By Kellye Carmack

This month on the blog we want to offer you a few practical ways to savor the birth of Jesus. We pray that each post in this Christmas series will lead you in a few moments of worship as you reflect on Christ this season.

By Cara Croft

Picture the farmer. He goes out and toils all day in the heat and humidity. He continues to tend his crops, trying to water them as much as possible since the sky seems to have dried up. He focuses on trying to save the crop so that he can harvest it in the cooler days. (I am no farmer, nor do I live near farms so some of these details I am taking my own liberty with interpreting) We work really hard hoping that someday soon those fall winds will blow through, cool off the heat and bring some relief. Yet the heat toils on.

By Glenna Marshall

The friend seemed reluctant to admit it, but he told my husband that every day of ministry for him thus far had been sweet. “It’s like every day is summer,” he said. I remember how that statement mystified my husband. His friend had exuded excitement and passion about his church, but we were completely worn down and burned out.

By Kelly Carmack

In the harshest season of the year we find wonder, deep rest, peace, time to savor. These gifts wouldn’t exist without the harsh elements of the season, and our winters in ministry are no different. Perhaps those gifts in ministry are not as visible as the glittering white landscape you see out your window on a snowy winter’s day.

By Cara Croft

It is not just a sting of fire burning away sin, but it is also the warmth and comfort of His Spirit blazing within. Beloved children, God has started a new work in your hearts, let us rejoice and have hope that in this world not all is death. Even in the fall there is life and it is abundant.