Faith Walking
12 Pearls of Christmas: Wondrous Mystery
Magnificat by Anna Joujan Holy. Holy. Holy is the Lord. The familiar catch of breath. The sting in the eyes. And the tears begin to flow with the falling rain. Or do the tears fall with the flowing rain. What is it in these words that I whisper that wrenches at my heart so? Why…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Perspective
A Soggy, Jolly, Holly Christmas by Melody Carlson One of my most memorable Christmases started out as a natural disaster. But isn’t that a bit how a pearl is formed? An oyster’s soft easy life is disrupted by the invasion of sand, but something good comes out of it. When I was eight, we experienced…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Help & Support
Calling Elizabeth … HELP! by Tricia Goyer Mary, the mother of Jesus is one of the most well-known women of all time. She was also a teen mom facing an unplanned pregnancy. This Christmas we will see evidence of Mary’s story all around us. And as you hear it through Christmas songs and Christmas shows…
12 Pearls of Christmas: God Intervenes
The Answer by Susan May Warren Whos, Here, we are Whos here, smaller than the eye can see. Whos here, we are Whos here, I’m a Who and so is she… I’ve always wanted to live in a musical. When I was a kid, I loved Oklahoma, Sound of Music, West Side Story. I seriously…
12 Pearls of Christmas: He is Always Enough
Christmas in a Barn by Mary DeMuth The Christmas of 2006 we were homeless. We didn’t have keys. Not to a car, not to a home. We’d flown halfway around the world, leaving behind a ministry we toiled over. Much, particularly in our hearts, lay in ruins. Some friends had a camp, and on…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Faith, Hope & Love
The Pearls We Pass Down by Holley Gerth Ten years ago my Grandma Frances went home to heaven in her sleep just before Christmas. My Grandpa carefully handed me a brightly-wrapped box on Christmas morning and said, “This is her gift. Now I want you to have it.” I opened the lid slowly and tears…
12 Pearls of Christmas: God Provides a Way
A Long Ago Christmas Memory by Patricia Crisafulli The old farm on a dirt road in the backwoods of northern New York State was described to me so many times, I can imagine the place, even though I never saw it: the big frame house with the wide porch, the pair of maple trees out…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Jesus Comforts
How to Cope with Christmas by Stacie Ruth Stoelting Last night, I dreamed that God resurrected my beautiful adopted aunt, Mary Jo Hoffman. But morning renewed my mourning for her: Christmas trees, snow globes, and music greeted my grieving heart. Relate? In previous years, my maternal grandpa (a.k.a. “Papa Ray”) died near Thanksgiving and my…
I Confess…I stole from Oral Roberts
In honor of “The Man” whom I grew fonder and fonder of with each year I attended Oral Roberts University, I thought I should come clean and confess. Yes, I did swipe a peppermint candy from his candy dish on his desk over twenty years ago. Oh, the guilt of it all… But I was…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Just God
A Tangible Reminder by Mary Byers Last year I read Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer, creator of the Veggie Tales video series. I was interested because my children grew up on Veggie Tales. But I was also interested because somewhere along the way I…