Thankfulness 17 Christmas Devotion Book

The booklet of devotions is finished! It looks wonderful. I'm excited about getting it printed and using it for church folks and for giving away too. There are 35 devotions/meditations, one for each day from Sunday, November 30th (the first day of Advent) through Saturday January 3rd.
The theme is "Christmas at the OASIS" because our church condensed our mission statement to go along with an acrostic with those letters. However, anyone could use the devotions. It is done in color, and each page includes a color picture or graphic to go along with the devotion for the day.

I am concerned about meeting the printing costs. I suspect it's going to be a chunk o' cash, but I really want to have it printed in color. The color version looks SO much better than it does in black and white. The church is struggling financially. Please pray with me that it will work out.
I'm making phone calls on Monday to see which of three choices of places to print this will work best.

I will be posting the devotions online when the time comes. I would love to share these with anyone who would like to follow along and use this for your devotions this Christmas season. If you send me your email address I will mail you the actual book. Any money received from this blog's readers will be used toward the printing cost. If you'd like my snail mail addy, just let me know.

Mail your address to: dkgeorge at charter dot com
You know the drill, I just don't want my email flooded with messages from spam bots. I'll do my best to get it to you before 11-30.

Thanking God today that this project, a joint effort with my daughter, Kris (who wrote several devotions, found graphics and formatted it all into Publisher) came together so wonderfully! It is better than I dared to hope!

Here is the introduction page:

"Christmas at the OASIS”
Devotional Readings and Prayers for the Season of Advent

Just thinking about everything that has to be done before Christmas can spike our stress level. Some of us secretly dread the season, knowing that all the bustle and “ho ho ho-ing” around us will make our sadness, loneliness, or fear even worse.

The image of a kaleidoscope comes to mind—a jumble of constantly changing shapes and colors—yet always resolving into a pattern of light and beauty. Like everyone else, Christians can be pulled in many directions at this time of year, but we do have an opportunity to stop, ponder, reflect and rejoice in a wonderful promise. That is the promise of Advent.

“Advent” means “coming.” The Lord is coming! We reflect on Jesus arriving as a babe at His first coming, and we look forward to his second advent when he makes all things new once again. Each Sunday of Advent we light a candle on our wreath and reflect on a different aspect of the season—Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy! This year the four Advent Sundays before Christmas and the Sunday following Christmas will focus on one of our O.A.S.I.S. purposes.

O Offer Hope

We light the candle of Hope: The people of Israel waited in hope for their Messiah to come. We have the message of hope for our world today, the true hope found in Christ.

A Advance God’s Kingdom

We light the candle of Peace. We advance God’s Kingdom as we share the peace that comes through relationship with the Prince of Peace.

S Share God’s Love
We light the candle of Love. We share God’s love with others, be cause God loved us so much that he sent Jesus Christ the Son into this world to save us.

I Invest in People
We light the candle of Joy. One of the simplest ways to invest in other’s lives is to share our own faith journey with God, our own joy in the new life Christ brings.

S Seek God’s Purpose
The Sunday following Christmas Day, we will remember the wise men from the east who followed a star, seeking a King. And we will ask ourselves what it is we will seek for in the coming year.

I hope these devotions will help all of us take time to read, reflect and pray, either alone or with family during this Christmastime May blessings of hope, peace, love and joy be yours.

Pastor SingingOwl

P.S. Thanks, Kris, for helping!