For every weary soul needing a bit of light, a scrap of real hope, a simple Christmas prayer. For every taxed mama and bustling grandma. Every newlywed and fresh divorcee. Every grieving heart. Every family scrambling to make Christmas happen.

Wherever these words find you, and whatever heaviness fills the room, I pray for gritty, overflowing hope. I pray that the tender nearness of Jesus meets you in this moment. That His peace supersedes the pressure you're feeling right now.

When you're emptied of all you can do on your own, when you've used up all the words, when your edges fray and your adrenaline runs out–there's room for more of God. Only when we're at the end of ourselves do we open in uninhibited welcome. And God? He always makes good on His word:

Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you.

James 4:8, The Passion Translation

Today, let's stand on this promise together. Because when we really need real hope, we can rely on the unwavering Word of God.

Links mentioned:

1. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

As I step back to see where I've gone wrong, I see three potential pitfalls where you might be stuck as well.

Links mentioned:

1. Get a list of 200 missional word-of-the-year ideas HERE.
2. Get the word-of-the-year month reflection sheets HERE.
3. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
4. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

Ann Voskamp says korban boils down to closeness:

Sacrifice in Hebrew is korban, which literally means an approach, a moving closer. Sacrifice is not losing something but moving closer to Someone.

Korban isn't so much about loss as it is about proximity to Jesus. And to draw closer to Christ I must let rest all I try to do on my own strength.

Links mentioned:

1. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

We slow-baked gratitude into our DNA for this. This! So that we might make space for awed worship, genuine praise, honest adoration.

Links mentioned:

1. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

It's almost Thanksgiving, and maybe this year you're just trying to make it through. Trying to smile through the "fixings" and the feasting while something feels empty inside.

Maybe everything is right on the surface but stress is eating at your inner calm. Or you're grieving a shift, an unwelcome season, a spot empty around your table. Perhaps the budget simply can't cover the holiday spread you envisioned on your table.

Can I reach a hand right through your screen—a hand to steady yours right now?

You might not be able to see how yet, but you will make it through. How do I know? Because I know the God who won't let go of you.

I know that at this very moment, He's giving thanks for you. If Jesus were seated at your table on Thanksgiving, and you were going around saying one thing you're grateful for, He'd lock eyes with you and say, "It's you. It's you I can't stop thinking about. It's you who squeezes My heart. It's you I'd give everything for."

Links mentioned:

1. The Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge
2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
3. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

An accessible life is permeable.

God can get in. God can ripple out through us.

A no-place-off-limits openness to God welcomes the tender work through which He frees and heals us. Trust gives God permission to inhabit. He enters where He's invited, never barging through barricades in our hearts, but knocking with patience and persistence.

Openness in our relationships allows the work God is doing inside to show so that others may be drawn to His hope and light. It brings purpose and depth to our friendships: we get to point people to Jesus, as we were created to do, simply by living our learning-to-follow Christ lives in plain sight.

Links mentioned:

1. The Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge
2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
3. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

But what if we've tried to keep gratitude too quiet? What if it gets buried in the lines of our journals? What if gratitude is looking for a way to ripple beyond us–spilling over like uncontained laughter?

Links mentioned:

1. The Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge
2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
3. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

But what if we've tried to keep gratitude too quiet? What if it gets buried in the lines of our journals? What if gratitude is looking for a way to ripple beyond us–spilling over like uncontained laughter?

Links mentioned:

1. The Spill-Over Gratitude Challenge
2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
3. Read the written version of this episode HERE.