Encouraging Deep Roots

There are 3 more sleeps before Christmas Day and it's been such a busy couple of weeks. I feel like I've crammed a year's worth of activities into three weeks.  I mentioned to Dan last night that I'm going into Christmas week tired. However, I also know celebrations are a lot of work and in some ways that's okay. I'm doing these things because I love to do them and not because it's required. It was a month of candy-making.  Cookie baking. List-making and secret keeping. Giving and receiving; blessing and being blessed. Reflection and evaluation. Smiles and giggles. Trying some new things (making cheese) Enjoying some old favorite recipes. Afternoon football games and relaxing. Some different activities such as helping my daughter pack and lunch with her and my son-in-law. Friday we are helping them move. Church activities, home activities, ministry activities and personal activities. Today I'm going to get some things prepared for our Christmas eve servi...

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...

  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...

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...

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...

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...