Prepare

Advent Day 2 - November 30 - Prepare 

Ever feel "not ready"? Advent is preparation - we pause and prepare our souls, our minds, and our hearts for the gift we are receiving. We want to be ready.#alivenowmag #adventphoto #prepare

Hope

For this Advent season, I am participating in Alive Now Magazine's Advent Photo-a-day challenge.  

Advent Day 1 - November 29 - Hope 

Advent opens the door to hope. In this season, we actively wait in hopeful anticipation for new birth, for redemption, for miraculous happenings #adventphoto #alivenowmag #hope

In all the works of your hand

SCRIPTURE READING:

"For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete."

Deuteronomy 16:15 (NIV)

THOUGHTS:

In this season of my life, this promise is one I cling to.  I guess I've clung to it for years.  The work that I do,  I do for the Lord. I do this work from a place of loving God with all that I am and loving others as Christ has loved me.  I'm not perfect at, but I work towards it as a goal. And many days are filled with doubt and discouragement, and I remind myself to turn my eyes towards Him.

When I serve as if I am serving Christ himself, I position myself to take even heartache as joy.  My joy rests in Him, not in others. 

ACTION:

I want to see God in the harvest because it is His, not mine. I want to see God in the works of my hands because it is for Him, not me.  I want any joy that I find to be found in Him, the Giver of any real joy.