Faith

When preparation at Christmas nearly failed

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In a season where I wanted to prepare my heart during advent, I found myself cluttering my soul.

Where I wanted to create an anticipation about Christmas, I created disorder and chaos with the mountain of things that needed doing…and it all nearly came crashing down.

Where I wanted to find truth in this season, I found I was deceiving myself by filling up my precious time with things that could have waited.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day! This may fill you with dread at the thought that there is still lots to do. I’m at the point, for the first time since forever, that every present is wrapped, the turkey has been cooked…and carved…and I’ve sat down to have a glass of wine before going out to midnight mass at my church. I’m usually up until 3am still wrapping presents!

After all the hype of trying to prepare everything for Christmas, I struggled to prepare what I needed to most of all…my heart. This morning, part of me thought that it’s too late to do it now. I mean, it’s now the 24th December and I’ve had all this time to prepare myself for Jesus and I’ve failed.

Shall I let you into a secret though? I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when I was wallowing in this self pity of not preparing myself enough.

It is NEVER too late to prepare your heart to receive Jesus. It doesn’t even have to be advent…or Christmas Day. You can prepare your heart anytime…and you don’t need smelly candles or books (although they are nice). All you need is you.

God is near to us, folks. He is here in our midst. All we need to do is be present.

God is near to us, folks. He is here in our midst. All we need to do is be present. Share on X

1 Timothy 1 15-16
The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

Something to think about…

How can you make sure that you are present as God is in your midst?

Prayer

Lord, as we rush around this season preparing for what is to come, soften our hearts so that we will receive what you have for us. Jesus Christ, born as a baby into a world full of messes. You are here with us now in the midst of our messes. Let us have our hearts open to receive you. Amen

Faith, Five Minute Friday

Stress doesn’t have to be a familiar friend at Christmas

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It’s come to the time of time of year where we start to think about the different traditions we do when celebrating Christmas. Something which is familiar to us that we have always done. Maybe it is a particular decoration that is hung in a certain place in the home, or the type of food we eat.

I love to go to the midnight service with my husband at our church on Christmas Eve, something we do every year and is now very familiar to us. This is always then followed by the mad dash of getting the remainder of the Christmas presents wrapped before we go to bed, with a glass (or two) of sherry on the side for help. This is something else that is very familiar, but we try and change it each year (and I’m referring to wrapping the presents really late – not the sherry drinking!)

~oOo STOP oOo~

Let’s put Jesus at the centre of our hearts.

Familiarity brings about a sense of security. It’s about knowing who we are and where we have come from. It’s comforting. When people lose familiarity, they sometimes also lose a sense of identity and control.

When people lose familiarity, they sometimes also lose a sense of identity and control. Share on X

I struggle with this time of year because of the familiar stress Christmas brings (and I’ve gone and done it big time this year with extra EXTRA things going on). I am finding that the familiar stress that Christmas brings is what causes me to lose my identity and control.

However, over the last year or so I’ve had a longing to make things different. Something special. I have needed something to focus on to slow me down in this hectic period to get me focused on what is the most familiar reason for this season.

Maybe you feel this too?

Let us knock on the door to The One that matters most!

So, to overcome this familiar stress, I am creating a new familiarity to be intentional about focusing on the real reason for this Season. After all, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for One person…Jesus!

Somehow, this kind of gets forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of organising and preparing for the big day. I’ll admit that myself too, that I am too busy wondering what presents I need to buy and who am I going to send cards to. I forget, momentarily, that we celebrate Jesus coming to this world.

I want to change that.

Angels sound the trumpets at the arrival of the Messiah!

I’m still going to buy the presents and write those cards, but what I need to prepare most is my heart.

To slow myself down and create a new familiarity – one that will prepare my heart – I am going to be reading “Come, Lord Jesus” by Kris Camealy. This is a very timely book that is much needed for anyone who is in a “waiting” period, and also for anyone who wants to prepare their hearts over the advent period.

And what is better still, Kris is hosting a book club for her book where we can gather together with other like minded people who want to be intentional about preparing for Christmas.

Why not come and join me?

“Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting” is available to buy at Amazon.

I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “familiar“. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.

Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday – Excuse

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I like a good challenge. Something I can get my teeth into. But sometimes I come across situations where I feel I’m not good enough to do the task at hand. I start to make excuses as to why I am not the right person…

…Surely there is someone else far better than me that can do the job…

…What if I fail and get it wrong…

…Am I good enough…

…what will other people think of what I do…

Do these sound familiar to you? Are you nodding with me right now and relating to these excuses?

Even Moses used excuses when he felt he could not deliver the people to the promised land:

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11

But guess what folks? Moses did it! Ok, so it took some time, but he did it. All Moses did was ask God for His help and God provided for him the means and ways to do it.

If God calls you to do something and you don’t feel big enough to do it, instead of making excuses as to why you can’t, ask God to provide you with the means and ways to do it.

God calls you because He wants YOU! Not anyone else. He calls you because He knows you can do it. 

If God calls you to do something and you don't feel big enough to do it...ask God to provide. Share on X

I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “excuse”. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.

Faith, Five Minute Friday, Rest

Silence Speaks The Loudest

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Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD, for the awesome day of the LORD’s judgment is near. The LORD has prepared his people for a great slaughter and has chosen their executioners.

Zephaniah 1:7

We live in a world filled with noise from the moment the alarm wakes us up in the morning with that irritating ring tone, to the kids screaming and shouting at each other about who got dressed first!

We leave the noise behind in the house only to be greeted by the hum of the traffic on the roads of people rushing to work. We switch on the radio to fill the void of emptiness in the car, only to be met with the noise of the world in the news.

When at work we are then bombarded with the noise of busyness around us…phones ringing…typing on keyboards…radios blaring in the background…machines turning away to produce things, as well as the noise. Noise is never ending!

I often pray to God in the midst of my noise to help me, but often I am confronted with noise inside my head and I end up hearing nothing. I think God is silent and He doesn’t want to speak to me.

When times get really hectic and the noise around me, and in me, gets too much I know it’s time to be in silence.

I take myself outside and go somewhere for five minutes to a place I know will be still. It’s only when I am alone with Him in the silence do I then hear Him the loudest.

I don’t need to shout above all the noise to be heard by God. God hears the faintest whisper of my heart. He hears yours too.

Why not take yourself out to be in silence. You might just be amazed at how loud God speaks in that moment.

I don’t need to shout above all the noise to be heard by God. Share on X God hears the faintest whisper of my heart. He hears yours too. Share on X

You can find me on Instagram logging my time spent with God using the hashtag #5minutesabbath

I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “silence“. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.

Faith, Five Minute Friday

What I Need (And It’s For You Too!)

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As the deer pants after the streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

(Psalm 42:1)

From the moment we are born, we come into the world needing. We need food and water to sustain ourselves. We need air to breathe so that we can live. We need light in this world in order to survive.

Somewhere along the rugged lines of life though, we lose sight of that need and we turn to aspects that we want in order to live. We think we need material wealth in order to survive. We think we need status to be able to get somewhere. We think we need to look beautiful so that we can get along in life.

These are all wants. Although they may be advantageous to us in life at some point, it is never guaranteed to last. Ultimately, what we want could end up being our downfall in life. To need is a necessity. It is to require something that is regarded as essential, not just something that is desirable.

Just like we need water, food and air to sustain ourselves physically. We also need something to sustain ourselves spiritually. This is God. After all, He is the One that brought all this into being originally!

He is the One that nourishes us when we are hungry.

He is the One that gives us water when we are thirsty.

He is the One that fills our bodies with air to breathe.

Without God in our lives, we wouldn’t be living. I need God, just like the Psalmist says…like a deer pants for the water.

One day, hopefully not anytime soon, food could run out, the water can dry up and the air can become toxic. God is not like this, friend. He will always be here. He will never dry up. How amazing is that? What is there to need with such a necessity right here? I want you to need Him too.

I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “need”. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.

Encouraging hope in a broken world

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