It’s hard to believe it, but the holiday season is quickly approaching. This year, Advent begins on Sunday, November 27. I’ve been busy updating my Advent devotional, More Than A Baby. Each day’s devotion features the following:

1. A daily scripture to read and meditate upon.
2. A picture to reflect upon.
3. An Advent song to listen to.
4. A focus thought for the day.
5. An application for you to incorporate into your life.
6. A prayer.

You can click here to see a sample page of the 2011 More Than A Baby devotional.

If you’d like to make the Christmas season more meaningful, my devotional will help you prepare your heart for this joyous season.

The updated version will be available for sale on our Web site on November 15. Here is the link to take you to the page. More Than a Baby. (If you click before November 15, you’ll be taken to the sales page for last year’s version).

Let’s approach this Christmas with a heart that’s ready to receive the our Savior by taking a few minutes each morning to study and worship the Lord!

Pray on!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

I can hardly believe that the holiday season is already over.  Most people look forward all year long to the feast that they can devour without judgment at Thanksgiving and the festivities of Christmas, but for my family this year, those traditions were moved to the bottom of our priority list.

About two months ago, my mom started getting really sick, and the doctors couldn’t find any source to her illness. They ran test after test, yet nothing made sense as to why she had a low blood count and was losing weight at an alarming rate. Christmas was right around the corner, and we decided to take a break from all the doctors’ appointments and just enjoy the season with our family. We would worry about possible causes for these symptoms after the tree had come down and the media had stopped showing all their Christmas specials.

This seemed like a great idea, but God had other plans. Plans that would rock our world… but then again, God seems to like switching up our plans, especially around Christmas time. The whole point of this season is that God flipped the script and sent His Son born of a virgin to save us. So when everything stopped going according to plan this Christmas, for me it was a lot easier to deal with, because I knew that God was still in control, just as He was 2,000 years ago.

About a week before December 25, my mom started coughing up blood. It wasn’t a lot the first day. But then it continued day after day, until her whole hand would be covered with the blood. Christmas was just days away, but it was time to act. We rushed her to the hospital to find out that she had lung cancer the size of a baseball in her left lung. The doctors had not thought to look for that specific form of cancer because my mother had never smoked or worked in a vocation that might contribute to lung cancer.

After that, things started going pretty fast. We were rushing my mom to many CT scans and biopsies. It was originally believed that she had stage three cancer, which would have given her about eight months to live. However, my God is bigger than doctors’ diagnoses, and after much prayer my mother returned for another doctors appointment to find out that the cancer was not spreading as fast as they had first thought and that they might be able to get all of the cancer with surgery. That surgery is still going to be very rough and we are all anticipating January 18, when my mom will have her entire left lung removed, but we are trusting God and know that He will protect my mom and continue to give us all peace throughout this difficult and scary experience.

On behalf of my mom, I am asking that any one reading this would please pray for her on January 18 as she goes into surgery. It would be so powerful and amazing to know that thousands of people are out there praying for her to have strength and to feel God’s presence throughout this time. My mom’s own personal prayer is that God be glorified in all of this. Thank you.

Pray on!

Brittany

Brittany Jean is a nineteen-year-old college student living in the Midwest with her parents and younger brother. She is currently majoring in pre-law and is planning on using that degree for ministry.

Join Jane and Mary as they discuss the people God used in the miraculous story of Jesus’ birth. What’s so interesting is that God uses everyday people to bring about His plans in the world–and He wants to use us too!

We discuss Zacharias, Elizabeth, Anna, Simeon, the Wise Men, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. Find out what lessons we can learn from each of their lives as we delve into their parts in the Christmas story.

You can listen a couple of different ways. Simply click on the sideways triangle button below to listen right on your computer. Or …

Follow this link to Talk Shoe’s page, and you’ll be able to download the podcast or add it to your iTunes account.

Talk Shoe

Please click on the link to access  “The Christmas Story: Illustrated in Names”

Merry Christmas!!

Mary and Jane

“And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.’” Luke 1:41-45 NKJV

Focus:

Let’s look today at Elizabeth’s place in preparing our hearts for Christmas. It was particularly hard on a woman to be barren in the Jewish culture. You see, the Jews considered children to be a sign of God’s favor on a couple and His displeasure if you could not have children. We know that God was not displeased with Zecharias and Elizabeth because  God tells us in Luke 1:6 that both Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias were righteous, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But Elizabeth’s contemporaries did not have the benefit of the scripture.

She probably suffered for years over their inability to have children. I wonder how many sideways glances or snide comments she had to endure.

Yet, God had a very special plan in mind for this couple. But it had to be the right timing. Elizabeth remained faithful through all those difficult years without knowing that she would bear a son who would prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah. What an honor she had!

Let this encourage us when we feel that we are tired of waiting for what we are praying for. Keep lifting up that wayward child in prayer. Keep praying for that long awaited child. Keep asking the Lord for healing. Keep seeking God for a new job. What unanswered prayer have you lost hope for? Be open to God’s timing and how He wants to work in your life. Is there something bigger at stake God is trying to show you? Is He trying to change more than what you’re praying for? Maybe something at the very core of you? Let Him do His work in your life and remember that some prayers take a lifetime to birth! Some we may see right away, and others maybe not this side of heaven. But don’t give up!

Prayer: Dear Lord,

We pray for the perseverance to be faithful to You no matter what our circumstances may look like. Help us to remember that your timing preempts our timing. May we keep praying, keep believing, keep loving. Amen.

Pray on!

Christmas is the perfect time to do something nice for someone else. Jesus set the example for us to do this as He came to earth to give us the ultimate gift of salvation. We’d like to celebrate this at Only By Prayer by having a Christmas contest. To enter the contest, you need to do something nice for another person; if you’d like, it can even be done anonymously. Then enter a comment on the blog and mention what it was you did.

We’ll draw a name at the end of December from all the comments to win a prize. Put some thought into what you do. Think about what would really bless the person you are going to help. Could they use a home-cooked meal? Does someone need a handwritten letter of encouragement? Could you anonymously do a chore for someone? Be creative and thoughtful and have fun!

Merry Christmas!

Jesus has gifted every Christian with talents to use for His kingdom. It is His will that you greatly affect your culture for Jesus. Please click on the link to access a Bible study on how to use your gifts for His Name.