Advent - Love and Christmas Eve

Lamentations 3:24

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Christmas this year is unlike any that most of us have faced in our lifetime. We go forward with our celebration knowing that many in our country face this holiday with the still fresh loss of a loved one. Presents and celebrations are great but they will not bring back what we have lost this year. So on this day – Christmas Eve. . . I'd like to focus on what we do have. I love this verse in Lamentations and use it often. Today I'd like to substitute a word. The LORD is my present. The most important gift that any of us can receive is the gift of Jesus Christ. As He came into the world over 2000 years ago, He still comes into hearts and lives today. Make this Christmas special by letting Him into your heart and your family celebrations this year. You'll never regret it. I love you all.

Merry Christmas.

LOVE - Advent Day 25 - Week 4

Lamentations 3:31-33

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

Tonight, is really just a prayer. Because my heart is heavy for so many. Coming into the holidays surrounded by so much grief... God be near.

Great is Your faithfulness, God my Father. 

It is new each morning, refreshing me, filling me. Father you see the pain and hurt of your children. But you are not an unfeeling witness. You are the Father who sobs when we sob. Your heart aches with us. You love us. Great, Oh great is Your faithfulness. When we cannot see, you guide us. And when we cannot find the strength to carry on one more day. . . You carry us. Father under your wings we find protection and peace. When we cannot even find the words to request what we need... You see that need and meet it. Great, Oh great is Your faithfulness. And I love You Father. No matter what
-Amen

LOVE - Advent Day 23 - Week 4

Psalm 6:2-4

Be merciful to me, LORD , for I am faint; O LORD , heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD , how long? Turn, O LORD , and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

Once again I feel like I am playing a little bit on the expected subject matter. But it seems to fit really well with what I needed to hear going into 2021. If I do, I'm guessing maybe at least one other does as well.

Alrighty. We're going full speed towards a new year here folks. I see a lot of people ready to let their hair down like the calendar changing is a magic solution. Guess what friends? The problems of Dec. 31, 2020 are riding shotgun with you into 2021.
I guess there is no expiration date that we can see on our troubles, but there is an end. The Psalmist hits something here that I tend to keep coming back to with God. How long, O Lord, How long? When God? When does this finish? Sometimes I feel ungrateful, even hateful just asking the question.

So why am I all bubble-busting tonight? Because of another lesson I'm re-learning. God can handle my questions. Why else would he have put all these instances in the Bible of Godly Christians questioning his timing and methods? They are there to take us from question to answers. Like Job and David there will be an end to our trouble. Like Job and David only God knows what it is and when it will be here. So like them feel free to question. But know that God is still working. God is still in control. God has not forgotten you. He will not forget you. He will someday deliver you because of His unfailing love.

And that was exactly what I needed as we wrap all this mess up.  <3

Father,
Because of your love, we are not consumed. But as we learned last week, sometimes your deliverance and ours don't quite look the same. Help us to take comfort that whatever happens as we roll over to 2021, You are there before us. Please take away the crippling fear cloud that so many are living under right now. Every day we have is numbered by You. We live not one without your grace and mercy.
Help my friend reading this to be comforted by that same thought.
- Amen

-Gina

LOVE - Advent - Day 22 - Week 4

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love seems like such a simple thing.  After all, we talk about falling in love on such a whim. It seem weightless and ethereal.  It seems so easy... and yet so difficult to really grasp on to at times.
The only way love makes sense to me these days is as a conscious choice.  Why?  Because the world around us, even here in the week before Christmas, seems to be drowning in hate instead.

Things I do know:
    I cannot change the world.
    I have zero platform to speak from as I sit here and write.
    I am a flawed human being... prone to do some really unloving things at times.    
    If I live my life and only accomplish really, deeply helping someone to see love, it is a life well lived.

Hate is easy. But hate is a heavy burden to carry. Spite is handy.  But spite will fester in your soul like acid. Arguing is simple and not hard to find someone to participate with you. But an argumentative spirit leads to bitterness in deep places of your being.

If I have not love...I am nothing. If I give everything I have, but miss out on love, this life was wasted.

For my single friends, I'm not talking about married love at ALL in this moment. I am talking about the type of love that this world is gasping for today.  Friendship... Compassion... Caring.
Right at this moment people in your city are preparing themselves to not wake up again.  Right at this moment someone is so desperate for love that they aren't sure they can go on another second.

Maybe that's you... If it is my friend, please please reach out to someone. You are valuable. You are loved. Please give us a chance to show you that.

If it's not you, I'll bet that someone's face popped into your head a few minutes ago. Reach out to them. Do it this very second.

Love.  It is the choice that can help to start turning this tide. Find the things that bind us.  Focus there.

Love.  This week... may we love boldly.

Father,
Help us to see the hurting people around us tomorrow. Help us to seek out the lonely. Help us to reach out if we are hurting. Please help us to remember, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves 
(which also means we need to love ourselves).  God make us your hands and feet in this world of chaos and pain.
-Amen

Gina

Joy - Advent - Day 21 - Week 3

Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. 

I'll admit this was not where I thought my last day on the topic of joy would take us. But I couldn't get these verses and this phrase out of my head tonight.

"But if not..."

These young men were getting sentenced to death for following God instead of men. They didn't know whether God would save them or not... but they knew that He was able. These three guys in the furnace trusted God, literally, with the end of their lives. They really believed that God could rescue them from the furnace. They knew enough about God to know that what is best for us (including life itself) is not always God's best for us. They knew that no matter what they were going to obey God. It's a powerful story. So what did these three guys say as they face death? "But IF not..."
Most of us aren't facing the possibility of death. However some of us are legit walking through that valley of death with ourselves or someone we love.
Do we trust Him? Do we still trust Him if things aren't going the way we want?
God I still trust you even if this court case doesn't go my way. I still trust you if the person I love the most in this world is taken away from me. I still trust you if I get sick... if my loved one gets sick.

I know that you can bring about miracles. You can take death itself away. I believe you can do all of this . . . but if not . . . I trust You even still. What I've learned: God may act exactly as I hope in this situation... but if not... I know He is still holding me. The important thing is to not turn away from God when He doesn't follow your calendar and plan. It is my challenge for all of you whose answer is just days away... but it is not the answer you were looking for in this season. It is also my challenge for those of you whose answer is many waiting days away.

Father,
Help us to find our joy and peace in you regardless of our circumstances. Help us to trust that You are still here even in the darkest of valley's. Help us to feel with certainty that you are here with us even if we are IN the furnace/fire right now.
Amen

-Gina

Joy - Advent - Day 20 - Week 3

Isaiah 45:3 - I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

This may seem like a weird place to start one of our last studies about Joy. But sometimes the biggest blessings and joys in our lives come from the darkest times. Here in Isaiah, God calls darkness a treasure. Wrap your head around that for a minute. The total absence of light... as a treasure. If you were a disciple in the first day after the crucifixion you would have had no idea that the best thing to ever happen to you would come from the tragedy of the days before. Who could have guessed that God would send help in the form of a tiny little guy, wrapped in leftovers, in a rundown stable? We seem to live in a perpetual state of darkness. If 2020 had a motto, I think it might be "The year where joy came to die." 
The treasure of darkness... riches stored in secret places. This many days into the pandemic, I think we all are starting to have an actual list of what we've lost this year. Worse still, most of us have a list of people we love that left us too soon this year. For me, it was the biggest personality known to my life... my Daddy. How can there be joy here? How is there a treasure here?  I just don't have it yet. I want to make that maybe plainer than I have ever made anything.
I don't have joy there yet. I do say yet... because I fully believe that joy will come back fully. We grieve, but God's word reminds us that, as believers, we do not grieve without hope. If you are grieving too... that's ok.
Tonight I feel so pressed to remind my friends, especially believers, that you do a GREAT disservice to Christianity and to your friends in general if you try to tie the Joy/Happiness bow right onto the top of your mess. 

Life is messy. You are allowed to be a mess too. You are allowed to grieve.  You are allowed to not be ok. These next few sentences may not be where you are right now.

THAT IS OK!!!!!!!!!  You can be "not ok." But please, don't live there.  <3

Only God knows what will become of your biggest tragedy. Trust that He will guide you through it and to the light of the third day. Joy does come with the morning.

Father,
For the hurting tonight, I pray peace. For the grieving tonight, I pray your presence surrounds them. As we run headlong into the week of Christmas, please give us peace. Please give us JOY. Please, give us You.
-Amen.

-Gina

Joy - Advent - Day 19 - Week 3

Colossians 1:10-12

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

What a good prayer. This one hits home for me especially today. In a normal year, the lead up to Christmas can be stressful. But in a pandemic... woof. Everyone is trying to make the best decisions for their families. Everyone is hoping for better days ahead. And here in the middle, we still find normal life... whatever that is.
When my life gets too crowded sometimes the first thing that seems to get crowded out is my patience and joy. I know all those verses about giving thanks in all things and they just go right out of my head when the dude in front of me is doing 30 in a 45... hypothetically...
Today if you are feeling less than strengthened with God's power I have a suggestion. Stop whatever you are doing. Yeah I know you're busy... join the crowd. Stop for a few minutes and ask God to bring you some joy and strength. I hesitate to say pray for patience because we all know how that one ends! 

: ) 

Father,
I ask that you bring some calm into our busy days today. Where there is impatience give us patience. Where there is sorrow bring us joy. And where there is weakness strengthen us. In Jesus name,
Amen
- Gina

Joy - Advent - Day 18 - Week 3

 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Christmas can be tough. Our topic of "Joy" seems like a tough thing to come by lately. There is a lot of pain and painful memories that get tied in with this season. Sometimes what should be expressly joyful becomes intolerably painful. If you are suffering this year I want to speak something into your season. I was talking to a new friend the other night and passing on a new lesson that I am learning this year and she gave me such a lovely picture. It's during these times of pain that we really need to snuggle into Jesus. My friend mentioned the quilts that she has and how she likes to snuggle up into them. So my word picture for Christmas this year is this: You know that warm, comfortable feeling that you get on a cold day when you are all cuddled up into a comforter or blanket? That feeling multiplied in safeness and warmth by a million fold, is what Jesus is offering for any season. But it's especially for the difficult seasons. He wants you to wrap yourself up in Him. He's a gentleman and He will not force Himself. How you spend these times is up to you? May I suggest you snuggle in for the season? 

Father,
Many of us are having trouble finding joy this season. This has been a year of loss for so many of us. It's still a season of uncertainty and even fear for many. Help us to trust that better days are ahead. Help us spend this week leading up to Christmas really tuned into You. Give us the Joy that is unexplainable, and help us to share it.
-Amen

-Gina

Joy - Advent - Day 17 - Week 3

John 16:20-22

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Words from a Man who knew He was going to die. He wanted us to know that we had something more to look forward to than this world. He wanted us to know that there is a time in our future when pain and grief will no longer exist and won't exist for us again. On a TV show I watched recently one of the characters was talking about a time when she had terrible poison ivy where it even hurt to be touched or to scratch. Her mother just told her that every time it burned or hurt... that very second... she was one heartbeat closer to the time when it wouldn't hurt anymore. She said "Hold On... This won't last forever."   

Hold on... This won't last forever.

Joy - Advent - Day 16 - Week 3

Luke 10:21

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Why would God reveal His wonders to little children instead of to the wise and learned? My opinion... my feeling... is that there is a point of too wise. Let me rephrase that. There is a point of being to wise in your own eyes. It's the God given wisdom of little children that has to come into play when faith is involved. We tend to over think everything. Our "adult" lives become mini-dramas because we take our wisdom and our lives too seriously. There is seriousness in life. There had to be from the moment that sin entered the world. At this season, where we celebrate a baby's coming into our world to change it forever, let us recapture the child-likeness that brings God this good pleasure. Your mission is this: There are now 11 days left until Christmas. In that time find one person and give them the gift of unexpected joy. It might be a special gift to someone who isn't expecting anything this year. It may just be a special letter or conversation. Let God reveal this thing to you and then... obey. That is His good pleasure. 

Joy - Advent - Day 15 - week 3

 Psalm 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

I know I have written about these verses before. As they came up in my time, I started thinking about the tears that I have shed in my life. There have been happy tears and sad tears. They include that "good" cry that none of you guys understand. I usually quote this passage as just verse 5. But verse 6 holds a very important key. He who goes out weeping... carrying seed to sow... will return with songs of joy... carrying sheaves with him. I can hear you saying "so what?" God sees our tears, great. But God is not answering me!
Think about what it means to go out with seed, and come back with sheaves (bundles of grain). There is some time passing here my friends. It is another good reminder to me that God works on a totally different time table. I wish I could tell you when God will turn your seed tears into a song harvest of joy. I cannot. I can only tell you this. God is ever watching and always present. One of these days you will return with sheaves of joy.

Father,
As we inch ever closer to Christmas, help us remember that your time... and our time... are different.
What may seem like a never-ending season, may be ending just around that next corner. When we read Your words, we see a lot of long term waiting people, who did find their joy one way or another. Help us to hold on to the promises that You have made us. Help us find Joy in that waiting.
Amen

-Gina

Waiting - Advent Day 14 - Week 2

 It's our last day on waiting peeps!  :)

Isaiah 7:14

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

I watched the Nativity Story (2006) movie again. I highly recommend it! Something about watching the well-known story unfold on the big screen got me thinking about things in a new way. There were a couple of things that left me thinking specifically. One scene has Joseph praying to God for a sign that he is doing what God has asked. And as he is asking for that sign, right up behind him the stars are starting to converge into the ultimate sign. Along that same line there is a story told twice in this movie that I have always loved. The story is from I Kings about Elijah. Basically he has a major pity party and then just sits down waiting to hear from God. The verse says: And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

My point is this - asking for a sign from God is not a new thing. And I think we often miss obvious signs because we are looking for some huge neon light. We're looking for the earthquake while God is screaming at us in a whisper. More than any sign we have ever been given, is the sign of a little baby in a manger. Have you ever wondered if you are basically alone in this world? Do you feel forgotten sometimes? Maybe this season somehow you feel God Himself has forgotten you. Look back to that baby in a manger. He came here willingly to sacrifice Himself for you because He loved you. That's the sign you were waiting for. He loves you. He thinks about you. He has not forgotten or forsaken you.

Trust it - it was written in the stars over 2000 years ago.

Father,
Help us remember the sign that you sent us so long ago... and the signs that are all around us right now if we just pay attention. Thank you for the sacrifice that you made for all of us. Help us to remember that this season is not about the gifts under the tree, but the baby in the manger.
-Amen

-Gina

Waiting - Advent Day 13 - Week 2

 Psalm 42:8

The LORD will command His loving-kindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

As one who has some sleep issues, this Psalm has always been a comfort to me. But I'd like to look at it a little differently tonight.
Daytime and nighttime here can be that physical every 24 hours kind of daytime. But this Psalm is one with layers! Let's read daytime = good times and nighttime = not so great times. So where is God in the nighttime (aka not so good times)? Take a second for this to sink in because I'm going somewhere. His song will be with me in the night. Picture for me, if you will, that you are in a completely black night. It's so black that you can't see in any direction. You don't know where you are or where you are going. But somewhere in the night you hear singing. It's a familiar voice. It's somehow comforting, and familiar. What do you do? Sit in the dark and say? Hey I'm in the dark... this isn't fair. Why am I stuck here in the dark? Won't someone help me? Other people don't have to deal with this dark! My sister got out of the dark years ago! 

Or do you follow the one Voice singing?

The dark may last for a while... but Joy always comes in that morning to come. And you know what the morning always WILL come, always! So if you're in the dark today, listen for that One Voice singing. That is the One who will lead you safely through no matter how long the night lasts.
Psalm 20:7 - Some trust in chariots... but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

I don't know how long your dark has lasted. Please, believe with me that the waiting will not last forever. As we approach the memory of the birth of true HOPE into the world. I beg you to listen hard for that one Voice.

Father,
We trust you here in the waiting. Our world has so much darkness in it. We desperately need Light. Please come and shine that light into the hearts of my friend reading this right now. Surround them with your love. Sing over them a song that will light their night.
-Amen

Gina

Waiting - Advent - Day 12 - Week 2

Psalm 33:20-22

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

You know, I'm good at waiting. I feel like I've had a lot of experience at it. Many of you are in the same boat. You've been waiting on something for years, decades even. The problem with waiting that can make it so difficult usually centers right in us. 

The Psalmist here said "we wait in hope." 

Sometimes I've been guilty of, well whatever the opposite of that is.  If I trust God, as I say I do, I will wait in hope. I will not figure things out FOR God. I will not wallow in "poor me pity." I will not do the thousand things I think will speed this process up. So what will I do? Let's read together shall we? 

In Him my heart will rejoice... for I trust Him. Oh God may your unfailing love rest upon me as I put my HOPE... in You.

Father,
The simplest of prayers for one of the hardest things to do. Help us to trust you. We believe, help our unbelief.
Amen

Gina

Waiting - Advent - Day 10/11 - Week 2

So here's our 2 for 1 with me admitting that I'm probably not going to manage the catch-up. :)

Psalm 27:13-14

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD ; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Waiting... waiting... waiting. The psalmist says here that he is confident that he will again see the goodness of the Lord. How can he be so confident? When everything around him seemed to be crumbling in on him how could he take heart? Generations before the Psalmist and many more generations before our times now, God's faithfulness has been on clear display. Not only can we look back over our lives and see God's provision, but we can look over an entire chronicled history of God's care of His children. God never changes.
That means that the God who brought Israel out of Egypt is still working today. The God who saved Daniel from hungry lions still saves us today. The very same God who created this earth, commands it still today. That is who we call Abba, Father. Can we doubt his provision and faithfulness to us today no matter how long we've "waited on Him"?

This whole topic just nails me right where I am today as I pray over some situations that are agonizing. Only God truly knows the outcome.  But look at his track record... and trust Him.

Father,
No matter what is weighing on our hearts tonight, please grant us peace. In a world that is truly the most upside down many of us have ever seen, help us to find rest and margin. May tomorrow bring a light of joy for all my friends reading this tonight. Bring us peace. Bring us peace.
Amen

-Gina

Waiting - Advent Day 9 - Week 2

 I officially crashed last night.  So I missed a day!  Blew my streak.  :)  So I present to you, 2 days on 1.

Job 2:9-10

His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

In all that has happened lately I've learned a very valuable lesson. Trouble does not come from God... but trouble can definitely be used by God. What does it take for trouble to be used (as it was in Job's life)? Since God does nothing in vain we need a new perspective on our "trials." My gut response to trouble is often more like Mrs. Job then Job. It goes something like this... "Why God? Why me?" I'm sure   I'm the only one.... right! So what attitude does it take for trouble to be used by God to fulfill His purpose? It's not "Why God?" It's "What God?" Look for the leading in the trial. And wait for the lesson. It'll come. Granted you may be like Job or Joseph and it may take many years.But I guarantee you if you look for it you will see God's purposes working in even the worst situations.

Father,
Help us wait with the grace that you provide. If we are having problems in the wait, help us to reach out - to You and to others to find the support that will sustain us.
Amen

-Gina

Waiting - Advent Day 8 - Week 2

We made it a full week! Woot.  :)

Waiting is one of my least favorite topics. So I am expecting big things from God this week.

1 Samuel 1:14-16
...and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD . Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."

Have you been there? Have you ever prayed to God out of great anguish and grief? Have you ever prayed to such a state that people thought something was physically wrong with you?
There are times in our lives when the circumstances seem to be too much for us. We can need something so badly that it physically hurts. We can be so disappointed that we ache. In those times, is it ok to pour that grief and pain out to someone? You bet! Hannah certainly did. And God answered her. Did it come right away? Nope. Did it work out exactly like she might have originally planned? Also, no. 

Did God use this women's faith to bless an entire nation? You bet! Read all about it in 1 and 2 Samuel!!!

One of the biggest unintentional slaps in the face you can give to a waiting person is to say the following, or something like it, "you just have to content yourself in _______ and God will provide (insert whatever you are waiting on." Or my personal favorite, "just stop looking and there he/she will be."

Newsflash my friends. God is not a magical genie up in Heaven. He is not waiting on you to get some life or prayer formula just right before He provides your need.  If there was a formula, I promise you that single-Gina would have FOUND THAT BAD BOY.  :)

So I don't have a secret for you. I do have trust that He who has promised to you... is faithful.  As we discussed yesterday, sometimes you need to go back to your Red Sea and remind yourself of His faithfulness.  Don't have yours yet? I have some that I would be happy to share.  Ask me how I met my Al. Ask me how I lost two children... and gained two sons. 

He is faithful! You can take that to the bank.

Father,
For my waiting friends, tonight I pray for a sense of encouragement to surround them. For my rejoicing friends, I pray that they are surrounded with those who long to rejoice with them (tell me... I promise joy). For my grieving friends, I pray the peace that passes any understanding.  And for my hurting friends, I pray health and healing.
Amen.

So much love for you tonight,
-Gina

Hope - Advent - Day 7 - Week 1

It's our last day on hope. It feels like a good time for a refresher in what hope and faith are.  

Revelation 15:3-4

and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

Have you ever read the Song of Moses (Ex 15)? I got goose bumps! I think sometimes we do not stop long enough to retell God's working in our lives. What I love the most, is looking back at where God has had me. Exodus is in the beginning of God's story. Revelation is the end. Here in these verses is a recounting of God's faithfulness. Can you remember a time when things seemed hopeless for you? Have you ever been stuck between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea? I've been there! Can I tell you all today that God is just as faithful for me as He was for Moses? He is - I've seen it with my own eyes. From the first day of our marriage Al and I faithfully believed for children. Year... after year... after very painful year passed by us. Others got married and had children. Others had 2.. then 3.  We had a miscarriage... several painful fertility treatment cycles... hours of driving... hours of waiting.. shots... tears... a final miscarriage. But no children. 2016 we hit our Red Sea moment. All that He promised was slipping away. Our final pregnancy loss came on our anniversary that year. But God...
December 2016 we went to our first meeting for The Call to foster children in our area. 9 months later we  had the first of four children in our home. It was not the path that I would have chosen. It for sure has some major moments that break us and bring us to our knees.  But God... my children - all of those that have come and left, and come and stayed, and will come and stay were worth the pain and tears.

He is good people. He is faithful. And even if it doesn't look like it, He is still working.

Trust it!

Father

My only prayer tonight is that we would always be faithful to share our Red Sea moments. Help us be aware of what you have brought us through... and share it.
Amen.

Hope - Advent - Day 6 - Week 1

Hebrews 1:1-2

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

In the days before Christ God's followers clung to a hope and a promise. They waited for a coming messiah through trials and terrors. We too cling to a hope and promise but we have something that they did not. We have the knowledge of the Son and the presence of the Spirit. We have the defining moment of history written down for us to read and study anytime we choose. We have glimpses of who Jesus, the Son, was and is today. And through Him we have a glance at the Father that Old Testament folks did not have. God has spoken to us through the Son, through His life, death, and resurrection. And when it comes down to it we are blessed just in the knowledge of Jesus. Many of us know the Christmas story inside and out but as Christmas approaches I must tell you... it's not the knowledge of the cross and the Son that is Important. The key decision in life is what you do with that knowledge? Hope is great. But you hope in vain unless you have placed your hope and life in a relationship with the Son. That's Christmas at its very heart. It's God's love for us wrapped in a baby and opened at the cross.

Father,
As we speed towards Christmas and the end of this year, may we remember that there is always hope for our futures when our faith and trust is in you. Please bless those reading this prayer tonight. Wrap your arms around those who are grieving. Encourage those who feel alone. And most importantly, help us to see outside of ourselves to bring our hope to others.
Amen

Gina

Hope - Advent - Day 5 - Week 1

This seems like a strange post for a day on hope. But I promised myself this journey... so tonight is going to be a little different.  

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

I know I have asked "why?" a lot this year. Here is one of the answers that I have received. How would you know how to comfort someone else if you had never had any troubles yourself? Talk is great, but if you've never been there you really can't offer the advice of one who's "been there, done that"

God promises comfort. When you get out of your troubles - whatever they are - you can comfort those around you. 

Try a little comfort today. Take the time to tell someone how important they are to you. And be specific folks.

Father,
The only words I can seem to find tonight. Help us. It's been a long, rough season... and the end seems so far away.
Please, be near. Please be the God of comfort for us all tonight.

-Gina

Hope - Advent - Day 4 - Week 1

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

This seems like a weird place to go for a day on hope.
But stick with me. :)
There are a lot of things here in this life that I am forced to admit... I cannot understand. There are plenty of events that just break my heart because the pain that they bring seems unnecessary and cruel. Hello! to most of 2020. Almost all of this year legit seems God-forsaken and filled with so much pain.
In this passage it talks about seeing life as you would look at a reflection in a mirror... a poor or dim reflection. Ever looked in a mirror in dim light? You can kinda see outlines but really there is no hope at getting a clear picture. That is just the way we live our lives now. We can't hope to see the whole, clear picture until this life is over. So hmm... maybe we should stop trying to figure it out already!!! 

You can stare at that reflection and try to piece together the shadows. You can live in your past desperately trying to pull pieces together and "work all things together for good...here," or you can go live your life with God's directions.

Let me tell you friends.  Peddling hope in this year of Advent 2020, it seems like I keep nailing my own self over and over again.
If you know me even in the slightest, you know how personally devastating this year has been.
I'm realizing tonight, as I sit here typing, that I just an hour ago had my dim mirror out trying to polish it up into a picture that makes sense.

Spoiler Alert - It didn't. It doesn't. It won't. 

Tonight as I am telling you to keep hope, because someday that dim picture will come into focus in His timing... I'm basically yelling it at myself.

I have no "quick fix" solutions for the pain in your heart. But I have this hope: when I do see Him face to face, I will know fully.
Until then, I will live in this moment. I will stop trying to replay and fix the things that are past. I will remember, that some day it will all make sense. But today is not that day.

Prayer for Today
Father
Please help us let go of the dim picture we are clasping onto right now. Help us remember the past days with a hope of understanding, when we see you again. Help us leap into tomorrow with an expectation that days are still ahead where we will laugh and smile. Please help my friends who are currently wrapped in grief to know that they are not alone in their grieving either. You are with them fully yesterday, today, and tomorrow. These days of weeping seem to never end but some day, oh someday they will.
Amen

My friends - put down that picture. It's time to walk on.
-Gina

ps - some of my sweet friends have very, very recently begun their journey of grief. To them I also want to add... grieve! Do not let anyone rob you of the healing grief that you must endure. It is a season that takes as long as it takes. And that is a part of living too.  <3 Here with you always. - Me

Hope - Advent Day 3 - Week 1

 Habakkuk 3:16-19

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

 Habakkuk has had a big impact on me tonight. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you get the most impatient for something right before it actually happens? It's like the long awaited wedding, or baby, or homecoming. The closer it gets the more anxious and ready we are for it to get here. So it is with a move of God in your life. Even when Habakkuk had no external sign that God was working, he knew in his bones that God was moving. Check out that middle verse - even though crops are failing - even though there are no sheep in the pen - I will rejoice. I will wait. I will be joyful. I know I talk about waiting a lot. I think part of the key is in how we wait. 

Are you waiting like Habakkuk was? 

Are you confident that God is moving even with NO evidence? How about joyful? Ya feeling joyful? I think some of us (ME) maybe need to examine our waiting posture. Do not grow fainthearted now. The redemption of the Lord is somewhere just around that next corner. The promise of God may be just moments away from fulfillment. Press on!!
Some of these words are from a Gina about 13 years ago. That's pre-Al... pre J and J... pre house building. It's a Gina who had lots of promises for a future, but very few fulfilled. I said then that life is always about waiting for something. I stand by that even more strongly now.

This week of Advent is about hope. You don't hope for things when you know the future is certain. Hope lives in uncertain, even scary times. That is why Hope 2020 is such a revelation.

Keep hoping my friends. Things do get better. Sun does shine again. You will laugh and love again.
If I can pray for you, please either comment or send me an e-mail. 

Prayer for today
Father,
Please let the person reading this right now feel such a jolt of hope that it takes their breath for a minute. Be the ever-present, God of Hope for them right now. Please help us to be a beacon of hope in a weary world that needs it more now than ever in recent memory.
We love You!
Hope-Filled
-Amen

-Gina

Hope - Advent Day 2 - Week 1

Lamentations 3:25-33

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust- there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

I love Lamentations 3. I always quote verses 22-24 to people who are going through rough times. But I am realizing that sometimes the next series of verses speak more to what I am going through. Waiting is NEVER fun but sometimes it is very necessary. Waiting in a distinct silence from God is twice as difficult. We must all remember that no season in our life will last forever good or bad. That's the way it is with seasons... they come and go. 

That's two days in a row that I am reminding that life is all about seasons... I may have a point that I am driving home to myself. The thing about seasons is, at the beginning and middle and sometimes even at the end, you are not aware how long this season lasts? "2020 as a stink year" may start to ease up tomorrow.  But it may end sometime in 2021. One thing I am confident in is that it is just a season. My hope is not in politicians, or vaccines. It's not in my family, friends or work. It is only in the One who does know the beginnings, middles, and ends of all seasons.

Day 2 Prayer

Father,
Even as many of  us sit in the silence of the unknown tonight, may we be reminded that you sit with us. You have not left us destitute and alone. You have not shown us the end of this season, but you know it. Our days are fully in Your hands. Help us rest secure in knowing that you are holding us here in this season and into the next.
Amen,

 Press on my friends. The Lord IS with you even in the silence of this season.

-Gina

Hope - Advent - Day 1.. Week 1

I decided that I wanted to write some Advent devotionals. It's 9 pm on the first night of Advent. I have not written word one while I try to fight off this whatever non-virus it is. (Corona negative).

So, my fever brain decided to search my old devotional files for the word HOPE.

And the neatest thing... there were too many results. "This shows up a lot"

Y'all. My life's testimony in one word is Hope. God has restored so much for me over the years. I pulled up example after example in my devotionals. They are from 13 years ago, give or take... Before Al... Before Jay... Before Jackson.

Those devotionals were all in the waiting years of hope... not fulfilled.

This week - Week 1 of advent... is all about hope. So I "hope" I find a lot to encourage you with.

Let's start off with a strange place to find hope - Job

Job 42:2

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

Knowing that Job said this after all the junk he had been through is incredible. Job really had gone through more bad things than anyone I know. He'd lost everything and no one stood beside him. Yet he knew that God's plan had never suffered when he did. Job knew that God had only good in store for him. What do I think is key in this? One word that I notice I use here a lot is "through." 

Job went through all of this. 

He didn't sit and moan (okay, he didn't do it much). He let God bring him through the bad stuff and to the end. Push on folks. There has to be an end somewhere. God has shown it over and over again.

I wish I could tell you I knew when that end was. I have no idea.  But I know that seasons never last. This one will be no exception.

Someday we will be telling stories to the next generation of how we survived Covid19. They will be hard stories.  But, like all seasons, we will start to remember the good things too.
It's one of the toughest seasons of all our lives most likely. But there are hopeful things. There are rays of light either right here or somewhere just out of sight.

Advent Prayer - Week 1 - Day 1

Father,

Please help us see that you are working here, even when we cannot see it. Make this season a season where we see you fully. Help us move through this world with joy. May we be reminded every day of the humanity that is all around us. Help us to see where we can bring hope and joy to the tired world that is around us. If any of my friends reading this prayer need that hope and joy, please show up this week in some unexpected way and bring peace, hope, and joy.

Amen

You're my peeps... Much love to you.

-Gina

The Weary World

Let’s face it.
2020 has been markedly bad. It’s been epically bad.
I think we’ve all lost people. We’ve for sure all had our lives turned
upside down.
The word of this week has been weary.
We lost a 45 year old friend to this wretched virus. We lost a precious
friend’s only sibling to cancer.
We faced some new realities of trauma with our sweet boys.
Weary. 

If 2020 needs an overarching theme that’s it.
Weary.
Last night as I was texting with a friend dealing with yet another loss I felt
so clearly in my heart:

The weary world rejoices.

I’ve heard multiple people wishing to skip to the end of this year. Let’s
just get to next year. Let’s turn the page to 2021.
I get it.
The grief has piled on this year. Many people are barely holding on.
But be still and listen for a minute

        The thrill of hope.
                The weary world rejoices.
            For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

I’ve had my fair share of bad years. 2020 ranks. It’s been tough. But from
the depths off loss that was 2016 for me, let me share this.

Darkness does not win. Darkness does not last.

Advent season will be here in just days.
I can’t help but remember the circumstances that this “coming” season
celebrates. Between the last word in the OT and first word in the NT were 400 years of
silence.
400 “2020s” where the world wept and hope seemed a distant promise.

        The thrill of HOPE
             The weary world rejoices.

I’m going to go ahead and give myself permission... you too if you’d like... to prepare your heart to move on. To prepare your heart to rejoice again.

11/29 starts Advent which runs through 12/24.
Maybe you’ve never taken those days as special.
I never have. It’s always just a calendar with chocolate... maybe some
stories.
But this year we need Advent. We need hope.
The weary world cries out... waiting to rejoice.

Join me? 

As I sit here on 11/19 I’m not sure what this looks like.
If you’ve made it through this whole ramble, will you join me? 

Will you prepare to prepare our hearts together?
My weary soul is ready.

-Gina

Easter 2020

As I reflect on the day... different in almost every way from any Easter to come before it.... I’m reminded that this Easter is much like the first Easter.
There is a lot of uncertainty. There is certainly no lack of fighting. There is fear. There is betrayal and hurt.
There is death. There is the sting of it that begins at first brush to overwhelm.
But as Easter passes to Monday morning I am left with this hope and promise.
After every night there is a dawn.
After every storm there is a breaking of clouds that yields to the sun.
After even the darkest times in our lives... hope will break through as well.
If Easter speaks to anything it is that death, fear, and pain have lost their final sting!
Honestly? I cannot see it right now. I’m worn through from these fights!!
But, If my Heavenly Father and my Earthly Father gave me one massive gift, it was optimism.

See that little glimmer of light breaking through ahead of us?
It’s the morning.
It’s almost here.
Do not fear to hope.
Run to the light. Run ahead and see. It is finished. And it is good.

-love to you all - Gina