Christmas and children go together like marshmallows and hot chocolate. So when child stories started flying my way, it was well-timed fun and a blessing. Hope you enjoy them as well. My sister-in-law shared a picture of her grandson, completely enraptured with the nativity scene. Another relative sent a video of their four-year-old grandchild praising God at the top of her lungs, her brown curls bouncing as she pounded her fingers across her tiny piano: "We worship God! We worship God! We worship God! The Lord is among us! I love him soooo much! He turns the bad guys into good guys. He protects me, and that's the way it's supposed to be!" And then there was our nephew who was sharing with his nine-year-old daughter about election cheating. She got quiet and somber...

We have the opportunity to welcome the story of Christmas every year with curiosity and intentionality, and today I was drawn to the moments after the birth of Jesus. I know, I know, it feels like I am getting a little ahead of myself here, but something about reading Mary's heart condition resonated in me today. I sense that as we move forward in this season of remembering the birth of Jesus on earth, there is an invitation to learn from her path to pondering. In Luke 2 Mary and Joseph had just had their baby and were receiving their first visitors. Some shepherds who had been grazing their sheep in a local field got the news via heavenly hosts and had hurried to visit the couple and the new baby laying in a feeding trough. They were excited to share all that "…The Lord had made known to ...

These people we once knew are not just echoes of voices that have years since ceased to speak, but saints in the sense that through them something of the power and richness of life itself not only touched us once long ago, but continues to touch us still.—Frederick Buechner It happens every Christmas. I get nostalgic. Perhaps it is the music. Whenever those old familiar carols play, sweet memories come flooding over me...like the year that my family decided to surprise my grams and gramps in Pennsylvania with an unexpected Christmas visit. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Scurrying around the house like Christmas mice in the darkness of the early morning hours, packing the car with gifts, travel games and suitcases. It was such delicious fun! When the long stretches through I...

Sending you much love at Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for our readers, Emilie, LuAnn, Julie and Sally 

Before you get started, find a comfortable spot where you can sit quietly with your Savior. Spend a few minutes in silence. Ask God to meet you there in the quietness of this moment and to speak His heart to you as you sit with Him. Have a journal and pen/pencil ready to jot down any thoughts that come to you during this experience. Take a moment now to read through the following Scripture passage slowly. You may want to read it out loud. As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border of Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were healed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed...