This last weekend I had the opportunity to go to my parents house to help my mom host the baby shower for my cousin.  This was very exciting.  It also meant I would get the opportunity to go to my mom’s church.  I do enjoy going to different church services, so I can get a new perspective and thoughts on the Gospel and the Word of God. 

This sermon was over Acts 12:1-25.  This was all about the church leaders and their struggles with King Herod.  King Herod did not want the disciples to spread God’s Word.  He did not want the Gospel to save more people.  Herod had already imprisoned and killed James, and now he had Peter in prison.  However, the Christians were determined to keep praying and to spread the church message as much as they could.  

The Bible talks about this group of Christians persistently praying for Peter.  However, when they are met with the answer to their prayer, they are not expecting it.  Peter is released from prison.  He is able to go to the house where the church leaders were heading.  The servant at the house is named Rhoda, and she comes to the door after Peter is knocking.  When she sees him, she is so excited and she runs to the disciples to tell them the news. However, they think she is crazy.  They don’t believe her.  They only start really rejoicing once the rest of them have physically seen Peter at the door knocking.  

But the question is why wouldn’t they believe Peter was at the door?  Why didn’t they truly believe Rhoda?  They had been praying to the God of the Universe to answer and release him from prison.  It is simply that even though they had been praying to God and had been calling him to answer, they didn’t fully believe in God 100% to hear them and answer in the way he did.  There was a part of them believing Peter was going to suffer the same fate as James.  I think there are many times we can also do this.  We can be praying and coming to God when we do not really believe he will hear or answer our prayer.  We are maybe hopeful, but we don’t really see him doing the good work.  We just can’t believe in the miracle or the power of God as well as we should.  

I will be completely transparent when I say  I can behave this way.  There are times I am very hopeful.  I am hopefully praying for God to heal this person or to take away this certain stress or to help out a person with their mental health or depression.  However, I don’t always pray with the complete belief God has the power and ability to complete this.  Even though I am praying and my brain is telling me God has the power, my heart doesn’t always completely believe it. 

Because of this, I am very grateful my own church has also become more dedicated to prayer.  We are able to participate in 21 days of prayer with our households.  Cole and I have really been enjoying spending time in prayer from night to night. It has been a good way to center ourselves at the end of the day before bed by talking to the Father.  It has been stretching us though because we are praying over certain passages in the word, and that is something we hadn’t practiced much in the future. 

The Lord clearly cares about prayer because it has been written in the Bible at least 650 times.  One verse discussing prayer is Mark 11:24 which says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” I love this verse because it is a reminder to pray to God for whatever is on your mind.  I do believe it is not as simple as saying he is like Santa Clause.  He isn’t going to be checking your wish list and making sure you are doing the right thing.  However, we can talk to God about anything in our hearts and he will bring us closer to himself through this time in prayer. We will see God’s will more and more through prayer.   

The first challenge is to be reflective on your relationship with prayer.  How do you feel about prayer?  Are you a person who struggles to pray on a regular basis or are you good about turning to God in your times of struggle or in your times of joy?  Do you feel confident when in prayer?  Is it something you get nervous about like you do not know how to best talk to the Father?  What are some of the barriers you come across when it comes to prayer?  

The second challenge for this week is to spend time in prayer.  However, this isn’t just spending time in prayer to spend time in prayer but rather this is spending time in prayer with the complete faith and belief in God.  This is having the complete faith that he can heal and work through whatever problem or situation you may be having.  This also can be spending time in prayer asking for help in your prayer journey.  I will be praying as well for you.  

I have been continuing to read the book, “The Well-Watered Woman,” by Gretchen Saffles.  This book continues to bring good insight about regular things a woman of God should do to prosper and thrive in their relationship with God.  This chapter I was reading was all about speaking truth to oneself and how we should constantly be reminding ourselves of God’s Word to make sure we really understand and love the Word of God and how we can instill this in our life. 

There are definitely times we can talk negatively to ourselves.  We can sometimes let our anxiety take over our mind and make us believe bad things about ourselves which is the opposite of what Christ teaches.  These bad thoughts can really end up taking over our thoughts and filling us with dread about where we stand in life.  When we are saved through Jesus Christ, we are supposed to remain in grace and freedom and therefore be filled with joy, hope, and happiness for both life and our walk with Christ. 

This is why it is important to speak truth to ourselves.  We need to know God’s Word so well that we are good about talking ourselves out of our anxiety spirals.  One quote in this book I really enjoyed is actually a quote by another author-Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself.”   We are listening to our anxious thoughts.  We are becoming consumed with thoughts and therefore we are not actually believing in God’s Truth. 

I really struggle with listening to the lies about myself.  I often think I need to be perfect the majority of the time.  There is no reason to make a mistake.  There is no reason to not be completely productive all the time.  Cole, my husband, will often have to tell me to stop being so hard on myself since I can just really pile on when I feel as though a mistake has been made. I have been slowly working on giving myself grace through depending on God’s grace. 

I also feel this way when it comes to doing my particular jobs and roles well.  I want to be the absolute best wife, best education coordinator, best volunteer, and the best Christian I can possibly be.  Obviously, there is a big importance of wanting to do the best you can, especially for God’s glory.  However, this really can only be done through the work of the Holy Spirit.  But sometimes I want to put so much of my identity into these particular roles, as opposed to a spirited filled Christian woman.  Then when something isn’t going well in one of these areas, I feel a hit on my identity.  Then there is the spiral.  This is why it is important to be grounded in God’s Truth instead. 

The Good News or the Gospel of Jesus is, we are not perfect.  We were made with sin and this is because the first man sinned with his wife, damning all human population to also be in sin.  We are not enough for Christ on our own.  We could not make it possible for ourselves to become like Christ or to enjoy a life with him.  However, God decided to send his son, Jesus to be offered as a sacrifice for human beings.  He was sent to die on the cross for our sins in order that we may have an opportunity to become one with Christ. All we have to do is become one with Christ and to develop a relationship with him and eternal life is to choose to follow him.  This is to turn away from our sins and to ask for forgiveness.  This is believing He is Lord and Savior and He is the only way to eternity. It is through Him and not through any of our own work.   

Through accepting Jesus as Lord, we need to continually remind ourselves that it is not our good works which bring us eternity or salvation.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  We are still going to struggle to sin.  We are still going to be tempted and we will never be perfect.  However, we can continually seek God to be continuously a better follower than we had been previously through the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit can continually lead us to sanctification (the action of making or declaring something holy) and to a life of living in holiness.  

The challenge for this week is to tell yourself the Gospel. Tell yourself this truth.  Do not let the evil one make you believe you are not saved or you need to do more work.  Salvation is justification (being made right through Christ) and nothing else.  This is all we need.  All we need to have a relationship with Christ is to believe and trust in Him.   Tell this to yourself when you tell yourself you need to pray more, tell this to yourself when you get mad at yourself for forgetting to read your Bible, or when you chastise yourself about getting frustrated on the road.  Yes, it is good to be better about praying, reading the Bible and having more patience, but it is important to know this isn’t something we need to be overly consumed with.  We just need to be overly consumed with the Gospel. 

I have started the book, “The Well Watered Woman,” by Gretchen Saffles.  This was a random book I found at Hobby Lobby a few days before Christmas.  I had been shopping for the final Christmas gifts, and this book looked perfect to have for my quiet times in the morning post my Advent study series I had done previously.  I say all this to show how God does place certain messages to us.  He knows exactly what we need to hear and he can show it up in unexpected ways.   

I am writing this on New Year’s Eve, or December 31st.  This is the time when a lot of people including myself are starting to write their new year’s resolutions or create their vision board for the new year.  I love creating a vision board for the new year in my Christian planner as well as the goals I want to complete daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly.  The chapter I read today in the book, “The Well-Watered Woman,” was all about resolutions and a new take on making them.  I couldn’t stop thinking about the coincidence.  Reading about making new year’s resolutions on New Year’s Eve.  Then I remembered that with God, there aren’t any coincidences.  God planned this out, so I could complete my vision board in a way to grow myself closer to God. 

Her new tip for making resolutions is to put “The Word Before the World.”  (pg.113).    It sounds simple.  It sounds as though this is a very basic concept.  However, I do not think this is one we often follow.  We do need to put the Word before the world as a Christian.  Similarly, we need to put the Word before our personal new year’s resolutions.  Gretchen will talk about how one year she decided to create just one new year’s resolution, which is to simply put the word first.  She would seek to focus on her relationship with God before she did anything else, whether this came to goals in parenting or in marriage, or with exercise, and work related goals.  

There are many verses about caring about the Word of God and to care about a relationship with Christ.  One of those verses is Matthew 6:33 which says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  This is a good reminder to seek God.  The only way we will really see joy or will know complete happiness is when we seek God’s kingdom and become more like Christ.  All of the other huge desires we had for the world will be taken away or they will not seem as important when we realize there is so much more importance in knowing and becoming like Christ.  

This could be through a few different ways.  Yes, I do believe spending time with God, especially right away in the morning is good.  However, it is more important to let those words we read in the morning permeate in our hearts and in our lives. I am a person who personally struggles with this.  I will spend time in the morning with God, and then within an hour, I am incredibly impatient as I am on a run and there are cars seemingly in the way, or I start to get really behind on my way to work which results in some road rage.

The challenge for the week is to think about your new year of 2026.  This isn’t necessarily to make a list of goals for 2026.  There can be a few goals.  This could even be developing a better relationship with Christ.  This could be reading the Bible every day or even through reading the Bible in a year.  This could be choosing to spend more time meditating on God’s Word or to spend time on a regular basis through prayer.  

I do need to remember that this is a mindset.  It is not supposed to be necessarily something we put as a goal.  It is supposed to be more of a mindset of looking at all things and trying to understand how we can put God’s Word or God’s purpose above the things in the world.  We can still have a goal of reading the Bible more or set a goal to pray more, but it is more important to have a mindset of seeking God in all the things we do.  

Personally, something I want to do is to spend more time reading and studying the Bible as well as spend time in prayer with my husband.  We do a pretty good job going to church together, and spending time in prayer before meals.  I am glad we have already started this habit.  However, I think it would be even more important to put the Word before the world with my partner. 

Wow! What a year! I can look back on my life and can be very reflective about some big years in my life.  Years that are filled with change and growth.  One of those years is 2014 when I graduated from high school and started college, and then another one was 2019 when I graduated from college, student-taught, had knee surgery, and started teaching.  Both of those years were big years of growth.  2025 was another big one.   2025 was more of a year filled with great joy. 

2025’s biggest moment, of course, was getting married on August 2nd. This was something I had been looking forward to for months.  I really enjoyed the planning and the vendors I was able to work with in order to get prepared for our event.  The day itself went amazing.  I wrote a lot about it in the past when it comes to the wedding day. I also loved the events leading up to the wedding.  I had strangely always looked forward to my bridal shower growing up.  I have always loved going to friends and family members’ bridal and baby showers in the past, so I was so excited for my own opportunity.  Then the bachelorette/birthday party this year was also a blast.  I did turn 30, so this was another milestone. 

There has been a lot of growth in the past few months.  We have been married for just short of five months as I am writing, and while it has had a lot of highs, there has been a lot of growth and learning for the two of us.  We have been learning about one another’s preferences, things that hurt one another, and things we absolutely love about one another.  It is amazing how much you learn about a person once you get married and how much closer you can grow to each other.

Besides this, there were other big highs for the year.  For Cole, he got the chance to go to the state golf tournament for the third time in a row, and actually he and his team won and are now state champions.  I am so proud of him.  I am so happy he and his team were able to do this and have this experience.  They did an amazing job.  I really loved getting the opportunity to go to multiple golf meets throughout the spring season and being able to see him win this champion trophy.  

Besides that, as far as health goes, I have made some advancements.  I have lost 20 pounds recently through the use of calorie counting with Cole.  I am so very happy and I feel so much better about clothes fitting better, but also the less bloating occurring on a regular basis.  I also was able to finally run 1,000 miles.  I have never ran a 1,000 miles in a year before, so I was ecstatic about reaching a new running milestone. I was very blessed that the majority of these miles were outside.  There was only a bit over a 100 miles done inside on the treadmill.   I also was really happy to set new time records on the running races I did towards the end of the year.   I have really fallen back in love with exercising and health.  

2025 did bring its own little struggles.  One of them was figuring out where Cole and I were going to live.  We both have two different jobs in two different towns.  This meant we made new decisions when it comes to where we should live.  Should there be someone who needs to travel, should we both travel?  This hasn’t necessarily been the easiest thing to adjust to either.  Sometimes Cole and I will find the frustrations of being farther away from the place where we work, but we are making it work.  There also has been a few deaths of people we know within this last year, which always brings about its own set of struggle and grief.  

I have a lot of goals for 2026.  For one little goal, I would love to read 50 to 60 books.  I have read 50 books in a year in the past, however this last year was really hard.  I struggled through a lot of the books I was reading this year.  There were many I did not enjoy reading.  Then there was just such a busy schedule.  I also really want to consider running a marathon.  I am scared to think of this because I have never run farther than a half marathon before. However, I have seen others cross this milestone, and I think I can do it with God on my side and the ride training schedule. But lastly, I want to go out in groups with other Christians more to spread his good name.  I have realized I am a little nervous and scared to go out into the world and spread God’s good word.  I need to be braver with the love I have for Christ.  

What were your thoughts of this year?  How was this year for you personally?  Was it a year filled with blessings, and joy, or was it a year where there were blessings, but there were also some hardships that really challenged and changed you.  What are some of the things you have learned in this past year you want to bring into this new year?   What are some of your personal goals?  I think it is always good to reflect, really any time of year, but with the new year beginning we can really take this time to consider the growth and changes we want to make.  

The verse I want to end this blog post on is also one I believe we can all take into the new year.  This is Ephesians 4:22-24 which says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  Let us all start the new year with the reminder of being made new in Christ.  We all can put on our new selves in the new year and be boldly walking in Christ.  Happy Holidays readers! I hope you have a blessed 2026!

My church has just finished going through the book of Galatians.  I have really enjoyed this.  The book of Galatians covers a lot of the important pieces from the Gospel.  This book shows ways we as Christians can best follow the Gospel.  Christ created us, and He is also the only thing that can save us.  We can not save ourselves through our good works or through good thoughts, only through God’s salvation.    

One thing the very end of the 5th chapter of Galatians discussed was the idea of competition.  This is said in verse 29 with, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”  We shouldn’t spend time in envy or in jealousness.  Sometimes we as people and as Christians can become competitive, even about things we should never be competitive about, including times when we are trying to discover who is the “strongest Christian?”  There are times we can start competing with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as opposed to helping them grow.  

Paul will continue looking at ways we should not compete.  This is when a brother or sister is in sin, or when a brother or sister is overburdened or when a brother or sister is succeeding and we may not be.  Paul will find he needs to tell the Galatians ways to love their brothers and sisters in Christ.  There needs to be this love and this care for them in all ways.  This is how we show Christ like love.  

There are many times we as people and as brothers and sisters in Christ need to encourage and love our other members of the body, even when they sin and we want to be competitive with them or judge them for their mistakes.  I know I can fall into doing this at times.  Sometimes when I feel someone is a better Christian than me, and then I see them struggle or sin, I start to feel a little better about myself as a whole.  However, we should not spend time comparing ourselves or trying to make ourselves feel better in this way, we need to be spending time restoring that brother or sister to Christ.  We need to be making a way for them to feel whole and a part of society once again.  

We can also feel this way when it comes to others being overburdened.  There are many times I can internally find myself competing with others about who is busier.  I try to make myself busy doing various projects and activities, for the church and sometimes for personal reasons, so there are times when I can feel overburdened.  Then sometimes I want to feel as though I am the most busy Christian, and maybe this is how I want to be perceived.  However, I shouldn’t make this my goal.  This isn’t going to bring me closer to the relationship with Christ I need.   However, just as I would feel comforted and loved if a fellow brother or sister helped me when I am overburdened, I need to do this for my brothers and sisters in Christ.  

Then lastly we can start to feel like comparing when either a brother or sister in Christ is really succeeding or when we are succeeding.  This can sometimes lead to either pride in our own work, or we can start to be jealous of the work the other person is doing.  Either way, we should not be focused on the roles and the jobs another Christian has.  We are called to do a certain work and job for Christ.  There is a plan and a desire He has for us as believers, and we need to find ways to follow him to the best of our ability. 

The challenge of this week is to think about whether or not you are very competitive in a non-healthy way.  Is there someone you are unhealthily competitive or jealous of?  What are some ways we can best get over these competitive thoughts? Why are you feeling this way?  This feeling of competitiveness is a heart issue.  After you do some reflection on whether or not you are competitive or jealous of someone, spend some good time in prayer and with the root of the issues with the heart. 

For my personal reading, I have just finished the book, “The House of My Mother,” by Shari Franke.  This woman grew up in a family vlogging channel which started out fairly normal, (as far as family vlogging channels go).  However, this was a woman who grew up with the camera in her face.  Her parents, specifically her mom, made money on the internet videoing both the public and the private parts of this child and her sibling’s life.  Shari talks about how her life became centered around social media.  

While this starts  negative enough, if you know the story about Ruby Franke, then you know she eventually falls into a group fronted by a woman named Jodi Hildebrant.  This group was called Connexions which centered around family relationships and self improvement.  However, now they (Ruby and Jodi) are both serving up to 30 years in prison for child abuse and neglect.  Somehow Ruby started believing through Jodi that her children had demons in them, and they needed to beat the demons out of them.  This is a horrific story, and it is hard to hear.  

After I read the book, I decided to watch the documentary which includes Kevin Franke (husband of Ruby) Chad Franke (oldest son of Ruby) and Shari.  At the very end of this documentary, Kevin Franke made a profound statement summing up in part this awful story,  He said, “If you put your faith in the wrong hands-you could lose everything. “ I loved this.  It stopped me dead in my tracks.  This is true.  The Franke family, specifically Ruby, started to find faith in the wrong things.  First, she fell into the faith of social media and family vlogging, and then later in the teachings of Jodi Hildebrant who believed herself to be a prophet of the Lord. 

The Lord wants to make sure we don’t fall into the trap of believing people who we shouldn’t, which is why this was written throughout the Bible.  One of those verses is Matthew 7:15 which says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  There were false prophets back in the time of Jesus.  This was the Pharisees and the Sadducees who did respect and honor the law which was a good thing, however, they really truly believed they needed to earn their salvation.  They then would also be incredibly harsh and judgemental to those who stepped one toe out of line in the law.  This was too harsh and unloving for church leaders, even back in this time.  Jesus would often call them out on their hypocrisy.  

Paul later in the Bible would fall into this issue with the Galatians.  He would get really frustrated with them because they were starting to follow false laws and prophets.  They started to believe circumcision was a requirement to be saved.  While this was in the law previously, this is not a way a person makes it into heaven.  The only way to make it to eternity in heaven is through the belief and the faith of Jesus and his death and resurrection on the cross.  Again, it is important to honor the Lord and it is important to care about the law, but no matter what we do, we will fall out of line of the law.  This is why we have Christ and we have the salvation he provided through the cross and through the life he lived.  

It can be very easy for a lot of people to start believing or having faith in a complete lie.  I think we like to think this only happens in cult-like situations.  However, I think having faith in the wrong thing is incredibly common.  We often see many people have addictions to certain substances or items, whether this be social media or their cell phones, alcohol, other drugs and substances, etc.  Then there are many who fall into the trap of believing in money.  They will believe their money can get them through any issue or problem.  There may be others who will have complete faith in their works or their job.  All of these are not something to believe in.  

Is there anything you are finding yourself believing in that could maybe be a lie? Is there anything you have maybe started following related to pop culture or accepted in normal society that is actually harmful, especially to our Christian way of life? If there is something you are finding you are a bit too invested in, what are some ways you can get out of this particular position?  What are some of the people who are spreading these lies to you who you could stop following or listening to?   Whatever it is, I encourage you to find faith in the right thing which is faith in Jesus Christ and his death for you on the cross.

I recently worked through “The Trust Journal,” by Lysa Terkeurst.  I had read her original book this journal goes with, “I want to Trust You, but I don’t.”  Lysa has been a Christian leader I have followed for a long time.  She has gone through some trials from her health to her first marriage.  However, she has stayed steady with her relationship with the Lord.  She has shown her learning and growth from her therapy and now she is sharing her learning with us. 

I enjoyed working in this journal.  I will be honest that I don’t necessarily struggle a lot with trust issues or have really struggled with people breaking my trust in a catastrophic way.  However, through my life, there have been some small issues and some people who have hurt me and have made me doubt certain things. 

There was a section recently I really enjoyed and it was all about words, especially the words we say to ourselves.  One quote was “My counselor loves to remind me that words do frame our reality.”  I love this because I have always tried to remind myself of the importance of words.  Words do really have power and are important for our progress, both our normal everyday progress, and our relationship with Christ. 

I have found words really do affect how I feel about something.  When I am optimistic and excited to either try something or am about ready to meet up with someone who I can’t wait to connect with again, I will use positive language.  There isn’t a lot that slows me down or makes me upset.  However, when there are things I am nervous about doing or participating in and there are people who I am about to see who I am not as excited to see, then I can sometimes fall into using negative language.  I will get more frustrated a lot easier or I am a lot more irritable to those who I am around.  

There are some important verses about using the correct words and using words as a way to build us up.  There are also a few verses about how important words are for building others up and making others see us as encouraging and loving.  The verse I want to highlight is, Ephesians 4:29 which says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”  

The challenge for this week is to spend time thinking about how you speak or the words you are usually using.  How do you usually think about or talk about things?  Are there times you are really down on yourself and don’t understand how to get out of a negative headspace or consume negative thoughts?  If so, this can make it really hard to find ourselves out of a negative situation.  

If you do find yourself struggling to talk positively or encouragingly to yourself, then I would recommend doing some journaling or finding someone you can talk to when you feel as though you are not doing the best at giving yourself positive affirmations.  This can be a chance to write down the thoughts you are having and why you may be struggling to talk positively. 

My husband Cole has been really good about correcting this language for me.  There will be days I will come home from a run, and I will be really discouraged by my run.  I will be disappointed when I am slower than I would prefer.  I would be upset if I didn’t feel super great on my run.  I will overall be disappointed with myself.  Similarly I will get this way when I do a rough job at work and I feel as though I will never be good at my job or I am not the best mentor.  Whenever I fail, I find myself talking a bit harshly to myself.  I find myself giving myself negative thoughts for the future.  

Maybe also consider being the person in someone else’s life who reminds others to be positive.  Be the person who is uplifting the other in positivity and warmth, reminding them of God’s goodness and love.  Maybe you will be the person in the office who chooses not to gossip and be discouraging, but rather who chooses to be kind and encouraging.  Words do have a lot of power, and it is important to remember that for this following week. 

Today this blog post is being posted the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It was hopefully for many of you a great time to celebrate with family and maybe some friends, have a break from work.  (Or maybe some of you may have received double pay working the Black Friday hours).  This means the next major holiday for many of us is Christmas. I know not everyone finds Thanksgiving or this upcoming season of Christmas the most joyful, but I would like to share some light on its importance separate from a worldly thinking we have often had in the past. 

I personally love this time of year.  I am a summer girl, but I do enjoy winter up to Christmas.  Then I struggle through the months of January and February (although my favorite holiday of Valentine’s Day is in February-so there is that to look forward to.).  When I think of Christmas I think of my grandparent’s house.  I used to wake up there on Christmas morning all ready to open the stockings, and ready to eat cinnamon rolls by the Christmas tree.  I also would usually enjoy a cup of coffee made by my grandma.  As I get older, some of the things I most admire out of the Christmas season are the blinking lights of the Christmas tree with all the ornaments, and the break and relaxation with friends and family.  

However, I often think we can get really distracted and stressed out about everything related to the Christmas season.  I know I start thinking about gifts and making sure I can get the most loved ones of mine a gift they will appreciate and love.  I also spend a lot of time working on the Christmas cards I want everyone to receive.  I can sometimes get stressed out about the time this takes.  Will I have enough time to make all the cards for those I want to make one for? Will they look nice?  Will this be worth it?  It takes up a lot of space in my brain during what should be very joyful season.  

Besides being the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it is also the first day of Advent season.  Advent is the four-week celebration before Christmas occurs.  It is the time of waiting and preparation for the coming Lord, Jesus Christ.  I also started this devotional from the Daily Grace Company in order to fully celebrate and honor this time. This book is called “Awakening Wonder, Experiencing the Nearness of Jesus.” by Katie Davidson, Alexa Hess, and Anteneshia Sanders.

I really wanted to celebrate and study Advent because as I just mentioned I and I believe many others often get stressed out when thinking about Christmas and the Christmas season.  I already loved the first couple of pages of how they would describe Advent.  They say, “The weeks leading up to Christmas are typically fast-paced and focused on going and doing.  But Advent is about slowing down, waiting, and preparing.”  (pg.26).  We sometimes forget the true reason for Advent.  We sometimes are so lost in all things leading up to Christmas and even the emotions attached to Christmas, which can be exciting and filled with joy or a time filled with sadness and grief that we forget the reason it is a holiday to begin with.  It is about Jesus as opposed to giving gifts and all the holiday traditions. 

 Regardless of your personal history and experiences with Christmas, there is one central joy we can all know.  Jesus came down to the world in order to save His people from our sins.  He was sent to be born as a baby, to experience the life we as other people experience.  Then he was later in his life willing to suffer and ultimately die on the cross for us all to offer salvation.  

There are many verses describing Jesus coming to the world. This is described throughout the first four Gospel books in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  There are also many other verses including Galatians 4:4-5 which says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  The Lord had a plan from the very beginning.  He knew he wanted us to be a part of his life from the start of creation.  He found a beautiful way and a path for us to have access to the Lord and everlasting life in heaven while still including us to have free will.  

There are two challenges for you this week.  The first one is to find your own Advent study.  There are passages to read online, and there are many books sold about Advent and studying the word that way, such as what I am doing.  This can be just 15 minutes of your time in the morning to prepare your heart and soul for the coming of Christ this season.  The second challenge is to spend time reflecting on the goodness of God this season.  This may mean slowing down.  This may mean finding a way to destress during the stress that can be preparation for Christmas.  I do truly hope you can all find great joy during this holiday season!

I love getting to be a mentor.  I am a mentor to an 8th grade girl who is also a student at my job in the Job Foundation.  A person doesn’t have to be an employee in order to mentor, but I have decided to be a mentor these last few years while working here.  I have really enjoyed getting to know my mentee for the past two and half years as both one of my students in the Job Foundation but also as my mentee. 

Some of my favorite opportunities with my mentee have been getting to teach her some fundamental and important life skills and especially getting an opportunity to give back.  There was a day in January when we went to the University of Northern Iowa’s MLK volunteer day and we packaged sack lunches for kids all across Iowa.  Then there have been twice when we have worked on doing the operation Christmas child.  This is when we have created Christmas boxes for kids all over the world.  I have personally great memories of being able to do this with my family, so I am glad my mentee and I had a chance to do this.  

There are many verses about giving throughout the Bible.  In fact, there are about 2,000 times the Bible mentions giving.  This is included in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Jesus loves to give to those who are in need, and he would often do this through his ministry on earth.  One of the verses in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 9:7 which says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  The Lord loves when his people choose to give from their hearts just as He often does with his followers and those who are of the poor.  

I am very grateful my mentee has really enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer and to give charitably.  She appreciated the times we have volunteered as a group, and she loved picking out the gifts for those who are even less fortunate.  She was even helping me put my shoebox together.  There were a lot of gifts to fit in a smaller space, and she was good about getting it all organized within the box.  

Besides working with my mentor, I have also been blessed to organize events for my students to do volunteering at different nonprofits in our area.  For example, as a middle school group they have gone to Northeast Iowa Food Bank as well as the following year to the Salvation Army.  Both middle school lessons went well.  We are also going to be going back to the food bank the week after Thanksgiving for this year’s middle school lesson. There were a lot of kids who really enjoyed this lesson and appreciated getting out in the community to do something for a local nonprofit.  

The challenge for this week is to spend time thinking about how you can give back.  Is there a way you can find to give or to volunteer?  Is there a person or a group in your area who you know needs extra assistance?  Is there a nonprofit or a charity that you have been thinking about supporting recently? This is the start of the holiday season, and while it is again the most stressful for a lot of individuals, it is also a very hard time for a lot of those who are in need.  This even includes the nonprofits and the charity organizations we know in our community.  There are many who are asking for end of the year donations for this very reason.  

I think this is a reminder as we are in the season of the holidays, of Thanksgiving, of Christmas, of present shopping and with big meals, that we are finding time and some funds and love in our hearts to give to those who are less fortunate or who are in more need for certain foods. This also includes teaching our young people about the importance of charitable giving, and of volunteering and being out in the community.  I hope you have a blessed holiday season, and I hope you can be a blessing to many more in your community. 

These past few weeks of church have been the start of a new sermon series.  This series is going through the book of Galatians, which is a wonderful book including a lot of information about the Gospel and how to best be stewards of Christ.  This is also wonderful because this is the same book I have been studying with my Christian mentor, Stacy.  It has been really fruitful for me to get a lot of this wisdom out of this book of the Bible. 

The sermon this morning was really good about discussing the Holy Spirit and its role in our lives of Christians.  We are called to be followers of Christ and to be therefore changed by the Spirit.  We can not be justified by our own works.  We can not take credit for being saved because of who we are, but rather through who Christ is and what he has done for us.  

This also being said, My pastor Peter mentioned sometimes we as people and as Christians will claim, there will be nothing that can be changed about a particular personality trait we may have.  For example, “I am always going to have a temper.  It is just a part of who I am.”  Some may claim they won’t ever be gentle or kind.  They are too brash and harsh.  Others may claim they have no self-control ability.  They indulge in whatever is in front of them.  

Yes, while I do believe it is important to know there are certain people who will be different from others.  We are all created differently.  We have all been created by God who did want to make us a little different than everyone else.  He is a Creator.  He is creative, and he enjoyed making us all unique.  However, there are still important characteristics, such as the fruit of the spirit he wants us all to possess as believers.  These fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  We shouldn’t get to choose or cherry pick which of these fruits we can possess as a person.  It is an all or nothing kind of change.   

For me, I know I am not very patient.  It is not my strength.  I am also not the best at keeping peace when it comes to my mind.  I have always struggled with my own peace. I am a very anxious person, and this can really start to affect the other areas in my life.  Through my anxiety, I can let it ruin my state of mind and my trust of the Lord.  However, in those times when I am struggling with my Christian walk or with certain fruits of the spirit, I know I can lean on the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy spirit is mentioned about 90 to 100 times throughout the Bible.  There are then many verses that reference the Holy Spirit and its great work in our lives.  One of the verses referencing the Holy Spirit is Romans 8:26 which says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit can give us the words we need in order to better pray.  The Holy Spirit will help give us advice when we don’t know what we should best do, and how we should best pray. 

There are two challenges for you this week.  The first is, of course, to try to be reflective of whether or not there is anything that you believe you can’t change?  Is there a particular characteristic you believe won’t ever be something you will possess?  Are there negative beliefs you have about yourself?  Are you very convinced your sin is a part of your personality? Maybe, are there any sins that you are secretly proud of?

Then the second challenge is to spend a long time in prayer.  To spend this time in prayer and to really believe and think you can be changed is the best way to develop this particular characteristic and to therefore grow closer to God.  Through the prayer and belief in God and the Holy Spirit, we really can be changed and more sanctified.  I have often spent a lot of time in prayer, focusing on my patience.  I am constantly asking for help when it comes to my patience.  I know I can lose my temper and can become irritated and frustrated regularly, and I then ask the Holy Spirit to help me out.  

Let the Holy Spirit change you.  Let the Holy Spirit make you more brave, more bold, more patient, and more kind.  We are called to be conquerors of Christ.  We are called to be faithful followers.  Even when we don’t believe we can do this, we can remember, we have Christ and the Holy Spirit in our corner.