It’s a new month and a new season. I have to admit that I love Christmas time. It has always been my favorite holiday but as I get older it becomes precious in deep and meaningful ways that I can’t even explain. Occasionally the power and awe I experience when thinking of the birth of Christ makes me teary-eyed but more than that, December is my month of hope.

This morning in church the Pastor of Women’s ministry, Heather, preached on preparing for the arrival of Christ and the meaning of Emmanuel (God With Us). She asked, what does that mean to each of us,personally? What areas of sin and bondage in our lives need to be exposed and given to the Lord who came in the flesh, offering freedom and release? It was a moving sermon for me. It was simple, straightforward and it helps that Heather is a GREAT storyteller but it touched me a lot and I am reminded once more of the scandalous, beautiful, magical, mystery that is our God.