Tag: Jesus

4th Annual Jeepers! It’s January! Blog Hop Giveaway

Posted on by Staci Mauney

Congratulations to Edye Green from Illinois, the winner of the $10 Starbucks gift card!

 

After-Christmas letdown is a real phenomenon that occurs after the holiday season is over. The wonderful experiences of Christmas are over, and we’re back to real life. In many parts of the country, we’re facing cold, dreary days until spring arrives. To warm things up and alleviate some of the strange sadness of January, I’m joining The Kids Did It blog and The Mommy Island blog to participate in the 4th Annual Jeepers! It’s January! Giveaway Event, which runs from January 8, 2019, to January 22, 2019. The winner of my first giveaway of 2019 will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card. 

Continue reading “4th Annual Jeepers! It’s January! Blog Hop Giveaway” →

Longing for Peace

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6)

Peace is elusive. With the invention of the smartphone, we are constantly connected and bombarded by dings, rings, and chimes. Instead of finding activities to engage our minds, we pull out our phones when we’re bored and pass the time on mindless games or scrolling through social media. We have email on our phones, so even when we’re away from the office, we’re still available and always on call. “Downtime” isn’t a word that’s even in our vocabulary anymore. Continue reading “Longing for Peace” →

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” →

Finding Hope at Christmas

Posted on by Staci Mauney

Author’s note: Since this month’s blog posts will coincide with the four Sundays in Advent, the theme of each blog post will have the same theme as that week in Advent. The theme for the first Sunday in Advent is hope, the second is love, the third is joy, and the final one is peace.

“…the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” (Ps 147:11)

I look forward to Christmas with great anticipation each year. I enjoy everything about the season: the lights, the music, the baking, the gifts, the cards, the Hallmark movies…and the list goes on. As a child, I looked forward to opening gifts so much that I talked my mom into letting my brother and me open a gift on Christmas Eve once or twice.

As an adult, there have been years when I dreaded the holiday season. The year my grandma and father-in-law both passed away was particularly difficult. But nothing could have prepared me for the feelings of grief and loss that tainted my love for the holiday for several years after my divorce. For a while, I lost hope that things would ever be better. Continue reading “Finding Hope at Christmas” →