I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Announcing: An Unusual Advent Series
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Hi Friends, I’m planning something unusual for this Advent season. For the last couple years, I’ve taken the weeks leading up to Christmas to stare with you into the passages of Scripture about Christ coming as a baby. The birth of Christ is a storyline that’s rich in wonder. We could spend all 365 days of the year focusing on it and not exhaust all there is to see. This year, I want to immerse us in this story once again… But with an unusual twist. I am writing an Advent series for those overcoming spiritual anxiety. Spiritual anxiety? What the heck is that? This is a phrase I’ve been using to describe the heaviness I have felt the Lord begin to lift off my shoulders this year. I didn’t realize I was carrying this — or at least couldn’t name it — until He began to lift the weight. I began to see that while I had for years received much solid Bible teaching, it was often delivered with a quiet injection of spiritual anxiety. I have heard from some of you who also experienced this in your own church context. Jesus told us His yoke is easy, His burden is light. Spiritual anxiety has threads of heaviness and performance. It can sound like a number of things: Do more. If this sounds familiar to you, there’s good news. Yes, there’s good news of great joy for us. For unto us — the heavy laden with anxiety running through our veins — a baby is born. A Son is given. In Matthew 11, Jesus calls to Himself all who want to be free: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But this didn’t just begin when He was old enough to speak these words. It’s been His mission from the very beginning. Through every detail of Advent, God is extending His hands to lift our heaviness. So let’s go there. For the next few weeks, let’s stand at the beginning of His story and peer into His life. It’s here He lifts off our anxieties and gives us rest. It’s here that we trade hurry, hurry, hurry for holy, holy, holy. It’s here we quiet our souls, stand in awe of Him, and are healed. –Anna P.S. For me, this liberation from heaviness has brought easy sleep each night after years of struggle. I’m praying that you might experience rest for your body, soul, and spirit on this journey, too. See you next week. |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, Welcome to week one of the Advent Series! This year I am writing these Advent devotionals for those overcoming spiritual anxiety. (You can read more on that here if you missed it.) There is healing for us in this Advent story, and it starts at the very beginning. In Luke 1:26-38, we see Mary visited by the Angel Gabriel and given a most shocking message. That she, a virgin, would bear the Son of God. She is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and it begins: Jesus spends His first 9...
Hi Friends, I’m in one of those marriages. You know the kind. One where my husband starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween, and I am left dumbfounded that someone could so heedlessly skip right over the Thanksgiving season. Yes season! (I know about half of you are on team husband, but I press on.) I’m wanting to be more intentional this year about my thanks-giving. The cultivation of gratitude in my heart and life. And I’m starting this “thanks-giving” focus in an unusual...
Hi Friends, Sometimes the Holy Spirit sets up dominos. A string of happenings where when the last knocks over, you find it was aimed straight at your heart. He did that for me this weekend. But first, in bold is a chorus I’ve been singing about this, and below that are a few thoughts. Not somedayIn the futureRight now, these hands reaching in loveWholeheartedWithout measureI live and breathe for You, my God We were at a church this weekend where the congregation stands to hear the reading of...