she reads truth

So apparently there is an epic discount battle going down between Amazon and Walmart…

You know, I’d heard this was going to happen earlier in the week…one morning while watching the “Today” show. Something like deals as good as “Black Friday”.

But that’s not what this blog post is about.

Nope. Not here.

I’m here to talk to you about Christmas being Advent season and Advent being the season that leads up to Christmas. And well, all that taking place for me right now, in July. My own Christmas in July. Let the snow come on down!!

Back in May/June when things were a little dark and dreary around these parts {maybe just in my heart and soul…}, I decided that in order for me to get out of some of the pain and misery, was to do some praising. Praise the One who made me. Praise the One who gave me Lily for 13 years. Praise the One who gave me Andrew…with whom I’ve been given two amazing children. Praise the One who even allowed me to get pregnant {so easily?!} to begin with. And praise the One who takes away, but never fails to give me His joy, His peace and His comfort.

So, Christmas in July.

I was laying in bed one night. One of those nights where you’re just too tired from everything. And you just want to go to sleep. Maybe I was a little sad that night.

I opened up my She Reads Truth app on my phone {if you don’t have it, get it. just do it.} and started sorting through the various studies. I knew I needed something that would aide me in praising. One thing I have learned over my 30+ years, is that in order to get out of your funk, you’ve got to switch your focus from being >ME< centered…to someone else. And who better to focus on than our Creator. So I needed praise to keep my eyes fixed on Him.

“O Come Let Us Adore Him.”

There it was. In black and white, bare trees and snow. This was it.

I texted a friend who I knew was also looking for a study and asked if she wanted to read it along with me and she said yes. {Everyone needs a little accountability now and then!}

So here we are…mid July {where has the time even gone?!}, reading about Jesus’ coming. It’s pretty incredible. And it’s not surrounded by all the pomp and circumstance of Christmas – not that it’s not grand and doesn’t deserve it, because it DOES. But because I needed it in the quiet. Not with the rushes and the discounts and the sales and the lists {oh the lists of Christmas!} and everything else that surrounds December that can so easily distract us from what REALLY matters.

The quiet of being able to appreciate it. And praise Him. For the miracle. And the miracles that we see every day.

So. Here’s your question, if there was one thing that you could praise Him for today….what would it be?

And if you’re looking for a Christmas in July discount…look no further than Lindsay Letters. She has a really fantastic sale going on right now, so go get you some home goodies to get ready for the real Advent season!

I don’t want to continue dwelling on the sadness that has been our life for the past few weeks, and please know that that’s not what this post is about. {We’re not all doom and gloom!!}

But rather this is about the hope that can be found, even in the saddest of days.

I don’t often blast out my faith, and this isn’t that, it’s more of a sharing with you that the darkest of nights and the dreariest of days don’t have to last forever.

Honestly speaking, last week was probably one of the worst weeks I’ve experienced in a really long time. By the time we got to Thursday and the news of our baby, I felt like there was no water left in my body, even to express the tiniest of tears. My reaction was more like, “Are you kidding me? How is this happening?”

But I never asked “What did I do to deserve this?”

I more of just asked Jesus, in the quiet of my own heart, to heal me. Heal the utter and complete brokenness that I was feeling. My heart had been stomped on, and it hurt badly.

You know what that feels like. Some of you have lost friends, parents, grandparents, siblings, pets, relationships {of all kinds!!} and it all hurts. Some more intensely than others, but the pain is real and at times, it can seem like it will never end.

As one who went through a burning fire {not literally} several years ago and spent months in the bathroom floor crying, begging for everything to be over, I know that there IS sunshine after the rain. The hurricanes and tornadoes of life come in and can seemingly destroy everything you know, but, when its all over, the skies are the bluest of blues and the sun shines brightly. There is hope. There are happy days ahead.

I share with you a post that a friend sent me today. She said that when she read this earlier this morning, it made her think of me:

She Reads Truth.

My response to her was this: It’s the crap that you go through that makes you WHO you are, and makes you rest in the arms of Jesus. {A friend would say, “slammed up against Him”}. You are forced to become someone/something, not just to be.

He’s there in the quiet. When all the tears are gone…when there is no water left in your body to cry even one tear. He’s always there.

And once you’ve gone through the fire just once, you always remember that. He never leaves. He never forsakes.

Isaiah 45:3