Tag: Christmas

2019 Winter Is Coming Giveaway Blog Hop

Posted on by Staci Mauney

Congratulations to Sarah M. from Wisconsin, the winner of the $10 Amazon gift card!

Christmas is my favorite holiday by far. Like many of you, I have cherished memories of family gatherings. I’ve spent many hours throughout the years creating handmade gifts for others and baking sweet treats with my mom. As adults, we can feel overwhelmed and stressed by the season for many reasons: financial difficulties, too many activities, family members who don’t get along…the list goes on and on. Joy seems elusive, but we can experience the joy of the season when we remember why we celebrate this season: Jesus.

This Christmas season, I’m joining The Kids Did It blog and The Mommy Island blog to participate in the Third Annual Winter Is Coming Giveaway Event, which runs from December 3, 2019, to December 21, 2019. The winner will receive a $10 Amazon gift card. Continue reading “2019 Winter Is Coming Giveaway Blog Hop” →

Reminders of Christmas

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Ps 100:2)

Inevitably, I leave behind a Christmas decoration or two when I put everything away in January. When I come across these items, they serve as happy reminders of the joyous season just passed. It was with that thought in mind that I decided to do three things to keep the spirit of Christmas alive this year even after the holiday season was over. First, I left the Christmas decorations up a little longer. Second, I continued to listen to Christmas music whenever the mood would strike me. And third, I decided to add Christmas books to my reading list throughout the year. Continue reading “Reminders of Christmas” →

Joy for the Season

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8:10)

In my first blog post this month, I discussed hope. Like hope, joy can also be difficult to find during the Christmas season. Perhaps our lives haven’t turned out the way we thought they would. Maybe we’ve lost someone close to us or been rejected by someone. In Western culture, we equate joy with happiness, but these are two different things. Both are emotions, but happiness is determined by our circumstances. Joy goes much deeper and is one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22). The Greek word for joy is chara and is closely related to charis, or grace. Joy is the natural response to the work of God in our lives. Continue reading “Joy for the Season” →

Sharing the Love of Christ

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“Do everything in love.” (1 Cor 16:14)

The term “love” gets thrown around a lot in today’s culture. We hear the word so much that it’s lost its meaning. Recently, one of my friends recently explained the reason for this: we have only one word in the English language to express the deep, abiding feeling that love brings. We use the word “love” to describe how we feel about cheeseburgers, our families, and our hobbies, among other things. Continue reading “Sharing the Love of Christ” →

Winter Is Coming Giveaway Blog Hop

Posted on by Staci Mauney

Congratulations to Laura Jacobson from Minnesota, the winner of the $15 Amazon gift card in the Winter Is Coming blog hop!

Christmas is my favorite holiday by far. Like many of you, I have cherished memories of family gatherings. I’ve spent many hours throughout the years cross stitching gifts for others and baking sweet treats with my mom. As adults, we can feel overwhelmed and stressed by the season for many reasons: financial difficulties, too many activities, family members who don’t get along…the list goes on and on. Joy seems elusive, but we can experience the joy of the season when we remember why we celebrate this season: Jesus.

This Christmas season, I’m joining The Kids Did It blog and The Mommy Island blog to participate in the Third Annual Winter Is Coming Giveaway Event, which runs from December 4, 2018, to December 21, 2018. The winner will receive a $15 Amazon gift card. Continue reading “Winter Is Coming Giveaway Blog Hop” →