An Early Morning Lesson in J*O*Y!

Well, my friends...Last week was pretty silent here on the blog!  It was "Christmas Tea Week" at my church and our week is pretty much SLAMMED every. single. day.  This did two things:  First, it put us right on time with the actual celebration of Advent, AND it had me thinking about PEACE all week long. Which, by the way, God came through sweetly in the midst of all kinds of crazy last week.  Now I am ready to sink my soul and heart into some J*O*Y!

There is a wonderful phenomenon that happens most mornings.  Whether you are in the country or the city, if there are birds and trees around, you can witness something awesome.  But you have to get up early.

 I love to get up before the sunrise.  It really is a peaceful time of the day. I feed my animals (The LAW I was taught from my father, the son of a South Dakota rancher: "Your animals eat before you do," and it has stuck to this day), get a bit of breakfast, make a good cup of coffee and then settle in with my Bible on the sofa in my living room.  On nice mornings, I open the windows and the doors because I know something is coming with the dawn, and I wait for it.

As soon as the sun just peaks up over the horizon, the birds begin to sing and I mean SING!  ALL of them!  Dove and ravens, finches and quail, sparrows and orioles, blackbirds and chickadees, mockingbirds and meadowlarks...  It only lasts for a moment, but it really is pretty spectacular because for that moment sunrise has this beautiful, overwhelming sound of JOY coming from creation itself! 

The Light has come!  This is a resounding message I have heard over and over this week!  The Light has come into our darkness and we have reason to celebrate with great joy for this simple reason we are reminded of EVERYDAY:  There is NO darkness the Light cannot overcome...ZERO...NONE...NOTHING IS TOO DARK. 

Can I encourage you to set your alarm clock this week early enough to sit in the stillness of that darkness before dawn and wait for it?  Wait to see how God has given us this beautiful reminder that Light invades the darkness and watch the darkness flee.  

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His light brought life to everyone. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:4-5

Celebrating with great joy!

Cherri 

 

Finding Peace

Hello, dear sisters!!

My husband has, from time to time, asked me, "Is it painful in there?"  It is his humorous way of helping me realize that my mind is spinning pretty much out of control at the moment.  Being inside my head is often anything BUT peaceful, and the truth is, I yearn for peace. 

This is a crazy time of instant "connection" never known to mankind in the millennia past.  We are connected to every tragedy, every possible horrible expectation, every "what if" circumstance, every bad news story out there from across the globe.  No wonder we have no peace or at least very little of it.  We have all seen tragedy from all over the world played out in front of our eyes, many times as it is happening and in living, breathing color.  It is overwhelming.

If peace was just a feeling, we would have not one hope of finding it at all.  But there is one quote from Mary C. Wiley that I LOVE.  

In the beginning was peace.  Peace wasn't equated with stillness but with nearness to God.  God walked with His people in the garden in the cool of the day, and all was just as it was meant to be. 

"Peace wasn't equated with stillness but with nearness to God." Alrighty!  That changes EVERYTHING.  Jesus made it possible for us all to have nearness to God.  And that is EXACTLY what  I wrote in my book.  "Walk with God, Cherri, EVERYDAY!"

If peace is what we want, we have to spend more time connecting with God and less time connecting with those things that make us less peaceful.

I know a sweet lady who spent her first hours of everyday in the Word with God.  She did not have an easy life, but peace came to her through her connection constantly, day by day, to the One who loves to give peace.  As the years went by, she gradually got out of the habit and began watching the news for hours each day instead.  Anxiety and fear took over and made her miserable.  Here is the odd thing...she knows where peace comes from.  She has experienced it, but the draw of the screen is so strong, she will give all kinds of reasons why she does not reach for connection with God anymore.  It is heartbreaking to watch.

This is a lesson my friends, if we want to find peace, we have to spend time to be near God.  The nearer we are to Him, the more peace will invade our lives no matter what is going on in the world or even in the "painful" space of our own minds. 

When the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!" they knew something no one understood at the time.  Peace had just come.  The bridge had just been built.  And it was through a brand new baby just born over the hill!  

We can find peace...the nearer we get to God, the more peace that becomes ours!

 Lean in, my sisters, to the warm embrace of a God who loves you and wants you to know His peace!

I am praying for God's nearness to you all throughout this busy season!

With Love!

Cherri

 

A Thrill of Hope!

Hello, my friends!  

Have you ever thought about how often you say the word "hope" throughout your day.  "I hope you feel better."  "I hope you get the job."  "I hope the lines are short at the Costco gas station today!"  The word "hope" should pop up on the predictive text on most of our phones.  We hope for A LOT!

The "hope" our study this week focused on is far deeper, a more long-reaching type of hope...hope in the waiting...hope when the unexpected happens...hope when God is silent...and the great truth that our HOPE is Jesus.  He is the Light that brings hope to our lives no matter what is going on at any given moment. 

Wade into these deep waters of hope and  really consider where you are.  Are you in the midst of waiting, or maybe you are in the middle of something you did not see coming at all?  Are you feeling distant from God?  Does it seem to you that God is not hearing one word of what your heart pleads?

 Wherever we find ourselves, this week of Advent is about remembering God's faithfulness.  He was faithful to bring the Messiah after 400 years of complete silence as this "weary world" waited.  He is our "thrill of hope"!  

What spoke to you this week?  Please take a few minutes and share what God is speaking to you.  You never know if it is exactly what someone else needs to hear and you are the instrument of God's message of hope.  

Or maybe you want to reach out for hope.  Your heart right now wants to hear from others about God's good faithfulness in times of silence or difficult circumstances.  Reach toward your friends and ask for help.  That is exactly why we are here!

You can post your thoughts in the comment section of this blog or you can comment on the post on Facebook.  Either way, we would love to here from you!

Come Monday I will post on Peace!

Also if you make the spice wreath (I am going to give it a try!!!) Do any of the other activities, let us know how they went for you!  

Love you all dearly...

Cherri

Advent-Waiting Expectantly

Today I want to take a moment to welcome you to this Advent study!  Welcome to our friends in Russia!  France!  Indonesia! South Korea! Australia! Columbia! Czechia, and Kazakhstan! Your sisters from the States are honored to have you join us!  It is the wonder of  this age that women from all around the world can celebrate Advent together!  So let's get started!

The word "Advent" means "the arrival" or "the waiting". From the moment Adam and Eve stepped out of the Garden, "the waiting" began.  They stepped out of perfection and into pain, fear, decay, death, and evil, but God (Don't you just love those two words "BUT GOD" in Scripture?) had a plan of rescue, and it was already in the works! 

Advent helps us to focus, week by week, on a different aspect of the magnificence of God's great rescue story...a story that continues to this moment.  Hope...Peace...Joy...Love.  These four will helps us connect with those who waited before Jesus came and helps us as we walk together toward His coming again to finish it once and for all.  

This week "Hope" will be our emphasis.  For those of you who have the book "Advent, The Weary World Rejoices," you will do the Daily lessons beginning today (Monday, November 18).  There is an ebook available at Lifeway.com for those who would like to join us right away. On Sunday, November 24, if you have an Advent wreath of some kind, you will light the first candle, and consider all you have learned this week.  On page 142 in the book is a short devotional for that particular day. 

Throughout the week, we will be talking about what God is showing us about "hope" as we wait expectantly for His arrival.  You can comment here on the blog or on the Desert Vineyard Women's Ministry Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DVWomen/ 

I am looking forward to spending these weeks together and am praying the Lord would speak sweetly to you all, wherever you are.

Blessings this week as we hope for what is to come and remember that Jesus was the hope those before His birth anxiously waited for!

With love!

Cherri

 

Advent-The Weary World Rejoices!! Let's Get Ready!

I am excited to begin this study for a whole bunch of reasons:

1. I LOVE Advent!  It keeps my focus on Jesus throughout a hurried and profoundly materialistic cultural season.

2.  I know me.  If I do not spend time in God's life-giving Word, I will, by nature, slip back into "old" Cherri:  anxious, fearful, self-focused.  Yuck!  I HAVE TO stay in the Word!

3.  I LOVE doing Bible study with friends!  It really is one of my favorite things in life! 

I am so ready to get started, but I thought first it would be good to have this Intro Week to get ourselves ready.  In order to do this study with us there is one pretty important element you will need to purchase...the book Advent the Weary World Rejoices.  You can purchase the book at Amazon or at Lifeway.com.

Our Advent study will begin the week of November 17-23.  Though, you really can begin this study anytime from November 17 to the first Sunday in December when Advent traditionally begins.  A post will go up each week beginning November 17 on this blog and also posted to the Desert Vineyard Women's Ministry Facebook page and Instagram account. 

There are many wonderful family traditions that go along with celebrating Advent.  What I love about this particular study is that it includes activities to do with family members of all ages from creating a beautiful wreath from dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks to making homemade marshmallows!!  In our family we loved to read Christmas books.  We have BOXES of them!  My children definitely had their favorites like our ragged, torn copy of Bright Star!  Bright Star! What Do You See!

There is one element of Advent I wanted to talk with you about:  The Advent Wreath.  Many years ago one of our children created an advent wreath at school out of a straw wreath, pine cones, plastic pine and holly twigs, and four wooden candle holders.  I loved that wreath.  Over the decades the straw has fallen out, pine cones were missing and the little wooden cups that held the candles began to tip so that the candles, instead of being straight and tall on the wreath, were slanted at various angles making it look pretty wonky!  It has been hot-glued back together more times than I can count.  Eventually, there was no amount of hot glue that could make it "fire worthy."  It was definitely becoming a hazard to light.  I could not possibly part with it, so it sits in a Christmas storage box.  This year I am creating a new one with the help of grands and a new Advent wreath tradition will begin!

Advent wreaths are simply an object lesson on wonderful truths about the birth of Christ. It reminds us that:

* The world waited expectantly for the Messiah to come.  Each week signifies a different aspect of that expectancy: Hope  Peace  Joy  Love.
*This is a dark world in need of a Savior and Jesus is the Light that entered into this dark place and changed EVERYTHING.
*We need to prepare ourselves to be really moved by the outrageous TRUTH that the Creator of the Universe chose to step out of His perfection and step into the human imperfection in order to save us! 

There are SO many wonderful and creative ways to use this tradition to enrich your Advent celebration.  All you need to do is search "DIY Advent Wreaths" in Pinterest and enjoy!!!  This wonderful tradition does not need to be a wreath or have the traditional purple and pink candles. Your Advent Wreath can be as creative as your imagination will allow!  I will close this post with some pictures of Advent "wreaths" from Pinterest.  Love you girls and I am looking forward to getting back into the blogging mode for a bit!!!