Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 53
December 5, 2021
Fighting? Cold Wars? How to Actually Wage Peace (Advent Devotion: Peace Candle)
Honestly, you tell me: there may be only 23 of 195 countries in the whole wide world that had no reported battles, or riots of violence this year, but how many of our families, or friendships, or faith communities, had no hidden battles or a busted and broken peace?
Peace can only be made by the very Prince of Peace. There is no other way, but through the One who is The Way.
How many of us honestly don’t have real peace with that someone down the pew, down the street, or right there in our family tree? I look in the mirror and weep.
And yet — how many of us will sing “Peace on Earth, goodwill to men” and feel no deep peace toward more than a few difficult men?
You can feel it right there, in your tender-raw heart: Peace can’t be accomplished by people. It never has been, and never will be.
You can only concede:
Peace can only be made by the very Prince of Peace. There is no other way, but through the One who is The Way.
So our Christmases and our crisis and our conflicts all ache with the longing cry: “Come Lord Jesus, Come.”
This is no melodramatic ploy, but our only honest plea.
How can we wage peace, if only the Prince of Peace can bring peace?
How do we still wage peace, while we wait still for the Prince of Peace?
Advent is about waiting, so advent is simply about doing what the waiters always do — the waiters always serve.
There is no other way to wait through Advent than to be a waiter — and serve.
The Advent waiters serve the oppressed their open hands, so we all get to become prisoners of hope.
The Advent waiters serve the hurting with extra helpings of real help, so we all fill with actual hope.
The Advent waiters serve soup to the love-starved, and invite the relationship-hungry to their hearths, and the Advent waiters serve the world food and warmth and shelter and welcome and cruciform love so we all feel the touch of the hands and heart of Christ.
There is no other way to wait through Advent than to be a waiter — and serve. Serve the single mom next door with a night out and the widow down the street with a dinner in, and make it a point to serve all the singles a seat at your table because they deserve to be seen and served and sincerely celebrated as whole reflections of Christ!
Blessed are the peacemakers who serve peace to their enemies with just one brave card in the mail, just one brave call in a silent Cold War, which lights a flame in the dark, and is a sign that the real kingdom and the Prince of Peace is breaking in right now.
Blessed are the peacemakers who feel along for fractures in families, and faith communities, and cultural frontlines, and proactively forge peace with their Christ-burning hearts, because nothing dishonours God more than our disharmony.
Our disharmony brings a kind of hell on earth instead of real peace on earth, and who will be the first to wave a white flag, and surrender to the mending ways of the Prince of Peace?
Blessed are the peacemakers who serve peace exactly to those who don’t deserve it, because this is exactly what Christmas is about: Christ coming to make peace with us who didn’t deserve it, so how can we not pass the peace on He’s served each of us?
There are wars and there are wounded and this is always the work of the people of God:
The only way to wait for God to work — is to do the work of waiters -— serve.
We wage peace exactly by waiting on the Prince of Prince, by doing what the waiters always do — serve light, serve hope, serve love.
We wage peace when we are real ministers of reconciliation, “for He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” to let more of the light of the kingdom break in through our broken and wounded hearts.
The Advent waiters let nothing stop them, not rejection, not accusation, not condemnation, not estrangement, not isolation, not trepidation, not anything ever can ever stop the true waiters on God from serving light and hope and love in the dark.
We light more than peace candles this Advent — we ourselves ignite to become very torches of Peace, serving the dark with the reconciling light of Christ.
The very smallest of steps toward someone sets fire to the the dark, and tiny reaches toward reconciliation spark and lights hearts to signs that the Prince of Peace is coming.
What if a world of conflict made lists at Christmas, not just of people to buy for, but of just one person to serve real peace to?
The Advent waiters
who truly serve
are the true hasteners
of the kingdom and
peace of God.
And the whole wide world and our small worlds sing it, us being brave enough to go first and serve:
“Peace on earth!”
******
Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here. With every step, we are walking into our forever now.
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 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)
When our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!
December 4, 2021
Only the Good Stuff: MultivitaMins For Your Weekend [12.4.21]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Let’s not let the everyday routines numb us to the miracle of living every day! Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything. Never, ever give up…there really is hope, even for us.
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Photo by Simon Berger
Photo by Simon Berger 
Photo by Zoltan TasiEven the cold — can move us toward a warmed heart, and God’s glory, beauty, is healing…
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Yo-Yo Ma (@yoyoma)
… and your soul needs to saturate all this beauty for a whole 60 second.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by @greatestreactions
… and we all get to help each other out like this 🤣
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Some Good News (@somegoodnews)
These tender reunions…
The 1 Sure Cure for Aloneness and Loneliness During this Christmas Holiday – (or any day)
Christ-followers do more than believe somethings are true, they trust that SomeOne is here.
Deaf high school football team nears undefeated season and moves toward championship –
just something about pursuing a dream even against the odds
People Enjoy Surprisingly Deep Conversations With Strangers, And New Study Finds Benefits …
How we all long for connection…
@boscoandhisbigstick Looking to hire this man as my personal motivator 👏 #boscoandhisbigstick #dogvideos #funnyvideos ♬ original sound – user8410852696609
… and keep cheering each other on when we’re all carrying big things #BeTheGift
…a Love Competition – the best kind
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good Vibes Memes (@wholesome_planet)
Yep, we all get to be a safe place in a hard world
Yes Deck the Halls!
Post of the week from These Parts: How to Hope When it is Hard.. this, this, this!
<…oh is this welcoming the stranger!
Couple new to US invited to Thanksgiving dinner by more than 200 stranger
dad pranks mom with hilarious edited pics…it’s good to keep a sense of humor!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Puppies | Dogs | Cuteness (@cutesmallpups)
puppy therapy for huge smiles!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Darin (@debodoes)
It is not snowy or cold everywhere
Our favorite advent family heirloom
This and so much more at The Keeping Company to move us to keep company with Jesus
5 Children in South America Share What They’re Thankful For
…never too young to encourage others! Kid’s adorable speech leads hockey team to victory
We all have an opportunity to help someone who has fallen down…
Take a moment. Breathe. Remember. He is coming. And is already here.
How to Have the Greatest Christmas…
Advent starts in 3-2-1 — this weekend!
3 Award-Winning books for the Whole Family this Christmas
The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, 2014, Christian Retailing 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)
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 3, 2021
How to Hope When It’s Hard: Advent Hope
I’ve never lost hope down some rabbit hole.
Honestly? I’ve lost hope looking into reflections in mirrors.
I’ve lost hope looking straight into my own eyes and feeling like there’s no way out of your own skin, out of your past, out of your own tattered story, no way to rip out the smeared and ugly pages of your one story.
I thought I lost hope when life tore a hole in my back pocket of my heart, and my creased and worn-out hope fell out when the bottom of things fell out — you know:
“You may feel like you’ve lost hope — but Hope never loses track of you. Hope is always coming home to you.”when the door clicked close for the last time. When that email landed and kicked hard right in the gut. When the doctor shook his head slow and the room kinda spun, when too many mattering things felt impossibly wrecked, and it’s your life that can feel sorta totalled, and how do you keep going on hoping — when it’s the important parts of your life that are write offs?
But who knew that folded and creased Hope unfolds into wings?
Turns out: You can think you’ve lost hope, or you can try to shield yourself from it, abandon it, mock it, guard against it or try to trash it.
But hope is a rising thing and flies to you.
No matter where you are — in the unknown and unfamiliar — Hope is like a homing pigeon that knows how to find its way back home to you.
Because Hope has an inner map and will always wing its way back to you.
Fave Advent Resource: Star over the Manger
2018 ECPA award winner: The Wonder of The Greatest
“Hope is the one constant, because Jesus is constantly with you.”You may feel like you’ve lost hope — but Hope never loses track of you.
Hope is always coming home to you.
I’ve lit the first Advent candle, Hope, and I’ve looked long at its reflection in windows and saw myself in the pane:
When you feel like you’ve lost hope — the question to ask is, “But where could my hope go?”
Hope in things, and you can lose Hope.
Hope in plans, in expectations, in dreams, in outcomes, in jobs, in bank accounts, in medicine, in people, in timelines, and you can lose Hope. Any of those things can wander off, fall through, disappear, taking your Hope with it.
We’re not meant to find hope in anything in this world, we are meant to lose hope in all the things here.
We don’t hope in anything of this world — we hope in God.
Hope in Jesus and your Hope goes wherever you go, because Jesus goes with you.
“And Jesus knows turns you never heard of, makes roads you wouldn’t have dreamed of, makes miracles happen exactly where you never would have imagined. There is a reason He is called The Way.”When you’re going through dark days, keep on going, because Jesus goes with you and He is your Hope, going through whatever you’re going through.
Hope only seems lost — when you can’t find a way forward.
You don’t need to know the way forward, because Hope has a map, and Hope has a name, and His name is Jesus — and Jesus is The Way and when He is your way, there is always a way forward.
And I touch the window pane, touch reflection of face and Advent flame, touch all kinds of pain — and maybe that’s what I feel, how I’m found, how Hope is found … and I can feel Hope’s returning:
Hope is the one constant, because Jesus is constantly with you.
And Jesus knows turns you never heard of, makes roads you wouldn’t have dreamed of, makes miracles happen exactly where you never would have imagined.
There is a reason He is called The Way.
And I whisper the three words that breakthrough the darkest days of the year: Hope in God
**** **** ****
Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here. With every step, we are walking into our forever now.
Come let Jesus touch your wounds & heal your hurt with His HOPE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.
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)
When our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!December 2, 2021
The 1 Sure Cure for Aloneness & Loneliness During The Christmas Holidays — (Or any Day)
W
hen I take it out of its Christmas storage box and see it etched into the side of the cradle, that word engraved right into the wood… I kinda catch my breath at how it erases a bit of the pain.
Emmanuel.
God with us.
I run my fingers across the etched letters of the manger, like I’m reading Braille, like I’ve been blind and now I see.
“Christ-followers do more than believe somethings are true, they trust that SomeOne is here.”But I don’t just see it, don’t just assent to it — I actually sense it, like the way you sense the wind turning, the way you can’t see it, but feel it on your face. Emmanuel. EMMANUEL.
Christ-followers do more than believe somethings are true, they trust that SomeOne is here.
SomeOne is actually here — SomeOne unseen who is actually closer than the next unseen breath that fills your lungs, and that which is unseen can be here, keeping you alive.
SomeOne is actually here, and the weight carried in the knots across shoulders, the tender hurts that don’t know how to fit into words, the hope that’s grown heavier than bearing but there is no letting go of this hope,
SomeOne is here to lean in, touch the tenderness of those places and put the whole of Himself under the bulk of that load.
Breathe. SomeOne is here.
Not some idea, not some philosophy, not some theology — SomeOne. I could not go to Him, so He has come to me. We follow more than words on a page, we follow a Person who stays at our side.
“I feel utterly alone,“ a friend texts me those four words while boarding a plane, and I crack a bit. There is no fixing this. I have no idea how to fix this for her.
How do I tell her: We all are.
Our favorite family heirloom: wooden Advent wreath, with Mary on a donkey, headed toward the manger and the coming of Emmanuel.
Our 24 hole wooden Advent wreath, with Mary on a donkey, headed toward the manger and the coming of Emmanuel.
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019
Our 24 hole wooden Advent wreath, with Mary on a donkey, headed toward the manger and the coming of Emmanuel.
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (Family Edition): Best Inspirational Book of the Year, CBA, 2016
The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014
Our favorite family heirloom We all are starkly alone in our own skin — no one will ever see the world the way you do, through your eyes, from your vantage point.
“I do not want someone to reach out and touch my hand, but to reach out and touch my soul and this is why I need God.”You are utterly alone looking through your eyes into the world — and sometimes there is existential terror in this. No one will feel exactly what you feel, when you feel it, how you feel it — the feelings that run through your being are forever yours alone.
You are locked up in the aloneness of you.
Feeling lonely is more dangerous to your health than smoking or high blood pressure — and there are public service announcements warnings about both, why not about the risks of loneliness?
Maybe the loneliest moment in your whole life is when dreams are imploding in on you — and you wonder if anyone is with you, and you reach for a hand — and there is no one anywhere reaching back.
I may know a bit of this implosion:
I may miserably fail at this mothering deal and not seem good enough to pass muster in all kinds of eyes.
And we may have no idea what’s around the corner for the farm or the fields or the animals in the barn come this next spring, and the doctor’s report for Mama’s next round of tests could end up as some alarming news being batted around on the church’s prayer chain for the next 6 years, and the diabetes alarm that jolts us awake at 3:17 am may have us holding a seizuring son while his eyes roll back in his head and someone fumbles with the glucagon needle to shoot a lifeline of glucose into his blood.
Prodigals may never come home. Addictions might suck the hope right out of the veins. Mental illness may lurk omnimous around the edges of family, strained relationships may yank out chunks of pulpy heart, and I may go ahead and let myself down so hard for the gazillionth time that I smash all my hope in any shiny tomorrows.
But God. But. God.
“God stands with you in the imploding and God infuses you with strength to withstand.”That is what I text her — what her Maker, her Lover, her Rescuer says:
“Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with my victorious right hand.’” Isaiah 41:10
Some things are brutally hard — but SomeOne is literally here.
I do not face the way alone, I face the face of God.
That is the bare truth: We do not need to understand all the things — We simply need to not stand alone.
And by this, I simply mean: We do not want someone to reach out and touch our hand, but to reach out and touch our soul and this is why we need God.
Either we are utterly alone in this universe or God is utterly close. Both take your breath away — until God takes your hand.
It is only the withness of Emmanuel, God with us, that lets us withstand.
We can only withstand life because we have a God who stands with us.
My crisis needs His withness. Selah.
“Christ-followers know that suffering is a given, and suffering alone is unbearable, but we are given SomeOne who bears the suffering with us.”His withness sits with my mess. Selah.
His withness is my hopefulness. Selah.
I need not know the way — I only need to know the WayMaker’s here.
We light the candle of the wooden Advent Wreath and witness the silhouette of Mary on the donkey moving closer everyday to Bethlehem, to Emmanuel coming, to His coming close live in Withness with us. Three times a day, I hand our baby girl her beta-blocker to slow down her racing heart. I lose count of how many times a night the diabetes alarm goes off and I stumble through the dark to our boy.
All through the wait of Advent, we keep moving, we keep following the Light, waiting and trusting, and turning toward the Light. We are not alone and I believe.
Christ-followers actually do more than turn pages of ancient text — we turn to the Ancient One who reads their soul.
Christ-followers know that suffering is a given, and suffering alone is unbearable, but we are given SomeOne who bears the suffering with us.
Christ-followers hold to certain truths— and know ultimately that they are truly held by SomeOne.
The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, ECPA, 2014
Our 24 hole wooden Advent wreath, with Mary on a donkey, headed toward the manger and the coming of Emmanuel.
Advent Resource: Our favorite family heirloom
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: Best Devotional & Gift Book of the Year, CBA, 2019
Our favorite family heirlom: wooden Advent wreath, with Mary on a donkey, headed toward the manger and the coming of Emmanuel.
The advent candle flickers and kids lean in and there is light even here and a moment can feel like relief: We believe that God is not only in the world — we believe that all the world is in God.
“I need not know the way — I only need to know the WayMaker’s here.”This is a heart-broken planet, but this is not a forsaken planet.
When our baby girl with the brave, broken heart reaches across the Advent wreath, light falls into the waiting manger and right across that one word that remakes our reality.
Emmanuel. No one is alone.
His Withness heals our brokenness.
I move the candle a day closer on our winding way to Bethlehem — and this journey of Advent feels like walking the Emmaus Road, a waking to Emmanuel here with us.
Is that why Advent is all this light, all this lights everywhere — all our hearts burning within us?
* * * * * * * *
Jesus came down — and a bit of heaven can begin now, even here. With every step, we are walking into our forever now.
Come let Jesus touch your wounds & heal your hurt with His HOPE.
This Advent, Stay in the Story that the rest of your year, your family, will need.
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)
When our holidays are about Staying in the Story, being with Him — Peace leads us — and we have ourselves The Greatest little Christmas yet!November 29, 2021
Finite Disappointment versus Infinite Hope
There is real tension in the world. There are reasons to be afraid. AND God’s goodness has not changed. Two things can be true at once. There can be darkness and light. Grief and joy. Hard and good. The good news is the light always wins. Exploring the beautiful admonition found in Philippians 4:8 to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, Alexandra Kuykendall encourages you to keep seeking out goodness even in a time of fear, division, and negativity. It’s a grace to welcome Alexandra to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Alexandra Kuykendall
My two youngest girls and I parked at a familiar neighborhood intersection with an anticipation of normal.
This was the first activity we’d signed up for pre–COVID shutdown that had not been canceled. What could hold such anticipation? Two girls’ dentist appointments. It’s not that we were excited about the dentist; in fact, they had their typical nerves.
It’s that it felt “normal.” Like things we used to do. We could see another masked family standing outside the door, which suggested there was a new system in place to go in. We’d been so few places outside of the grocery store and occasional Target run that we were automatically struck by how this “routine” visit was not going to be routine.
I felt defeated.
Even though it was only midmorning, the heat from the sidewalk was pushing up toward us. We tried to peer through the windows to see if there was any indication how things inside were unfolding, but the glare and the tint to keep the intense Colorado sun out kept us from seeing in.
Our eyes focused instead on the construction-paper flowers taped to the glass as decorations, with inspirational quotes written in the centers.
“We don’t just find hope once. We are in a constant pursuit of God’s redemption”
My inner cynic thought a few lighthearted quotes were meant to appease us as the sweat dripped down our backs and our lives were turned upside down. And then my eyes focused in on words written on a white cloud at the end of a construction-paper rainbow.
“You may not control all of the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” —Maya Angelou
Oh, wait. This COVID upheaval may be unique to our times, but upheaval is not unique to the human experience. Obviously I know we can’t control life, but when all of the details felt especially out of control, it was good to remember that some circumstances are simply life on steroids and my responsibility is how I respond. Well, if that wasn’t convicting, I’m not sure what was. I went from grumpy to grateful. I could see the truth in the words and how I needed to apply them immediately.
We walked around the corner in search of shade from the trees. I looked at my phone. Ninety-one degrees and it was only 10:40 a.m. The windows from the office wrapped around the building, and the next flower with yellow petals and a violet center felt like a big smile on a city street. In the center of the flower, written in black marker, were these words:
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never give up infinite hope.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Okay, boom. Finite disappointment was the mood of the day. Limitations felt never-ending.
Everything in this life is finite with the exception of our souls and God.
Those carry on past this temporal world. That infinite hope is what propels me forward.
Way to sum up life there, Dr. King. If I want to live in the space of reality, I have no other choice than to accept what is finite. And to cling to the infinite hope found in Christ.
“When we remember infinite hope, we are better able to see what is true and beautiful all around us. “
I know searching for infinite hope can sound like a simplistic Christian bumper sticker, but much of the Christian life is doing the same simple practices over and over. We don’t just find hope once. We are in a constant pursuit of God’s redemption because if we give up, we will be swallowed by the disappointment, heartache, and evil of the world.
Our job is in the seeking.
So how do we come back to infinite hope in the midst of our finite disappointments? We remember and think on the following:
The parameters of this world. We are bound by twenty-four hours in every day, seven days in every week, the seasons changing, and time moving on.
We have no influence over the sun rising and setting. In some ways there is freedom in recognizing the places we have zero impact, because we can remember God controls those and we don’t.
Our own limitations. When we remember that we are embodied souls and we are limited because we need sleep, nutrition, and exercise, we see our limitations in physical terms. We can only absorb so much information, fill so many needs, and complete a given number of tasks.
There is freedom in recognizing our restrictions.
God’s limitless nature. We go back to what is true about God. He is all-knowing, is without boundaries, and operates outside of time.
There is not a finite amount of grace, patience, or goodness for him to offer the world. He is present in all places, goes before us, and remains behind when we are gone.
God’s character. He is unchanging, so we can always know what to look for when searching for his evidence in the world. He is loving, merciful, and holy. He is just, creative, and gentle. When we find these characteristics reflected in people and places, we hear echoes of his presence.
When we remember infinite hope, we are better able to see what is true and beautiful all around us. God’s hope has not changed.
Alexandra Kuykendall is the author of Loving My Actual Life, Loving My Actual Christmas, Loving My Actual Neighbor, and her newest book, Seeking Out Goodness: Finding the True and Beautiful All around You. A popular writer and speaker for moms around the country, Alexandra has been featured on Good Morning America and Focus on the Family’s daily broadcast.
Most of us feel the world is more contentious and less civil than it was a generation ago, or a few years ago, or maybe even last week. We long to be reassured that everything is going to be okay, that God is still at work, even in small ways. Through personal stories and clear biblical insight, Alex helps us see God at work right now, right in our midst, no matter how messy life feels in her new book, Seeking Out Goodness.
She helps us appreciate other people even when we disagree with them, move past false dichotomies, celebrate goodness in others when we find it, and hope for a brighter tomorrow even as we celebrate the good gifts we receive today.
[ Our humble thanks to Baker for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
November 28, 2021
Hope for Hopeless Things: The First Sunday & Candle of Advent
You’ve been hoping against hope, because deep down, you still believe,
even when everything else around you tells you there’s less hope than
a snowball’s chance in hades.
I held a wooden box that held my father’s ashes this year. How can a man who was larger than life to you be reduced to powdery ash and weigh less than a few pounds in your hands?
How can children get cancer & marriages fall apart, & jobs & hearts get axed, & debt loads & dreams explode, & the trajectory of your story go south, & you end up on some unlikely detour you never asked for, that you never dreamed of, that you never wanted and now you only want out of?
How, on almost the longest, darkest night of the year, can Advent’s first Sunday begin with hope?
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping CompanyI’ve spent more than half of the year waiting on a coroner’s report when what I’m really ache waiting for is resurrection.
Your craning neck can ache as much as your breaking heart, you waiting, and hurting, and hoping, for a lost one to come home.
There can be emptiness at your table, in your bed, in your Christmas card, in your heart, that you can never fill.
“You don’t need a reason to Hope — you only need the Person of Jesus. And He is Coming.”
You can feel it, even now in the dark, in longing, in the unknown:
It can be brutally hard to hope in the pitch black dark.
But it’s not hope unless it’s hard… and you know it:
Hard happens. And that’s exactly where hope happens.
To hope against hope — is to hope with nothing but hope supporting you.
Lean your Hope against Hope Himself and you can withstand anything for He is with you.
To hope against hope is to lean all your hope up against Hope Himself — and let Hope Himself support all your hope, let Hope Himself take the weight of all your ache and grief and your whole world, let Hope Himself BE all your hope.
When you’re pushed up against hopelessness, push your hope against Hope Himself –and what greater can ever come up against you?
Resource: The Keeping Company
Resource: The Keeping CompanyHope against hope — that the emptiness will fill, that the wound will heal, that the miracle will happen, that the ashes will rise, that the prodigal will come home, that the marriage will mend, that the page will turn, that the next chapter will dare to bring any dreams come true and more than enough grace to meet you and carry you through, regardless.
“Lean your Hope against Hope Himself and you can withstand anything for He is with you..”
In Spanish — all three verbs… wait… expect… hope … can be the very same word: esperar.
The hope mongers know that it is all the same:
Your very real waiting … holds very real hope… which holds very real expectations — and verily, verily, Jesus really holds it all.
What you don’t know how to live through, Hope Himself will carry you through.
On the eve of Advent, I stood in the checkout line at Home Dept and wept because you can bring home a stack of lumber and renovate this old world, but there is no way to renovate suffering out of this heartbroken world and there are people we love who won’t be coming home this Christmas or ever.
We carried lumber home, through streets lined with Christmas lights, and the whole hurting world really does dare to light hope in the dark.
Lean your Hope against Hope Himself and you can withstand anything for He is with you.
You don’t need a reason to Hope — you only need the Person of Jesus.
And He is coming.
* * * * * *
Just a little invite? Come experience a Christmas like you’ve always dreamed?
So come Christmas morning — you’ve unwrapped the greatest gift you yearn for — more of Him.
1. The Whole “Night Before Advent” Kit is free for you right here [just scroll over the photo, and then click on download]
2. The Free Printable Advent Calendar is here for you in red, or in snow blue or chalkboard black [just scroll over the photo that pops up, and then click on download]
3. And the printable bookmark of the poem: “The Night Before Advent”
4. Advent begins this weekend & we open the pages of these books like an Advent Calendar & begin: The Greatest Gift (adult edition) and Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (family read aloud edition)
annnnd? The Wonder of the Greatest Gift (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)
Click over to The Greatest Christmas & check out our whole library of free printable ornaments, cards, gift tags, gifts boxes, Sticky Notes for Your Soul, Advent Calendars and more — our gift to you for The Greatest Christmas!
Looking for all of the free Christmas printables mentioned here? You Can find them all right here under ‘Free Tools’
November 27, 2021
Dark Year? We Desperately Need This Kind of Light: Everything You Need the Night Before Advent Starts
Honestly, in the middle of days like these, you can’t fault anybody for just wanting a tree.
The night before Advent, and I wake up with these memories of my kid sister …
“Advent is the last, darkest hour of the year, and this is the season not to merely get ready for Christmas, but to get ready for the coming of Christ.”My sister, she couldn’t have been more than 8 years old when she headed to the farm woods to hack down a scotch pine tree with a dull axe.
I had gone with her when she sloughed across the field on a Christmas Eve. The snow was up to our knees. Fell icy into the top of our boots, down our pant legs, like a cold ache.
I can still see us: Two kids alone in the middle of an empty, shadowed field, dragging home a tree we’d found in the woods on a Christmas Eve, the moon spilling like a bowl of milk over snow.
And that Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we had cut down in the farm woods tilted real bad and had to be tied up with twine to the banister of the stairs, just to stay standing.
Sometimes the only way to stay standing is to lash yourself to SomeOne stronger.
If you stood in the right place in the living room that year, the scent of the scotch pine kinda masked the scent of some dead mouse in the vicinity of the kitchen.
Us kids? We had just desperately needed a tree. Yeah: Sometimes the only way to stay standing is to lash yourself to someOne stronger.
Us kids, we had just needed to string up some light in all the dark.
And more than gifts, us kids had really needed meaning. Of all the things we want, what we always want most is meaning.
Sometimes you just need a tradition that somehow changes your condition.
I wish we’d known that long ago eve: A shattered world only limps into light, leaning on a sure faith.
We’re on the cusp of the tradition of Advent — and this changes the conditions of everything: He is coming.
“Advent doesn’t deny the dark within us, Advent isn’t afraid of the dark around us, Advent doesn’t rush through the dark ahead of us, Advent sits in the dark and yearns for the Light of the only One who went to the Tree of Calvary, to shatter the dark for all of us.“Because in the midst of troubled, turbulent times, in the middle of all kind of uncertainty, at the end of a year of a whole lot of hurt, it’s like the whole world’s whispering: We’re waiting for You, Lord.
Standing there before our wooden advent wreath, it only takes me a minute to simply light a candle.
“We make ready for Him, this Advent season and every season, by lighting whatever little lights the Lord has put in front of us, no light too small to be used by Him, action in waiting, pointing ahead, looking to Christ and for Christ,” writes Fleming Rutledge.
“Even our smallest lights will be signs in this world, lights to show the way, beachheads to hold against the Enemy until the day when the great Conqueror lands with Michael the archangel at the head of his troops, the day that shall dawn upon us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:78–79).” ~Fleming Rutledge
The light from my candle dances up the wall and I’m lit:“It’s impossible for all the darkness in the world to smother out the light of a single candle in the hand.”
You can’t snuff out hope, you can’t smother out hope, you can’t stamp out hope — because He is Coming.
There’s a pen in the upper drawer.
And there’s a box and a book and ribbon in our room — and right here on the edge of Advent, there’s this tradition of the Night Before Advent …
A Coming and a Christmas that is so glorious you can’t just unwrap it in a day or two, but you have to unwrap it over a whole season —-
so you can be wrapped up in everything you’d always dreamed of.
Yeah, the kids get a bit giddy when I put it under the tree with its tag: Unwrap the Greatest Gift.
They don’t have to ask how long till they can rip into it — because the other tag reads: The Night Before Advent.
Today! Tonight! Here we are on the eve of Advent! There are lights that burn on when all the other lights go out — and when you choose to hold them, you’re warmed in places you didn’t even know had grown cold.
“When . . . any one of us . . . looks up to Him, to Jesus Christ, a momentous change takes place. . . . A great and enduring light brightly dawns on such a person. . . .,” writes the great theologian, Karl Barth.
“No matter what’s happening in the world — we will Stay in the Story.”“Such a person experiences joy in the midst of his sorrows and sufferings, much as he still may sigh and grumble. Not a cheap and superficial joy that passes, but deep-seated, lasting joy. It transforms man in his sadness into a fundamentally joyful being. We may as well admit it; he has got something to laugh at . . . not a mockery, but an open and relaxing laughter . . . honest and sincere laughter, coming from the bottom of man’s heart. Such light and joy and laughter are ours when we look up to Him, to Jesus Christ. He is the one who makes us radiant.” ~Karl Barth
My kid sister, she grew up, and she tells me this in a year with all kinds of loss and dark and grief: “Words are light — His Word is Light.”
And I nod:
So we will Stay in the Story.
No matter what’s happening in the world — we will Stay in the Story. His Story. “He is the One who makes us radiant.”
Through the darkest days of the year, through whatever happens, through all of Advent —
We will unfold the Story. We will go hold some Light. We will stay rooted in Him and the Tree we all desperately need.
And it all sort of happens…. these boxes labelled with the tradition, “The Night Before Advent Box” —
And laying in a new pair of pajamas for each kid, some popcorn, some hot chocolate.
And to lay in this book that’s like its own larger-than-life 25 Day Advent Calendar, this Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, each of the 25 readings pointing to those 25 Gospel-telling, Jesse Tree ornaments and the full love story of Christmas, beginning right from the Genesis Creation to the Manger Coming.
Every page unfolding the Greatest Love Story Ever Told —- and it’s a Love Story all for you! —– every page whispering: He’s Coming, the Light is coming, and He’s giving us the saving Tree we need!
“…He is deeply moved by our need of Him,” assures Karl Barth.
“Is this perhaps the casualness and condescension of a great ruler, occasionally bending down to the man in the street? Not in the least. He takes our place and surrenders Himself for us, thereby binding Himself to us and compromising Himself once for all. He is the God of Christmas of whom we sing: “A tiny child and poor He came, To give us mercy’s blessing.” This is the height and depth, the ultimate and eternal power and glory of the almighty Lord; He has mercy on us.” (~Karl Barth)
And then a “Night Before Advent Box” for the adults too…“The story of Christ is simple enough both for children to unwrap it and powerful enough for adults to be undone by it — and be completely remade.”Because adults need Christmas too, need Him too, need to know the wonder of Him and His mercy again for us too.
So this making up boxes for the grandparents and sisters and nieces and best friends too… with The Greatest Gift and, yeah, sure, pajamas for the big kids too. Because the story of Christ is simple enough both for children to unwrap it and powerful enough for adults to be undone by it — and be completely remade.
Then string up the “Celebrate Christ” banners.
Lay out this whole grand hot chocolate party station with all the welcome and signage and finery — because, sure, who of us doesn’t need to be warmed straight through with His Love? Who doesn’t need to unwrap Light?
Who doesn’t want the excitement again of unwrapping the Greatest Gift — and that’s what we’ll do in the dark — we’ll make a night of it. We’ll make space for the Light in this. We’ll make a whole wondrous season of it.
Because we’re making a whole life out of Him.
And then there’s taking that pen and scratching it down, a poem — “A Night Before Advent” — that’s this crazy take on the “Night Before Christmas,” a quirky old tradition that could become it’s own new tradition of Light for us to pass down to our own kids —
and to the child in us ….
still seeking the wonder of Christmas even for us….
And that little poem with a light of its own, gets folded into the boxes too —
Yeah, let the snow keep falling, if it wants.
Let the clock tick time brave into the night.
Let’s put up the tree and let the lights, all the stars, shimmer defiant hope over everywhere that’s dark.
Advent is the last, darkest hour of the year, and this is the season not to merely get ready for Christmas, but to get ready for the coming of Christ.
Advent doesn’t deny the dark within us, Advent isn’t afraid of the dark around us, Advent doesn’t rush through the dark ahead of us, Advent sits in the dark and yearns for the Light of the only One who went to the Tree of Calvary, to shatter the dark for all of us.
Advent is waiting for the One true Light — otherwise, what we proclaim is light is actually dark, and that is a weight no soul can bear.
“Advent says the fault is not in our stars– the fault is in how we walk in the dark and call it light.”Advent says the fault is not in our stars– the fault is in how we walk in the dark and call it light.
In all these days of uncertainty, Advent is trusting in His certain coming, and coming again:
Christ comes uninvited to the woman who feels all wrong and He whispers that He makes all things right,
Christ comes uninvited to the prodigal running hard and fast and He binds His heart fast to theirs,
Christ comes uninvited into the hopelessness of our darkest places and turns on the light — because He turns our hearts to Him.
Because the Light, it can’t be stopped, and it won’t be stopped — and in through the broken-hearted cracks of the world, in through all our shards —
even now, on the nights before Advent, the light comes in like a benediction.
The Light always surely coming through His rescuing Tree.
********
And we all get to begin together on Nov 28!
Just a little invite? Come experience a Christmas like you’ve always dreamed?
So come Christmas morning — you’ve unwrapped the greatest gift you yearn for — more of Him.
1. The Whole “Night Before Advent” Kit is free for you right here [just scroll over the photo, and then click on download]
2. The Free Printable Advent Calendar is here for you in red, or in snow blue or chalkboard black [just scroll over the photo that pops up, and then click on download]
3. And the printable bookmark of the poem: “The Night Before Advent”
4. Advent begins this weekend & we open the pages of these books like an Advent Calendar & begin: The Greatest Gift (adult edition) and Unwrapping the Greatest Gift (family read aloud edition)
annnnd? The Wonder of the Greatest Gift (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)
Click over to The Greatest Christmas & check out our whole library of free printable ornaments, cards, gift tags, gifts boxes, Sticky Notes for Your Soul, Advent Calendars and more — our gift to you for The Greatest Christmas!
Looking for all of the free Christmas printables mentioned here? You Can find them all right here under ‘Free Tools’Gather around the Greatest Story this year for the whole family & not miss out on Jesus
This is the year : See you over at The Greatest ChristmasNovember 26, 2021
Only the Good Stuff: MultivitaMins For Your Weekend [12.4.21]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Let’s not let the everyday routines numb us to the miracle of living every day! Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything. Never, ever give up…there really is hope, even for us.
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
Photo by Simon Berger on UnsplashPhoto by Zoltan Tasi on UnsplashView this post on InstagramA post shared by Yo-Yo Ma (@yoyoma)
… and your soul needs to saturate all this beauty for a whole 60 second.
@boscoandhisbigstick Looking to hire this man as my personal motivator 👏 #boscoandhisbigstick #dogvideos #funnyvideos ♬ original sound – user8410852696609
… and keep cheering each other on when we’re all carrying big things #BeTheGift
A Christmas fanatic turned her office cube into an incredible life-size gingerbread house to amuse her colleagues. yes let’s deck the halls!
… c’mon — doesn’t this tenderize the heart in needed places?
I mean! who doesn’t want to find a giving machine like this?!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by @greatestreactions
… and we all get to help each other out like this 🤣
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
You caught all that, right? Dare you to see your own world differently. Change your perspective and change your world
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good Vibes Memes (@wholesome_planet)
Yep, we all get to be a safe place in a hard world
Renee BakerYour weekend needs the simple exhale of this charming farm
okay, if this little guy can do this — who isn’t all in?! #bethegift
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
Exhibit #2 in that Dare to See the World Different. Yep, the world is full of unspeakable wonder– if we can shift how we see.
… when your soul needs some quiet — deeply life-giving
puppy therapy for huge smiles!
Renee BakerTake some time this weekend to look up and deeply breathe in and give God all the thanks for His glory.
The Light Gift and Messiah Manger – This Christmas, start a new tradition with your family: practice giving, as you anticipate the arrival of the Greatest Gift, and fill your Christmas season with a story of light, giving, and glory.
Wow! how an eclipse shows off God’s glory!
5 Children in South America Share What They’re Thankful For
All together now! Rejoice with those who rejoice!
Isn’t the world full of the most beautiful people like this? And that we get to be like this!
….our Protector…He is so worthy of our whole lives…
How to Have the Greatest Christmas…
Advent starts in 3-2-1 — this weekend!
3 Award-Winning books for the Whole Family this Christmas
The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, 2014, Christian Retailing 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)
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.
Only the Good Stuff: MultivitaMins For Your Weekend [11.26.21]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Let’s not let the everyday routines numb us to the miracle of living every day! Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything. Never, ever give up…there really is hope, even for us.
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Photo by Jordan McQueenGlorious hope for your weekend!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by CBS Evening News (@cbseveningnews)
a tender heart like this? … love love love
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Katie Couric (@katiecouric)
(Excuse the language, but welcome all the love into your heart, till it splits happy. We can be this for each other)
Kindness like this in the midst of fear and worry — is the kind of kindness we all need. #BetheGIFT
… c’mon — doesn’t this tenderize the heart in needed places?
I mean! who doesn’t want to find a giving machine like this?!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya)
You caught all that, right? Dare you to see your own world differently. Change your perspective and change your world
Wait for it…it’s worth it. I’ve watched that one section more than a few times. When he gets to “Grief is unexpressed love.” Yep — lost it. If your’e grieving this year — yeah, you get it.
Renee BakerYour weekend needs the simple exhale of this charming farm
okay, if this little guy can do this — who isn’t all in?! #bethegift
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Wilhelm is a photoholic (@john_wilhelm_is_a_photoholic)
Exhibit #2 in that Dare to See the World Different. Yep, the world is full of unspeakable wonder– if we can shift how we see.
… when your soul needs some quiet — deeply life-giving
puppy therapy for huge smiles!
Renee BakerTake some time this weekend to look up and deeply breathe in and give God all the thanks for His glory.
The Light Gift and Messiah Manger – This Christmas, start a new tradition with your family: practice giving, as you anticipate the arrival of the Greatest Gift, and fill your Christmas season with a story of light, giving, and glory.
Wow! how an eclipse shows off God’s glory!
She never knew she had a twin sister until now!
… two girls, separated when they were toddlers, reuniting…wild joy!
All together now! Rejoice with those who rejoice!
Isn’t the world full of the most beautiful people like this? And that we get to be like this!
….our Protector…He is so worthy of our whole lives…
How to Have the Greatest Christmas…
Advent starts in 3-2-1 — this weekend!
3 Award-Winning books for the Whole Family this Christmas
The Greatest Gift (adult edition): Best Devotional of the Year, 2014, Christian Retailing 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)
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.
November 22, 2021
Life-Giving Inspirations from a Rustic Countryside
Welcome to Fodderstack Farm… a rustic retreat in the North Carolina mountains. A place where you can connect with family, friends, yourself and, most importantly, God, in a unique way. The intention of the book is that the reader will go deeper in their understanding of the presence of our Lord through all the ways he loves us as expressed in his creation and the life of the farm. Come and be transported there and share these blessings via Terri Kraus’ beautiful devotions and Renee Baker’s amazing gift of photography. It’s a grace to welcome Terri to the farm’s front porch today…
In all the seasons of the year guests of the Fodderstack Farm can enjoy the animals and the mountains, the charm and serenity the farm offers, and exploring the surrounding area, including the stunning Biltmore Estate, where America’s largest home built by the Vanderbilts sits amidst 8,000 lovely acres surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It is an area where nature shouts of the glory of God and His astounding creativity. Fodderstack Farm is a place of renewal, restoration and inspiration, and where communication with God is delightfully different from everyday life.
After the ducks are put away for the night on the farm, it’s time to gather the hens into their house, fondly called “The Chicken Chapel.”
It’s a cozy structure, complete with gold-framed vintage paintings hanging on the rustic walls and several levels of comfy straw-lined roosting shelves.
Renee Baker
Renee BakerRenee BakerThe hens are beautiful, and each have vibrantly colored feathers. There is a definite pecking order among the brood, evidenced by the order in which they go into the coop. The one at the top of the pecking order gets her preferred nest; the higher up one roosts, the higher her status, sometimes based on when she arrived in the brood.
The others follow suit based on their position in the hen hierarchy, and when they’ve all found their spot, Drew, the owner, gives them his nightly “blessing”— just as he does with the ducks.
He looks over the brood, making sure his hens are all accounted for. “You’re all very special hens, you know,” he says with tenderness.
“Do you know why?” he asks. “Because you each have a name.”
And he proceeds to say goodnight to each hen: “Goodnight, Little Chicken. Goodnight, Miss Prissy. Goodnight, Grace. Sleep tight, Frankie, Goose, Stripey. Sweet dreams, Winona, Dolly, Smokie.” He knows them all by the color and pattern of their feathers. They are his hens.
“God knows you. He sees you. He views you as unique and valuable.”
Then he turns out the light and closes the door, the brood safely inside until morning.
Watching this lovely ritual, one can’t help thinking about how God views us.
It’s easy to think negative thoughts about ourselves.
The enemy would love to convince us we are nobodies, that we are nothing special, unimportant, easy to overlook. After all, we each are well aware our personal faults, inadequacies and missteps, and so often beat ourselves up for them, imagining that God can have no use for us when we are such failures.
Renee BakerIn the depths of our hearts, we know how far we fall short of His standards of holiness.
We look about and see others who are more gifted, better-looking, more dynamic, more spiritual and other coveted things we don’t see in ourselves.
We allow comparison to steal our joy.
“How comforting to know that even in our weaknesses and imperfections, God cherishes us for who we are, and has a unique purpose for each of us.”
We let unfounded criticism we’ve received get under our skin, or when being passed over for a promotion, our gifts and abilities ignored, our contributions not appreciated.
These become the truth we believe about ourselves.
But that is not the truth.
God knows you. He sees you. He views you as unique and valuable.
Musician Ricardo Sanchez writes, “The devil knows your name, but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but calls you by your name.”
How comforting to know that even in our weaknesses and imperfections, God cherishes us for who we are, and has a unique purpose for each of us.
This is His unconditional love for His own.
Tonight, when you are drifting off to sleep, imagine God seeing you as His beloved, calling you by name and speaking a goodnight blessing over you.
Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1b
Terri Kraus is the author of three published novels—The Project Restoration series—and has coauthored ten published novels with her husband, Jim. A graduate of the University of Illinois School of Art and Design, she began her writing career after 20 years as a professional interior designer and college teacher.
People today seem to have lost an intimate connection with God’s creation in their busy lives. Farmhouse Retreat invites you to deeply experience the beauty of farm life. You will clearly see God’s glory reflected in these devotions, beckoning you to retreat to this idyllic place. Immerse yourself in the spectacular photography of Renee Baker and be restored in mind and spirit.
[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
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