Advent Meditation #1

Happy Advent, Church!

It is with joy I resume our daily devotional thoughts for the advent season! The break was good for me, but I am happy to writing again! So brew something hot, and enjoy our first advent reading!

today's reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!...I, the Lord have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house...." -Isaiah 42:1, 6-7

I feel as though I am eavesdropping on an intimate conversation between God the Father, and Jesus His Son... can you picture it? Perhaps they were in heaven, and God is giving Jesus a pep talk before He makes His descent to earth. Or perhaps these are the words God gave to Jesus so He could refer back to them in the Garden of Gethsemane... I don't know. But they are certainly encouraging!

God gave Jesus the certainty of His love... "My soul delights in You." God gave Jesus a reminder of His power..."Who created the heavens and stretched them out..." God gave Jesus a promise of His presence... "I will hold Your hand..." God gave Jesus a purpose..."Be a light to the Gentiles, open blind eyes, bring out prisoners..." God gave Jesus all the motivation He needed..."I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another."

And so Jesus came. And so we are called to go forth in His name carrying on the work He began. As we enter this advent season, let us use these words of affirmation (that were probably echoing in Jesus' ears as He came to earth as a baby) for us personally. God delights in you, He is holding your hand... and He wants to walk with you in this season of advent. So slow down. Pay attention to the ways He is declaring His love for you. Speak His love into this dark and busy world. And enjoy this joyous time of year!

Advent Blessings,
Kelly

Our readings for this advent season:
Nov 30: Isaiah 42:1-9
Dec 1: Psalm 89:1-29
Dec 2: Isaiah 55
Dec 3: Isaiah 35
Dec 4: Luke 1:5-25
Dec 5: John 1:1-10
Dec 6: John 1:11-18
Dec 7: Micah 5:2-5
Dec 8: Luke 1:26-38
Dec 9: Isaiah 11:1-5
Dec 10: Mark 1:1-8, Malachi 3:1-4
Dec 11: Isaiah 40:1-11
Dec 12: Isaiah 52
Dec 13: Isaiah 9:2-7
Dec 14: Isaiah 7:14
Dec 15: Zechariah 9:9-10
Dec 16: Luke 1:39-56
Dec 17: Jeremiah 33:7-16
Dec 18: Luke 1:57-80
Dec 19: Isaiah 61
Dec 20: Revelation 21:1-7
Dec 21: Matthew 2:1-12
Dec 22: Revelation 1:10-18
Dec 23: Matthew 1:1-18
Dec 24: Matthew 1:18-25
Dec 25: Luke 2:1-20

A fragrant offering

"Lord, I cry out to You; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You. Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." -Psalm 141:1-2

I am not catholic. But there are so many beautiful traditions in the catholic church that add a depth and richness I feel is lacking in the protestant church. Incense is one of them- I am all about the multi-sensory worship experience! But I don't know much about the theology/doctrine behind incense. Feel free to comment if you have some insight for me.

As I was reading these verses and living the life God has assigned to me these days... one of sleepless nights and miserable children... I don't even have the energy to put words to my prayers. But the picture of incense wafting up to heaven was something that resounded in my heart and stirred my soul. Some days the most I can muster for God is an upward glance in His direction... and even that delights Him ("You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes" -Song of Songs 4:9). I am so glad that the smallest movement in His direction is worship! And as a weary mom- it is comforting to know that as I exhale (read ::::sigh::::) I can be praying! My moments of pause through out the day can be prayer. And my sighs of desperation or exasperation... can be turned into my cry to the Lord! So today, as I do the next thing, I will be breathing my prayers- and I hope that they will be a sweet-smelling fragrance to the One I love.

A New Name

I heard Jeannie Banter's talk at the WGM Student Center at Asbury online the other day (which you can also listen to here: http://www.asburywgm.org/Audio/08-09/Banter_56K.mp3 ). And it really gave me much to pray about for Uganda! Her first point is that they are praying for Arua to have a new name. Arua means "prisoner" and they long for the people of Arua to no longer be prisoners but for them to be called Children of God! And today as I was reading in Jeremiah he also talks about God's people getting a new name:

"Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it. Thus says the Lord, Again there shall be heard in this place- of which you say, 'It is desolate, without man and without beast'- in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice oft he bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say, "Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever!" and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first' says the Lord." -Jeremiah 33:9-11

God longs for the people of Uganda- the people of Arua- to receive new names. For their identity to be joy instead of sorrow. For them to claim freedom instead of captivity! Oh that you would join me in prayer for God's name and His glory to shine in the darkness of Africa!

Vision of Hope for Uganda

I was reading in Jeremiah this morning- and God's promise of future hope for Israel seems like His promise of future hope for Uganda as well! The people there are so broken. So hungry for hope. Their homes, their families, their country have been ravaged by war... and they are so in need of Jesus' life-changing power, and saving grace.

"Thus says the Lord: Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border...My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord...For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul...But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more." -Jeremiah 31:16-17, 20, 25, 33-34


As I have been praying for Uganda, Jesus has given me a vision of hope for His people there. The work of the missionaries will be rewarded. The Enemy will not reign forever. There is hope. And it is God's heart that everyone in Uganda would know Him- from the least to the greatest! Oh that you and I would be a part of accomplishing that great task!

God is doing great things through WGM Uganda- and as Josh and I head to WGM Headquarters in December for our interview- we hope to be a part of God's plan to reach all of Uganda with His gospel! The task is great. The workers are few. The harvest is plentiful. And God is just longing to pour out His great salvation on all who would hear of Him and accept Him! How will you be a part of that mission??

Beautiful Life...?!

"The colored sunsets and starry heavens, the beautiful mountains and the shining seas, the fragrant woods and painted flowers, are not half so beautiful as a soul that is serving Jesus out of love, in the wear and tear of common, un-poetic life." -Faber

This was just the word from Jesus I needed to hear this morning.... there is nothing more common and un-poetic than tending sick children in the night! And it leaves me exhausted and easily frustrated this morning... but Jesus has this sweet way of coming to my aid and giving me fresh perspective on this task of mothering that often gets bogged down in the mundane! He is too good to me!

Poor Caleb is coughing up a storm and Seth is quite congested. I am coughing too, but mostly I'm just tired. And the real sad part about it all, is that I don't think we will be feeling better in time for MOPS on Friday! And so then we have to wait until December 14 for the next one :( Sad day! I didn't realize how much I live for MOPS- the fellowship of women united under one common purpose of mothering young children- the break from the everyday- the delicious snacks... But somehow we will survive! And I am assured of one thing- that Jesus looks down on my home today with a smile on His face as I go about the daily tasks of mothering my two sick boys! I am so grateful for His encouragement, and His strength!

Not Alone!

Josh is away for the next three days- he is taking some of our youth on a college tour- hitting five Christian schools in three days! But that leaves me home alone with two boys... whom I believe may be getting colds. While I am tempted to despair- God showed up in a very sweet and comforting way this morning! And so I will rejoice in knowing that even when Josh is away, I don't have to parent alone.

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills- from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forevermore." -Psalm 121

What a precious promise- that in the night watches- He never slumbers! When Seth wakes every two hours, He is there with me. He will protect us from evil. He will watch our comings and goings. He is my shade from the heat of mothering! He is so good to me!

Getting so big!

Caleb climbed all the way to the top of the slide by himself.... a dozen times... but once I assured him that I would catch him he actually went down by himself! He will be two at the end of the month and I cannot get over how the time has flown! He is getting so independent- and such an enormous vocabulary! I love watching him explore his world!

Though this picture doesn't do him justice- Seth is much happier these days. He has regressed in his sleep patterns- back to every two hours through the night :( But during the day he is generally pleasant. And he is huge! I'm guessing almost twenty pounds at 4 months! We head in for a well baby visit on the 19th- so then we will know how fat he truly is!



Seth was baptized last weekend- so that was a joyous occasion! We enjoyed celebrating with family and friends as we welcomed Seth into our Church Family! Josh, Seth and I will head to Indiana the first weekend of December for our candidate review with WGM- so then we will know if we have been accepted by the mission board! We can't wait for that next piece of the puzzle to fall into place! That's our family update for now! Now that I am putting the daily devotions on pause- I still hope to update frequently- we will see how that goes!

Embrace your freedom: VOTE!

Today we are among the privileged of the world... we have the freedom to choose our national leader! Join me and get out there and vote! It is a lovely autumn day- and a lot hangs in the balance- so just do it!

How are we doing, Church?

Good Morning, Church!

Today's readings: 1 Timothy 3, Isaiah 36-37, Psalm 119:97-120

"I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God..." -1 Tim 3:15

How ought we conduct ourselves in the house of God? What does the church look like? How are we different from the world? These are the questions Josh is going to tackle tomorrow in his sermon on the last segment of our Essentials Series: "I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting." As we conclude our Essentials Series- I will be taking a break from sending these daily devotions- but look for them again at the beginning of Advent! We will journey together toward Christmas and really put our focus where it belongs: on Christ!

So what is the answer to our questions? How will people recognize us in this dark world? John 13:35 has our answer: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." This is straight from the lips of Jesus... it is written in red letters! How are we doing as a church? How are you doing as His disciple? Think and pray about these things as we prepare for Josh's message tomorrow. And today, perhaps you can reach out and do something loving and unexpected for someone in your life! Enjoy that mission!

Blessings,
Kelly