•  Advent

Whoa! I blinked and it’s time for our 30 Days of Thankfulness tradition! New to it? Here’s the mini backstory: I introduced this November drive to my readers almost two decades ago. (That timeline feels crazy, but it’s true!) The idea is to spend the days leading up to Thanksgiving demonstrating our gratitude, rather than simply expressing it. Over the years we’ve supported a range

    This was my first time to create Dried Orange Garlands to add to my Christmas decorations, but it won’t be my last. The smell is heavenly and I’m a longtime fan of bringing natural elements inside. This project was fun. I gathered my components, spent a little time, and voila! Lean in, and I’ll show you. Gather: 4-5 Oranges Burlap strips for bows Fishing wire or twine Greenery White lights *optional Cinnamon

If ever we needed to celebrate the Light of the World coming into our darkness, it’s Christmas 2020! Right? What’s that? I’m having a hard time hearing you over the amen corner. I get it! I know people who decked their walls in October and double dog dared anyone to part their lips in judgement. But seriously, we may sense how sorely we need Christmas this

Merry Christmas, friends! May the love of God, the grace of Christ Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit overwhelm you with joy today. Our devotional has drawn to a close, but I hope you’ll stay connected. I want to keep walking forward with you. As Oswald Chambers once said in one of my all-time favorite quotes, “Let the past sleep, but let it

If these devotions have stirred you to want more of God, to behold Jesus until He transforms you, consider sharing your journey with your family and friends. It may be a life-changer for them, too! Transformation is powerful stuff! The culture knows it—hence the bombardment of before-and-after images in magazines and on home-improvement shows. This transformative life is our calling, and Paul encourages us to live it in

Christmas is near, and I hope you and yours enjoy every minute of it! My prayer is that these short devotions have set us up to resist the empty promises the world hawks twenty-four/seven and walk into the deep and wide life Jesus died to give us.   It’s impossible to read John without wondering about the discrepancy between the experience of the average believer and the

The to-do list is long, and time seems short, but we walk among souls God dearly loves. Our opportunity is to stay conscious of Jesus and let Him reach for them through our lives, even as we go about our day.   We don’t learn such living in a once and done. We learn it by daring to die to us and live to Him in this

Caution. We are the most susceptible to reaching for the wrong fix when we’re tired and stressed. Jesus is near, count Him dear and choose well today. Temporary hits can’t satisfy eternal hunger … Whatever we reach for to make ourselves feel better today will become a fix we’ll need more of tomorrow. No amount of acquisitions, affirmations, or acclamations from creation can substitute for the

The Christmas countdown may bring stressful shopping trips and exchanges with the occasional grinch, but you and I are not only called to be Christlike in our response, we’re equipped for it. Immanuel is real world support for all who learn to call on Him.   I haven’t yet made it to a place where I’m always saintly, and I don’t live with unlimited patience for those