The thing about Christmas is that it shows up right in the middle of real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I think of the Advent season in future tense, I picture a magical, set-apart time when everything slows and settles, allowing us to focus on togetherness, gratitude, and celebration. Then December arrives, and underneath the festivities and twinkle lights, a longing lingers. The difficult parts of life are still difficult. Strained relationships are still strained. The things we hoped would be different by now are mostly still the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advent rarely looks or feels the way we wish it would, and our hearts would sink into despair but for the truth: This ordinary, in-process life is precisely where God meant to meet us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tidings of comfort and joy that we sing about are comforting and joyful because Christmas finds us in the throes of everyday life. Christ comes to bring light and life to us right where we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas in the hospital.
Christmas in the wake of grief.
Christmas in the pile of past due bills.
Christmas in the fatigue of family strife.
Christmas in the uncertainty of what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus is God who came to dwell with us, here in the midst of our angst and messiness and sickness and pride. Here in our busy schedules and aching bodies and tired hearts. Here in the world He created and loves and is committed to redeeming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The baby in the manger is not the start of the story. Jesus\u2019s birth happened in the midst of God\u2019s ongoing pursuit of His people and His plan to bring them back into the glory of His presence forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s Advent reading plan approaches the Christmas story from this point of view, starting with the creation in Genesis and walking through traditional passages of the season as they unfold in Scripture. Alongside God\u2019s people in the Old Testament, we\u2019ll feel the ache for the promised Messiah and the anticipation of His coming. We\u2019ll watch in awe when God sends His Son into the world, at just the right time, to save the world through Him. And we will look with hope to the second advent\u2014His promised return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you enter this Advent season, lay down your heavy load, and lean into the comfort of Christ. He is \u201cthe one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth\u201d (John 1:14). He is the light who \u201cshines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it\u201d (v.5). Our longings will linger until Christ comes again, but there is deep joy offered to us\u2014right where we are\u2014in the love and mercy of Jesus. May every reading in this reading plan lead you into the presence of the God who came near.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The thing about Christmas is that it shows up right in the middle of real life. When I think of the Advent season in future tense, I picture a magical, set-apart time when everything slows and settles, allowing us to focus on togetherness, gratitude, and celebration. Then December arrives, and underneath the festivities and twinkle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":72668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72991],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT<\/b>
\r\nby Amanda Bible Williams<\/i>
\r\n
The thing about Christmas is that it shows up right in the middle of real life.<\/p>
\r\n
When I think of the Advent season in future tense, I picture a magical, set-apart time when everything slows and settles, allowing us to focus on togetherness, gratitude, and celebration. Then December arrives, and underneath the festivities and twinkle lights, a longing lingers. The difficult parts of life are still difficult. Strained relationships are still strained. The things we hoped would be different by now are mostly still the same.<\/p>
\r\n
Advent rarely looks or feels the way we wish it would, and our hearts would sink into despair but for the truth: This ordinary, in-process life is precisely where God meant to meet us.<\/p>
\r\n
The tidings of comfort and joy that we sing about are comforting and joyful because Christmas finds us in the throes of everyday life. Christ comes to bring light and life to us right where we are.<\/p>
\r\n
Christmas in the hospital.
Christmas in the wake of grief.
Christmas in the pile of past due bills.
Christmas in the fatigue of family strife.
Christmas in the uncertainty of what\u2019s next.<\/p>
\r\n
Jesus is God who came to dwell with us, here in the midst of our angst and messiness and sickness and pride. Here in our busy schedules and aching bodies and tired hearts. Here in the world He created and loves and is committed to redeeming.<\/p>
\r\n
The baby in the manger is not the start of the story. Jesus\u2019s birth happened in the midst of God\u2019s ongoing pursuit of His people and His plan to bring them back into the glory of His presence forever.<\/p>
\r\n
This year\u2019s Advent reading plan approaches the Christmas story from this point of view, starting with the creation in Genesis and walking through traditional passages of the season as they unfold in Scripture. Alongside God\u2019s people in the Old Testament, we\u2019ll feel the ache for the promised Messiah and the anticipation of His coming. We\u2019ll watch in awe when God sends His Son into the world, at just the right time, to save the world through Him. And we will look with hope to the second advent\u2014His promised return.<\/p>
\r\n
As you enter this Advent season, lay down your heavy load, and lean into the comfort of Christ. He is \u201cthe one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth\u201d (John 1:14). He is the light who \u201cshines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it\u201d (v.5). Our longings will linger until Christ comes again, but there is deep joy offered to us\u2014right where we are\u2014in the love and mercy of Jesus. May every reading in this reading plan lead you into the presence of the God who came near.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"1","scripture":"Colossians 1:5","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}