Raise your hand if you’re ready to experience Christmas instead of surviving it.

Awesome! Me, too.

And yet, I’m acutely aware of how the over-hyped commercialism of the season will threaten to obscure the sacred story, once again.

Immanuel, God with us.

Christmas, God help us.

I want to do it differently this year, don’t you? I want to ignore the madness and listen for the holy.  Have you said that as often as I have in years past?

We can, you know. We can dismiss the marketing, the magazines, and the endless social media pins urging us to do it bigger and better. For the love of Jesus, we really can quit doing Christmas long enough to live it– just not on the steam of our own good intentions. We’re tried that, haven’t we?

If we’re going to worship Jesus well this advent season, we’ll need His strength and His grace. We’ll need His abiding Presence.

This is not a challenge. That would defeat us before we begin. This is an invitation to walk through the twenty-five days of Advent together. Our goal will be to keep our eyes on Jesus—and if we start getting steamrolled by our gift list and party schedule, we won’t berate ourselves. We’ll simply train our grateful gaze back on Jesus and begin again for the joy set before us.

Immanuel, God with us.

I’ve prepared twenty-five prompts, one for each day of Advent, beginning on Sunday, November 30 and taking us through Wednesday, December 24. Each day has a Scripture passage, a brief thought, and a suggested action.

It gets better! I’m super excited to have four awesome author friends joining us for this sweet journey, Tricia Goyer, Dr. Joneal Kirby (The Heart Mom), Mary Snyder, and Marybeth Whalen. I’ll be kicking off Day One on my own blog and then my buddies will each take a turn hosting five days of A Heart Wide Open Christmas in a lovely blog hop that will culminate right back at my blog with yours truly!

For consistency, you’ll always be able to find the day’s image on my blog, and I’ll be shooting it out first thing each morning via my social media platforms to remind us. That image will be conveniently linked to the week’s hostess where you can engage with the full content however best suits your schedule. Whether you choose to read your brief devotion, print out your ornament, enjoy community conversation or all of the above, you are cordially invited to join us for A Heart Wide Open Christmas!

*Click here for an update: Anticipating a Heart Wide Open Christmas

Hugs,
Shellie

We’d love for you to let us know you’re with us by filling out the contact form. I’ll email you when we’re about to kick off!