Advent readings

I am so excited to share an opportunity with you.... no it's not the latest gadget. :)

It is an opportunity to intentionally enter into this season of Advent. First week of Advent is this Sunday! Lighting the first candle! I am so excited to begin this intentional time of eager expectation. 

Here is the opportunity:

 reFresh is offering a short, devotional reFlection via email each Sunday during Advent. We hope to help you create unhurried space to linger with the blessed reality that God lives WITH US - even in the messy, scandalous, and inhospitable places of our lives.

If you would like to receive these, sign up on the reFresh website: mysoulrefresh.com

Thanksgiving and Advent

I am super excited for next Sunday when we begin the Advent Season....

...maybe this is because I have lived outside of the USA for so long, but Thanksgiving is not as big to me as the Advent Season.

Oh I am thankful for the religious freedom that the pilgrims endured hardship to achieve. I am thankful for the harvest times and the food that we can marvel at God's creation of. I am thankful for a holiday to get time with busy friends and family. I like Thanksgiving and being able to honor it in America again...

But the Advent Season is coming!!!!

A season that points us to the reason we can have eternal life.
A season that prepares us to spend time rejoicing over the birth of our Lord
A season that gives foundation and meaning to an otherwise commercialized time of year.

I love pausing each Sunday and reading what the current advent candle represents.
I love watching the light of the Advent wreath increase each week

This was last year's advent wreath set up.

Even living alone, I enjoyed taking time to light the Advent candle, spending some time with the Lord and thinking about how I am approaching the season.

reFresh will be sending out Advent reflections and I am so looking forward to this. I will share more on this later.

anyway.. Happy Thanksgiving and I pray you are able to prepare for Christmas without the chaotic rush.

Tuesday 19, November

Here I am.

Just as I am. 

I am here.

This past weekend we each had time with the Lord to listen to what He is calling us to. 

Have you ever done that? 

Walk

Sit

Run

Cycle

No headphones

Just asking the Lord, 

"here I am Lord, what are you calling me to today?" 

and listen

You may be startled by the response you hear

You may wonder if your own mind is conjuring up things

You may just marvel at the silence

But

maybe 

you will hear

that

God 

is 

calling you

to some one

or some place

or some thought

or some thing

LISTEN

Authentic Community in Transformation

click on either link underlined to read more
ACT Journey
(I wrote about it in my Musings that went out today.)

begins today

As is normal when you begin something that God can use to draw you closer to Him

life is chaotic

things don't work

BUT

I go to engage with others in authentic community

and

to see how God wants to meet with me

the light of home

i found two  table lamp stands in the Ikea "As Is" area back in February.. and this weekend, I got to put them to use. There is something beautiful about a light shining in a new place. Of course, it is not feeling like home yet. My shipment of belongings is in LA and not on its way here yet. But slowly and eventually this lamp will be part of the bigger picture of home.

storms

When I woke up this morning 

I heard the stormy winds blowing outside

 before 

I actually saw them. 

And I thought how grateful I am 

to be inside right now

Yesterday

Actually most days 

since I returned to the states

storms have been swirling around me

not rain storms

Life storms 

of

unsettledness, sadness, grief, joy, loneliness, connections

transition

When a missionary returns to their home culture, 

it is 1 year back for every 3 years away that it takes them to fully adjust to their "home" culture.

I have time...

God is faithful

God is gracious

God is sovereign and He is Holy

oh how grateful am I

to be inside God's arms in these storms

rainbows in the storm