ADVENT

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If your house is anything like ours – the excitement for Christmas is brewing, especially from the 4 year old who had no concepts of dates or time, and has no clue what time frame we are working on when we tell her “not yet – soon”. The numbers on her advent calendar are wasted

I spoke this time last year at our MOPS morning in church all about advent. We attempted some cute advent crafts with the goal of keeping some sort of faith based activity in our families in the middle of the Christmas chaos.

As I was prepping for that morning, I was reminded about the whole idea of advent. The building up towards something.

The word itself is Latin and means – waiting.

Who loves waiting? Not me.

With Christmas – the wait builds a bigger anticipation. The excitement grows as the day get closer. The wait is a good one.

So what’s different?

The number 25.

We have a final peak, we know when and what it involves. The certainty of it is not up for debate. We know. The wait is exciting when we have the end in sight.

But what happens in the other type of waiting? You know the one I mean. The wait that has been longer than we thought. The wait that seems to have no best before or expiry date. The wait that has lost that excitement of the final moment. The wait that still doesn’t see.

Advent is a season of waiting. Original advent didn’t have the number 25 either on its calendar. The wait time was unknown. In fact everything about it was an anomaly. Israel waited on rescue and God sent a baby. What?

I’m drawn to the incredible way God works things out. Again there is a simple profound truth that God will always see and do things differently. And simpler again is the underlying crutch of our faith – do we trust Him?

To quote the husbands recently penned lyrics

In the waiting I will trust in you…

As my mind regurgitates information about waiting and as my heart feels all the emotions of a long wait…. the Christmas story points me to some home truths.

God is with us.

God is working in our waiting.

As surely as the sun rises each morning – He is faithful.

In CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Narnia is stuck in winter. Spring hasn’t sprung for a very long time. The people of Narnia have adjusted to winter and the majority have settled. But there are whispers of hope heard in certain circles that Aslan is coming and he’s bringing spring with him.

I want to raise the whisper to a shout.

I want to be excited in the waiting, believing that the way everything plays out is detailed and perfect. After all – He is good, He’s for us and He gives good gifts.

Be encouraged… He knows where and when number 25 is.

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

CS Lewis


Christmas is just around the corner.

The 61Exchange

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I have recently found myself jumping on board with this movement known as The 61 Exchange.  Started by my beautiful Southern Georgian friend Amy Boland, this incredible collective of real women with real stories is the most inspiring, vulnerable and hope fuelled group you will meet.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The name, The 61 Exchange, comes from Isaiah 61:3. That The Lord will give a crown of beauty for ashes and joy for mourning. We want to tell the stories of how Jesus has done this exchange in women’s lives and ultimately point people towards the greatest exchange, the Gospel.

I was blown away when Amy asked me to get involved, and even though we’re figuring out what that looks like with an ocean in between me and the team – I’m in!!!   I love the idea, the concept of sharing our stories to inspire others is something that I am uber passionate about.

I had the privilege this summer, sharing at one of their conferences in Cairo, GA. I had no idea what I was in for. I was meeting everyone on the team for the first time, and placing names and email addresses with faces.   Knowing that it was going to be a weekend of story sharing, I was prepped for talking overload. I knew some of the stories already from the social media posts and was well prepared with tissues close by.  As I listened to girls share their journey so far, I discovered something special about the power of our stories. They invite people into our lives.  They connect us in our humanity – real, honest, open lives for all to see.  And the amazing thing about Christian women, is seeing how beautifully our God meets us where we are and has the power to change our stories. His love and grace intertwines into people’s lives in a beautiful profound way.

In dark days, in horrific circumstances, in hopeless scenarios – there He was in all their journeys.

No story was the same,  because no life is the same.

The thing that I loved the most about so much story sharing, was how easy it was for every woman who attended that conference to identify with at least one other person on stage sharing.

So here’s what I’m asking…… would you join the journey?

Would you share your story? Have you ever sat and thought about the moments that are worth sharing?

Here is the truth – your story matters and somewhere in this world there is a girl who needs to be encouraged by what God has done for you. Because if God can do if for you, He can surely do it for her too.

So how can you join in?

  1. Follow us on Instagram
  2. Connect with us on Facebook
  3. Join the Mailing List and keep up to date with our Blog
  4. Share your Story

I would love you to connect in with what God is doing, but most importantly I would love for you as a daughter to be brave, open and vulnerable with your journey so it would spark hope in Him to someone else.

You can do it!