Week 2 of our study The Women of Christmas

It was such fun to study with at least 30 of you last week as we contemplated the beginning of the story of Elizabeth, Zechariah, and baby John the Baptist! I've heard from about 30 friends and family, even friends' family, saying they were participating! I love picturing all of us together, bibles and books and pens in hand, sharing what God is highlighting afresh in this story! I know you all would love getting to know each other because I love you all! I wish we could meet at Starbucks...I'd buy all your favorite hot drinks and then tell stories about fun times I've shared with you!

And speaking of sharing, thank you to those who have shared so beautifully and honestly on the blog! I seriously received such encouragement and fresh insight from you! Several of you, like me, have walked or continue to walk the infertility road so I knew Elizabeth would stir us up. The truth is, we likely all have dreams we've yet to realize, so being reminded that there is no time limit on God's answers was hopefully encouragement. 

This week we will begin to read about Mary. You may have noticed that we didn't finish the story of Elizabeth last week. The book, The Women of Christmas, basically covers the announcement of Elizabeth's pregnancy in chapters 1 and 2, then the announcement of Mary's pregnancy in chapters 3 and 4. I promise we'll get to the births of both the Messiah and His forerunner in chapters 5 and 6 before getting to the third "woman of a Christmas" in our last week together. And just in case you are behind where I am...PLEASE DO NOT QUIT!! This will be a blessing to you no matter when you do it, not because of anything I'm doing but because it's God's Word and Jesus' story! It says so right in the passage we are studying this week:

""For no word from God will ever fail.” (Luke 1:37 NIV)

So here's your assignment this week.

1. First pray! Pray before you read, asking Him to teach you, encourage you, remind you, and reveal something new to you! Write that prayer in your book or a journal so you will have a reminder when He does it!

2. Read God's words in Luke 1:26-38. Make a list of what Mary says and what Gabriel says. Does making this list give you any insight into Mary? What do we learn about Jesus from what the angel says?  Do you wish you knew more about anything in this story?

3. Read Chapter 3, highlighting anything that jumps out at you. This just made me cry at the thought:

4. Read Luke 1:39-56. (Doesn't a lot happen in this one chapter?! Typically we just rush right into chapter 2 at our house on Christmas Eve or even in church, but oh the richness of the story even before Christ's actual birth!)  Use your imagination a little and tell me what YOU think Mary and Elizabeth talked about for those months together!

5. Read chapter 4 of The Women of Christmas and highlight anything you found interesting or particularly encouraging.

6. Here's an extra challenge: write these verses on an index card and memorize them this week. 

For no word from God will ever fail.” 

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, (Luke 1:37, 46, 47 NIV)

Now tell us on the blog what God's revealing to you! 

Thank you for keeping me accountable! I am honestly, and I really mean this, praying for you to be blown away by Jesus this week as you study!

I love you!

Week 1 of The Women of Christmas...a personal connection

I've posted a little something personal. Please let it help you connect in your own way to Elizabeth's story. I'm no video wiz, nor am I particularly great on camera, but this is me just being honest!

Reading about Zechariah's angelic interaction in the temple made me want to know a little more about what he was doing and where he was in the temple. It seems that there were a lot of priests in that day...I read from 7000-8000 of them were walking around! Evidently they were organized into 24 divisions and assignments were made by casting lots, sort of like rolling dice. We know there was no "luck" or "coincidence" involved though because God arranged for Zechariah to be exactly where He wanted him to be to receive this announcement! And remember, no one had received a fresh revelation from God in about 400 years. God, for all human understanding, had been silent for 400 years! And Zechariah gets to hear from Him first! Wow, no wonder he was surprised at the least scared to death at the most! Yet Zechariah receives this news right there at the Altar of Incense...in front of the very curtain separating this altar from the Holy of Holies...in front of the very curtain that would be torn from top to bottom when Christ died! Right at the altar that symbolized their prayers being lifted to God just like the smoke and scent wafted heavenward. This is the exact place where the angel announces that Zechariah's prayer has been heard! 

My friend Mandy said it well in her comment on the previous post when she wondered if he'd actually given up praying for a child since they had waited for so long. Let me assure you that Elizabeth had not stopped! Oh sure, she may have wearied of the request, but her deep deep longing was a child. Barrenness, at least for me, never is far from a woman's mind if she's afflicted with it. And even if she'd stopped actually asking God, her heart still ached, so God still knew her longing and cared!

Because I'm probably just a little odd, I would love to know what "signs" Zechariah made to the crowd! They expected him to pronounce the blessing probably found in a Numbers. 6:24-26. Oh please go read it!!! I find it so ironic that, though Zechariah could not literally pronounce the blessing, what he'd been told by the angel Gabriel was indeed ACTUALLY what God was about to do...turn His face -the face of Jesus who was the exact representation of God-toward them and bring them peace with God through this Jesus!  No, Zechariah could not utter the verbal blessing, but he was about to parent the one (John the Baptist) who would pronounce that Jesus was that very face of God and instrument of peace.

I also noticed that verse 15 of Luke 1 says that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. Verse 41 says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when Mary arrived and John jumped in her womb. And verse 67 says that Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit after he regained his voice. This has become a heartfelt prayer of mine, that my entire little family would be filled with the Holy Spirit and submit to serving Him!

I pray that you have read verses 39-80 of Luke 1. The time Mary visited Elizabeth is such a sweet story! If ever I've wished for a video gospel it's as I'm reading about these two women, years apart in age yet forever connected in divine ways. 

I am a bit sad to read that Elizabeth and Zechariah probably died while John was young. I have to wonder if his diet and wardrobe would have been different had Elizabeth been around! However long she had with her boy, she must have taught him well because John pointed to Jesus as the Messiah whenever he got the chance. What an important roll Elizabeth played!

Online Bible Study Week One: Let's Get Started!

Welcome to the Christmas season! It's my very favorite time of the year, and I have a feeling that this Bible study may turn out to be one of my most cherished parts of the celebration! Thank you for taking this journey with me! I mean it every time I say it, and I say it every time I begin any new study, but this really is a selfish act on my part. I desperately need to be in God's Word daily for any peace and sanity to rule in my mind, my actions, my words, and my reactions. Having you on this journey with me keeps me accountable! I need you, and I have a sense that God is okay with that. He made us with free will and a need for community so surely it honors Him whenever we exercise that will to study His Words together!

If you're just deciding to join us, you'll need your Bible, the book The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs, and maybe a journal. Sometimes I use index cards when I study to help me remember specific verses as well. Honestly, the method you use and the specific tools you utilize aren't specifically important as long as you are reading scripture. We all probably have or will develop methods that work best for us.

Just briefly I want to say that I know several women who are taking this journey, and I'm so excited! Ladies I've known from every stage of my life are joining together to study this time! Typically I am blessed to be able to study with women from my church and community here in Kansas City, but this time I get to interact with friends from high school, my niece and niece-in-law in Texas, a sweet friend I once taught in Sunday School when she was in college, and my best friend from Atlanta! God is so creative and brilliant to baptize technology and use it to help us connect through His Word! 

And oh how I'm praying specifically for you all! Prayer is sort of the main way I feel God uses me at this stage of my life. As a stay at home mom, I honestly spend so much time during my day praying for friends and family as I complete the necessary but sometimes mundane tasks of keeping a home together. So...please let me know if you're joining us so I can visualize you and pray specifically for you...by name! It's my sheer joy and gives me a sense of usefulness in His Kingdom.

Enough talk! Let's go! Here are my suggestions for what and how to study this week.

1. Pray first each time you sit down to study. I often even write brief prayers right in my book or journal like this...absolutely nothing fancy!

2. This week we will study about Elizabeth. Before you read the book, please take time to read The Book! As much as I'm loving The Women of Christmas, I want us to study God's words. So read Luke 1:5-25 and write down any thoughts or questions you have as you read.  I'd suggest reading the same passage everyday this week in different translations. I use the YouVersion app on my phone to read those translations I don't actually own in paper form.

3. Read chapters 1 and 2 of the Women of Christmas throughout the week. They actually are short, and you have 7 days to do it! Liz Curtis Higgs writes in a way that interacts with the scriptural text and helps me ask deep questions. Write in that book, underline, do whatever it takes to help you really engage in the text!

4. Interact with us! As you study, I really would love it if you would talk back on this blog. Comment on one or all of these questions. If, for some reason,you have trouble commenting please send me a Facebook message with your comments and I will post them to the blog with your permission. Of course you can always message me privately with anything meant for just me and you and I won't post it!

So answer these questions:

Was there anything in the biblical story you had never thought about before? Did God highlight any part of it afresh for you?

Can you relate to Elizabeth or Zechariah in any way? Is God encouraging or challenging you in any way through this story? Are these words reiterating anything God's already been trying to communicate to you?

What does this story tell you about the character of God or how He works?

5. Join me in memorizing this part of the passage this week from verses 24 and 25:  "...Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (NIV)

6. Make a list of the miraculous things The Lord has done and is doing for you!

I'm praying for God to reveal His constant presence to you this week and to make you desparate for His Word! I'm praying you get just a little seclusion with Him like Elizabeth had...and that you can joyfully say, "The Lord has done this for me" as you go through this week! 

Feel free to invite a friend to join us! 

Join me for Bible study this Advent!

Happy Thanksgiving! If you are reading this then I'm definitely thankful for you!! Writing is my therapy and an act of worship for me, but it's a bonus if someone cares to read my words.

I don't want to miss Thanksgiving, but I do want to invite you to think about something "Christmassy" today. Many of you are friends I've studied with over the years. I'd like to invite you to an online Advent Bible study! Here's how it would work!

I need to stay in The Word throughout this typically busy season or I will be miserable and make everyone around me miserable. I've come across a wonderful little book that I want to use as a study guide for the 4 weeks of Advent.

Liz Curtis Higgs recently wrote The Women of Christmas. Starting Monday December 2, I want to study these women of Christmas with you. Each Monday I'll post on this blog a reading assignment and some "discussion" questions. Jump on the comments and study with me. This is a great way to have some direction, interaction, and accountability without actually ever meeting together. We can meet together with longtime friends and make new ones. We can pray for each other! There are no videos to watch, but some weeks I might post something I'm learning. 

You'll just need the book, your Bible, and maybe a journal. I bought my book at Mardel this week and even just saw a 40% off coupon in the paper today! I'm sure you could find it at other Christian bookstores or major retailers.

So who's in? Even if no one joins me, I'm going to do this, but it sure would be fun to have you joining me! Comment below if you're interested!

Thanksgiving away from home...and who's making the gravy?

As Thanksgiving week gets into full swing, of course I have so much for which to be thankful.  I am indeed thankful for my family's decision to follow God's leading to Lee's Summit four years ago.  I love this place more than ever , and it's the perfect place for my children!  The people here are hardworking, generous, compassionate, real, and anxious to have a vital relationship with God. They seem to love us and joyfully encourage Blake by letting him lead however he feels God is leading. What else could this pastor's wife want? We are blessed!

However, Thanksgiving can sometimes be a lonely holiday for families in ministry. Most ministry families who live away from their parents and grandparents must choose whether to "go home " for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Very rarely do staff members have enough vacation to travel both times. Since leaving Arkansas almost 12 years ago, we've never been "home" for Thanksgiving. 

Honestly Blake and I don't mind so much, and our kids haven't really ever known what it's like to live near family. Truthfully, Blake and I have always been the family rebels. I figure it's part of the reason I have a degree in Home Economics, so I can pull together an entire Thanksgiving meal without a mom's help. (And truthfully, my own mother wasn't much of a cook. Now Blake's mom? That's totally different !! She will always be able to cook circles around me!  All our family favorites are her recipes.)  Even though I have no problem cooking, I do sort of miss the whole family vibe of Thanksgiving. 

The closest thing to an extended family Thanksgiving my we've had was spending the day with our dear friends, the Carman's, during our time in Georgia. Now to be direct, not everyone wants the preacher's family for a holiday! We get that! Trust me, it's as stressful for us as it is for anyone who hosts us. We have a hard time being ourselves, always afraid we'll blow Blake's reputation. But the Carman's aren't church members as much as they are true, real friends! They always let us be ourselves, and they were themselves! Our boys enjoyed crazy fun before lunch and we all enjoyed dominoes afterward! There was the annual planning of Black Friday complete with newspapers , then watching football! And Lord have mercy, they can cook! Jim. (Aka Kermit) Carman's smoked ham just about kept me from following Blake to Lee's Summit! And to this day I cannot make gravy without texting Kermit and Andrea because we had the annual argument over how to do it. So when we think Thanksgiving, we are thinking about lunch with the Carman's!

We are thankfully within three hours of my sister these days so we can have time with family for the day. I'll be hosting her family on Thursday, and it will be a fun time with a house full of teenage boys. (I'll be cooking extra to feed said bottomless pits!) Sarah and Caleb help me cook so we have lots of fun preparing! My sister and I are making up for lost time because she was on her own and working in retail when I was growing up...never coming home for Thanksgiving. 

I said all this to ask you to please think about the ministers at your church! I'm not saying you should include them with your family, but just an acknowledgement of them would be an encouragement. I often see young ministry families try to figure out how to have tradition for their young families without over stretching their budget at Thanksgiving. Whether it's plane tickets home or the cost of the entire traditional meal, it's tough to make that stereotypical Thanksgiving happen! Sometimes it's even tougher to host parents and grandparents because of limited space. It's one of the things we readily sign up for when we go into ministry, but it's still hard and melancholy at times. Just telling your younger ministers that you appreciate them makes a difference. 

I'll be forever grateful for my friends Kermit, Andrea, and Jimmy as well as Andrea's sister and father who gave us a place to "go home to" for several years! As much as I miss being with family on Thanksgiving, I truly miss our Carman family too! I wish we could make gravy together again!

One "flu" over the cuckoo's nest

Sometimes you don't appreciate the blessings in life. Sometimes the loudness of my house just about makes me scream...which is ironic, huh! Not today though. Today I've been given the gift of health...and perspective.

One week ago I was writhing in anguish with the flu. That sounds a bit dramatic, and let's face it, my middle name is "dramatic", but it was horrible! At one point, and I'm not embellishing this, the thermometer said my fever was 105 degrees. I was sicker than I've been in a very long time. And my ears were totally clogged. The only sound I really heard most of last week was the ringing in my own ears. 

This is not exactly me, but trust me when I say you wouldn't have wanted to see me anyway! I'd like to think I looked this good.

I've heard from friends around the country that also had the flu last week so I realize I was not alone in my misery. Honestly, at one point I was a little suspicious that bioterrorism might be amuck, because it would be a fairly successful evil plan to give every other mom in America the flu. Imagine the fallout!! Every kid would be eating takeout pizza and skipping homework and instrument practice! It would be the fall of our society I'm sure!

That, however, did not happen at the McKinney house, and I'm ever so grateful to Blake for holding it together. Somehow he managed to get everyone to school with lunches and homework, drive kids to multiple practices and rehearsals, work, and plan a marriage retreat we were previously scheduled to lead. The fact that he didn't leave us and become a monk is testimony to God's calling on his life. Here's what I did last week: lay in my bed, cough, moan, pop Motrin like it was sweet tarts, complain about my ears ringing, and cough some more. I might have also checked Facebook and Twitter periodically, but only to see who else was sick and pray for them. It was my only ministry last week! Did you know that Beth Moore had the flu too? 

Thankfully the flu doesn't last forever, and today I joyfully hopped out of bed to enjoy being a part of the morning routine again. I'm not sure if the kids were thankful I was back or not because there was a bit more nagging involved, but I'm sure they will be thrilled when they get home and once again are reminded to practice their instruments and do their homework. Sometimes a little setback is all you need to appreciate all you have! I'm once again looking forward to hearing screeching violin and banging drums and tap shoes clicking on my kitchen tile.

And here's my advice to you: GO GET A FLU SHOT!!

Quick trip by myself!

Last Thursday I drove to my home town in Arkansas all by myself. It's not a big deal for me to drive 7 hours alone, other than I'm never alone in this season of life. Well, unless you count the 5 hours every day while everyone is at work and school, but I'm actually rarely alone then either. Anyway, though I was going for a sad reason I was pretty excited to spend some quiet time in the car. 

I purposed to make that trip as fun as possible by stopping at all the little places between Lee's Summit and Norman, Arkansas. We make that trip a few times a year but it's usually in a hurry or late at night. We always stop in the same places, but I've had my eye on a few "off the beaten path" destinations since we moved to Missouri. So stop I did!! I discovered a little something about myself...do you see the pattern? These were my first three stops!

Evidently food is my love language. I would like to add that I also stopped at one of my favorite shops in Fayetteville (Riffraff on the square...love it!) that involved zero food, just clothes. I would also like to say, in my defense, that I did not buy anything. 

I did finally make it to Norman in time to celebrate the life of my aunt. I enjoyed some time with most of my family and heard some great stories. Less than 24 hours later I turned around and made the trip home, stopping only at Chickfila! I did manage to listen to 15 chapters of Pride and Prejudice so when I entered the house Friday night my British accent was awesome! 

I live such an exciting life...