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The In-Between Space

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There was a spectacular sunrise yesterday morning and I'm thankful I happened to look out the window to see it.  There are a lot of hours between the time I get up in the morning and the time I go to bed, and those hours are pretty packed full of activity. I am definitely not bored! Our second car died on Sunday and the repairs are going to cost more than the car is worth. At 250,000 miles it had a good run and we've decided to get rid of it. But that also means we are back to juggling one car between us. Because I was able to use the car yesterday morning I wanted to get my Christmas shopping completed. It took me three and a half hours at a number of local stores, but I am completely finished.  I also purchased gifts for the children at church and picked up decorations for our church Christmas banquet on Sunday. I got all the decorations wrapped and under the tree, made another batch of cookies, worked on some gifts for our church family, and had a two hour zoom meeting...
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Expectant

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  After having a less than joyful week, I finally shook myself out of the doldrums and realized that my joy wasn't going to magically appear unless I shifted my perspective on situations.  As I prayed through some things, I kept seeing and hearing the word "expectant" turning up. I realized some of my discouragement is the continued battle I have at times of not always taking God at His word. We are in the season of advent which means "coming" or "arrival." The people of Israel had to wait in expectant hope the Messiah would come.  If I'm trusting that He will do what He says He will then I will wait in expectent hope .  When I'm trusting in God's promises, I will have peace . When I believe that the Lord will intervene and act in different situations, I can go about my day with joy in my heart. And I can trust God because He is good and He loves me.  All four of those advent themes are woven into the word expectant.  It's amazing how...
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Time for What's Important

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I added this lovely ornament to my tree last night. It was a gift from a friend. There is a group of women who are pastors and ministry leaders in our area and we get together for breakfast once a month. Yesterday was our monthly time together and I really wasn't feeling like I wanted to go, but I'm so glad I did.  It's been nice to have women in my life who understand the joys and challenges of ministry, plus being a woman who is also a ministry leader. It can really be a lonely place. We pray for one another. We laugh together and we cry together. We are there for one another. It's been beautiful. Christmas is just twelve days away and I've been trying to stay on top of everything. It's easy to race from one thing to the next, but I'm taking time each day to enjoy the season. I've been gifted with an extra day today as I was supposed to travel to speak, but the weather is putting a stop to that. We are under another lake effect storm warning today thro...
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Merry and Bright

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It's been snowing the past few days and I'm working really hard at trying to stay upbeat and positive or merry and bright as my ornament says. As I've gotten older I find that I really struggle with the winters and the lack of sunshine.  The snow let up yesterday afternoon so I got outside went for a walk. It really was more of a work-out as I walked up into the park, thinking the town had plowed the road around the park. They had not done it so I slogged through knee deep snow in spots. But it was just the thing I needed to get out of the doldrums. It is still snowing this morning and is supposed to do so through tomorrow morning. I've been keeping myself busy. I finished filling out all my Christmas cards. I ordered some gifts. I got my message for Saturday's event done. I have butter thawing on the counter to make some Christmas cookies. I  also plan on making some jam today.  I'm supposed to have a meeting this afternoon, but we will see if they still plan o...
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The Ups and Downs of Ministry Life

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Last week consisted of decorating, baking, studying,  jam-making, cleaning, Bible study, Zoom meetings, preaching, an outreach event, and all sorts of other activities both at home and in ministry. Ministry is kind of an eclectic thing around here and there are many ups and downs. I love every moment of it, but it's not always a bed of roses. Lest anyone think it's all excitment let me share a bit of what ministry is like, at least in my world.  ---> It's vacuuming up crumbs after little ones. ---> It's putting out weekly fires. ---> There are high points, but there are also many low points. ---> It's driving an hour away to purchase kitchen supplies for an upcoming dinner. ---> It's plunging toilets in the middle of an outreach event. Yes, that actually happened on Saturday. We open up our building for people to come and use the bathrooms, get warm, and get cookies and hot cocoa during the city's annual Christmas parade). It was at that momen...
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Leaning In

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  Christmas preparations are in full swing here and the snow is setting the mood as I prepare. I finished decorating our house this week, started making a couple of batches of cookies for an event this weekend, purchased tickets for The Nutcracker next weekend and braved the cold to get some exercise. I blame my front porch sign for all of the snow. 😀 I've been working on a message for Sunday about Mary's reaction to the message that the angel, Gabriel, brought to her. Her reaction was acceptance and humble submission to God's plan for her life. I want to accept the things God has for me, but I fear that I often fight against it.  It's been a good season to reflect on these things.  I cohosted a gathering of women from around the globe early yesterday morning and I'm thankful for my role on the team that put it together. Just when I'm tempted to complain about something (including getting up early to have a meeting), I see women who are up in the middle of the ...
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Pausing to Give Thanks

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This is the season when time seems to speed up and we cram as much activity as we can into each day. However, I want to savor the time this year as we go through the month of December and enjoy each moment. So I'm going to start by pausing to give thanks for all the many blessings of the past week. If I don't intentionally look for the abundance in my life, then I can very easily give way to complaining about the lack. I'm trying to be better about being grateful for the little things in my life.  💓I love baking and making food from scratch and I'm thankful for a mom and grandmother who taught me how to do that. 💓 Seasonal favorites.   💓 My Thanksgiving plans got changed, but we had a really nice day despite the weather and different plan. 💓 We still were able to have my father-in-law and daughter and son-in-law over on a different day and celebrate a mini-version of Thanksgiving.  💓 We got my father-in-law down our stairs (took three of us), but he was able to wat...
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