friendship for the I’ve-lost-count time. Anger blazes, hot as ever, and I try to work myself through it . . . again:

Jesus calls you to forgive.

“Forgive as the Lord forgave you”: generously, completely, without expecting an apology or restitution (Colossians 3:13).

Let it go.

Let. It. Go.

After struggling to shake free from the strident voice of Idina Menzel, my mind hitches on two words:

Apology.

Restitution.

I start exploring those words in prayer: Lord, if they would only apologize, I could forgive. If they set things right, I could move on.

And the truth strikes, lightning-bolting my heart: I long for those healing talks, but if I’m being realistic, they’re not coming. And that means I have to let go without them. I have to decide to forgive. And I need to do it today.

It’s one thing to extol the lofty virtues of forgiveness on paper or from the pulpit, but when it’s time to practice forgiveness in real life, when we ourselves are cut by the jagged dagger of real-life hurt, we discover just how difficult forgiveness can be.

But as difficult as forgiveness is, sometimes we make it more challenging than it needs to be. What if we examine a few misconceptions about forgiveness, misconceptions that can be barriers to our willingness to get started?

Misconception 1: I can’t forgive unless the other person understands how much she hurt me.

Would it be ideal if the other person tried to grasp all the ways she hurt you, then apologized in a way that made you feel understood? Absolutely.

But you could be waiting a longtime—maybe forever. Meanwhile the anger and hurt you feel will continue eating away at your heart. And here’s a hard truth: even if they try, people who hurt us can never fully
understand how we feel. They can’t step inside our heads and hearts to access our memories and emotions.

“We can never fathom all Jesus suffered for us; we can never understand the Father’s anguish as he heard Jesus’ cries of pain. Thank God he doesn’t make us.“

When I’m struggling with this, I think about Romans 5:8: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus offered us a path to forgiveness while we were still unrepentant. He did not demand, “Until you understand the pain I suffered because of your sin, you can’t be forgiven!” If Jesus had done that, we would never have received forgiveness. We can never fathom all Jesus suffered for us; we can never understand the Father’s anguish as he heard Jesus’ cries of pain. Thank God he doesn’t make us.

Misconception 2: Forgiveness implies I approve of the person’s actions.

Sometimes we worry that if we forgive someone, we’re implying that what they did was okay—or at least not that bad. If someone has sinned against you, it wasn’t okay.

Forgiveness simply means we are letting go. We are refusing to allow bitterness and resentment to live inside us. We are not allowing another person’s actions or choices to dictate what we think or feel. We are leaving correction and rebuke, justice and vengeance in God’s hands, trusting that he will work on the other person’s heart (whether or not we ever see thatwork happening).

“At first, you may have to renew your decision every day, to remind yourself that you’ve already decided
to forgive.“

Misconception 3: Forgiveness is a onetime decision.

The initial decision to forgive is a powerful moment, but that’s just the beginning. At first, you may have to renew your decision every day, to remind yourself that you’ve already decided to forgive.

Even when our head knows we’ve forgiven someone, our feelings may be stuck in the old pattern. Angry, hurt feelings don’t go away overnight; they linger. Like caffeine, they buzz around in our veins long after we’ve finished our coffee. We may not feel differently toward the one who hurt us right away, but that doesn’t mean our initial decision to forgive was invalid. We have to stick to it. To reinforce it with thoughts and actions that promote grace and peace. Eventually, our emotions will catch up.

What if we imitated the Father’s generous heart, offering fresh mercies to people who have hurt us:

“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24

What if we renewed our decision to forgive as often as we need to?

That day on my bed, I released all conditions and expectations. I simply knelt at the foot of the cross, remembering the grace I’d been shown, knowing I could never apologize enough or “make it right” with Jesus. It was time—past time—that I offered my “enemy” the unconditional grace Jesus had shown me. I couldn’t offer it in person, but I offered it in prayer, with the Spirit as my witness.

I’m not usually a mystical, “I felt the Lord” kind of pray-er, but as I prayed, I felt a physical release, the sense of something snapping inside. It was as if a cord that had tethered my heart to bitterness—chaining me to anger, hurt, and self-righteousness—had been cut by God’s holy hands.

And in that moment, my forgiveness was complete. I was set free. Painful as that situation once was, it no longer causes me pain. Over time it became a healed wound with a scar, but even the scar has faded, and most days I forget it’s there.

Wherever things stand today between you and a person who’s hurt you, I pray you choose to stand in a place of grace. A place where you are forgiven by God and have fully forgiven the people in your life.

What a place to stand—a place of peace and freedom.

What a victory—a triumph over Satan and sin, resentment and regret.

And no one can take that victory from you. A broken relationship may have stolen many things from you, but it cannot steal this. The power to forgive and the choice to forgive are yours.

Elizabeth Laing Thompson is the author of many books for women and teens, including All the Feels, All the Feels for Teens, and the When God Says series. She writes at ElizabethLaingThompson.com about clinging to Christ through the chaos of daily life. As a speaker and novelist, she loves finding humor in holiness and hope in heartache. Elizabeth lives in North Carolina with her preacher husband and four spunky kids.

They say friends are the family we choose. And that choosing—the joy of loving and being loved by someone who isn’t genetically obligated to share life with u —adds priceless worth to our days, but also great risk. Because hurt can happen even in the closest friendships, and sometimes friendships fall apart. In her new book When a Friendship Falls Apart: Finding God’s Path for Healing, Forgiveness, and (Maybe) Help Letting Go, Elizabeth blends personal story, biblical examples, and faith-filled wisdom to help us find comfort, healing, and forgiveness. If you’ve ever found yourself in the midst of a friendship that’s falling apart or you’re grappling with past hurts and regrets, her new book is for you. May it be a comfort and help, leading you closer to the Friend who will never leave. You can find Elizabeth online at ElizabethLaingThompson.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

So, If You Want to Know the Real Story… (& what’s a Better Question to Ask Than How Was Your Day)

I’d been going around for days asking myself, “So what’s the story here?” 

Mainly because I read that a father had stopped asking his son after school every day, “So, how was your day?” — but instead began to simply ask him: “So – what’s the story today?” Because really? 

“The definition of a good day is actually how well did you live the story you were given today.”

Every day is a story, and every day you’re writing the one story of your only life, and your life is actually part of writing history, writing His story of redemptive good into the world. 

The definition of a good day is actually how well did you live the story you were given today. 

You only get one story to live, and you get to write good lines into the story you’ve been given, new pages of hope, new chapters of redemption and courage and love into the story that is today. 

You may not like the Story you’ve been given, but what you always get to do is write more good lines into the story. 

Shiloh and I make Advent countdown cookies, 25 cookies, one for each day. I pipe icing onto each cookie, numbering them. Shiloh reads to me and I dictate her spelling words while I try to clear away my baking mayhem to find the counters. So, what’s the story – really? 

You may not like the Story you’ve been given, but what you always get to do is write more good lines into the story. 

I call my Mama, in these painful days after her knee surgery, and read her lines from the Psalms, as she recovers more than a couple hundred kilometres away where she lives next to my brother’s family, and she and I pray those ancient verses of the Shepherd King who talked to his sheep and his soul and his God, asking Him:  “Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.” 

Every soul keeps seeking salvation in all kinds of ways – but only the One who is the Word Himself is telling the truest story about how to find any saving rescue in a bent and dented world. 

Mama’s on meds for the pain. She asks me how my wee flock of sheep behind the house are in these dark days of Advent. I tell her that the two lambs, Barnabas and Lovey, still keep following Shiloh around like she’s Mary, schooling them a bit more every day in love. And I tell her too, that the Farmer and I worked together late into the night mucking out one of the sheepfolds and then stood in the December dark and falling snow just quietly petting the sheep gathered round. So what’s the story, really?

And then I mention to Mama that the other day, I lost the memory card right out of my camera, somewhere walking in from the barn.

I had slowly retraced my steps through the half foot of sloshy snow.

But after two meticulous retracings, hunched over my tracks, I felt like a snowy-wet, empty-handed failure, and I told Shiloh that I give up. Plus, looked like the camera card, by that point, had been lost in the melting snow for at least the last 30 minutes now, so isn’t it likely already ruined? How many family photos and memories from the last week have I already lost?  

“Only the One who is the Word Himself is telling the truest story about how to find any saving rescue in a bent and dented world.“

And as I resigned to just what is, and turned to just put the little flock of sheep back in the barn, there, right there just at my hand, right there just in the one sheep that happens to be standing just right there next to me, something glimmers a bit in the December light – and  lodged just right there in this sheep’s wool –  is said lost camera card.

Not in the melting snow.

Not in the mud.

Not buried in the hay, or the corn, or the straw – but there:

Buried in the snow white wool of a sheep. In particularly, the sheep who happens to be standing right next to me! So, what’s the story, really? 

And then we read in our Advent readings, as we unwrap more of The Greatest Gift — that:

“In the story of God, in the family tree of Jesus, there’s not one woman, but four tired women who just keep trying – women who felt like failures, outsiders, like has-beens, like never-beens. Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Rahab. The Four: All named in the family line and story of God, women who knew what it was like to be tired from trying to find the way through, women exhausted with being taken advantage of, being unnoticed, uncherished and unappreciated; women who felt like they didn’t fit in, who had to figure out how to keep going and not give up.  

“The Story of every day really is that the Word is writing a good story through the day, even now.“

So what’s really the story – when your story feels messier than every one else’s? 

And it’s exactly these women, The Four, the women who are wandering and wondering and weary and wounded, who Jesus claims as His, as part of His glory story. 

When your story is messed up – the real story is that Hope writes Himself into your story, and He’s working more good lines into your Story and He’s always your sure lifeline. 

“There is a story unfolding every day in every day — and it’s not a story of failure, but a story of faithfulness – a story of God being faithful to us, even when we are faithless.

There is a story unfolding every day — and it’s not ultimately a story of failure, but a story of faithfulness – a story of God being faithful to us, even when we are faithless, a story of God coming to us and loyally staying with us, a story of grace clearing some unexpected way, and of Hope loaning us courage, and love never abandoning us even for a second.

The Story of every day really is that the Word is writing a good story through the day, even now. 

And a heart has to be hungry to see it, to slow down and really look for it – there, under the tenderness of bruised relationships, or buried there behind the laundry that’s piled up, or over there, somewhere alongside the to-do list that keeps exponentially expanding, or deep in the grief and the muck and the mess and the mire and the bruises of a life that keeps slamming us up against the rocks and the doctors and deadlines and whole long walls of disappointments – there’s still a glory story that surprises with gentle love. 

So, what’s the story today? Really?

Snow’s falling out in the orchard today, dusting the backs of my wee flock of sheep. The Farmer, surprised me this morning when I went out to feed sheep — he’d already filled my small trailer with hay for their breakfast. I talked to Mama about her exercises and her pain management, while I folded the laundry, and I held space for her as she ached with all kinds of pain. We can all feel like we’re the fifth, who belongs to The Four.

“…the real story is that Hope writes Himself into your story, and He’s working more good lines into your Story and He’s always your sure lifeline.“

And yet everywhere: The realest story today is that every day is its own kind of love story, written by Love Himself. Love, who comes down to a manger, enters time, and lives a life that is is the truest love story of history — and it’s His-Story, and it’s for you.

All the other fairy tale love stories in the world only echo our yearning for this truest, realest love story – this one that has its beginning before the beginning of time — and will carry us on into forever.

The story really is — our saving rescue is here.

We can breathe.

So we stay in the Story, because there, lodged between all our moments, are always these whispers of grace.

Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here.
Come let Jesus touch our broken relationships & heal us & reconcile us with His PEACE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.

3 Award-Winning 25 Christmas Devotionals for the Whole Family

The Greatest Gift (adult edition):  Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (Family Edition):  Best Inspirational Book of the Year, CBA, 2016

 The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019 (pop-up tree, 25 days of readings, 25 day advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age) 

And Click here for All The Free ornaments & Gift Tags for The Greatest Little Christmas

If your Family Feels kinda Mixed up: The Truth and Illusion of Family

I literally couldn’t be more thrilled about this needed edition of the Bible! So I’m leaning in with Evie Polsley, a member of the Bible team at Tyndale House Publishers, where she helps provide resources to people of all ages who want to better understand the Bible and apply it to their lives. Though Evie adores those who are genetically similar to her, her love of family stretches far beyond the limits of bloodlines, as she loves getting to know brothers and sisters around the world who are all part of the family of God. It’s a wild delight to welcome Evie to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Evie Polsley

So, we have a 15-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old daughter—and lots of heartbreak in between. After our oldest daughter was born, we struggled silently with infertility. After several miscarriages, we surrendered our dreams to God and became content with the family God had generously blessed us with. When the miraculous gift of our younger daughter came, I thought all the pain would vanish—but it was there, waiting under the surface.

We limit the beauty of family when we think of it as an unrealistic ideal.

It is rare when I talk about our family not to have someone comment on their age differences. At first when I heard the words, all the pain of loss would flood over me. I would fake smile and make a funny comment while inside I was filled with grief and wondered “why can’t we just be a normal family?”

Looking back, I realize those thoughts were my pain, my loss trying to find an escape.

Do I feel a little frustration every time I need to explain the difference in the girls’ ages?

Yes, but now instead of hiding all that we went through, I explain our loss. It took me several years, but I now understand the picturesque ideal of a “normal family” is an illusion. We limit the beauty of family when we think of it as an unrealistic ideal.

Every family is different, and every family can be beautiful if we are rooted in God’s love.

Throughout the Bible, there are families that look very different from our westernized standard. Look at Abram. He was called by God to leave his more traditional family and take his jumbled up one into an unknown land.

“So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.” Genesis 12:4-6, NLT

When we ground our family relationships—the good, the bad, and the ugly—in prayer, God can make something beautiful.

This was not an ideal family. Throughout the story of Abram, later Abraham, his family mix brings heartbreak, lying, betrayal, hatred, and violence. Lot’s wife is even turned to salt. Despite all the pain and loss, Abraham continues to cry out to God on behalf of his family. For me, one of the most poignant relationships in the Bible is between Abraham and Lot. Though Lot has selfishly parted from his uncle, Abraham never stops interceding for him.

“But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.” Genesis 19:29, NLT.

Making lots of mistakes but rooted in prayer, this mixed-up family group was setting the stage for the creation of the greatest family of all: the family of God.

When we intercede for our families, offering them—whatever they look like—to God, He can take what is broken and imperfect and use it to bring us closer to Him.

When we ground our family relationships—the good, the bad, and the ugly—in prayer, God can make something beautiful. It might not be the beautiful we expect or want to see, but we can find peace in knowing that God is at work.

Family isn’t always what we expect. We don’t even have to be genetically related to be family. What did Jesus say about his family?

“When we pray with those we love, we experience a special form of communication with one another that knits our souls together and unifies us in objective truth that transcends our lesser differences.”

“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.’ Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ Then he looked at those around him and said, ‘Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” Mark 3:31-35, NLT.

When God told Abram that all the families on earth would be blessed through him, He was talking about something much bigger than family lineage. God’s idea of family doesn’t have genetic boundaries.

Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are all offered a place at the family table. Our earthly family heritage takes a back seat to being the child of the creator of the universe. And those He has given us to be members of our family—blood-related or not—we are called to pray for and to show our Abba Father’s love.

God values family, but what family looks like is as unique as the people in them.

As we look at our families—those we have been birthed into and those we have gained through the saving power of Jesus’ blood—we can be a family that prays with and for each other. Prayer is a powerful binder that builds a bond connecting us to God and one another.

“When we pray with those we love, we experience a special form of communication with one another that knits our souls together and unifies us in objective truth that transcends our lesser differences,” as Jim Daly writes.

And as one year gently winds down, a new year rises on the horizon… this possibility rises too:

Of being a family that prays together, to see a new day rising and a more fulfilling way of being together.

Passionate about being an advocate for the New Living Translation and sharing how the Bible was created for all of us, Evie Polsley is a member of the Bible team at Tyndale House Publishers.

And the One Year Pray for the Family Bible invites us to deepen our relationships with God and the families He has given us. Daily prayer prompts focus on some of the most pressing issues facing families today. Each day’s Scripture reading helps us discover answers and guidance in God’s Word.

I couldn’t be more excited about this Bible!

Read through the entire Bible in a year, while spending focused time praying for your family and the broader family of God.

[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

Only the Good Stuff & Celebratory Giveaway! Multivitamins For Your Weekend [12.02.2023]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!( Wanna come CELEBRATE A BIG HAPPY SURPRISE GIVEAWAY?)

And too: 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:

Chris Burkard Chris Burkard Chris Burkard Chris Burkard Chris Burkard

…the strongest of why’s to find a how… we’ve all watched this one a few times and nobody had a dry eye!

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How to experience — in your body… in your mind… in your heart… the very real withness of God?  For me, it’s all of you, this community, and your own stories over there!

So I went 13 miles into the desert, became unreachable

& God messed with me in ways that changed my life:

After praying With Monks: The Change Your Life Really Needs…If You Really Want Any Hope

HA! “Meow-wiage is what bwings us togethew today. Meow-wiage, that purr-fect awwangement…”  (As long as you propose this December, & include your cat in the proposal, that is… a free ring could be yours! )

A sled dog? Or sled human? Either way isn’t it the BEST!

Kinda fun to return to the wonder of being a kid again!

Forget Saks 5th Avenue

My Mama had knee surgery this week… and I can’t stop thinking about this:

Why We Actually Get A Real Revolutionary Merry Christmas & How, Even Now, Everything Can Turn Around

If you make it to the National Gallery –

you have to check out some of just the coolest

art of American winte r

... a little winter glory soak for your weekend?

The whole earth is full of His glory & this is winter wonderland!

Bundle up — if you want to step into this great American art!

And how about virtually going skiing for the holidays?

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A post shared by Starworld (@starworldlab)

and our Good Shepherd leaves the 99

… for the 1!

A little slice of Europe and the most beautiful Christmas markets for your weekend !

Post of the Week from these Parts 25 Christmas Advent Devotionals: The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year Award, Christian Retailing

Your heart may really need this post before we begin Advent!

Dear Family: The Real Reason Why We Make Time to Advent

(& everyyyyything you need for FREE “Night-Before-Advent” Party Printable Package! It’s tonight! ) 

FLASH GIVEAWAY! Celebrating *TEN* years of  the NYTimes Bestseller “The Greatest Gift” Unwrap the Full Love Story of Christmas – can you believe it?!!

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Five Winners!!

Win all THREE of our Christmas devotionals (signed):

The Greatest Gift

(adult edition)
Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014,
NYTimes Best Seller

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

(family edition)
Best Inspirational Book
of the Year, CBA, 2016,
NYTimes Best Seller

The Wonder of the Greatest Gift:

Best Devotional &
Gift Book of the Year, Christian Book Association, 2019
(pop-up edition 14 in. tree, 25 days of readings & advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age!) 

But Wait — There’s More !

And they also win the AMAZING Advent resources from my son’s shop over at The Keeping Company:

The Messiah Manger

Create a tradition of giving with you and yours this Christmas

Delightful wooden ornaments to accompany Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

Cradle to Cross Wreath

Count down the days of both Advent and Lent, Keeping Company with Christ through the Holy-Days

… and two(!) of the absolutely charming Christmas mugs.

Don’t Miss the celebration & the Greatest Little Christmas! Join Us in the Ten Year Anniversary GiveAway Here !

(Giveaway closes Monday at midnight EST, so jump into the party over here! )

Love love love this! On repeat here!

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.

Dear Fam: The Real Reason Why We Make Time to Advent (& Free “Night-Before-Advent” Party Printables)

“The real wonder of Christmas is that we don’t have to make Christmas magical – when we simply enter into the wonder of what’s Scriptural. “

Dear Fam, all my dear, dear, Brave hearts….

Someone mentioned to me in passing the other day that when they grew up, they actually realized that all the magic of Christmas — is really always the work of some mother. 

And I laughed – loudly. 

As a mama, I laughed and smiled and nodded –  and deep within, I exhaled with a relief that my weary bones could actually feel: 

The Wonder of Christmas is always really the work of our Heavenly Father.

The real wonder of Christmas is that we don’t have to make Christmas magical – when we simply enter into the wonder of what’s Scriptural. 

25 Christmas Advent Devotionals: The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year Award, Christian Retailing , 2014 25 Christmas Advent Devotionals: The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year Award, Christian Retailing

There’s one Story that’s the truest, realest story, a story that we can enter into, that will amaze us, carry us, remake us, revive us, restore us and re-story us – especially when the world’s at war, on fire, and all the news stories feels achingly dark. 

“You are made by the Word, for the Word. And only when you press into the Word who made you, will you become fully who you were made to be.“

Yes, true, and I feel this too: There are narratives everywhere that are vying for our attention, stories that want our eyes, that want our buy in. There are headlines everywhere shaping the story, cultural pressures that are working to press whole generations into a certain mold. 

We all live and breathe and have our being in an atmosphere of stories that mean to shape us and form us. Which isn’t a surprise, really: 

This is a world made by the Word – so this is a world of stories, and everything in this world is a story that means to form our souls.  

In a world made by the Word, there is only one Story worth staying in, there is only one Story worth being formed by.  

So we light the candles this time of year and enter into the hush of Advent, because this is the truest true, in this world that cannot, in any way, have been made simply by some accident: 

You were made by the Word, for the Word. 

And only when you press into the Word who made you, will you become fully who you were made to be. 

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 25 Christmas Devos for whole family, NYT bestseller & Christian Book Award Winner for Best Inpsiriational book of year Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 25 Christmas Devos for whole family, NYT bestseller & Christian Book Award Winner for Best Inpsiriational book of year 25 Christmas Advent Devotionals: The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year Award, Christian Retailing The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year

This is why we, as a family, pray to Stay in the Story – not because it just matters now, today – but because it matters for generations, for always.

This is why we are a people who keep returning to this Story, the story of Jesus, and every spin around the sun, when the calendar year about turns – we return to Advent, to this adventure of a lifetime, this seeking Him, this looking for Him, this waiting for His coming, this coming to Him. 

“Only the Word who made you, the Word and story of God, can fully understand you and your soul, like a mother knows all the curves contours of her child’s own face. Only when a soul molded by God will be fully whole.  “

Because: Your soul will only be rightly, fully, wholly formed human – when it’s formed, informed, transformed by the heart of God, the Word of God.  

Only the Word who made you, the Word and story of God, can fully understand you and your soul, like a mother knows all the curves contours of her child’s own face.

It’s only when you let the life of Jesus shape your life, that you will experience being shaped in the most life-giving ways. 

Only when a soul molded by God will be fully whole.  

This is why we wait in the dark of Advent for His coming, why we wait and anticipate Him by turning of the pages of this Story that knows and holds and enfolds us: 

Find yourself in the Story of God – and you find your truest self. 

Enter into the Story of God  – and you enter into the heart of Christ and find your heart mending. 

When we enter fully into the story each Advent, stay in the Story in midst of all kinds of loud, chaotic, catastrophic stories  – the Word becomes the clearest window to see how this world turns, and how we can turn to find the surest way through. 

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 25 Christmas Devos for whole family, NYT bestseller & Christian Book Award Winner for Best Inpsiriational book of year Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 25 Christmas Devos for whole family, NYT bestseller & Christian Book Award Winner for Best Inpsiriational book of year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year

So here, on the cusp of Advent, now is the time to light hope in the dark and feel all the anticipation spark and ignite our hearts – turning the pages of the Story, burning hotter and hotter through these days of December, till we can’t contain all this hope and start a wildfire of lit love. 

This word, Advent, it’s rooted in the Latin verb “adventio,” meaning – “I am coming, I arrive.”  

This word, Advent, it’s rooted in the Latin verb “adventio,” meaning – “I am coming, I arrive.”  We only arrive – when we keep coming to Jesus.  

As the year winds down, as I deeply feel the frailty and endless faults of my humanity, as we sit in the wonder of Christmas and wonder if we will ever arrive and be all we were meant to be, we are the people who direly need the adventure of Advent, this waiting for His coming, His arrival. 

Because: We only arrive – when we keep coming to Jesus. 

Maybe now, at this point in our story, at this time of year,  the only question to ask is:

What story will we let deeply form us, which story will get to re-story us? 

How will we prepare for Christmas so we don’t miss Him, so we stay in the Story that can truly restore and re-story us, how will we intentionally prepare Him room, how will we prepare our tender hearts… to be mended…  by pressing into His heart?

Kick off Advent with Joy & Intentionality

and with your own Night Before Advent Party… and enter into the Story of God to restore & re-story your family!

The Eve of Advent is here!

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This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, rest of our family, will need– for generations after you 3 Award-Winning, 25 Day Christmas Devotionals for the Whole Family!

The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (Family Edition): Best Inspirational Book of the Year, CBA, 2016

 The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019 (pop-up tree, 25 days of readings, 25 day advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age) 

And Click here for All The Free ornaments & Gift Tags for The Greatest Little Christmas

Forget Saks 5th Avenue: Why We Actually Get A Real Revolutionary Merry Christmas & How, Even Now, Everything Can Turn Around

So my dear mama’s just had knee surgery this past week, and during her tender recovery on the cusp of Advent, I can’t stop thinking about this & what unforgettably unfolded when I took her to NYC for Christmas just 2 years ago…

She’d never been to New York City before, and was on the cusp of turning 71.

I had to fly again for meetings in New York, after my long year of weariness and grief and loneliness, and just before they turned on all the Christmas lights.

So I give her soft, wrinkled cheek a tender kiss, slip the plane ticket into hand, and whisper “Come with me, Mama?” 

We only have so many revolutions around the sun and every day is about overturning the dark.

I take her first to Strand’s Book Store–and literally have to drag her by the hand into the actual store, as she gleefully dives into all the used books just in carts out on the sidewalk. Kids in candy stores look nearly catatonic in comparison to my Mama in a bookstore. I keep whispering to her in the stacks, “Just remember–we have to figure out how to fit all these books into your carryon?” 

“I’ll leave clothes behind for books,” she winks. I’m not ashamed to say how I like the way the gears in Mama’s mind turns and overturns all the things. 

We only have so many revolutions around the sun and every day is about overturning the dark.

When we sit up in the balcony at the Metropolitan Opera, to watch La Boheme, the librettist lifts the roof and all the heaviness of the year with those lilting lines,

“In you I see a dream come to life–
A dream I pray always to dream!
In the depths of my soul
I tremble…
Your kisses thrill life itself.”

And I steal a glance in the dark over at my mama’s eyes glinting, her thrilling, kindling again, to life itself. 

In this world, there is One heavenly dream who comes to life, to give life, a dream we pray always to dream, even in our darkest nightmare, so we wake to the Light forever, and all our weary hopes fulfilled. 

Mama reaches over and pats my hand, winks.

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: 25 Christmas Devos for whole family, NYT bestseller & Christian Book Award Winner for Best Inpsiriational book of year

It’s late and cold when we slip down 5th Avenue.

The 70-some foot Norway Spruce Christmas tree that’s only been freshly lit not yet even 24 hours, presiding there over Rockefeller Center and the ice skaters carving figure eights there under her twinkling limbs.

Mama, she turns and squeezes my arm, “Ain’t it all just something else, Ann?”

And I can see all the lights flickering in her eyes, just like they do in every single one of the 125 million actual human beings who will make their way this Christmas season to stand in awe at the foot of that Tree.

Then, just as we turn around, straight across from the Rockefeller tree, the whole 10 story front of Saks Fifth Avenue ignites with choreographed lights, over 700,000 programmed LED lights all flashing to the tune of Mariah Carey’s “Christmas–Baby, Please Come Home.”

Mama holds up her phone like a glowing flag and hits record and swoons a bit like everyone else standing wide-eyed there on the street, and I smile at her and the lights and all these turning constellations of grace. 

But God came down and the new kingdom’s breaking in, and the revolution has begun, and nothing in this busted old world is the same.

And then the instrumental music suddenly turns to the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the lights flash and dance and right there on 5th Avenue with thousands witnessing a light show bar none, and I catch my breath.

The instrumental music keeps directing this light extravaganza–but does anyone know the words, the words that aren’t playing, but actually accompany this song that is making all of 5th Avenue stand agape with faces turned up to the heavens, words I half expect the entire filled 5th Avenue to raise hands and begin to sing:

“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee
Op’ning to the Sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away   
Give of immortal gladness
fill us with the light of day…”

And I’m thinking: There’s a dream we pray to dream
where we turn and open to the Son above
and all the dark 
forever burns away.

The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year

“Mama,” I lean in. “Just before it closes–can we slip right over there into St. Patrick’s?”

The Babe will bear a cross and all the brokenness of the world, of history, of humanity, there on His bare back. What if He had never gone to the only Tree we all need this Christmas?

I point to the darkened towers of the stone church right next door of flashy Saks.

And she nods and takes my arm and we make our gentle way through the crowds of Christmas merry makers and up the stairs into the vaulted stillness of the cathedral. 

The nave rises more than 100 glorious feet above us, like we can ascend to heaven–or heaven has split and come down to us.

And we catch a glimpse of it off to the side, the larger than life nativity, nestled into the side aisle of the cathedral–and in the last few moments before the cathedral closes here on the lit and full streets of New York, we draw near and sit close.

Behind the creche that is ache-waiting for the Child, I see it carved right into the stone of the cathedral walls, sculpted and alive and moving, deeply moving, 

The Babe will bear a cross and all the brokenness of the world, of history, of humanity, there on His bare back.  

And what if He had never come? What if He had never gone to the only Tree we all need this Christmas?

What if He had never entered here and we stayed in the dark for always here? What if there was never any rescue, never any way out, never any hope of real wholeness?

But God came down and the new kingdom’s breaking in, and the revolution has begun, and nothing in this busted old world is the same.

The revolution that begins under the spinning stars of Bethlehem means relationships can turn around, prodigals can turn around, diagnosis can turn around, circumstances can turn around, injustices can turn around, the impossible can turn around.

The revolution that begins under the spinning stars of Bethlehem means relationships can turn around, prodigals can turn around, diagnosis can turn around, circumstances can turn around, injustices can turn around, the impossible can turn around.

Already now:

The revolution has begun to destroy dark’s destruction.
The revolution has begun to crush injustice’s corruptions.
The revolution has begun to wreck every disappointment’s intrusion. 
Because God came to breathe this same air, everything in the world is now different.

The direction of everything is different now because of Advent and His coming:

The King of heaven has come right down and now God’s kingdom is coming right here on earth as it is in heaven. 
Because a new Babe was born in Bethlehem, there is a new order born into this world!
Because the Word became flesh, the word on the street is revolutionary hope!
Because there is a new King, there is a new Way for everything!
Because the revolution has begun, all in the kingdom are finally free to begin a new vocation:

The One who bears the Cross and all the world’s brokenness for us, now gives us all this main vocation to bear His image in a broken world. The image bearers of God must always be bearing a cross.

A Christian’s vocation is always cruciformation.

To reach out with hope to the hurting, 
to stretch out with a branch of peace 
to the polarized, to open our arms 
wide to welcome in the difficult
because the world now is entirely different.

The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Pop-Up Tree, 25 short Christmas Devos with 25 Ornaments to hang to tell story of Jesus: ECPA AWARD for Best Gift Book of Year 25 Christmas Advent Devotionals: The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year Award, Christian Retailing , 2014 Favorite 25 Candle Advent Wreath with Starry Manger

The lights can turn all up and down 5th Avenue, and the Rockefeller Tree can draw millions.

And the choreographed light show flashing across the facade of Saks can stop the crowds slack jawed in the streets.

But the real revolution has begun in the dark of a barn, the real revolution has begun that will overturn all the regimes of darkness and sadness and brokenness, the real revolution has begun in us that keep bringing the kingdom down, that keeps turning everything around.

All the Christmas lights everywhere are but a sign of how Christ’s revolution has begun, overturning all the dark. 

As we wait for a cab to take us back up 5th Avenue, Mama takes one more look over at the Rockefeller Tree and the crush of gazing site seers, and up at all the lights dancing up Saks to thundering music, and I hear her humming to the choreographed lights, that worship that underlies all of our Christmases, whether we realize it or not:

“Joyful, joyful we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love…
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
fill us with the light of day…”

And all our chains begin to break, the dark begins to crack with light, and all us hurting begin to witness.

The signs of the dawning new Kingdom coming, because a God-man hung on a tree to whom all of history will one day gaze in worship and bow, and the cosmic overthrow of all our sadness is starting already now.

All the Christmas lights everywhere are but a sign of how Christ’s revolution has begun, overturning all the dark. 

Merry Revolutionary Christmas.

***

Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here.
Come let Jesus touch our broken relationships & heal us & reconcile us with His PEACE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.

3 Award-Winning 25 Christmas Devotionals for the Whole Family

The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (Family Edition): Best Inspirational Book of the Year, CBA, 2016

 The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019 (pop-up tree, 25 days of readings, 25 day advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age) 

And Click here for All The Free ornaments & Gift Tags for The Greatest Little Christmas

After praying With Monks: What Change Your Life Really Needs–If You Want Any Hope

In the midst of tender days, days when it’s desperately hard to find hope, I retreated to the desert to pray. 

13 miles into the desert, to be exact. 13 miles of twisting, turning, washboard road, unfurling away from the main highway. 

There are times you have to go where you are fully unreachable, to fully feel how God never stops reaching for you, has always been reaching for you. For all of us. 

Somewhere between mile seven and eight, I thought I was going to puke. 

Maybe it was more than the road tossing and heaving and hair-pin turning us more than 4 stories above the Chama River. Maybe it was more than this nauseating road shaking and rattling us free from all our false moorings, from so much of our identity and security being cemented in what we can produce and how we can perform instead of how we are made to deeply enjoy the presence of God. 

If you see every wilderness as an invitation to retreat into the hope of God, you’ve made the retreat that always wins the battle. 

Maybe, on some levels, my nausea was more about this terrifying movement from hustling striving to hushed silence, from civilization toward isolation, this movement away from working to earn acceptance through passable productivity, and this movement toward resting in an acceptance that is rooted simply in being, a journey away from the constant white noise of distraction, toward coming directly face to face with holy God Almighty Himself.

“I’ve just got to get out – just get out for a minute,” I murmur to my friend behind the steering wheel, as I reach for the door handle. Got to get some air, get grounded. 

I walk and breathe, just breathe. The ground under my feet, this earth, keeps heaving with tears and lament and heartbreak and all kinds of feelings of hopelessness and there’s this dusty red road beckoning like a Red Sea Road of real deliverance out into the wilderness to hear a word of God. 

What if whatever wilderness you find yourself in, you’re where it’s possible to finally find a word of hope from God? 

“There I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her, there she shall respond as in the days of her youth.” Hosea 2:14-15. 

I stand at the edge of the road, look off into the desert, to the mountains, and perhaps it’s possible that what my soul is hearing changes everything: 

If you see every wilderness as an invitation to retreat into the hope of God, you’ve made the retreat that always wins the battle. 

There is no sound here. No noise, no drone or whirl or hum or buzz of life – there is only the depths of stillness. 

There is only life in God. There is no life to be found anywhere else, in anything else, through anything else, and there is a way to live a whole life wholly in God.

The reality is, the hope is, ultimately only this: There is only life in God – all else is deadening… all else is deadening distraction.

When we finally rattle our way to the very end of the road an hour later, when the world and cell service have fallen quietly away, all there is left is to walk our way the last leg into the dark of the canyon and deeper into this thickening silence. We park behind the sign that reads “Peace – Christ of the Desert Monastery.” Pulling our winter coats tight around us, we set off on the trek through the cold of the desert night and out toward the guesthouse. Over our heads in the expansive darkness spills this benediction of shimmering stars. 

This is always the blessing: There is only life in God. There is no life to be found anywhere else. Already the desert is yielding fruit that I didn’t know I was starving for and that’s all I keep hearing, tasting: There is only life in God. There is no life to be found anywhere else, in anything else, through anything else, and there is a way to live a whole life wholly in God.

As we walk round one of the road’s curves, we hear this sole lonely bell ringing atop of the dimly lit adobe prayer chapel, this quiet intoning invitation across the desert to all who can hear, to all to come bow their heads with the psalmist before their Maker.

The surest way to know whether you have been fooled into being the walking dead, or if you’re actually living a life in God, is whether the hours of your life are centered around prayer with God.

So we to make a run for it through the pitch black wilderness dark, down and around gravel paths and desert bushes, trying to make it in time for the last prayer of the day. 

Breathless, we dash up the steps of the prayer chapel, exhale – try to soundlessly open the old wooden door – and step in. 

Inside the warm candle-lit glow of the prayer chapel, there’s only the rising sound of the Psalms as prayer-song filling the rising space. 

These men of the cloth, these Benedictine monks, pause the work of their hands eight times a day, to come and simply, without any fanfare, pray the Psalms. Day after day. Week after week, year after year, decade after decade. 

How have I never really known: The only way to keep time, the way to keep up with time, the way keep taming time – is to keep praying the hours to keep company with God who lives beyond time and holds all of time in His hands.

I can feel my soul settling: The way to most accurately keep time is to keep praying the hours, as the Son of God did, so you keep pace with God, so you keep going the speed of God. 

Maybe those who retreat from the world to pray, to wait on God, to hope in God – haven’t left the real world, but have entered the realest world of all. 

All around the world, as tears fall, as night falls, as missiles fall, as people fall, as empires fall, as families fall, as hopes fall — these Psalm-prayers keep rising from the pray-ers eight times a day. 

Being still to know God in prayer — is a strategic retreat to ultimately know how God is with us, so we’ve already won everything that ultimately matters. 

Retreating to be still in prayer is a strategic retreat so you can re-engage with victorious hope.

As the Psalm-prayers in all our voices keep filling the chapel,  this startling reality fills me: 

The surest way to know whether you have been fooled into being the walking dead, or if you’re actually living a life in God, is whether the hours of your life are centered around prayer with God.

And I’m struck: Maybe those who retreat from the world to pray, to wait on God, to hope in God – haven’t left the real world, but have entered the realest world of all. 

If we were to rightly see the realest world, we would know the first right answer to every wrong in the world is taking it all right to God in prayer. 

Maybe: The realest world is not the world of big plans and long meetings and flashing headlines and self-help masquerading as gospel hope or everything else that will blow away, dust in the desert wind… 

The realest world is the one that knows there is a battle in the heavenlies to divide, steal, kill and destroy, and the only way to know any winning is to first be still in prayer and hope in God to do the delivering.  

The realest world is not the one where the powerful have microphones, laws, or weapons in their hands, but the one where we are on our knees with bowed heads and open hands, before the One is most powerful in all the universe. 

If we were to rightly see the realest world, we would know the first right answer to every wrong in the world is taking it all right to God in prayer. 

Hushed – and convicted – I try to find the page of Psalms everyone in the prayer chapel is quietly praying. 

“I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. I sought the Lord in my day of trouble. 

My hands were continually lifted up all night long… I will remember the Lord’s works; 

Yes, I will remember your ancient wonders. I will reflect on all you have done  and meditate on your actions.

God, Your way is holy. What god is great like God?

You are the God who works wonders;  you revealed your strength among the peoples. With power you redeemed your people…“

Psalm 77

How many Psalm-prayers of hope, just over the last week, have these people quietly prayed? How do I have agency, real choice, to actually live a life of prayer – instead a life of production? Because: Do I ultimately believe that a life of prayer is what actually produces the greatest good in my life and in the life of the world?

And looking into the faces of they prayer-warrioring monks, my heart keeps pounding with the question: How is my heart aligned with the Word of God, the Ways of God, the Will of God – simply by praying God’s Word constantly to God?

You won’t ever be of any real earthly good, until you’re constantly heavenly minded. 

I’m trying to focus on the next Psalm-prayer, but all I can think is how they say: “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re of no earthly good” – but I’m standing here singing Psalm-prayers with a community that lives in God, that lives a life of Psalm-prayers because what moves the universe is not any man’s to-do list but the hand of God, and all I can think is what these souls who never stop praying actually know:

 You won’t ever be of any real earthly good, until you’re constantly heavenly minded. 

And something that feels like the ache of repentance is breaking tender within me and I’m blinking it back as we whisper-sing-pray the next Psalm. 

When prayer isn’t a daily life priority – it’s proof you don’t rely on God but rather your own self-sufficiency. 

If God only plays a backup genie in our drive-by prayers, our lives betray how we feel like we’re ultimately the one at the wheel, calling all the real shots. 

If God only plays a backup genie in our drive-by prayers, our lives betray how we feel like we’re ultimately the one at the wheel, calling all the real shots.  

When we pray little — it’s actually God who we see as little in the “real world” of our schedules and strategy and success. 

If we have little time to pray – it’s God who we’re belittling. 

The one who prays little has a large ego. 

Was that the first word of God when I entered into the wilderness: Repent – and pray. 

Repent and want Me more than all else.

On the cusp of Advent, I pray, and pray throughout the day, and keep turning to God, and on the dark days, in a world that aches with darkness, I quietly keep returning to it:

When you can’t find hope, the first place to begin looking is getting down on your knees. Get down on your knees in prayer and that’s where you begin to find slivers of hope.

And hope isn’t about getting what you planned, but getting to be in the presence of Hope Himself, prayerfully aligning our heart with His, aligning our hands with the only Hand that turns the world toward the light and revolutionizes everything.

Until there is a de-centering of our plans, our productivity and our performance, and a daily centring on our God in prayer — all our world slides destabilized.

Even now, the desert and all this dark can fill with the light of all His Hope.

Come away this season & centre on Christ alone

You are being beckoned by the God of the universe right now to come away with Him.

To be still with Him, to gaze upon His beauty, to pour out your heart to Him.

He doesn’t love you because of what you produce.

He doesn’t love you because of how well you perform.

He simply and completely loves you — because He chooses to simply and completely love you.

Whatever wilderness you’re in, offers you this grace: We are most prepared for Christ, for Christmas, when we confess we are mostly not prepared. Rest here.

You are simply most prepared for Christmas when you are done trying to make your performance into the gift — and instead linger in His presence as the Gift.

This season, in whatever wilderness you’re in, pick up “The Greatest Gift– Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas” and sit with 25 Christmas Devotionals — and enter into a daily rhythm of wonder and intimate prayer, giving you presence as the gift you can give back to Him in this season.

Give Kids in Your Life the Gift of Being Hands-On Worshipers of a Hands-On God

Evie Polsley is passionate about helping kids engage with God’s Word in ways they can understand. She has worked with kids at her church for more than 20 years, and more often than not, as she experiences the Bible through their eyes, she gains a deeper understanding of who God is and how much he loves us. Evie is a member of the Bible team at Tyndale House Publishers, where she helps provide resources to people of all ages who want to better understand the Bible and apply it to their lives. It’s a joy to welcome Evie to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Evie Polsley

We live in the Midwest and love being able to experience the differences of the seasons. Fall is one of my favorites, as the world bursts forth in vibrant colors. But as fall transitions to winter, what was once a glorious vision can quickly become a laborious chore.

When my daughter was two, a storm blew through that shook the leaves from our trees, littering them across the front yard. I let out a frustrated groan, knowing my hours would be filled with raking.

I opened the door, and she rushed out into the leaf-filled yard. I, on the other hand, did all I could to ignore the mess. As I tried to avoid the leaves, she knelt down, grabbed a handful, threw them in the air, and yelled, “Celebration!”

She went all over the yard grabbing leaves and yelling, “Celebration!”

For me, the leaves were another chore; but for her, they were a reason to celebrate.

Maybe this was the perfect example of why God tells me to become like a child. We need our perspectives changed. We need to see things with new eyes and a fresh sense of wonder. We need to see him through childlike amazement and awe. But it’s so much more than just seeing.

God gave us five fantastic senses to help us explore the world he created and better understand who he is—to know him more fully. How many times have we limited ourselves in experiencing him because it seemed childish?

So often we think of time with God as this quiet, reflective moment where we need to be still. We see the images on Instagram of the Bible with a cup of coffee in some remote room of the house. Those are beautiful, treasured moments, and there are definitely times we need to be silent before God.

But what if He wants us to experience Scripture in a more active way too?

Isn’t there also a place for exploration, getting messy, laughing, shouting praise, and experiencing him in a less serene way?

“To fully experience God, maybe there are times we need to become like a child.”

To fully experience God, maybe there are times we need to become like a child.

When our youngest daughter sees someone she loves, she is all-in! There are topple-down hugs, jumping up-and-down, endless chatter, and contagious enthusiasm to just be together.

What if we sometimes looked at our moments with God like that? What if we let down our grown-up walls and opened all our senses so we could taste, feel, smell, see, and hear all of who he is?

He is a hands-on God who is constantly creating. He played in the mud, and humanity began. He tells us to “taste and see” his goodness. We are invited to his banquet table. If that is how God is revealing himself to us, then what’s stopping us from experiencing Him in that way?

Throughout the Bible we read how God expresses who he is through all the senses.

“Throughout the Bible we read how God expresses who he is through all the senses.”

For instance, when we read of the priestly offerings in the Old Testament, we are drawn to the importance of a sweet aroma to God.

“Afterward take the various breads from their hands, and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering. It is a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a special gift for him.” Exodus 29:25

In Psalm 119, the psalmist connects God’s law to the sweetest thing he’s ever tasted.

“How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” Psalm 119:103

When Jesus healed people, he could have just used words. But over and over again he touched them.

“Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be healed!’ And instantly the leprosy disappeared.” Matthew 8:3

And while teaching, Jesus often used hands-on ways for people to tangibly connect to truth.

Like using five loaves and two fish to miraculously feed more than five thousand people so they could taste the abundance of his provision and blessings.

“‘Bring them here,’ he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!” Matthew 14:18-21

Let’s bask in the beauty as we read his Word.

Let’s spend time in quiet awe as we listen for his voice.

“Let’s be hands-on worshipers of a hands-on God.”

But let’s also feel him in the hug of a friend.

What if we could find Him in the amazing aroma of freshly baked bread and praise him as we savor a perfect bite of our favorite meal?

What if we could shrug off what hinders us, throw the leaves in the air, and shout, “Celebration!”

What if we chose to really be hands-on worshipers of a hands-on God?

Evie Polsley is a member of the Bible team at Tyndale House Publishers. She loves being an advocate for the New Living Translation and sharing how the Bible was created for all of us, including kids!

The Hands-On Bible is filled with ways your kids—and you—can grow in your understanding of who God is as you explore the Bible together. This is a kid-focused Bible, but it’s not a storybook Bible. It includes the entire text of the New Living Translation and is packed with weird facts, captivating experiments, colorful graphics, and more.

Together you will read, taste, feel, and smell Bible truths so you can go deeper in God’s Word. Together you will experience the Bible, not just read it.

[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their humble partnership in today’s devotional. ]

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [11.25.2023]

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:

Meg Loeks Meg Loeks Meg Loeks

OH! The joy of childlike wonder!

…if not the best, a snowman is truly a child’s coolest friend…

A man who had dyslexia… ends up leaving millions to his hometown — and inspiring all of us to find surprising way to be GIVERS this Christmas! #BeTheGift

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A post shared by Ann Voskamp (@annvoskamp)

Gratitude’s a declaration that God is good no matter what happens.

Wanna exhale with a fairytale skate through a forest?

Xavier Lequarre / Natural Landscape Photography Awards

Linger with a cup of something warm and have a kind of #dailyglorysoak, just being in awe of these winning captures in the 2023 Natural Landscape Photography Awards — WOW!

How a man found God in taking 5,000 pictures of snowflakes!

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…a reindeer doing his happy dance…or should we say, happy prance!

Beside a need to bundle up – what snow can mean to a Christian!

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A post shared by Good News (@tanksgoodnews)

…speaking of snow…don’t you wish it made everyone this excited?! 

On the Book Stack at the Farm

Don’t miss Joni Eareckson Tada‘s recent guest post:

The Faith We Need for Holidays, For Ordinary Days, For Hope in Suffering Seasons

Or her book that I can’t stop reading:

The Practice of the Presence of Jesus

What she says here is truly everything… exhale…

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A post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)

Starry eyed over the kindness of this good neighbor!

Favorite Christmas Resource: 25 Day Advent Wreath New Resource! Christmas Music Boxes! I am giddy over this new resource! 24 Master Classic Art Prints for Advent, each pointing to one of the names of Jesus

Our very favourite Christmas resources — including the brand new Christmas music boxes (!) and 25 Advent Master Classic Art prints, each pointing to a name of Jesus, which I can’t wait to use this year— are all on sale this weekend — and putting out our most favourite resource of all time, our 25 day candle Advent wreath

All our favourite resources for the holidays on sale at The Keeping Company

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A post shared by Jessie Jane Daye (@jessiejanedaye)

No postage needed & sure to delight—these treats are first-class deliciousness headed right to your taste buds! 

Christmas road trip, anyone?! Goodness, I wanna go see all of these!

4 Reasons to Believe in the Christmas Miracle

Why the supernatural events of this season are both credible and incredible

experience a Christmas that restores Hope God Is With You  This Advent, just as things are, Stay in the Story,

the Story the rest of your year, your family, will need.

25 CHRISTMAS ADVENT DEVOTIONALS: 3 Award-Winning books for the Whole Family

The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (Family Edition): Best Inspirational Book of the Year, CBA, 2016

  The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019 (pop-up edition with your own 14 inch tree, 25 days of readings, 25 day advent flap calendar, hiding all 25 Biblically inspired ornaments! For any age )

And last but not least…playing this on repeat as we decorate for Christmas this week!

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.